BoxRec

1. sugar ray robinson
2. sugar ray leonard
3. Henry Armstrong
4. Joe Walcott- he would have dominated the division more if he didnt throw fights he easily could have won. he even stepped up in weight and knocked out heavyweight joe choynski.
5. Tommy Hearns
6. Kid Gavilan
7. Jose Napoles
8. Emile Griffith
9. Barney Ross- mostly a JW
10. Carmen Basilio

Hm: benitez, curry,

- i left out mickey walker cause i rank him as a middleweight, and i rank duran as a lightweight.

Whitaker, although better at LW, should be ranked TOP-10 at WW.

Hey brockton, tell me some more about Joe Walcott. He was high on the IBRO list as well, but at 5-1 1/2 I just don't see him beating some of the other welterweights on your list but I don't know as much about him. The Choynski he beat was way past his prime.

I was just about to start a topic about where Whitaker ranks with the all time greats.

Is he close behind on your list?

I'd have -

1. SSR
2. Hearns
3. SRL


As for Whitaker - Top 10 at WW?? (probably) - Definitely Top 3 at both JWW and LW -

SRL beat hearns at WW, cant have him ahead of SRL.

Trent wrote:SRL beat hearns at WW, cant have him ahead of SRL.

Nah - Hearn's would beat more WW then SRL would (in terms of history) - Hearn's would be more feared at WW then SRL, etc, etc -

And I was at the Hearns Vs SRL fight in Las Vegas in 81 - Hearn's clearly beat SRL (for those 13 rounds) and was stopped more due to exhaustion than by SRL - He beat SRL at SRL's own game....boxing not slugging-

That was Hearn's first real "mega fight"...and Manny Stewert has said since...that Hearn's didn't eat for nearly 48 hours before it...he didn't sleep well, etc, etc (that was Manny Stewert's first real mega fight as a trainer as well) - they just didn't handle it well -

If they had fought again at WW - Hearn's KO's SRL (IMO).

meade95 wrote:

Trent wrote:SRL beat hearns at WW, cant have him ahead of SRL.

Nah - Hearn's would beat more WW then SRL would (in terms of history) - Hearn's would be more feared at WW then SRL, etc, etc -

And I was at the Hearns Vs SRL fight in Las Vegas in 81 - Hearn's clearly beat SRL (for those 13 rounds) and was stopped more due to exhaustion than by SRL - He beat SRL at SRL's own game....boxing not slugging-

That was Hearn's first real "mega fight"...and Manny Stewert has said since...that Hearn's didn't eat for nearly 48 hours before it...he didn't sleep well, etc, etc (that was Manny Stewert's first real mega fight as a trainer as well) - they just didn't handle it well -

If they had fought again at WW - Hearn's KO's SRL (IMO).

i agree and i wuld have picked HEarns in a rematch at WW and he definately beat SRL in their super-middle rematch.

Leonard did beat Hearns fair and square in their first fight and deserves to be ranked ahead of him as a welterweight.
Jimmy McClarnin would be another possiblity to put on the list.
Overall it's a good list.

IronKidDynamite wrote:

meade95 wrote:

Trent wrote:SRL beat hearns at WW, cant have him ahead of SRL.

Nah - Hearn's would beat more WW then SRL would (in terms of history) - Hearn's would be more feared at WW then SRL, etc, etc -

And I was at the Hearns Vs SRL fight in Las Vegas in 81 - Hearn's clearly beat SRL (for those 13 rounds) and was stopped more due to exhaustion than by SRL - He beat SRL at SRL's own game....boxing not slugging-

That was Hearn's first real "mega fight"...and Manny Stewert has said since...that Hearn's didn't eat for nearly 48 hours before it...he didn't sleep well, etc, etc (that was Manny Stewert's first real mega fight as a trainer as well) - they just didn't handle it well -

If they had fought again at WW - Hearn's KO's SRL (IMO).

i agree and i wuld have picked HEarns in a rematch at WW and he definately beat SRL in their super-middle rematch.

