What Fighter since 1980 has beaten the best competition.

[Ras44]

Leonard. Fought Hearns... two times. Duran... three times. Hagler. Taking late 70's early 90's into consideration, also Benítez and Norris.

Only failed to face Pryor.

[wpink1]

When was he supposed to face pyror...I suggest you not fall prey to myths...Pryor was a jr welterweight who had beaton only old Cervantes by the time Leonar retired in nov of 82 after retinal surgery...Pyror beat Arguello the end of that same month...Arguello is what put pryors name on the map.

The myth of leonard ducking pryor is by pryor groupies, many people too young and ws not even around then, people who saw the hbo special and because some pro pryor associates where on there hyping up pyror does not make it so. Simply do the time line yourself. Yes pryor approached his old buddy, on stage about a fight, but what was left out is that this was during the leonard hearns buildup. Was leonard supposed ot not fight hearns the wba welterweight champ who just ko'd cuevas, to fight a unproven jr welter who never fought at welterwieght before....hmmmmm

[Thread Stealer]

When was he supposed to face pyror...I suggest you not fall prey to myths...Pryor was a jr welterweight who had beaton only old Cervantes by the time Leonar retired in nov of 82 after retinal surgery...Pyror beat Arguello the end of that same month...Arguello is what put pryors name on the map.

The myth of leonard ducking pryor is by pryor groupies, many people too young and ws not even around then, people who saw the hbo special and because some pro pryor associates where on there hyping up pyror does not make it so. Simply do the time line yourself. Yes pryor approached his old buddy, on stage about a fight, but what was left out is that this was during the leonard hearns buildup. Was leonard supposed ot not fight hearns the wba welterweight champ who just ko'd cuevas, to fight a unproven jr welter who never fought at welterwieght before....hmmmmm

Thank You!!!

[Ras44]

When was he supposed to face pyror...I suggest you not fall prey to myths...Pryor was a jr welterweight who had beaton only old Cervantes by the time Leonar retired in nov of 82 after retinal surgery...Pyror beat Arguello the end of that same month...Arguello is what put pryors name on the map.

The myth of leonard ducking pryor is by pryor groupies, many people too young and ws not even around then, people who saw the hbo special and because some pro pryor associates where on there hyping up pyror does not make it so. Simply do the time line yourself. Yes pryor approached his old buddy, on stage about a fight, but what was left out is that this was during the leonard hearns buildup. Was leonard supposed ot not fight hearns the wba welterweight champ who just ko'd cuevas, to fight a unproven jr welter who never fought at welterwieght before....hmmmmm

I'm not trying at all to knock down Leonard. If you check out my posts you will see I think he's the GOAT.

[wpink1]

Not attacking you, just setting the record straight vs the myth of Pryor. Its funny how things that are not historically accurate start to gain steam years after the fact, like hagler was fighting 15 round fights until he faced leonard, or leonard got him to fight at 155, etc...

I love Leonard, but his career was too short to consider him the greatest of all time, and he did let a lightweight move and up beat him initially. Howevr, leonard is my favorite, he did beat the best level of opposition in benetiz, hearns, hagler, duran since 1980 hmmm 1979.

I do feel that Roy Jones was probably the best fighter though. He was simply too good. He did completley dismantly two greats, Toney and Hopkins. and was sooo fast and powerful at middlweight, the big four (leonard, duran, hagler, hearns) is lucky that Roy came around after their reign.

[squealpiggy]

Thunderlips was a force of nature. Brother.

[Sweet Pea 50]

I think Thunderlips would have got smashed by Creed. To good of a 1,2. Thunder would have got close, and got blinded by the trunks. Besides, was Thunderlips on the original Rocky on the Sega Master System? I don't think so.
Creed TKO's Thunder, and Lang. Big L's to 80's Rocky, and Drago.
Just how I see it...

[Vasyl’s dad]

Have you ever boxed? Do you know the job of a Ref. Your correct about the 1st rule, but he has other rules as well, including clock awareness, that is why he is signaled with 10 seconds left to go in each round, to position himself to step in at the end of the round. He also IS TRAINED TO MAKE JUDGMENTS NOT ONLY IN THE SAFETY OF THE FIGHTERS, BUT OTHER ITEMS LIKE KEEPNG THE ACTION ALIVE, SHORTS LOCATIONS, MANAGING THE FIGTHERS CORNERS, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST IF IT IS THE END OF A FIGHT, THE FIGHTERS GET THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT IN REGARDS TO STOPPAGES.... THAT IS WHY ( I noticed you chose to not address my point regarding fighting being saved by the bell at the final bell)

The fight doesn't have to be saved by the bell if the ref feels a fighter is done, 2 seconds or 2 minutes. The ref doesn't even know how many seconds are left. In a fight of that magnitude, the type of action going on and the crowd noise, do you think Richard Steele was counting down seconds until the end of the fight? No, he was focused on the condition of a badly fading and brutally beaten fighter. He had the best view of anyone to see the condition of Taylor. He asked 2 times if he was ok and Taylor did not respond whether Lou Duva jumped up on the mat or not. The fact of the matter is, Richard Steele gave Meldrick Taylor a chance to finish the fight and Taylor blew it.

The rematch proved who the better fighter was, again.

[Sweet Pea 50]

The fight doesn't have to be saved by the bell if the ref feels a fighter is done, 2 seconds or 2 minutes. The ref doesn't even know how many seconds are left. In a fight of that magnitude, the type of action going on and the crowd noise, do you think Richard Steele was counting down seconds until the end of the fight? No, he was focused on the condition of a badly fading and brutally beaten fighter. He had the best view of anyone to see the condition of Taylor. He asked 2 times if he was ok and Taylor did not respond whether Lou Duva jumped up on the mat or not. The fact of the matter is, Richard Steele gave Meldrick Taylor a chance to finish the fight and Taylor blew it.

The rematch proved who the better fighter was, again.

Don't push me over that ledge folks....

[grayfist]

The mention of Alexis Arguello somewhere in this thread got me thinking that his Jr. Lightweight and Lightweight careers deserve consideration.

I think he started the 80's by beating Bobby Chacon and that's after disposing of Alfredo Escalera (return match) and Bazooka Limon late in 1979..

Then he beat Rolando Navarette, Cornelius Boza-Edwards, Jose Luis Ramirez, Jim Watt, and Ray Mancini--all of whom were either champs or later became champs. Then, he added to his list top-flight contenders like the then 47-0 Ruben Castillo, James Buscheme, Andrew Ganigan, Robert Vasquez and Robert Elizondo.

All these he accomplished from 1980 to 1982 (when he lost to Aaron Pryor).