Top 20 Fighters Since World War II

[DeadLikeMe]

There are some bona fide Floyd haters that voted as well. It shows how respected he is among boxing writers and historians.

[MisanthropicNY]

wow that's a terrible list.

floyd and chavez sr are wayyyy too high. floyd is more in top 30-40. if floyd is 12 then pac should be top 5. pac has the better resume, accomplished far more, more exciting, etc.

and where is wlad or vitali kltschko?

seems like this is a biased american list.

I truly agree with the sentiment of this post. Floyd has the ability to be where he was ranked but avoided too many fights for us to know where he truly ranks so by default he's ranked too high...

Pac should be way higher.. from 06-11 he was unbeatable and has more skill than Chavez Jr and Duran... Pac after he fought De La Hoya would be a favorite going in against the same Sugar Ray Leonard who fought Hearns..believe that..

Roy Jones up to moving up to fight at Heavyweight..was amazing too... I think he's underrated and I'll always feel that way...

[MisanthropicNY]

There are some bona fide Floyd haters that voted as well. It shows how respected he is among boxing writers and historians.

Well you have a picture of another cherry-picker on your profile, so I'm not surprised you would leave a comment like that...

Do you want some Salka with your chips?

[Bullrush]

wow that's a terrible list.

floyd and chavez sr are wayyyy too high. floyd is more in top 30-40. if floyd is 12 then pac should be top 5. pac has the better resume, accomplished far more, more exciting, etc.

and where is wlad or vitali kltschko?

seems like this is a biased american list.

Funny how you argue that Manny should be on the list based on his resume and exciting fights yet you want the Klitschko's in there? Why not mention Holyfield? Lennox?

[MisanthropicNY]

Mayweather is going to finish something like 10-0 against Hall of Famers.

But I don't want to debate with you if you are going to say things like "Pacquaio clearly beat JMM the first two times". You clearly didn't watch either fight.

Name one Hall of Famer that Floyd fought when he was in his prime? Don't tell me Marquez lol..guy was moving up two divisions looking flabby and was old.. and Floyd cheated him at the scales... I don't care what Pac did against Marquez..doesn't change that Floyd's win over Marquez was a farce against a guy who wasn't ready for the division...

De La Hoya, Mosley (over the hill and Floyd still struggled at time in both fights)

[The Big Dunn]

Manny was a 2-1 underdog going in against De La Hoya...mostly everyone I saw analyze the fight said Oscar was going to destroy Manny lol..it would be like Arturo Gatti... I guess hindsight is 20/20...

Manny fought Hatton at 140 his best division... Floyd made a small guy come up in a weight class he wasn't impressive in and only fought Hatton after Collazo exposed flaws...

Manny had just lost to Morales lol... why wouldn't he take that fight next.. Morales was outboxed by a slick boxer...Morales didn't take a beating or anything to make anyone think he was shot...

Shane I agree was washed up against both Floyd and Manny neither one should expect much credit for that win...but Manny's win was much more impressive nonetheless because Floyd got rocked and almost dropped... Manny dropped Shane which has hardly ever happened...

And Cotto at 145 had just fought Clottey at 146... Floyd fought Cotto after Manny KOed him and Floyd couldn't even do that...

Fair point. But how much credit should Manny get for beating that ODH? you are basing credit not on where ODH really was as a fighter, but NSB comments about the fight.

NO, he beat Hatton who had dropped back down to 140 and had lost to Floyd. You can't really be suggesting he beat a better Hatton than Floyd did? you are using opinions in your rankings, not facts.

Morales got completely dominated by zahir raheem. Manny beast the same eric that danny Garcia did. You want to treat Morales like he was prime. again, you have to try and be fair and unbiased.

SHane was farbetter when Floyd fought him. he was the #1 ww in the world. he was a top 5 p4p fighter. Manny didn't fight that guy, he fought the one Floyd defeated. again, you can't keep skewing things just to make manny seem better.

The weight for the clottey/cotto fight isn't factored into the manny/cotto fight in any way, even you know this. Its only about the fight-and no matter how you cut it, Manny beat a 145 lb cotto, not a 147lb cotto. Yes, he beat him before Floyd did.

at what point do you try and be fair and just judge manny with the same criteria you do every other fighter?

[DeadLikeMe]

Well you have a picture of another cherry-picker on your profile, so I'm not surprised you would leave a comment like that...

Do you want some Salka with your chips?

You're clearly the butthurt one here. While you're entitled to your opinion, the experts clearly disagree with you. I do agree Floyd is a touch higher than he should be and some others could be swapped around a bit, but it is a thorough and comprehensive list. Manny is already sliding down the list from the peak of his superstardom, and fighting exhibitions in China isn't helping any.

[soul_survivor]

Williams, Marciano, Mayweather...lol

Just goes to show how far The Ring has fallen and that inclusion of Floyd Mayweather is such a political move.

[MisanthropicNY]

Fair point. But how much credit should Manny get for beating that ODH? you are basing credit not on where ODH really was as a fighter, but NSB comments about the fight.

NO, he beat Hatton who had dropped back down to 140 and had lost to Floyd. You can't really be suggesting he beat a better Hatton than Floyd did? you are using opinions in your rankings, not facts.

Well, Hatton is 1-1 at WW and he was undefeated at 140 when fought Manny.

Morales got completely dominated by zahir raheem. Manny beast the same eric that danny Garcia did. You want to treat Morales like he was prime. again, you have to try and be fair and unbiased.

