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Manny Pacquiao Or Jimmy McLarnin?

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  • #21
    Originally posted by TheGreatA View Post
    Benitez is the only example one can come up with in this case though. How many 16 years olds could defeat the Olympic gold medalist who was on his way to becoming a world champion and according to newspapers one of the best fighters in the sport? I wouldn't say that McLarnin had a large amount of professional experience at that stage either, mostly 4 rounders against no hopers. He may or may not have had more fights that BoxRec displays but they couldn't have been against notable opposition.
    I think Fidel was probably the best guy that McLarnin had met up until that point given that Fidel beat Natinonalista at around this time - but let's not forget that the two fought a draw when Fidel had developed still further. They were likely in the same class. Certainly it could be considered a step up - and Jimmy also boxed Moore to a draw before fighting LaBarbara, invaluable experience. I think it's fair to say that Jimmy was mixing in LaBarbara's class whilst LaBarbara was not mixing in Jimmy's class.

    You are right to say that a 16 year old doing this is special. But how many got the opportunity? Langford perhaps overhauled his teen achievments, but aside from Benitez, there just wasn't anyone that really got the opportunity (A good thing!). Tyson is an example of a fighter who could have made this kind of impact.

    I should clarify that I do not recognize the wins over LaBarba as among McLarnin's best, but with some research I found myself appreciating them more and more. Only looking at LaBarba's modest record of 1-0 and 2-1 can be misleading, in my opinion he was already a force in the division at that stage. LaBarba surely gained some valuable experience in the following 6 months but I wouldn't put it past him to have been competitive against Genaro and Brown at the time he faced McLarnin for the third time.
    That wouldn't be my position. I guess I feel a little better at the high regard these wins are generally held in having talked to you, but I can't really get away from that 1-0, 2-1-1 numbers, and I don't want to

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    • #22
      Tyson did say that he could have beaten a prime Larry Holmes at 16 if only he had the same confidence that he did when he beat Holmes at 21.

      I can think of quite a few fighters who turned pro while young and caught some losses early on though, Henry Armstrong, Billy Conn, Benny Leonard being among them. Benitez and McLarnin seem to have been special cases who somehow possessed the maturity in the ring to compete against solid professionals.

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      • #23
        Originally posted by Obama View Post
        McLarnin actually beat 9 HOFers, 3 of them twice:

        Lou Ambers
        Tony Canzoneri
        Barney Ross (regained Welterweight title)
        Young Corbett III (won Welterweight title)
        Benny Leonard
        Billy Petrolle (x2)
        Sammy Mandell (x2)
        Pancho Villa
        Fidel LaBarba (x2)
        thats what i was gonna say. It's funny because when everyone was likening Manny to Henry Armstrong i thought it made more sense to compare him with mclarnin

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        • #24
          Originally posted by GJC View Post
          Personally gentlemen i'd be inclined to knock the Benny Leonard win off of Mclarnin's resume for the purposes of comparison we all know he beat the name but not the fighter.
          Same goes with a lot of HOFers on Pacs resume.

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          • #25
            Originally posted by TheGreatA View Post
            Tyson did say that he could have beaten a prime Larry Holmes at 16 if only he had the same confidence that he did when he beat Holmes at 21.

            I can think of quite a few fighters who turned pro while young and caught some losses early on though, Henry Armstrong, Billy Conn, Benny Leonard being among them. Benitez and McLarnin seem to have been special cases who somehow possessed the maturity in the ring to compete against solid professionals.


            True; but then Conn and Armstrong were entirely without am experience.

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            • #26
              The Benny Leonard win is like the Oscar De La Hoya win for Pacquiao, neither were the fighters that they used to be. The brief highlights don't show it but Leonard actually brought some of his old magic to the table and had minor success against McLarnin until being stopped. Still, it's nothing like beating a prime Benny Leonard who was a top 15 ATG.

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