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Mailbag: Best of the original eight
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
Mar 24, 12:20 pm EDT
I watched a couple of DVDs of the late Salvador Sanchez on Saturday, before I saw the live shows on television featuring Vitali Klitschko’s knockout of Juan Carlos Gomez and Roy Jones’ victory over Omar Sheika.
Sanchez was a wonderful fighter whose life was tragically cut short in 1982 in an auto accident. He was 44-1-1 and one of the great featherweights who ever lived.
That got me thinking of the best fighters in each of the original eight weight classes. I’m picking my choices in each class based on when they were at their best. Feel free to disagree.
• Heavyweight: 1, Joe Louis; 2, Larry Holmes; 3, Muhammad Ali.
• Light heavyweight: 1, Archie Moore; 2, Ezzard Charles; 3, Billy Conn.
• Middleweight: 1, Harry Greb; 2, Marvelous Marvin Hagler; 3, Stanley Ketchel.
• Welterweight: 1, Sugar Ray Robinson; 2, Sugar Ray Leonard; 3, Jose Napoles.
• Lightweight: 1, Benny Leonard; 2, Roberto Duran; 3, Barney Ross.
• Featherweight: 1, Henry Armstrong; 2, Willie Pep; 3, Sandy Saddler.
• Bantamweight: 1, Eder Jofre; 2, Ruben Olivares; 3, Carlos Zarate.
• Flyweight: 1, Jimmy Wilde; 2, Miguel Cantu; 3, Pancho Villa.
Mailbag: Best of the original eight
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
Mar 24, 12:20 pm EDT
I watched a couple of DVDs of the late Salvador Sanchez on Saturday, before I saw the live shows on television featuring Vitali Klitschko’s knockout of Juan Carlos Gomez and Roy Jones’ victory over Omar Sheika.
Sanchez was a wonderful fighter whose life was tragically cut short in 1982 in an auto accident. He was 44-1-1 and one of the great featherweights who ever lived.
That got me thinking of the best fighters in each of the original eight weight classes. I’m picking my choices in each class based on when they were at their best. Feel free to disagree.
• Heavyweight: 1, Joe Louis; 2, Larry Holmes; 3, Muhammad Ali.
• Light heavyweight: 1, Archie Moore; 2, Ezzard Charles; 3, Billy Conn.
• Middleweight: 1, Harry Greb; 2, Marvelous Marvin Hagler; 3, Stanley Ketchel.
• Welterweight: 1, Sugar Ray Robinson; 2, Sugar Ray Leonard; 3, Jose Napoles.
• Lightweight: 1, Benny Leonard; 2, Roberto Duran; 3, Barney Ross.
• Featherweight: 1, Henry Armstrong; 2, Willie Pep; 3, Sandy Saddler.
• Bantamweight: 1, Eder Jofre; 2, Ruben Olivares; 3, Carlos Zarate.
• Flyweight: 1, Jimmy Wilde; 2, Miguel Cantu; 3, Pancho Villa.
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