BoxRec

my best at light middle has to be THOMAS THE HITMAN HEARNS STRONG AT THE WEIGHT WITH CONCUSSIVE POWER IN BOTH HANDS LEGEND

Tommy was probably the division's best fighter but I've always thought McCallum would have beaten him in a 15 round fight.

Benvenuti is worth a mention too.

Emile Griffith never won a title there but was under or on the limit for a number of fights against Middles like Archer and Tiger, often giving up 7 or 8 pounds.

Ezzard wrote:Tommy was probably the division's best fighter but I've always thought McCallum would have beaten him in a 15 round fight.

Benvenuti is worth a mention too.

Emile Griffith never won a title there but was under or on the limit for a number of fights against Middles like Archer and Tiger, often giving up 7 or 8 pounds.

McCallum would have beaten Hearns at Jr. Middle, & the reason being he truly is the best 154lber of all-time.

I rank the great Mike McCallum as the greatest jr. middleweight of all-time. A very complete and underrated champion.

...i remember watching griffith against a guy named eckhart in berlin for the junior middle title....emile won the fight but dagge got the decisiion. i wonder if the fact that dagge was german had anything to do with the judging...

A couple of fights later Eckhardt Dagge lost his title in Germany to Italian Australian Rocky Mattioli.

Rocky KOed Eckhardt in the fifth, so it would have been hard to fix it.

ray robinson??

It's between Hearns and McCallum. I can make a case for either winning, they were both tremendous at 154 and both have very strong attributes that would have made for a fantastic match-up (they were also champs at the same time, plus the whole McCallum simmering tension and resentment at the Kronk thing).

To me, the more interesting question is who is ranked below them?

Difficult to pick between Hearns and McCallum, both brilliant fighters. No way can Norris be compared with these two, they would have smashed him with ease

orbtastic wrote:It's between Hearns and McCallum. I can make a case for either winning, they were both tremendous at 154 and both have very strong attributes that would have made for a fantastic match-up (they were also champs at the same time, plus the whole McCallum simmering tension and resentment at the Kronk thing).

To me, the more interesting question is who is ranked below them?

Benvenuti?

Winky Wright. 8)

Everyone knows your number 1 at any weight is Pacquiao.

Koichi Wajima deserves a shout-out. He probably wasn't the best junior middle, but he was a three-time world champion and deserves more recognition than he gets. No one outside Japan ever mentions him . . . probably because he never fought outside that country. But, over there, he is still a household name, celebrity, and national hero.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Everyone knows your number 1 at any weight is Pacquiao.

Who is it you're talking to?

Duhugpacsnuts, he is an insufferable troll.

1) Hearns




2) McCallum
3) Norris


Can't understand the people who rate McCallum higher then Hearns.. Tommy was really at his peak in them days of 154lbs. And McCallum is no Hagler or Leanord, not by a long chalk..

Duran Fan wrote:1) Hearns




2) McCallum
3) Norris


Can't understand the people who rate McCallum higher then Hearns.. Tommy was really at his peak in them days of 154lbs. And McCallum is no Hagler or Leanord, not by a long chalk..

He was a complete beast at 154, the equal of Hearns & more. We'll never know if he was, "a Hagler," per se, because Hagler outright ducked him. He knew what a demon McCallum was.

The obvious answer is the silky-smooth Ayub Kalule.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

Duran Fan wrote:1) Hearns




2) McCallum
3) Norris


Can't understand the people who rate McCallum higher then Hearns.. Tommy was really at his peak in them days of 154lbs. And McCallum is no Hagler or Leanord, not by a long chalk..

He was a complete beast at 154, the equal of Hearns & more. We'll never know if he was, "a Hagler," per se, because Hagler outright ducked him. He knew what a demon McCallum was.

Dodged him like Superman evading a bullet, I tells ya.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

Dodged him like Superman evading a bullet, I tells ya.

Just like Leonard ducked Pryor. Those are two juggernauts that have been perpetuated through the internet. Take my word for it, NOBODY thought hagler was ducking McCallum at the time. I don't even recall Mike mentioning Marvin's name. He did move up to 160 as soon as Hagler retired. Great fighter who was never ducked.

McCallum is such a bitter guy. If anything he's the one at fault for most of these matchups not coming off, Hagler in particular. One of those guys that, while being a great fighter unquestionably, has been called underrated/ducked/not gotten the right breaks so many times that he's actually became a bit overrated by most.

Thomas Hearns is my favorite fighter of all time. But he had limited time at Jr. Middleweight. I would put Mike McCallum and Terry Norris ahead of him. I think he would have beaten Norris. McCallum would have given him fits.

Tommy Hearns was unbeaten at the weight and beat Duran and Benitez, Norris beat nobody of that calibre and would get knocked out in 2 rounds by Hearns. No comparison whatsoever

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

Duran Fan wrote:1) Hearns




2) McCallum
3) Norris


Can't understand the people who rate McCallum higher then Hearns.. Tommy was really at his peak in them days of 154lbs. And McCallum is no Hagler or Leanord, not by a long chalk..

He was a complete beast at 154, the equal of Hearns & more. We'll never know if he was, "a Hagler," per se, because Hagler outright ducked him. He knew what a demon McCallum was.

So Hagler ducked McCallam at 154? Is that what your saying?
How the fvck was Hagler going to make 154? Huh???