BoxRec

BOXING ILLUSTRATED selected Emile Griffith as the Fighter Of The Decade (Sixties).
Many would pick Eder Jofre.

I agree with BI that Griffith deserves top spot, but would have no trouble voting for Eder Jofre.

Got to agree about Jofre.

I personally think he is one of the very greatest boxers that ever lived.

1960's

1.Muhammad Ali
2. SURPRISE Nino Benvenuti

Seamus wrote:1960's

1.Muhammad Ali
2. SURPRISE Nino Benvenuti

If this is the fighter of the Sixties, can't see Muhammed Ali being selected above
Emile Griffith and Eder Jofre.

The Nino Benvenuti selection is plausible, but then there was Dick Tiger, Carlos Ortiz,
and Vincente Saldivar. However, Griffith edges out Benvenuti & Tiger, and Jofre
eases past Vincente Saldivar. Two others that I liked from the Sixties were
Eddie Perkins and Flash Elorde.

I think the great Muhammad Ali was the 1960s best in my view. The great Eder Jofre was the most UNDERRATED of the 60s decade.

Of that period, inclunding all the mentioned, I put the names of Joey Giardello, Jose Torres, Sugar Ramos, Nicolino Locche, Horacio Accavallo, Flash Elorde and Ismael Laguna


:)

Laguna is another terribly under-estimated fighter.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Laguna is another terribly under-estimated fighter.

Ismael Laguna had his moments in the lightweight division, but falls
behind the likes of Vincente Saldivar and Carlos Ortiz in the best of
the Sixties.

Of interest, two Australian boxers that shined briefly in the Sixties
were Johnny Famechon and Lionel Rose. One of Famechon's
victories included a 1968 victory over Canadian Billy McCrandle.

Famechon was no more Australian than was Kostya Tszyu.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Famechon was no more Australian than was Kostya Tszyu.

Of course he was born in France, but started boxing in Australia.
A great gift for Australia. So is he a French or Australian boxer

One of my grandfathers is Australian, so I guess I am another
family leaf on our Australian family tree, but I boxed as a Canadian.
So am I Australian or Canadian or something else DD
like English. Maybe an Irish-English Australian-Canadian.
Bottom line is Famechon is an Australian boxer with French roots. DD

He may have been an Australian boxer, but he was a French human being, with French blood, not Australian, coursing through his veins. That makes his French, in my book. How would you classify Tszyu?

I think that Jofre was the superior fighter P4P but Griffith fought the superior competition throughout his career and I think that counts more a little more then skill.

mhagler91490 wrote:I think that Jofre was the superior fighter P4P but Griffith fought the superior competition throughout his career and I think that counts more a little more then skill.

Good logic, that's the way I see it and agree with you and "Boxing Illustrated".

Take 1966 and the fight of the year. According to "The Ring" magazine,
the Jose Torres - Eddie Cotton light-heavyweight title fight was the
fight of the year, but Emile stepped-up as welterweight champion
champion and defeated middleweight champion Dick Tiger in a great fight.
Griffith then faced Joey Archer in a super match of excellent boxing
skills by Griffith and Archer. Also, Muhammed Ali was starting to wind-up
his first term as heavyweight champion with a series of routine fights
against George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Brian London, Karl Mildenberger
and the old warhorse Cleveland Williams. Some would add the tag,
"bum of the month club" for Ali, but that appears a little harsh.
In 1966, Jofre only regained the bantamweight title from Fighting Harada
and retired until his comeback fight in 1969 as a featherweight.

Zelley wrote:BOXING ILLUSTRATED selected Emile Griffith as the Fighter Of The Decade (Sixties).
Many would pick Eder Jofre.

I agree with BI that Griffith deserves top spot, but would have no trouble voting for Eder Jofre.

- Thing about Griffith, though very active against very strong comp, he records 9 losses between 61-70.

I see the button downs have selected Ali, ignoring his weak overall comp in his 10 title wins and the shaky nature of winning his belt. Ali was not highly regarded at the close of the 60s although the few supporters he did have tended to be rabid, probably down to politics rather than boxing.

Joe Frazier was the undefeated and unified champ, 7-0 in title wins and was in against strong prime comp, 26-0 at the close of the 60s.

Probably a legit choice with Griffith who won and lost the title at least 5x in with his other losses. Modern fighters would have a heart attack halfway through the comp he was fighting in the 60s.

