BoxRec

I should do at least 10, and maybe I will later, but to get things started, here's my top 5.

1.Khaosai Galaxy
2.Pancho Villa
3.Manny Pacquiao
4.Fighting Harada
5.Hiroyuki Ebihara

Pacquiao passed by Villa awhile ago, and he's easily above Galaxy now as well.

Koji Gushiken would get pretty close to a top 5 Asian fighters too

1.) Fighting Harada
2.) Manny Pacquiao
3.) Khaosai Galaxy
4.) Pancho Villa
5.) Jung-Koo Chang

.1 -- Fighting Harada
.2 -- Pancho Villa
.3 -- Khaosai Galaxy
.4 -- Ceferino Garcia
.5 -- Flash Elorde
.6 -- Kuniaki Shibata
.7 -- Masao Ohba
.8 -- Leo Espinosa
.9 -- Pone Kingpetch
10 -- Chartchai Chionoi

That's an excellent list, Martin.

The greatest Asian fighter of all-time should be Japan's Fighting Harada. A great fighter indeed. Was the ONLY ONE to beat the great Eder Jofre.

My top 5 Asian fighters are:

1. Fighting Harada (Japan)
2. Pancho Villa (Philippines)
3. Koxai Galaxy (Thailand)
4. Manny Pacquiao (Philippines)
5. Flash Elorde (Philippines)

Martin Sosa Cameron wrote:.1 -- Fighting Harada
.2 -- Pancho Villa
.3 -- Khaosai Galaxy
.4 -- Ceferino Garcia
.5 -- Flash Elorde
.6 -- Kuniaki Shibata
.7 -- Masao Ohba
.8 -- Leo Espinosa
.9 -- Pone Kingpetch
10 -- Chartchai Chionoi

Just wondering...how far down is Pacquiao on your list?

dajuggernaut wrote:

Martin Sosa Cameron wrote:.1 -- Fighting Harada
.2 -- Pancho Villa
.3 -- Khaosai Galaxy
.4 -- Ceferino Garcia
.5 -- Flash Elorde
.6 -- Kuniaki Shibata
.7 -- Masao Ohba
.8 -- Leo Espinosa
.9 -- Pone Kingpetch
10 -- Chartchai Chionoi

Just wondering...how far down is Pacquiao on your list?

Hi, Dajuggernaut!
Thanks for your opinion; as you knows, this is absolutely debatable and, may be, of course, arbitrary

Pacquiao, may be the #11? And he is active; I rated retired fighters only

Another very important Asian fighter was the Philippines' Featherweight Ignacio Fernandez, who KO'ed Abe Goldstein (in 7 rds, 1927) and Al Singer (in 3, 1929)

My Top 10

1.Khaosai Galaxy
2.Pancho Villa
3.Manny Pacquiao
4.Fighting Harada
5.Hiroyuki Ebihara
6.Little Dado
7.Jung Koo Chang
8.Ceferino Garcia
9.Masao Ohba
10.Flash Elorde

Seamus wrote:My Top 10

1.Khaosai Galaxy
2.Pancho Villa
3.Manny Pacquiao
4.Fighting Harada
5.Hiroyuki Ebihara
6.Little Dado
7.Jung Koo Chang
8.Ceferino Garcia
9.Masao Ohba
10.Flash Elorde

Nice list, but Eldore seems low at ten. I dont know much about a couple of the other fighters above him so I wont argue it.

No love for my man Sung Kil Moon?

1. Harada
2. Pacquiao
3. Villa
4. Elorde
5. Galaxy

Harada was the only fighter to beat Jofre and he did it twice. He was the flyweight and bantamweight champion. He came very close to winning the featherweight title as well. (Lost by one point, knocked down the champion 3 times.) He wins that fight and people would be arguing that he was one of the top pound for pound fighters of all time.

Pacquiao has had a few bumps in the road but he has beat some very good competition. Very fun fighter to watch.

