BoxRec

Could please help me analyze how good were they while Carlos Monzon reigned as Middleweight Champion? These were the fighters that fought Monzon and were not in order, excluding Jose Napoles because he was a great welterweight champion.

World Middleweight Champion: Carlos Monzon
Rodrigo Valdez: WBC Middleweight Champion
Nino Benvenuti: His prime years was in the 1960s
Emile Griffith: His prime years was in the second half of the 1960s
Bennie Briscoe: One of the great fighters who never won the middleweight title even though he got 3 middleweight title shots
Tony Mundine
Jean-Claude Bouttier
Tony Licata
Tom Bogs
Denny Moyer: Former Junior Middleweight Champion who fought opponents mostly from welterweight to middleweight
Gratien Tonna

What was their style for each of them?

For example: Classic boxer/puncher: Carlos Monzon

How good was their jab?

How good was their punching skills and power?

How good was their boxing skill?

scorpio83 wrote:Could please help me analyze how good were they while Carlos Monzon reigned as Middleweight Champion?

Monzon's Middleweight reign was dominant and unrelenting. And it is only enhanced even further when you consider that he fought a very good standard of opposition during his time as the Champ - a fact that other long-standing cannot claim - people like the Klitchsko brothers.

Statistically looking at it, He was the Champ for seven years (70-77) and he had 14 successful title defences during that time... So mathematically he was avergaing two defences a year.

In short, Monzon has to be ranked within the top three Middleweights of all time - alongside Sugar Ray Robinson & Marvin Hagler.

But this division as a "dark horse" the way that every division does - and in this case it's Harry Greb. Because he did not have many title defences and he was the Champ for a relatively short time (chronologically).

Benvenuti was past his best when Monzon caught him. At his very best I think Nino would definitely have a shot at pulling out a decision victory. Afterall, if you eliminate the Ki-Soo Kim travesty, than Nino starts his career with 72 straight wins.

Crease, I strongly agreed with you. Monzon was one of the top middleweights of all-time along with Sugar Ray Robinson and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. For Harry Greb, I saw his photos in action, but no possible films of his fight exist other than his training. Yes, he was middleweight champion for 3 years, not much title defenses and I cannot put him on the top 3. However, to be fair for old school fight fans, Greb was the top 5 middleweights of all-time along with Robinson, Hagler, Monzon and B-Hop. That was just my opinion.

Anyways, how good was Emile Griffith? I know that his style was the boxer-brawler with a quick jab. He had good boxing skills and not much punching power, but decent. Also, he had a style attack with speed, aggression and determination like Benvenuti.

Overall, the opposition Monzon fought in title fights was pretty decent. Not great, there were some mediocre guys in there, but respectable. Obviously nowhere near as good as Robinson's, but it was better than Hagler's and much better than the mostly awful opposition that Hopkins fought.

Monzon had one of the greatest if not the greatest Middleweight championship reign…or collection of title fights…

Benvenuti was a great middleweight himself. He was a little past his peak for sure but just 12 months prior to the first defeat to Monzon he soundly beat all-time great Rodriguez. Nino didn’t give up the title without a hell of a fight but Monzon just ripped it from him.

It’s also fair to say that by the second fight Monzon had improved and won the return in devastating fashion.

Griffith would make most people’s top 30 p4p list. He wasn’t quite as good at 160 as he was at 147, where he’d be a top 10 welter… But at 160 his stand out wins over Tiger make him an all-timer at 160.

The second fights was close. But most of Griffith’s fights were close. That was the sort of fighter he was. But in both bouts Monzon was the clear winner.

Valdes was another top quality operator who stopped the steel-jawed Briscoe. Monzon was past his best at this point and Valdes was peaking. But Carlos put in controlled performances to win both fights.

Nino, Emile and Rodrigo were all fantastic middleweights. And nobody in the division has beaten such a high calibre of challengers since.

Sergio Martinez is a great fighter but I’d back all of them to beat him. Valdes’s more offensive style would make for great fights with Hagler and/or Hopkins but he’s probably made to order for them. Benvenuti and Griffith would cause Bernard and Marvin all kinds of problems though. And it’s not much of a stretch to imagine either one of them beating the great duo.

Crease wrote:

scorpio83 wrote:Could please help me analyze how good were they while Carlos Monzon reigned as Middleweight Champion?

Monzon's Middleweight reign was dominant and unrelenting. And it is only enhanced even further when you consider that he fought a very good standard of opposition during his time as the Champ - a fact that other long-standing cannot claim - people like the Klitchsko brothers.

Statistically looking at it, He was the Champ for seven years (70-77) and he had 14 successful title defences during that time... So mathematically he was avergaing two defences a year.

In short, Monzon has to be ranked within the top three Middleweights of all time - alongside Sugar Ray Robinson & Marvin Hagler.

But this division as a "dark horse" the way that every division does - and in this case it's Harry Greb. Because he did not have many title defences and he was the Champ for a relatively short time (chronologically).

Not sure what is considered "long standing" or not but I'd actually rank Louis's title opposition overall superior to Monzon's (and if we're including non-title opp; the choice is clear-cut).