From Good To Great...

[Goodnight, Irene]

Name some fighters who should really have only been good, but turned out to be truly great.

Felix Trinidad, Rocky Marciano, perhaps Manny Pacquiao...

[Master_Of_Disaster]

Arturo Gatti was not the promising Kid around before he started his pro career, so i could say him.

[Goodnight, Irene]

"Great" would be too lofty a word to describe Gatti, though.

Perhaps better than expected, but he doesn't fit the category.

[Master_Of_Disaster]

Perhaps, you don't necessarily need an unbelivable record (45-3, 49-0, 50-3 fighters you mentionned) to be considered great. Gatti is the symbol of courage in the ring, had a tremendous chin like you probably know. The excitement in his fights and his determination that he showed is fairly enough to call him a Great, so yes he fits in the category.

Even though in understand your point, the boxers that you named were greater than him, they were ''SUPER'' greats if we can call them like that. Gatti was not a SUPER great but i think he deservs a place among the greats of his generation.

[NICARAGUAN NIGHTMARE]

Perhaps, you don't necessarily need an unbelivable record (45-3, 49-0, 50-3 fighters you mentionned) to be considered great. Gatti is the symbol of courage in the ring, had a tremendous chin like you probably know. The excitement in his fights and his determination that he showed is fairly enough to call him a Great, so yes he fits in the category.

Even though in understand your point, the boxers that you named were greater than him, they were ''SUPER'' greats if we can call them like that. Gatti was not a SUPER great but i think he deservs a place among the greats of his generation.

no its not

[Goodnight, Irene]

I couldn't ever find myself describing Gatti as a great fighter, let alone a legitimate great.

You're definitely overstating him. A good fighter, with some handy qualities. Never great.

[allworld80]

First fighter that came to mind was Barrera.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

The sentiment that Gatti deserves to be called great and go into the HOF because he was a warrior puzzles me to no end. The hall is filled with countless fighters like Saad & Basilio who had the same kind of wars against better fighters. He was a solid fighter with a load of heart, you have to love his wars. But he was incapable of being even moderately competitive against elite opponents. You can't get much farther away from great than Gatti.

I think Gene Fullmer fits the bill for this thread. His skills were a bit underrated, but he pretty much forged his way to all time status with a granite chin and relentless pressure. If he happened to burst on the scene today, I don't think he would be looked at as a blue chip prospect.

[Master_Of_Disaster]

Perhaps, you don't necessarily need an unbelivable record (45-3, 49-0, 50-3 fighters you mentionned) to be considered great. Gatti is the symbol of courage in the ring, had a tremendous chin like you probably know. The excitement in his fights and his determination that he showed is fairly enough to call him a Great, so yes he fits in the category.

Even though in understand your point, the boxers that you named were greater than him, they were ''SUPER'' greats if we can call them like that. Gatti was not a SUPER great but i think he deservs a place among the greats of his generation.

no its not

That's what we call saying your opinion, how about adding some facts with it to add a lil bit of credibility

[dempseyfire]

Gatti's extreme popularity is mostly due to HBO's committment behind him, particularly in the second half of his career at 147 which was practically a sham, summed up by Gatti getting pummelled in a one-sided beating to Carlos Baldomir of all people.

Boxing history is FULL of guys who were as gutsy and entertaining as Gatti, they just didn't have numerous headliner cards backed by the HBO hype machine.

I think Pacquao is a good case here, back in 1999 you would've found extremely few, if any people believing that later on he'd become PFP #1 and be beating top welterweights.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Even a guy like Cornelius Boza Edwards was better than Gatti and had plenty of incredible brawls. And Boza was far from great himself.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Gatti's extreme popularity is mostly due to HBO's committment behind him, particularly in the second half of his career at 147 which was practically a sham, summed up by Gatti getting pummelled in a one-sided beating to Carlos Baldomir of all people.

Boxing history is FULL of guys who were as gutsy and entertaining as Gatti, they just didn't have numerous headliner cards backed by the HBO hype machine.

I think Pacquao is a good case here, back in 1999 you would've found extremely few, if any people believing that later on he'd become PFP #1 and be beating top welterweights.

Someone said he was, "a kid who was going to get the best of Barrera & Morales one day," but I'm trying very hard to recall. I'm thinking it was either Gil Clancy or Harold Lederman.

Whoever it was, they were met with derision at the time, as the quote was roughly made around the time of 2000's Barrera-Morales I.