Fighters who fought EVERYONE.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

I think most fighters miss someone especially if they've moved divisions a few times. Quite a few guys missed Paul Williams and I specifically mentioned Winky because De La Hoya missed him too, although I gather an offer was made.

Good point on Oscar missing Winky Wright. Can’t really remember it ever getting talked about in terms of negotiations. I always remember watching Wright on Roy’s undercards, he would often call Oscar out too, can’t believe that slipped my mind, he really was the forgotten man at 154 until Mosley decided he wanted that smoke.

Yeah that was essentially the point of the thread, it’s near impossible to fight everyone in your era. Did Holyfield miss anybody IYO? Maybe like a Golota or Morrison but nobody elite I think.

[Coverdale]

Good point on Oscar missing Winky Wright. Can’t really remember it ever getting talked about in terms of negotiations. I always remember watching Wright on Roy’s undercards, he would often call Oscar out too, can’t believe that slipped my mind, he really was the forgotten man at 154 until Mosley decided he wanted that smoke.

Yeah that was essentially the point of the thread, it’s near impossible to fight everyone in your era. Did Holyfield miss anybody IYO? Maybe like a Golota or Morrison but nobody elite I think.

Winky was a difficult night for anyone with that style. If I can find the post where someone claimed DLH made an offer to Winky I'll tag you in it. Might be an interesting aside for the History forum.

Holyfield - Bruno would have been an interesting fight. If Bruno had managed to hold on to the WBC belt for longer it probably would have happened.

[NotIron]

Floyd missed several guys. Tszyu, Williams, Margarito.

Donaire is a good shout.

Oscar missed two of those fighters you named too.

[nghtmr111]

Good shout. Porter pretty much fought everyone in his era at 147.

Brook, Thurman, Spence, Crawford, Broner, Berto, Garcia, Ugas - Win or lose, that's pretty damn good! He would've fought anyone.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Oscar missed two of those fighters you named too.

Suppose he could have fought Tszyu in the 90’s. By the time Margarito and Williams were top guys at 147, Oscar had long moved up. I know he went back down in 2008 but he was never gonna go back down for a Margarito or Williams. I remember there was some talk of Oscar-Margarito in Dec 2008 after Margarito ruined the planned Oscar-Cotto fight, but he obviously wound up fighting Pacquiao.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Winky was a difficult night for anyone with that style. If I can find the post where someone claimed DLH made an offer to Winky I'll tag you in it. Might be an interesting aside for the History forum.

Holyfield - Bruno would have been an interesting fight. If Bruno had managed to hold on to the WBC belt for longer it probably would have happened.

I think Holyfield would’ve outfought Bruno, maybe Frank has some success early but Holyfield would figure him out I think.

[daggum]

Bwahaha...Money man fought Baldimir instead

he actually fought sharmba mitchell(for much less), judah coming off a loss, and baldomir instead of margarito. just couldnt squeeze him into his schedule like canelo and benavidez.

[daggum]

Margarito is irrelevant. A smear of dog crap on Floyd's shoe. Get a grip on reality, Floyd beats him 15 rounds to 0 in a 12 round fight.

it was such an easy fight for floyd he said no thank you, ill take less money to fight sharmba mitchell, he is super relevant! zab lost to a bum? yeah hes so hot right now gotta fight him! margarito? yeah ill fight this guy just give me 20 million to fight hoya as part of the deal...oh thats crazy? yeah ill fight hoya for 10 actually when marg isnt part of the deal oops caught

[Malvado]

Think most professional boxers took most challenges available prior the 2010s. Some avoided to take certain opponents, but it's not as serious as it is currently.

In the 2000s the most notable fighters for me are Chico Corrales, Joel Casamayor, Jose Luis Castillo, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Winky Wright, Israel Vazquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Rafael & Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver, Joe Calzague, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr, and Klitschko brothers in a lackluster heavyweight era.

Maneuvering career to minimize risk and aim high on reward like Garcia, Haney, Davis and Lopez was starting to happen but it wasn't as notable in the 2010s, which likely was following Mayweather Jr's strategy in the later half of his career where he had already established a reputation by taking dangerous prime opposition.

Still, plenty took risks, only Hall Of Famers from 2010s would be Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez, Kenshiro Teraji, Nonito Donaire, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Naoya Inoue, Vasily Lomachenko, Errol Spence, Terrence Crawford, Erislandy Lara, Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev, Andre Ward, Dmitry Bivol, Arthur Beterbiev, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury (popularity) and Oleksandr Usyk.

In contrast in 2020s we have Ryan Garcia who just lost to Rolly Romero after coming from testing positive when beating Haney, Gervonta Davis resume filled with fighters being dragged up, clauses like Alvarez/Mayweather had done and manufactured champions, Devin Haney timing and picking opponents that are at a stylistic and size disadvantage more affectively than Ryan, and Teofimo Lopez, who is inactive and inconsistent, but the best of the bunch mentioned as he does take challenges like Lomachenko and Taylor.

The most promoted fight right now is a declining Canelo fighting a 38 year old Crawford from 147-154 to 168, Which shows how lagged behind the previous highly touted former prospects are in contrast even though it was shown that Garcia vs Davis did a lot of numbers.

Think talent wise, David Benavidez, Junto Nakatani, Jesse Rodriguez, Shakur Stevenson, Moses Itauma and some others are displaying exceptional talent, but don't have comparable resumes to the greats from before. At least not yet.

[Tatabanya]

Marvelous Marvin Hagler, anyone?