Top 10 fighters of the last 21 years...

[Steak]

The best has to be Whitaker. He has the best single win of the last 20 years over Chavez, and has a plethora of other high quality wins to back it up, like Ramirez, Nelson, Vasquez, McGirt, etc.

add in the fact that he just might deserve a win over prime DLH despite being past prime and coked up and personally its pretty clear cut for me.

I put most my emphasis on quality of wins, and there I think Whitaker just has too much going for him.

[RubenSonny]

Barely five minutes passed and I changed it lol. Took out Lennox and inserted Evander before Lopez. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I want to place Pea #1. I don't know, man.

I hate ranking Lopez in anything

[IMDAZED]

I hate ranking Lopez in anything

Yeah man, he's so hard to pin down! Never moved up to the bigger challenges and beat a lot of mediocre opponents. But he was brilliant in the ring, was undefeated forever and fought two great bouts against Alvarez. I consider the first great as well because he was out gunned and in deep **** but was using every last ounce of guile to stay in the fight. The rematch was just crazy.

[Steak]

Lopez is very difficult to rank for a number of reasons. Theres no doubt he was tremendously talented and dominant, and extremely accomplished...but he does have a few things going against him as well. Minimumweight wasnt recongnised for a few years and barely while Finito was in it, and historically and presently its arguably the weakest division of all time. also Lopez didnt unify all the belts, did he?

but at the same time you want to give him credit...he was, after all, a great fighter.

what a mess.

[crold1]

I'm with everyone who has Pea #1, and by a bit. Best fighter since Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran were peak. After that, I'd probably go (off the top of my head):

Jones Jr.
Pacquiao
Hopkins
Holyfield
Mayweather
Chavez (Still GREAT from 90-93)
Barrera (or Morales, or Marquez...ask me tomorrow)
Toney (***** and all)
Lopez or Calzaghe (similar title #'s; Lopez better technically, Calzaghe fought better opp IMO, a place both were lacking comparatively); Tito could also squeeze in here.

I cheated and squeezed in like 14 guys. LOL

[Walt Liquor]

I wouldn't rate Whitaker #1 if we're talking 1990 to present. Pacquiao, Jones, etc. would vehemently disagree. It's real tough to make a pound for pound list but if I did (don't quote me on this, it may change as soon as tomorrow), I'd rate them from 1990-present as:

1. Roy Jones Jr.
Jones was the Fighter of the Decade of the 90's over Whitaker and deservedly so. I don't count the losses post-Tarver III too much as, after that(and maybe before), he was a spent force. He was unbeatable in his prime, rarely losing a minute, let alone a round. It wasn't a brief period either, he dominated for about a decade. I think you can make a strong case for Pacquiao here but my vote goes to Jones.

2. Manny Pacquiao
Pacquiao would hover around the level of Barrera and Morales on this list if his run ended at 130 but it didn't. While his wins in higher divisions don't rank with his wins in the lower ones, stoppages of Cotto and Hatton - particularly how it was done - were highly impressive and catapult him to the upper crust of this list. He's still not done and I think one or two more big wins (he has the opponents around him to do it) would put him on a list of names far smaller than this one.

3. Pernell Whitaker
Pea may have the glossiest wins on this list (Nelson, Chavez, McGirt, Oscar IMO). That's a pretty sick list of names. But he was also very uneven during that time following the Chavez win. The head-scratching performances against Rivera and the Hurtado bout was pretty bad. But if we went back another five years, he'd be #1 on this list easy.

4. Bernard Hopkins
I may be underrating Bernard a tad but I think we'll have a better idea of where he stands following this weekend. If he finally shows his age then I'll leave him at #4. I think his resume speaks for itself and while I'm not his biggest fan, he has the utmost respect from me. The Tito win was the stuff of legends; that performance was masterful. And that was his record breaking 14th defense of the middleweight crown. At 36. And he defended it about five more times. Then the leap to LHW to upset a top three pound for pounder in Tarver sealed his legacy as an ATG. It's incredible he still isn't done.

5. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd has the advantage of being undefeated but it's not a hollow 'O', his dossier is pretty strong. At 130-135, he could hang and beat nearly anyone. His stay at 140 was mediocre but his resume at 147 is solid. I suspect he has only one more great fight left in him (if that) so he may want to make it count. A win over Martinez/Pacquiao would push him to the top slot.

