What truly determines greatness in boxing?

By Anthony Mason - 05/22/2014 - Comments

By Anthony Mason: So often do we hear a fighter being anointed as a boxing great, but in modern times it seems that this is largely due to media hype and marketability. It is important to look at what truly determines a great fighter and look past the smoke and mirrors that are often present.

First, we need to remove these illusions by noting what does NOT necessarily make a great fighter.

1) An undefeated record or a high W-L (KO) ratio – Whitey Bimstein, a trainer who was involved in the careers of men such as Tunney, Dempsey, Greb, Olson, and Carpentier, among others, stated “Show me an undefeated fighter and I’ll show a guy who’s never fought anybody.”

A boxer’s record is often overvalued when nothing else is taken into consideration. I highly doubt anyone would take Brian Nielsen, at one point 49-0, over a fighter with several losses like Evander Holyfield. Simply because a boxer has a high winning percentage does not mean they are great. Would anyone take Deontay Wilder over fighters with losses such as Ali, Foreman, Louis, or any of the great heavyweights of the past?

Julio Cesar Chavez’s 89-0-1 is admired by many boxing fans, but it is nowhere near the level of Sugar Ray Robinson or Roberto Duran’s first 90 fights. Chavez’s best wins are Greg Haugen, Edwin Rosario, padded-record Camacho, and Meldrick Taylor. This is a pretty good list, but the 89-0-1 is extremely deceptive when determining Chavez’s ranking. Pernell Whitaker, the only truly great fighter that Chavez fought, easily outboxed him only to get robbed, further proving that Chavez’s zero, although impressive to a degree, is not as great as it looks.

Ricky Hatton is another example. Outside of Kosta Tszyu, whose only claim to fame is knocking out the average Zab Judah, he does not have any notable wins. But prior to fighting Mayweather and Pacquiao he was seen as an unbelievable animal, despite the fact that he barely squeaked by a C-level Collazo. The only times he ever fought elite competition, he was demolished.

There are several examples of fighters who had zeroes, only to be exposed as fighters who were far from elite – Diego Corrales, Zab Judah, and Jeff Lacy are just a few examples of fighters who were given high praises without ever beating ONE top-level fighter.

2) Holding a belt in one or more weight classes (at least in more modern eras) – Some are quick to point out that a boxer is a so-called “world champion” in multiple weight classes, and attempt to use this as justification for greatness. People often ignore that the standards for so-called champions, in reality no more than belt-holders, are very low. With the addition of several super/junior weight classes, and with four major belts (not to mention the minor silver, interim, intercontinental, etc belts) per class, there are over 68 belts to be won. In actuality, there are perhaps 20-25 A-class fighters in boxing today, so the number of belts far exceeds the number of elite boxers.

In the days of Henry Armstrong, there were only eight possible belts to be won out of a total eight classes. If you held a belt in those days, you were a true champion. Nowadays, C-level fighters such as Malignaggi and Broner are labeled as multi-division champions. Adrien Broner is actually technically considered a 4-divison champion by today’s standards. Someone who didn’t know any better would assume that this would put him near the class of Henry Armstrong, a 3-division champion, if they were not to consider that Broner never beat one elite fighter in his life.

Genaro Hernandez was considered a champion, even when his only win over an elite opponent was a well past his prime Azumah Nelson. Diego Corrales was in the same boat, only he never even beat one fighter who was ever considered elite regardless of when their prime was (calling Castillo and Casamayor elite is a very, very big stretch.) It is more appropriate for us to call such boxers belt-holders rather than champions.

To cap off, let us look at a long list of fighters who were or are somehow considered world-class champions, despite having never beaten anyone to be considered a true champion.

Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz, Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah, Arturo Gatti (an exciting fighter, but far from elite), Miguel Angel Cuello, David Diaz, Jimmy Bredahl, Rafael Ruelas, Chatchai Sasakul, and Joshua Clottey among many others.

