The Top 100 Greatest Boxers Pound per Pound of All-Time

[Jaywheel]

Can't wait to see how you'll spin the Alvarez fight travesty.

[elmersalsa]

Did finally Finito found his match? Nicaragua had not too many champions, but the few that they got were brave and very tough. We remember the great Alexis Arguello, the Explosive Thin Man that mesmerized us with his explosive knockout wins and famous ring wars. We also remember Ricardo Mayorga, the tough chain-smoking loudmouth that won two titles. Also we know future hall of Famer and four-division champion Roman "El Chocolatito" Gonzalez. Rosendo "El Bufalo" Alvarez is not exception. He is one of Nicaragua's true all-time champion warriors.

Alvarez traveled to Mexico City to the Plaza de Toros Stadium to fight their local hero, the great Ricardo "Finito" Lopez, who at the time, was the longest running title holder of the 90s decade. A title that he won it 8 years back in 1990.

Lopez was making his 21st title defense. Also, at the time, the champion with the most title defenses to date.

The fight was for the World WBA/WBC Minimum Championship Unification. The bull ring in Mexico City was packed. Thousands of Nicaraguans flew from Managua to Mexico City to support their little hero Alvarez who was undefeated with 24 wins with 17 knockouts. Alvarez was making his 5th defense of his WBA crown. He became world champion when he defeated champ Chana Porpaoin of Thailand in 1995.

It was Friday, November 13, 1998. The day was fitting for a thrilling contest, just like "Friday the 13th" movie of 1980.

In a packed house, Alvarez came out swinging for broke. And he found Finito's jaw with a right hand. Finito went down. It was the first time in Finito's career, amateur or pro, that he ever tasted the canvas. That happened in the second round.

Alvarez kept pressing and pressing. Does Finito finally found his match or is he passing his peak? The truth is, Alvarez was putting it on him. He was always on the attack. But an accidental clash of heads made legendary referee American Arthur Mercante to deduct a point to Alvarez and stop the fight in the 7th round. The fight went to the scorecards. There was not a winner. The judges called it a technical decision draw and both champions retained their crowns.

The Nicaraguans were in disbelief. They felt that their little macho man was screwed from the judges and this was another corruption in boxing that they can't accept. Is it another corrupted and dirty event protected by American promoter Don King? Because in the main event, another protected fighter of King Promotions, the faded but great Julio Cesar Chavez of Mexico, "drew" in some strange circumstances against his countryman, former WBC World Lightweight Champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez. A fight that many thought Gonzalez won.

I scored the fight 68-65 in favor of Alvarez. In my view, he carried the fight and for the first time in Finito's boxing life, he did not looked dominant. Did he found his match?

American judges Dalby Shirley and Tom Kazmareck had the fight scored 66-66 and 67-64 respectively. Kazmareck had it in favor of Finito. Judge Samuel Conde of Puerto Rico had it 68-64 for the Nicaraguan.

A rematch is in the works. But, this was a bad taste for boxing for many people.

[elmersalsa]

And every great champion deserves a rematch to prove himself.

It is unbelievable that YouTube doesn't have this entire fight. It only has the last two rounds. The best fight of Finito's life is not shown complete on YouTube? Are you kidding me?

Of what I saw of those last 2 rounds was that it was a very grueling and tough battle. Finito pulled it off, but paid the price. He had the same cut above the right eye just like it happened in the first fight by a clash of heads. So why they didn't go to the stoppage and to the scorecards? I don't know. The men that rule boxing, the boxing authorized organizations, sometimes, or many times, come with some strange decisions.

Finito proved that he was better than Rosendo Alvarez of Nicaragua in front of the judges. It was his defining fight against his toughest rival. At 31, he becomes an all-time pound per pound great and the greatest strawweight fighter ever. It was again on a Friday 13th. This time in the month of November of 1998 at the Hilton Hotel, in Las Vegas.

Both fighters displayed all their skills. Finito's face was a mess. It was bloodied all over. Even his white trunks were stained of blood. Alvarez' face also looked like he came from a rough fight.

Finito improves to 48-0-1, with 36KOs. Alvarez lost for the first time in his career and drops to 24-1-1 with 17KOs.

Is there a third fight? We all know that Rosendo Alvarez wants one.

Well, it was also strange that they were only fighting for Alvarez' WBA belt. The WBC belt was not on the line because Alvarez came overweight at 111 pounds. If Alvarez would have won the fight, he was not awarded the WBC crown. Say what? Only in America, right?

[elmersalsa]

Finito won by split decision against Alvarez in this second fight.

Judge Silvestre Abainza of Philippines scored it 115-113 for Alvarez.
Judges Larry O'Connell of England and Jerry Roth of United States had it scored 116-114 and 116-112 respectively for Finito who won also the WBA title belt from Alvarez.

