How high do you rank Iran Barkley

[OctoberRed]

GGG is head and shoulder above Barkley.

He's better, hard to say head and shoulders better when GGG never faced anyone as good as Barkley did.

[Sheldon312]

He's better, hard to say head and shoulders better when GGG never faced anyone as good as Barkley did.

Jacobs and Canelo are better than Barkely.

[OctoberRed]

Jacobs and Canelo are better than Barkely.

I'm talking about Barkely's competition compared to Golovkin's.

[billeau2]

Barkley was actually underrated boxer at his best.. Maybe not great defensively, but solid skillset, rangy and decent footwork when he wanted to use it.
Not only fighting boxers of caliber and with skillset of Kalambay, Duran, Hearns, Nunn - but also trying to win and not accepting his B-side role, made him look less than he really was imo. He gave really good account of himself against all of them.
Benn loss looks worse than it really was. He went for the kill and it could've gone both ways, also might've struggled with the weight at that point - and later his career was pretty much a mess with jumping weight like crazy..
I agree with OctoberRed's take. Sometimes it's when you arrive. If he hit his peak and caught B-Hop when Taylor caught him, or get a shot at Taylor when Pavlik got to Taylor - he could've been undisputed MW champion and get much higher praise for his achievements.
I rate him higher than Eubank, for example, for what it's worth.

Interesting take on Barkley, you actually put some time into it, are logical and seem a good advocate for him. When Barkley was fighting, well for one thing the divisions he was fighting in, one had to have some skills because it was a competative place.

To put things in some kind of perspective: Thai Boxing, which has a tremendous fan base in South East Asia...I doubt many people care, or could even mention the heavy weight champ because all the really good fighters, including those with some meat on em are in the middle divisions. The "champ" would be around the weight that Barkley fought.

With that said, for him to have some success at that weight means he had some skills, no question. He fought some of the best also and gave a great account of himself, nobody wanted to fight Barkley... never an easy time, much like the beast Mugabe!

[TheReadyTimeBoy]

Average-below average.

If you think Iran Barkley was an average to below average fighter than you really have no clue about boxing

The guy won 3 world titles and knocked out Hearns ffs.

[IronDanHamza]

If you think Iran Barkley was an average to below average fighter than you really have no clue about boxing

The guy won 3 world titles and knocked out Hearns ffs.

Oh yeah he beat a way past it Hearns twice for two of them and he beat the great Darren Van Horn for the third one amazing stuff!!

Almost compres to Adrien Broner's 4 world titles.

It's not like he lost to every half decent fighter he faced or anything. Well that's not true because he lost to some bums aswell.

DEAD average fighter.

[TBear]

Oh yeah he beat a way past it Hearns twice for two of them and he beat the great Darren Van Horn for the third one amazing stuff!!

Almost compres to Adrien Broner's 4 world titles.

It's not like he lost to every half decent fighter he faced or anything. Well that's not true because he lost to some bums aswell.

DEAD average fighter.

Almost compares to Broner's 4 titles???

Barkley was a blue collar fighter that worked his way. He was a huge underdog to Hearns the first time and showed tremendous heart to pull it out. Broner was a potential star that was led to championships. He was given opportunities to fight for vacant titles against fighters like the mighty Vicente Martin Rodriguez and Khabib Allakhverdiev. Where Barkley won titles against Hearns and two time champion Van Horn. Barkley lost his titles to guys like Duran and James Toney. Two greats in most fan's eyes.

Barkley was limited, that I would not argue, he had issues with weight and the losing of his close childhood friend Davey Moore in a tragic accident. But in spite if his limitations he was an over achiever where Broner who lined up for titles definitely underachieved.

Admittedly it would be hard to rank Barkley's skills among the all time greats but he came to fight and his toughness and heart were right up there.

[TheReadyTimeBoy]

Oh yeah he beat a way past it Hearns twice for two of them and he beat the great Darren Van Horn for the third one amazing stuff!!

Almost compres to Adrien Broner's 4 world titles.

It's not like he lost to every half decent fighter he faced or anything. Well that's not true because he lost to some bums aswell.

DEAD average fighter.

An 'average' fighter is likely some guy you've never even heard of who fights for $1000 at a smoky pub somewhere, not a guy who won multiple world titles and fought and beat legends. No clue at all.

[IronDanHamza]

An 'average' fighter is likely some guy you've never even heard of who fights for $1000 at a smoky pub somewhere, not a guy who won multiple world titles and fought and beat legends. No clue at all.

No what you are describing there is a bum.

Loads of average fighters win world titles. What are you telling me that if you win world titles you can't be average?

[IronDanHamza]

Almost compares to Broner's 4 titles???

Barkley was a blue collar fighter that worked his way. He was a huge underdog to Hearns the first time and showed tremendous heart to pull it out. Broner was a potential star that was led to championships. He was given opportunities to fight for vacant titles against fighters like the mighty Vicente Martin Rodriguez and Khabib Allakhverdiev. Where Barkley won titles against Hearns and two time champion Van Horn. Barkley lost his titles to guys like Duran and James Toney. Two greats in most fan's eyes.

Barkley was limited, that I would not argue, he had issues with weight and the losing of his close childhood friend Davey Moore in a tragic accident. But in spite if his limitations he was an over achiever where Broner who lined up for titles definitely underachieved.

Admittedly it would be hard to rank Barkley's skills among the all time greats but he came to fight and his toughness and heart were right up there.

Sarcasm. Pointing out being a title holder doesn't mean a fighter isn't average.

Barkley is dead average AT BEST. Other than a way past it Hearns litetally lost to every decent fighter he faced and lost to less than decent fighters aswell.