Having watched both fightsd around 100 times I agree that Hearns would have wona rematch BUT Ray beat him fair and square (okay a slightly premature stoppage) and has to be rated higher.

meade95 wrote:

Trent wrote:SRL beat hearns at WW, cant have him ahead of SRL.

Nah - Hearn's would beat more WW then SRL would (in terms of history) - Hearn's would be more feared at WW then SRL, etc, etc -

And I was at the Hearns Vs SRL fight in Las Vegas in 81 - Hearn's clearly beat SRL (for those 13 rounds) and was stopped more due to exhaustion than by SRL - He beat SRL at SRL's own game....boxing not slugging-

That was Hearn's first real "mega fight"...and Manny Stewert has said since...that Hearn's didn't eat for nearly 48 hours before it...he didn't sleep well, etc, etc (that was Manny Stewert's first real mega fight as a trainer as well) - they just didn't handle it well -

If they had fought again at WW - Hearn's KO's SRL (IMO).

Steward has always got ridiculous excuses for Hearns' defeats.

He said that Hearns lost to Hagler because somebody massaged Tommy's legs before the fight!

How about, they adopted ridiculous tactics against arguably the toughest man, ever to get into the ring & paid the price for it.

Why Whitaker, he was a blown up lightweight and didn't do much at the weight. The real welters are the Leonard's and Robinsons. Natural Welters. I'm not saying a guy can't move up in weight, but Whitaker wouldn't have been even competitive in the Leoanard era...he was not a true Welter

Definitely
1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Thomas Hearns
3. Sugar Ray Leonard

For me Hearns won the rematch at suppermiddle.
And what about Tito Trinidad ?

Ray Robinson
Barbados Joe Walcott
Henry Armstrong
Ray Leonard
Jose Napoles
Emile Griffith
Kid Gavilan
Jimmy McLarnin
Barney Ross
Mickey Walker (He wasn't a welter weight for long but he went on to fight competively at MW, LHW and HW. So you got to believe that in the fantasy tournament, he'd be pretty competetive as a welter.)

Whilst the Heavies will always be the glamour division the Middles have often been considered the blue ribbon division of boxing. I think there's a big shout for that to be the welters where there is some phenomenal talent.

Nobody has mentioned Rodriguez yet...

jyuza wrote:Definitely
1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Thomas Hearns
3. Sugar Ray Leonard

For me Hearns won the rematch at suppermiddle.
And what about Tito Trinidad ?

SRL knocked out Hearns at Welterweight, after taking a frightful hammering, so how do you rate Hearns above him?

hearns fought to a DRAW against leonrard at super middleweight when both were past their prime, or at least leonard was.

when u rate weltwerweights u rate on how they did at welterweight and the fact is, leonard knocked out tommy hearns. so jzyzu, u have to rate leonard over him at welterweight.

and using the super middleweight reasoning is ridiculouis, leonard was past his prime when they fought the rematch, and the fight was still really close and leonrd had him out on his feet in the 12th. i thought tommy won by one point, could have gone either way.

but the fact is , when they both were in their primes, they both fought a classic battle that showed true great warriors in the ring, and leonard proved the better warrior by knocking out tommy. both are all time greats at welterweight, but leonard deserves to be ranked higher.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:hearns fought to a DRAW against leonrard at super middleweight when both were past their prime, or at least leonard was.

when u rate weltwerweights u rate on how they did at welterweight and the fact is, leonard knocked out tommy hearns. so jzyzu, u have to rate leonard over him at welterweight.

and using the super middleweight reasoning is ridiculouis, leonard was past his prime when they fought the rematch, and the fight was still really close and leonrd had him out on his feet in the 12th. i thought tommy won by one point, could have gone either way.

but the fact is , when they both were in their primes, they both fought a classic battle that showed true great warriors in the ring, and leonard proved the better warrior by knocking out tommy. both are all time greats at welterweight, but leonard deserves to be ranked higher.

I think he said the reason was because Tommy Hearns cleaned out the division more or something like that, Ray Leonard just happened to beat him.

Kinda like rating Pep over Saddler.

I myself have Leonard over Hearns.