[elmersalsa]

Finito is not fighting as much as when he was younger. In Some years, he had about a average of 4 fights a year. Since 1997 or 1998, Finito's volume of fights per year slowed down. Maybe because he is in his 30s now.

Almost a year has passed and on October 2, 1999, Finito relinquished his crowns and the strawweight class and jumps to 3 pounds to jr flyweight.

The question was, why so late? Boxing experts where expecting him to jump to jr flyweight way earlier in the decade. They wanted to see if Finito had the skills and guts to face top jr flyweight boxers and brilliant champions like Michael Carbajal of Phoenix, AZ and Finito's countryman Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez. Any fight against one of them could be a classic macho man in-your-face affair that would bring millions of dollars and the public imagination. But, it takes two to tangle and Finito for some reason, decided to be stuck at 105lbs.

In my opinion, he stayed at champion at strawweight for too damn long. It was like there was not a real competition with the exception of Rosendo Alvarez of Nicaragua. Anybody else at that weight, he looked too overwhelming against his challengers. He should have at least challenged Carbajal or Gonzalez by 1993 or 1994.

And I believe that he had the skills to beat Carbajal or Chiquita. Chiquita was stopped by Saman Sorjaturong of Thailand in 7 rounds. Finito grabbed Sorjaturong and smashed him in two rounds!

By 1999, Carbajal and Gonzalez were either gone, retired or over the hill. Finito jumps to jr flyweight to challenge IBF World Jr Flyweight Champion, Will Grisby of St Paul, MN without having a tune up fight with ranked opponents. That was only 3 pounds, right?

Grisby, a slick African American boxer, had his moments with Finito, but Finito was clearly the superior fighter. It wasn't a real test. Finito comfortably wins the IBF jr flyweight crown by unanimous decision. It wasn't a great fight.

Finito has his second crown in his second weight class. An all-time great for sure.

[Jaywheel]

Lol for sure, only 4 weightclasses less than Oscarito.

[elmersalsa]

Lol for sure, only 4 weightclasses less than Oscarito.

Winning multiple titles today is not of a big deal. The talent has been diluted since the 2000s decade

[elmersalsa]

Ricardo "Finito" Lopez of Mexico City, Mexico, the former great Minimumweight champion, now is defending his newly won IBF World Jr. Flyweight crown. It is his second crown in his second weight class.

At age 33, Finito makes his first title defense of his new crown against challenger Anucha Photong of Thailand. Finito stops Photong in 8 rounds.

Another year passes, and on September 29, 2001 at the famous New York City's Madison Square Garden of the Bernard Hopkins vs Felix "Tito" Trinidad undercard, Finito makes his final professional fight when he totally outclassed former world champion Zelene Petelo of South Africa. Finito stops Petelo by an 8th round knockout. The referee of that fight was the legendary American referee Arthur Mercante. It was ironically Mercante's last fight as referee.

Finito finished his career with a record of 51-0-1 with 38KOs

[elmersalsa]

In the year 2002, at age 35, Finito announced his retirement from boxing. It was an illustrious quiet career of one of boxing's most dominant champions regardless of weight class. Everything he did was quiet. And he accepted it that way. He was the Don King loyal undercard boy for years, in which he could have been a Main Event fighter if he chose to.

Maybe he was complacent with his career that went that way. His way. Until this day, I don't know why he never challenged American superstar Michael Carbajal at jr flyweight nor his countryman Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez for a Mexican Civil War. Those missed bouts are 2 of the greatest fights that the boxing fans missed of all-time. They would have been some classic wars and multi-million dollar paydays that would have taken the smaller weight classes to the next level.

He made 22 title defenses of the WBC World Minimum Crown......A record for the division. And today, he is considered by many writers of the sport as the greatest strawweight fighter of all-time.

He was a complete boxer that could do it all. He had speed, stamina, punch, inside-fighting skills, counter-punching mastery, and will, guts and determination. He also had a terrific chin. He was always in great shape for all his bouts. A true professional.

Did he avoid Rosendo Alvarez of Nicaragua for a third fight? We never know. But it would have been great if the fight happened to settle the score.

His all-time pound per pound ranking at 77 in my view is just in my view. Probably he was overrated. Probably not. Could he be higher? Perhaps. But, maybe he did not get higher in my personal pound per pound all-time ranking because he didn't take the risk to fight bigger men like Michael Carbajal or Chiquita Gonzalez. That maybe hurt his ranking. Would his ranking would have been higher if he were a Lightweight or Welterweight with all those title defenses? Perhaps. A big maybe.

Undefeated, let's not forget that Finito is in the top 10 list of Mexico's great fighting tradition, which wasn't easy for a strawweight.