6. Erik Morales

7. Felix Trinidad

8. Marco Antonio Barrera

9. Evander Holyfield

10. Ricardo Lopez

i kept evander out b/c it doesn't include his CW career

[Walt Liquor]

Sick list and I enjoyed the explanations, but I think Whitaker has to be number one or 2 the very least, he has by far the best secondary wins out of everyone, he beat better contenders through that time period to compliment those "glossy wins". Though he looked **** against Rivera and Hurtado he still holds legitimate wins over them and it still counts to his resume. I also think its pretty clear that he has the least embarrassing losses of the 3 mentioned, though I don't put too much stock into them, it counts for something. in addition, he probably has the single best win (I don't give a **** about the judges Trojan), it has to be Pea for me.

All props to you for making the list, I don't think I could commit to a top 10.

throws **** at ruben

[Walt Liquor]

You can't give fantasy wins one way and not give them the other way A resume of Morales x3 Hamed Mckinney is FAR greater then Chavez(above 140) Nelson(above 130) Vasquez Mcgirt x2 and you know it.

Math is not your strong suit

1.1991
2.1992
3.1993
4.1994
5.1995
6.1996
7.1997
8.1998
9.1999
10.2000
11.2001
12.2002
13.2003
14.2004
15.2005
16.2006
17.2007
18.2008
19.2009
20.2010
21. 2011

2011 not over yet homey

[IMDAZED]

i kept evander out b/c it doesn't include his CW career

True that but he had two huge upsets at HW during the 1990's, one of them ranking up there with the very best and resurrected his career multiple times.

[crold1]

I wouldn't rate Whitaker #1 if we're talking 1990 to present. Pacquiao, Jones, etc. would vehemently disagree. It's real tough to make a pound for pound list but if I did (don't quote me on this, it may change as soon as tomorrow), I'd rate them from 1990-present as:

1. Roy Jones Jr.
Jones was the Fighter of the Decade of the 90's over Whitaker and deservedly so. I don't count the losses post-Tarver III too much as, after that(and maybe before), he was a spent force. He was unbeatable in his prime, rarely losing a minute, let alone a round. It wasn't a brief period either, he dominated for about a decade. I think you can make a strong case for Pacquiao here but my vote goes to Jones.

2. Manny Pacquiao
Pacquiao would hover around the level of Barrera and Morales on this list if his run ended at 130 but it didn't. While his wins in higher divisions don't rank with his wins in the lower ones, stoppages of Cotto and Hatton - particularly how it was done - were highly impressive and catapult him to the upper crust of this list. He's still not done and I think one or two more big wins (he has the opponents around him to do it) would put him on a list of names far smaller than this one.

3. Pernell Whitaker
Pea may have the glossiest wins on this list (Nelson, Chavez, McGirt, Oscar IMO). That's a pretty sick list of names. But he was also very uneven during that time following the Chavez win. The head-scratching performances against Rivera and the Hurtado bout was pretty bad. But if we went back another five years, he'd be #1 on this list easy.

4. Bernard Hopkins
I may be underrating Bernard a tad but I think we'll have a better idea of where he stands following this weekend. If he finally shows his age then I'll leave him at #4. I think his resume speaks for itself and while I'm not his biggest fan, he has the utmost respect from me. The Tito win was the stuff of legends; that performance was masterful. And that was his record breaking 14th defense of the middleweight crown. At 36. And he defended it about five more times. Then the leap to LHW to upset a top three pound for pounder in Tarver sealed his legacy as an ATG. It's incredible he still isn't done.

5. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Floyd has the advantage of being undefeated but it's not a hollow 'O', his dossier is pretty strong. At 130-135, he could hang and beat nearly anyone. His stay at 140 was mediocre but his resume at 147 is solid. I suspect he has only one more great fight left in him (if that) so he may want to make it count. A win over Martinez/Pacquiao would push him to the top slot.

6. Erik Morales

7. Felix Trinidad

8. Marco Antonio Barrera

9. Evander Holyfield

10. Ricardo Lopez

Your timeline is a wee bit off...Whitaker was uneven around Rivera...that's 96-ish? From 1990-95, he might have lost six rounds and that includes almost all his defining wins.