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It's obviously not a direct comparison, far from parallel but some of my favourite actors like Micky Rourke, Cristopher Walken and Danny Glover ,have been almost exclusively in **** movies yet they get the critical acclaim and fighters don't. They get the "who has he fought" treatment.
If your era or division was weak, you aren't really considered great.
There are excpetions. I mean you have Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins who were in pretty weak divisions, yet they are considered by most to be top 5 of all time within their divisions. Look at Marciano and Zaghe now for a contrast. This is not a black vs white thing it's just that the fighters happen to be white.
Marciano
Carlos Monzon
Riddick Bowe
Vasiliy Jirov
Mike Tyson
Juan Manuel Marquez before Pacman
Prince Naseem
Darius Michalczewski
Kostya
Vernon Forrest
Calzaghe
Kessler
Valero
ps: nobody thought much of Marquez and Zaghe prior to their fights with Pacman and Lacy respectively
If your era or division was weak, you aren't really considered great.
There are excpetions. I mean you have Larry Holmes and Bernard Hopkins who were in pretty weak divisions, yet they are considered by most to be top 5 of all time within their divisions. Look at Marciano and Zaghe now for a contrast. This is not a black vs white thing it's just that the fighters happen to be white.
Marciano
Carlos Monzon
Riddick Bowe
Vasiliy Jirov
Mike Tyson
Juan Manuel Marquez before Pacman
Prince Naseem
Darius Michalczewski
Kostya
Vernon Forrest
Calzaghe
Kessler
Valero
ps: nobody thought much of Marquez and Zaghe prior to their fights with Pacman and Lacy respectively