I created a thread similar to this a couple of years about the 1960's and it was fun talking about these guys for a change. I didn't count heavyweights. ( I figured it would be a more interesting conversation if we could leave out the usual anti-Ali BS)
Anyway, here is how I ranked them:

1. Jofre
2. Griffith
3. Saldivar
4. Tiger
5. Harada
6. Benvenuti
7. Ortiz
8. Locche
9. Rodriquez
10. Elorde

Honorable Mention- Sugar Ramos, Jose Torres, Curtis Cokes.
I didn't count Foster or Napoles since much of their prime was in the early 1970's but I suppose you could count them. Likewise Fullmer and Giardello had some great fights in the 1960's, but much of their primes were in the 1950's.

There are certainly a lot of close calls. Really from about #1 to #7 could be in almost any order.

As others have mentioned, Griffith did have several losses/close wins but also had so many big wins; which makes him tough to rate. He fought very good competition. Just on this list he have several close fights with Benvenuti, Tiger and Rodriquez.

It's nice to talk about these guys once in a while for a change. Some are underrated; especially Saldivar and Rodriquez.

It is also interesting talking about the contenders, a sample of non-heavyweights:

Greg Peralta, Bennie Briscoe, Ernie Lopez, Manuel Gonzalez,
and Raul (Bang Bang) Rojas,

Flashback to 1965:
Wayne Thornton & Eddie Cotton (LH)
Joey Archer & Rubin Carter (M)
Ted Whitfield & Jose Stable (W)
Frankie Narvaez & Maurice Cullen (L)
Ricardo Moreno & Floyd Robertson (F)
Jesus Pimental & Alan Rudkin (B)
Rocky Gattellari & Walter McGowan (Fly)

As the old song goes:
"Those were the days my friend, I though they'd never end..."

Goodnight, Irene wrote:He may have been an Australian boxer, but he was a French human being, with French blood, not Australian, coursing through his veins. That makes his French, in my book. How would you classify Tszyu?

This quote is ridiculous. How many white Australians are there then in your opinion? Seeing as how whites arent indigenous... Are you white? If so do you not consider yourself Australian?

He was French, man. Simple as that. It isn't as if he were born here, with one Australian parent. He happened to move to this country. That's completely arbitrary, IMO, when determining a person's nationality.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:He was French, man. Simple as that. It isn't as if he were born here, with one Australian parent. He happened to move to this country. That's completely arbitrary, IMO, when determining a person's nationality.

And what about Rocky and Lucky Gattellari are they Australian boxers or some
strange import from a distant continent or maybe from another another solar system?

It doesn't matter if they are from Australia or Alaska what is their ring performance?

My point is all white Australians moved there from somewhere else. Its like the people who call Lennox Lewis a british fighter. He was born in Britain but moved to Canada at a young age where he learned to box and where started boxing. He perfected his style in the USA and spends most of his time in Jamaica. Is he British??? My next door neighbor is from Columbia, he moved here a couple of years ago and is in his late 30's. Is he Columbian or American? Because I know he considers himself an American and would be insulted by anything else.

klompton wrote:My point is all white Australians moved there from somewhere else. Its like the people who call Lennox Lewis a british fighter. He was born in Britain but moved to Canada at a young age where he learned to box and where started boxing. He perfected his style in the USA and spends most of his time in Jamaica. Is he British??? My next door neighbor is from Columbia, he moved here a couple of years ago and is in his late 30's. Is he Columbian or American? Because I know he considers himself an American and would be insulted by anything else.

There are lots of people who believe in ghosts, goblibs, UFO's & even various forms of God. They're insulted to have their views taken less than seriously. Doesn't make it all true. Your mate is no more American than I am. If he considers himself a Yank, that alone don't make it so.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

klompton wrote:My point is all white Australians moved there from somewhere else. Its like the people who call Lennox Lewis a british fighter. He was born in Britain but moved to Canada at a young age where he learned to box and where started boxing. He perfected his style in the USA and spends most of his time in Jamaica. Is he British??? My next door neighbor is from Columbia, he moved here a couple of years ago and is in his late 30's. Is he Columbian or American? Because I know he considers himself an American and would be insulted by anything else.

There are lots of people who believe in ghosts, goblibs, UFO's & even various forms of God. They're insulted to have their views taken less than seriously. Doesn't make it all true. Your mate is no more American than I am. If he considers himself a Yank, that alone don't make it so.

Then again "Yank" is just another variation of English as the North=Eastern settlers and
red coats were called in places like Northern New York and Ohio border regions
long before the Irish-American boxer John L Sullivan. could beat anyone in the world

Then we have the likely candidates for the best in the Sixties with it being
a clear one-two punch for Emile Griffith and Eder Jofre.