Hagler was never out of shape and could go all day.
If you read about his training camps I can't imagine a more demanding regime.
I think that massive chip on his shoulder acted as insipration.
He never looked over trained either, like Tommy Hearns in the first Leonard fight for example. No question Tommy trained hard and was physically fit, but had left the last 3 rounds in the gym :-(
A prime James Schuler era Tommy Hearns @ 168 when Tommy was jumping all over the weight divisions and there was no such things as the SMW division.
As someone already mentioned Bob Foster how about Archie Moore at 175? Got to be worth a shout.
Surely the Calzaghe that fought RJJ wasn't prime either?
His hands had been knackered for years. Maybe an earlier Joe that could punch with full power and pick his shots (and spar in the run up to fights) may not have been a total walk over. Shame Joe pissed the core of his career way fighting nobodies. Toney, Collins, RJJ, B-Hop et al were available, but apart from a weight drained Eubank, there's not even an Iran Barkley on his resume...
Any one read Eubank's autobiography? Whilst not saying that RJJ ducked him as such (the irony of that in itself), Eubank does intimate that RJJ didn't want to fight him as he didn't want to get drawn into a Watson II style life and death struggle. Again, I'm not saying Eubank would win, but I'd certainly watch it. Better than Vinny Pazienza I guess. Plus I don't believe Mr Eubank would have taken the fight in a million years.
And the G-Man couldn't beat Benn at 168 and Benn was better at 160, so I'd pick RJJ every day and twice on Sunday on that one. Interesting match up though.
David Haye could have done whatever he liked if he hadn't called out the Klits.
Also when he talked about only having massive fights, I thought he meant it.
Audley could win, no doubt but he is ranked 42 on boxrec for example.
I guess I'm just disappointed. This sort of thing kills boxing. I used to think voluntary defences such as Lewis - Bruno were barely acceptable but they look like Ali Frazier in comparison.
How comes Ordinary Audley gets to jump the queue?
Even Frank Bruno is in front of him.
Winning Prize Fighter + a last gasp win over Michael Sprott doesn't entitle you to a world title shot.