By Rusty Nate: So as you may have guessed by the title, this article is because we are all winding down for Christmas or the Holiday Season as our American friends may say and I just wanted to put something out there that hopefully you can all get involved discussing but without the mention of PED’s, Dodgy Promoters, Fixed Judging or fighters dodging each other.
I was thinking about this the other day and trying to come to a conclusion of weather “Unbeatable” is possible or just a made up word that can never really be proven!
As we know there are fighters of the past such as Rocky Marciano, Joe Calzaghe, Sven Ottke, Ricardo Lopez, Terry Marsh and Edwin Valero who all retired, Stopped fighting for illness or in Valero’s case suicide with records in tact with no defeats. But none of the above fighters would rank in many peoples top 5 or even 10 of all time greats.
More recently and still active we have Mayweather, Alvarez and Ward who are top of the tree and still undefeated well into their respective careers.
There is really two questions to this article…..
First: Is “Unbeatable” a label we would give to any of these fights or are they simply “Unbeaten”
Second: Is an unbeaten fighter really the best?
I guess my view is that we can never call a fighter of any era unbeatable. They may have never lost in their long careers but that is not to say someone could have beaten them had they had the chance.
Tyson vs Douglas is a prime example of a fighter who should never have beaten “Iron Mike” especially not in the way he did, it wasn’t just a lucky punch in this fight. But he got his chance and took it!
I also came to the conclusion that an unbeaten fighter is also not necessarily the best fighter. The prime example obviously is Ali, considered one of the best of all time yet was beaten (in his prime) more than once. Also Ray Robinson. Again beaten in his prime but one of the best ever.
Mayweather once made a comparison between himself and Ali saying that he felt he was better than Ali because of what he had achieved in his career and that he was undefeated. I disagree with this and the reason is because I judge a fighter not by his record of wins and losses (anyone can be beaten if they simply get caught by a perfect punch) but more by how that fighter handles defeat or disappointment as well as his character out side of the ring. I suppose what I am saying is that being the best fighter is not just about fighting.
Like I said this is just a fun article on a random topic to get you all in the festive spirit with a friendly discussion (or argument :) ) So, what’s your thoughts?
Is anyone truly unbeatable?
Why are the unbeaten champions of the past not the best that ever lived?
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