3) Being put high on the pound for pound rankings – Sometimes, pound for pound rankings are accurate, but there are several mistakes that are made. Adrien Broner of all people was actually ranked on pound for pound lists before Maidana exposed him. Canelo Alvarez’s best win is squeaking past Austin Trout, but many lists rank him highly. Diego Corrales was at one point ranked ahead of Bernard Hopkins and Lennox Lewis, and no one who knows anything about boxing could agree with such a ludicrous list. Somehow, the makers of that list thought that beating journeyman fighters such as Robert Garcia, Justin Juuko, and Angel Manfredy was enough to put Corrales over two of the greatest boxers in the rich histories of their respective divisions.

4) Beating big name fighters that are well beyond their prime – At first glance, Rocky Marciano’s victories over Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Archie Moore, and the great Joe Louis look like a murderer’s row of opponents. When you factor in, however, that all of them were well past their prime, with Charles and Moore approaching 40 and Louis not far behind at the time of his bout with Marciano, it is clear that such a record is a farce. The fact that Marciano struggled badly against Moore, Walcott, and Charles despite having nearly every physical advantage possible is only further proof of this.

Can anyone really give Joe Calzaghe credit for beating a Chris Eubank or Roy Jones shot well beyond their best days? Calzaghe’s perfect timing of opponent selection was exposed after the robbery that occurred in his fight against a 42 year old Bernard Hopkins (before the 12th round, even Calzaghe’s own father was appalled at Calzaghe’s performance and screamed at Joe that his only way of beating Hopkins was to stop him.)

Leon Spinks and Trevor Berbick were solid fighters, but I highly doubt one could rank their victories over Muhammad Ali anywhere near as high as Ken Norton’s or Joe Frazier’s. Although Anthony Mundine defeated Shane Mosley, the win is not worth much considering how far Shane Mosley was past his prime.  Likewise, it doesn’t mean much for Pacquiao or Mayweather to have beaten Shane Mosley a few years ago when he was almost 40 having been beat down twice apiece by Vernon and Winky, and once by Cotto.

5) Being a big draw and making PPV records – Canelo Alvarez brought in great pay-per-view numbers, but he still has yet to beat one A-class fighter. Mike Tyson in his prime was actually a great heavyweight, and he brought in more money than any other heavyweight in boxing history Still, I doubt many would rank him among the likes of Ali, Foreman, or Louis. Being able to sell tickets is often because of media hype jobs or marketability, and not always based on substance. Pay-per-view did not even exist until the mid 1970s, and it took even longer for pay-per-view to become commonly used, so it is ridiculous to use this to validate a fighter’s great status.

Now, we spent a lot of time looking at what does not make you great, so what does make a truly great boxer?

1) The competition that a boxer faced (and beat) – This is the number one factor in determining greatness, and the only factor that is absolutely necessary. All other factors of determining greatness depend on this central point, and are not as necessary as facing (and beating) top-level competition.

Why is Sugar Ray Robinson the greatest of all time? Because he beat an unbelievable, truly world-class list of opponents; Randy Turpin, Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer, Henry Armstrong, Sammy Angott, Fritzie Zivic, Jake Lamotta, Kid Gavilan, Jose Basora, Bobo Olson, Charley Fusari, and more. On top of that, almost all of these opponents were in or near their primes. Far more impressive than beating belt-holders like David Diaz or past-prime opponents like Mosley or Margarito.

Greb beat the great Mickey Walker and is the only man to defeat Gene Tunney. Jack Johnson, despite ducking a lot of competition, still managed to beat Jeffries, Ketchel, Fitzsimmons, McVey, and Langford. Willie Pep defeated Sandy Saddler and Chalky Wright. Ali defeated Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, and Floyd Patterson, with the majority of them being in their primes. Evander Holyfield beat Tyson, Bowe, Mercer, and old but still elite versions of Holmes and Foreman.

Marvin Hagler established the difference between the great boxers in history and the simply good boxers of today with this 100% accurate statement. “(Floyd Mayweather) is able to win his fights because I don’t think the status of fighters is as great as they were years ago.” Mayweather has been the top fighter in the sport for the past several years, but one of the greatest middleweights of all time can see the true reason for Mayweather’s spot at the top. Roger Mayweather himself indirectly and unknowingly supported Hagler’s statement when he stated that Floyd’s last opponent, Maidana, had beaten absolutely no one that impressed him. Boxing competition today has been watered down by promotional disputes, fake championship belts, and media hype of boxers who do not deserve that type of credit.