Galaxy is hard to rate because he competition wasn't as good as the other guys. Certainly a great fighter though.

Galaxy sometimes receives criticism over the quality of his opposition, which was hardly weak. He beat 8 former or future World title holders plus 10 more who fought for World titles (not counting title bouts against Galaxy) That's more than a 3rd of his total bouts.

Elorde's a little hard to rate, because he has some impressive wins, but also too many prime losses.

I'm happy with Galaxy, Villa and Pacquiao above Harada. Pac Man has already proven himself to be world class over more weight divisions than Harada, and Villa was close to 100 wins in a very tough era, before the age of 24, not to mention he was never stopped in 112 bouts.

Biggest strike against Sun-Kil Moon is obviously the fact that he only had 22 fights.

Anyone surprised I had Little Dado at 6 ?

Watanabe over Galaxy for me.

I guess one problem that I have with Wantanabe and Galaxy is that they fought in only weight division and didn't move up and take on bigger challenges.
The weight division that did dominate shouldn't even exist. (but I guess that's another story.)

Had they moved up and won the bantamweight title and had several defenses there it would have been much more impressive.

Harada won the flyweight title, then moved up and won the bantamweight title, and then almost (should have?) won the feathwerweight title.
The Super flyweight and super bantamweight divisions didn't even exist. Harada probably would have won titles in those weight classes as well.

If you are going to say that Pacquiao winning in more weight classes than Harada is important, then isn't Harada winning in more than Galaxy important as well?

As for Galaxy's competition, compared to the other guys here it does look weak. Some of opponents did win a title, and some fought for the title. I don't think that fighting (or even winning) one of 3 titles in a weight class that only includes fighters from 112-115 pounds necessarily means that you are that good at all.
Can you compare any of these guys to Eder Jofre, or Barrera or Morales?

Watanabe's competition may have been a little better, but he had much fewer fights over a much shorter time and lost once more. Have to rate Galaxy over him.

Obviously having any world title for that long has to count for something. However, they are getting compared to great fighters here.

I think Little Dado is an interesting pick. Fought some good fighters, but gets very little attention.

Watanabe was a master technician with excellent power.

Galaxy a one-paced slow plodder with only a big punch going for him.

Course if you are just boxreccing them...

Arbachakov wrote:

Watanabe was a master technician with excellent power.
Galaxy a one-paced slow plodder with only a big punch going for him.

That is true, but Watanabe was prone to lapses in concentration in several of his fights though and this could prove costly against someone like Galaxy who while nowhere near the fighter Watanabe was he did have an iron will, sturdy chin, excellent stamina and a knockout punch going for him if nothing else. Also, if the Watanabe who showed up against Roberto Ramirez comes into the ring against Galaxy he may well get his head handed to him late in the fight, he was on the verge of a kayo in that one in the last few rounds even though he dropped Ramirez four times in the process. Galaxy was always in spartan physical shape for each of his fights, the same cannot be said of Jiro however.

Another important, curious and interesting boxer, who fought from welterweight to heavyweight (1925-1940), in Asia, Europa and America, was Luis Logan, from the Philippines

jimbob wrote:Amir Khan was quite good for a while.

I agree... for 18 fights and 54 sec...

I'll stand by my choice of Khaosai Galaxy at number 1. The guy was a force of nature, and to beat him, I think an opponent would have to fight a near perfect fight. Every time a guy got in the ring with Galaxy he was at serious disadvantage in strength and punching power. Sure Galaxy could get outboxed at times, but his chin was very solid, and any time he landed anything it took it's toll. Imagine what this guy would have done in 15 rd bouts ? Also I noticed after reading a post on East Side Boxing, that it is true that he often moved his feet like a Thai Kick Boxer.

I'd be interested in hearing from Scott Mallon and Barry in this thread.

Some good lists - I would have to think about it hard to come up with a top-5 - Might be too hard to break it down into only a top-5 -

I would say, regarding Galaxy.....

