Putting Floyd in his Place

[jas]

Another fl0mo circle jerk

[joseph5620]

I agree pretty much Joseph. It's tough though. Spinks was champ during the arguably best era of LHW and did upset Holmes at HW.

I think an interesting way to gauge Floyd in an all-time light, is to compare him with Leonard. Leonard is arguably the highest rated all-timer of the modern era. He fought and beat 3-4 boxers that surely is ranked in the top 100 possibly top 50 in Duran, Hearns, Hagler and Benitez (not top 50?).

Is there any way you can rank Floyds level of opposition that high? I would say clearly not.

Now to those who think Floyd is top 10 or even top 5, I'd like to make a little point to illustrate what it is Floyd is up against here. Take Harry Greb. He went 45-0 in 1919. 10 of those wins came against HOF'ers. Thats better than Floyds entire career. In a single year!

I agree completely with you when you look at the number of fights these old timers had. Against top competition too.

That's why it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for modern day fighters to crack that universally recognized top ten.

That will never be seen again because there is too much money involved for boxers today. They don't have to fight that frequently.

I was watching Ali-Chuvalo 2 recently and heard the announcer say that Ali had fought Jerry Quarry 3 weeks earlier. That just doesn't happen anymore.


Edit: After looking at what a top ten would actually look like, it's even harder to crack then I guessed.

Head to head is a different story. But based on resume a fighter would have to surpass, Robinson, Greb, Armstrong, Langford, Pep, Benny Leonard,Duran,Gans, Charles. That's not even including Ali, Ross, Canzoneri Moore, Jofre, Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilde, Louis or Whitaker..

That's an extremely difficult if not impossible task for a fighter from recent times to surpass.

[mrpizza-nd_beer]

He cracks Top 30 if I were being generous based on Willie Pep's record. If I was being a *******, he would be merely Top 49.



















Oh wait...Pep actually allowed grudge rematches up to 4 or 5 times with a rival. 20 plus points for Pep for not being a coward. So Floyd is placed accurately at Top 69.













Shiet, Floyd fixed his fights to his advantage. Forget about it he doesn't even belong to the Top 80.

[SeekDaGreat]

Top 30-40. If he beats Pacquiao then top 20 I suppose, but he lost to Castillo the first time.

And you can argue that he had a draw with journeyman Maidana in their first fight.

He's a great boxer. It doesn't hurt that he had always been the faster of the two boxers he's ever stepped in a ring with. Speed kills and his has always been superior. Not a risk taker, always makes sure he has the upper hand in the ring be it catch weights, gloves, etc. He needs to stop ducking Pac, and get that legacy win. He's top 15 without Pac, top 10 with him.

[SeekDaGreat]

Another fl0mo circle jerk

Also pretty much this. I should have stopped reading after TS said "prime Corley..." but I played along...

[IronDanHamza]

Floyd can be ranked higher then these 3 easily

And Lewis.

Lewis very easily.

[V.WEBB]

And you can argue that he had a draw with journeyman Maidana in their first fight.

He's a great boxer. It doesn't hurt that he had always been the faster of the two boxers he's ever stepped in a ring with. Speed kills and his has always been superior. Not a risk taker, always makes sure he has the upper hand in the ring be it catch weights, gloves, etc. He needs to stop ducking Pac, and get that legacy win. He's top 15 without Pac, top 10 with him.

Fighting guys like Hernandez with 17 pro fights isn't taking a risk?

[IronDanHamza]

And you can argue that he had a draw with journeyman Maidana in their first fight.

He's a great boxer. It doesn't hurt that he had always been the faster of the two boxers he's ever stepped in a ring with. Speed kills and his has always been superior. Not a risk taker, always makes sure he has the upper hand in the ring be it catch weights, gloves, etc. He needs to stop ducking Pac, and get that legacy win. He's top 15 without Pac, top 10 with him.

You can't argue that Ray Robinson the greatest fighter of all time wasn't utterly dominated by Ralph Tiger Jones who was an actual journeyman. Not a world champion like Maidana. An actual journeyman.

Ray Robinson had the speed advantage in every fight he had aswell.

Also to say he "always had the upper hand" is also not true.

[The Big Dunn]

Although I personally have him behind SRL and Hagler (I only rank guys really after 1980), I think the Ring magazine actually had Floyd properly placed as 12th among the best fighters since WWII.

I think the nature of the sport and the lower number of quality fighters in the sport since it became less of a mainstream sport in the last 20 years affect where today's guys are ultimately ranked.

Lost in all of Floyd's BS is the fact he is a 2nd generation fighter, trained by a 2 time world champ, who spent his life in the ring. He works hard, mastered his craft, and actually knows about the sport's history. There is nothing in the ring he hasn't done in his career, except maybe show one punch KO power.

For me he is the equivalent of Kobe Bryant-maybe not as great as his diehard fans suggest but certainly significantly better than his detractors will say.

[joseph5620]

And Lewis.

Lewis very easily.

Mayweather unquestionably rates higher than Lewis.