Comments Thread For: Sorry, Terence Crawford, but this is boxing?s Mt. Rushmore

[Oregonian]

I like sacrilege and I do not like subscribing to a consensus opinion no matter how unpopular my views are. Ali is definitely not the greatest fighter or the greatest athlete ever. There you go. I said it. Maybe the best promoter ever and the best known boxer by the casual public ever alongside Mike Tyson, but that is a different award. I loved Ali and was heartbroken when I watched him lose to Frazier in a "fight of the century" but if I am honest, his performances were up and down, brilliant and average to bad - over the span of his career. Most people on this forum are not old enough to have watched Ali fight live and be disappointed watch him lose to fighters that the "best fighter ever" should mop the floor with. Losing to ken Norton and Joe Frazier as well as Leon Spinks is not a resume for the "best athlete ever". Fans rely on articles from journalist fans and old video clips where he is revered as the boxing God, but he wasn't anything of the sort. He had feet of clay. He was popular. He was charismatic, but the best athlete ever - not even close.

I hated Floyd Mayweather and wanted him to be beaten by Chico, Pacman and Oscar and was upset every time when he that he wasn't. However, if I compare their careers and their achievements without my "like" or "dislike", Floyd wins hands down. I don't like it, but his resume wins.

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I see you chose not to respond to what I wrote about Tyson and Roy. I quoted you.

I’m not going to debate you on Ali’s giant standing in boxing folklore but I will ask, who in your opinion is the greatest athlete ever? You can the top 5 if you’d like

[brankobugarski]

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I see you chose not to respond to what I wrote about Tyson and Roy. I quoted you.

I’m not going to debate you on Ali’s giant standing in boxing folklore but I will ask, who in your opinion is the greatest athlete ever? You can the top 5 if you’d like

OK. It seems you like to argue just to argue or maybe just to have a last word (like my ex-wife). I did not respond to you because I was tired of arguing and once again you missed the point and wrote what is on your mind and not what I wrote or what I was thinking. I did not respond about Roy and Danny Green or Tyson and Danny Williams and Kevin McBride because I did not actually have those fights in mind when I was writing my post (although they are good examples of legends performing badly and embarrassing themselves).

But, since you insist on a response ... in terms of embarrassing performances (and losses) from boxing legends I was thinking Roberto Duran being splattered by Tommy Hearns, Surar Ray Leonard beaten up, knocked down and outclassed by Terry Norris, Ali used like a punching bag by Larry Holmes etc etc. You can add Roy being knocked out by Antonio Tarver and Glenn Johnson. Ali is not the greatest because the once brilliant man would show up unprepared and out of shape for some of his fights and lost to fighters who are not in his league (and if could not really dominate Frazier, Norton and Spinks, well he is not the greatest by any stretch of imagination). It broke my heart but I had to accept that he was not the GOAT.

My point is this - Floyd Mayweather never had a night like that where someone really embarrassed him badly. Neither did Bud (so far). Both of these guys have won multiple titles across many weight divisions and deserve to be on some hypothetical mountain ahead of guys who lost and lost badly and lost multiple times.

Who is the greatest athlete ever? I have no idea. The only thing that comes to mind is that watching Roy Jones Jr at the peak of his powers seemed like he was the Superman. Equally, watching Michael Jordan and Ussein Bolt in full flight and at the peak of their powers, there was something awe inspiring and supernatural about them too. Things they were doing seemed out of this world.

[Oregonian]

OK. It seems you like to argue just to argue or maybe just to have a last word (like my ex-wife). I did not respond to you because I was tired of arguing and once again you missed the point and wrote what is on your mind and not what I wrote or what I was thinking. I did not respond about Roy and Danny Green or Tyson and Danny Williams and Kevin McBride because I did not actually have those fights in mind when I was writing my post (although they are good examples of legends performing badly and embarrassing themselves).

But, since you insist on a response ... in terms of embarrassing performances (and losses) from boxing legends I was thinking Roberto Duran being splattered by Tommy Hearns, Surar Ray Leonard beaten up, knocked down and outclassed by Terry Norris, Ali used like a punching bag by Larry Holmes etc etc. You can add Roy being knocked out by Antonio Tarver and Glenn Johnson. Ali is not the greatest because the once brilliant man would show up unprepared and out of shape for some of his fights and lost to fighters who are not in his league (and if could not really dominate Frazier, Norton and Spinks, well he is not the greatest by any stretch of imagination). It broke my heart but I had to accept that he was not the GOAT.

My point is this - Floyd Mayweather never had a night like that where someone really embarrassed him badly. Neither did Bud (so far). Both of these guys have won multiple titles across many weight divisions and deserve to be on some hypothetical mountain ahead of guys who lost and lost badly and lost multiple times.

Who is the greatest athlete ever? I have no idea. The only thing that comes to mind is that watching Roy Jones Jr at the peak of his powers seemed like he was the Superman. Equally, watching Michael Jordan and Ussein Bolt in full flight and at the peak of their powers, there was something awe inspiring and supernatural about them too. Things they were doing seemed out of this world.

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So you have an ex-wife! Very interesting.

So your Mt Rushmore guys will be Calzaghe, Andre Ward, Rocky Marciano, Edwin Valero and Sven Ottke.

Ottke is such an ATG that guys like Ali, Pacqiao, Roy Jones, SRL, Tyson all pale in comparison. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Joe Beamish]

For Mt. Rushmore, I can only pick boxers who have accomplished great things in the ring. I don’t much care if they also suffered a few losses. I’d rather see people go for it and sometimes stumble than play it safe.

Ali, Robinson, Leonard and Duran are my four.

I do think that if Crawford defeats Canelo, it will be a great accomplishment. That’s jumping up a long, long way against the biggest star in the sport, and one of its top fighters. But he hasn’t done it yet.