Manny beat the same Morales that Garcia beat... I think you admit you were being facetious with that comment. Morales lost one fight to a slick boxer after just beating Manny..he wasn't shot..but wasn't at the peak of his prime either.. (Floyd never fought Morales but reasonably could have dropped down in weight to try to make the fight btw)

SHane was farbetter when Floyd fought him. he was the #1 ww in the world. he was a top 5 p4p fighter. Manny didn't fight that guy, he fought the one Floyd defeated. again, you can't keep skewing things just to make manny seem better.

Shane was shot.. by the time Shane fought Floyd so much time had elapsed from the Margarito fight.. and Shane was 39..

The weight for the clottey/cotto fight isn't factored into the manny/cotto fight in any way, even you know this. Its only about the fight-and no matter how you cut it, Manny beat a 145 lb cotto, not a 147lb cotto. Yes, he beat him before Floyd did.

Cotto accepted the fight..stop crying about catch weights when Floyd does it himself and doesn't even make the contracted catch weight all of the time either...(see Marquez and Canelo)

at what point do you try and be fair and just judge manny with the same criteria you do every other fighter?

NO, he beat Hatton who had dropped back down to 140 and had lost to Floyd. You can't really be suggesting he beat a better Hatton than Floyd did? you are using opinions in your rankings, not facts.

Well, Hatton is 1-1 at WW and he was undefeated at 140 when fought Manny.

Morales got completely dominated by zahir raheem. Manny beast the same eric that danny Garcia did. You want to treat Morales like he was prime. again, you have to try and be fair and unbiased.

Manny beat the same Morales that Garcia beat... I think you admit you were being facetious with that comment. Morales lost one fight to a slick boxer after just beating Manny..he wasn't shot..but wasn't at the peak of his prime either.. (Floyd never fought Morales but reasonably could have dropped down in weight to try to make the fight btw)

SHane was farbetter when Floyd fought him. he was the #1 ww in the world. he was a top 5 p4p fighter. Manny didn't fight that guy, he fought the one Floyd defeated. again, you can't keep skewing things just to make manny seem better.

Shane was shot.. by the time Shane fought Floyd so much time had elapsed from the Margarito fight.. and Shane was 39..

The weight for the clottey/cotto fight isn't factored into the manny/cotto fight in any way, even you know this. Its only about the fight-and no matter how you cut it, Manny beat a 145 lb cotto, not a 147lb cotto. Yes, he beat him before Floyd did.

Cotto accepted the fight..stop crying about catch weights when Floyd does it himself and doesn't even make the contracted catch weight all of the time either...(see Marquez and Canelo)

at what point do you try and be fair and just judge manny with the same criteria you do every other fighter?[/QUOTE]

[DeadLikeMe]

Williams, Marciano, Mayweather...lol

Just goes to show how far The Ring has fallen and that inclusion of Floyd Mayweather is such a political move.

It was a survey of many boxing experts. If it were rigged, why did the guy who owns the magazine only get 9 points?

The October issue of Ring surveyed many boxing writers and historians on the greatest fighters of the Modern Era (post-WWII). They were each asked to rank the 20 greatest fighters with 1st receiving 20 points, 2nd receiving 19, 3rd receiving 18, etc... with first place votes bracketed. The top 20 is as follows (HT to chrismart83 on scene):


1. Ray Robinson - 396pts - (17)
2. Henry Armstrong - 339 - (1)
3. Muhammad Ali - 324 - (1)
4. Roberto Duran - 296
5. Joe Louis - 293
6. Ray Leonard - 258
7. Willie Pep - 246 - (1)
8. Archie Moore - 189
9. Julio Cesar Chavez - 171
10. Ezzard Charles - 164
11. Pernell Whitaker - 132
12. Floyd Mayweather Jr - 118
13. Marvin Hagler - 117
14. Carlos Monzon - 98
15. Eder Jofre - 86
16. Sandy Saddler - 82
17. Roy Jones Jr - 80
18. Rocky Marciano - 77
19. Bernard Hopkins - 66
20. Ike Williams - 55

Others receiving votes:
Charley Burley - 53
Evander Holyfield - 42
George Foreman - 41
Billy Conn - 39
Larry Holmes - 36
Manny Pacquiao - 36
Kid Galivan - 28
Salvador Sanchez - 28
Emile Griffith - 27
Jose Napoles - 27
Holman Williams - 27
Mike Tyson - 26
Joe Frazier - 22
Alexis Arguello - 20
Marcel Cerdan - 20
Carlos Ortiz - 20
Ricardo Lopez - 19
Jake LaMotta - 17
Ruben Olivares - 17
Pascual Perez - 12
Marco Antonio Barrera - 9
Oscar De La Hoya - 9
Michael Spinks - 9
Tommy Hearns - 7
Miguel Canto - 5
Bob Foster - 5
Jimmy Bivins - 4
Lennox Lewis - 4
Sammy Angott - 3

Authors and historians surveyed were: Ron Borges (Ring), Bernard Fernandez (Ring), Doug Fischer (Ring), Norm Frauenhiem (Ring), Lee Groves (Tales from the Vault), Craig Hamilton (Historian), Thomas Hauser (Author), Kevin Iole (Yahoo Sport), Matt McGrain (Historian), Clay Moyle (Author), Martin Mulcahey (Historian), Patrick Myler Author), Jack Obermayer (Writer), Adam Pollack (Author), Cliff Rold (Historian), Michael Rosenthal (Ring), Mike Silver (Author), Tim Smith (Ring), Springs Toledo (Author), Anson Wainwright (Writer).