The notion that Khaosai Galaxy's competition wasn't of quality just isn't accurate - He fought quality competition throughout his entire title reign...and the reality is the other champions avoided him....hell the WBA king back then (J. Wantabe) simply vacated his belt instead of fighting him ...when Galaxy was ranked #1 -

Furthermore Galaxy did fight and beat the other long reigning IBF JBW champion during his regin....that was E. Pical - And he beat him on the road in Pical's home country and hometown to boot (KO 14th).

K. Galaxy Resume is very impressive by all measures.... There is also an odd notion that Galaxy only fought in Thailand, and that is incorrect as well.... He defended his world title in a number of places outside of Thailand...

He traveld and beat a highly thought of IBF JBW Champion Ellyas Pical, in Jakarta, Indonesia.....so this was in all effect a "unification" title fight...yet the IBF wouldn't put Pical's title on the line....Galaxy still took the fight and was the only one risking his title belt......yet he took it...travled and Ko'd him....

He traveld and beat the undefeated / big punching Israel Contreras (24-0-1) in Willemstad, Curacao -

He traveld and beat Chang Ho Choi in Seoul, Korea -

He traveld and beat Kenji Matsumura, in Japan (Twice) -

Outside of the quality competition listed above....Galaxy also fought and beat...the following...

Rafael Orono 32-2-1 (WBC JBW World Champion....had an accomplished reign as champion)

Edgar Omar Monserrat 13-1-0 (Highly rated challenger....fought for sevearl world titles)

Israel Contreras 24-0-1 (Went on to win WBO & WBA BW World Titles)

Ellyas Pical 16-1-0 (Long reigning IBF JBW Champion...8 defenses...when he lost to K. Galaxy his IBF belt wasn't on the line....Galaxy's WBA belt was)

Tae-Il Chang 26-2-1 (Won IBF World Title)

Alberto Castro 21-2-1 (solid challenger)

Cobra Ari Blanca 30-5-3 (challenged for several world titles)

Shunichi Nakajima 23-4-0 (Japanese super fyweight Champion)

Yong Kang Kim 21-2-0 (Went on to win 2 world titles)

Ernesto Ford 21-1-0 (ranked in the top 10 of all three world titles at the time)

Jae-Sok Park 14-1-0 (ranked #3 at the time)

David Griman 13-0-0 (Went on to win WBA Fly Title)

Chang Ho Choi 18-2-0 (IBF Fly World Champion)

Dong Chun Lee 20-5-1 (former OPBF Super Flyweight Title)


So the reality is not only did K. Galaxy travel and beat opponents....but he faced a very healthy resume during his long and impressive reign while being actively avoided by several of the other champions - And not only did he win......he did so mostly in brutal KO'ing fashion.

He took on all commers...boxers, sluggers, runner's, you name it.....broke them down and defeated them....Was one of the best lower-weight body-punchers ever (which is often overlooked). He went to the body like that of JCC in his prime days....

Fighting Harada - Came into a fight with a formidable flyweight champion (Kingpetch) as a late sub, still only a teenager, with only moderate pro experience, and he whupped his ass. Later twice beat Eder Jofre when Jofre was considered by many people to be the best fighter in the world (better even than Sonny Liston). No one else ever beat Jofre in his long career, before or after. On top of that, Harada was screwed out of winning a third title in a major division, on a bad decision against another respectable champion, Johnny Famechon.

Khaosai Galaxy may have beaten more "contenders"/"titleholders", but do any them compare to the best comp. that Harada beat?


My top five would be...

1) Harada
2) Elorde
3) Pacquiao
4) Galaxy
5) Villa

Pacquiao could go higher, depending on how his career goes from here (perhaps if he beats DeLaHoya??). But for now, Harada is a clear #1 IMO.

Without a doubt a case can be made for Harada - I can make one myself -

Would everyone agree that a clearcut win for Pac-Man over DeLaHoya would put him into the number 1 spot.