Now, at number 76 in my countdown is American Manuel Ortiz. Probably, the greatest Chicano boxer of all-time.

[Jaywheel]

Lol for sure, only 4 weightclasses less than Oscarito.

Winning multiple titles today is not of a big deal. The talent has been diluted since the 2000s decade

Lopez became champ of a 2nd weightclass in 1999. In 1999, De la Hoya was already champ in 4 weightclasses clown boy. The problem isn't talent dilution, it's elmers delusion.

[Ambling Alp II]

But he likes Lopez and he doesn't like De La Hoya. That makes Lopez better. It is his "criteria".

Can't believe he already moving onto someone else. He has only been doing Lopez since July 6. That isn't even 5 months.
If he give Manuel Ortiz the same scant attention that he gave Lopez, he will already be moving onto the next guy by.... May of 2022.

[elmersalsa]

You guys are tripping too much. You guys are acting if I have Finito in position #20. He is right where he at at #78.

[Jaywheel]

Lopez beat a bunch of nobodies, benefited from a stupid point deduction on a stupid WBC rule against Alvarez, the first live body he fought, and as you say being a 2 weightclasses champ meant nothing at that time. So what do we have left?

[elmersalsa]

Lopez beat a bunch of nobodies, benefited from a stupid point deduction on a stupid WBC rule against Alvarez, the first live body he fought, and as you say being a 2 weightclasses champ meant nothing at that time. So what do we have left?

Give credit for Finito that he had 22 title defenses in 8 years. And he beat Alvarez in the rematch. Case closed.

[Ambling Alp II]

Give De La Hoya credit for winning titles in 6 weight classes. Case closed.

[elmersalsa]

Give De La Hoya credit for winning titles in 6 weight classes. Case closed.

Winning titles in different weight classes since the Oscar De La Hoya's days are diluted. It has been a joke for almost 30 years.

[DrDuke]

Give De La Hoya credit for winning titles in 6 weight classes. Case closed.

Winning titles in different weight classes since the Oscar De La Hoya's days are diluted. It has been a joke for almost 30 years.

As if an amount of title defences isn't 'diluted' since the emerge of the abc era.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Lopez beat a bunch of nobodies, benefited from a stupid point deduction on a stupid WBC rule against Alvarez, the first live body he fought, and as you say being a 2 weightclasses champ meant nothing at that time. So what do we have left?

Give credit for Finito that he had 22 title defenses in 8 years. And he beat Alvarez in the rematch. Case closed.

Sven ottke did it in 6. Where does he rank?

[elmersalsa]

Lopez beat a bunch of nobodies, benefited from a stupid point deduction on a stupid WBC rule against Alvarez, the first live body he fought, and as you say being a 2 weightclasses champ meant nothing at that time. So what do we have left?

Give credit for Finito that he had 22 title defenses in 8 years. And he beat Alvarez in the rematch. Case closed.

Sven ottke did it in 6. Where does he rank?

Did Ottke had 22 title defenses?

[elmersalsa]

At position #77 we have one of the greatest all-time great bantamweights. He definitely was the greatest bantamweight of his era. His name is Manuel Ortiz! Arguably, the greatest Chicano fighter of all-time!


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[elmersalsa]

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images

[oogiebe]

At position #77 we have one of the greatest all-time great bantamweights. He definitely was the greatest bantamweight of his era. His name is Manuel Ortiz! Arguably, the greatest Chicano fighter of all-time!


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/imag ... I&usqp=CAU

Clubber Lang was the greatest boxer to come out of Chicago. Stop being silly.

[Ambling Alp II]

Give credit for Finito that he had 22 title defenses in 8 years. And he beat Alvarez in the rematch. Case closed.

Sven ottke did it in 6. Where does he rank?

Did Ottke had 22 title defenses?

Ottke only had 21, so he should be ignored. You have to have 22 to considered one of the greats. Thought everyone knew that.

[elmersalsa]

Sven ottke did it in 6. Where does he rank?

Did Ottke had 22 title defenses?

Ottke only had 21, so he should be ignored. You have to have 22 to considered one of the greats. Thought everyone knew that.

Did he unified the crown?
Did he win another crown in an upper weight class?
Had he a rival equal to Rosendo Alvarez at his weight class?

[tiny_acres]

Did Ottke had 22 title defenses?

Ottke only had 21, so he should be ignored. You have to have 22 to considered one of the greats. Thought everyone knew that.

Did he unified the crown?
Did he win another crown in an upper weight class?
Had he a rival equal to Rosendo Alvarez at his weight class?

Ottke won the belt after only 19 months as a pro then had 21 title defenses before retiring undefeated. He has as much claim as others you have listed as a top 100 fighter