Oscar De La Hoya is one of the few recent boxers that fought almost everyone that was there to fight. However, after beating a well past his prime Chavez and padded-record Camacho, he proved why he will remain a good but not great boxer after all of his fights against top competition.

  • Mosley (lost twice, tough decision in fight 2)
  • Hopkins (KO)
  • Pacquiao (TKO)
  • Whitaker (robbery)
  • Trinidad (despite deserving the win, Oscar did 3 rounds of literally running away – not something a true champion would do)
  • Sturm (robbery).

When a modern boxer tried to fight all the best of his day, he fell extremely short, despite the fact that modern competition is much easier than the past eras. This only further proves the point of the great Marvin Hagler.

2) Longevity (dependent on one’s competition) – Longevity by itself is not enough to be considered great. Shannon Briggs has been fighting since 1992, but is nothing close to a great heavyweight. Mayweather has been undefeated for 18 years, but his level of competition is not great by all-time standards. Factor in that he only fights on average two to three times a year, sometimes against Guerrero or Ortiz-caliber opponents and his longevity is impressive to a degree, but far from great. Mayweather’s only win that comes against a boxer who was elite AND in his prime is Juan Manuel Marquez. This was a win that came against a boxer moving up two weight classes and who was massively undersized.  With that much inactivity and with such low level of competition, one would only hope that he remained undefeated after all this time.

When you factor wins over elite competition along with longevity, however, that can only further your status as an elite fighter. Joe Louis defended the heavyweight title 25 times in 11 years against fighters far greater than the Bum of the Month label that was wrongly put on them (most of them, at least). Fighters of today might not even have three fights in an entire year, let alone championship fights against legitimate opposition.

Bernard Hopkins has been a boxing marvel in his career. He was considered old when he dismantled Felix Trinidad in a one-sided schooling, all the way back in 2001. Since then, he has beaten the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Winky Wright, Jean Pascal, and a much bigger Antonio Tarver. Since the age of 40, he has never been clearly beaten with the exception of the Chad Dawson match.

Part of Ali’s greatness stems from how he was able to still become the best heavyweight despite having three years of his physical prime taken away from him. He established himself as the greatest heavyweight at the time in 1964, but lost that status in 1971 shortly after resuming his career. By defeating George Foreman ten years after the commencement of his initial reign, Ali proved his greatness through the competition he fought and by showing that he was also great for his longevity.

3) Moving up in weight (dependent on one’s competition) – This is not necessary, as fighters such as Marvin Hagler have established greatness through longevity and wins over elite competition despite fighting in one weight class, not to mention the large number of heavyweights that are all-time greats. But it definitely doesn’t hurt.

Now, there is a huge distinction between great fighters moving up in weight, and simply good fighters holding belts in multiple weight classes. People consider Pacquiao’s ascension to be marvelous, and although the competition on his list is impressive to a degree, it is not of truly great status. Barrera, Morales, and Marquez are the only men he fought that were in or near their primes and elite at the same time. Factoring in that Pacquiao struggled badly and lost to Morales and Marquez (two of the only three elite and near prime fighters he fought), and it is clear that Marvin Hagler’s assessment of Floyd Mayweather’s victories is applicable to Pacquiao’s as well.

Sam Langford, Henry Armstrong, and Roberto Duran are some of the first truly great fighters that come to mind when thinking of climbing up in weight. Langford went from lightweight to heavyweight, beating everyone from Joe Gans and Tiger Flowers to Harry Wills and Sam Mcvey. Henry Armstrong simultaneously was the featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight champ (when champions were actually champions, not belt-holders) beating the likes of Ceferino Garcia and Fritzie Zivic. Duran put together one of the greatest lightweight runs of all time, including wins over Ken Buchanan and Esteban De Jesus, moved up to beat one of the greatest welterweights of all time in Ray Leonard, and went on to middleweight (despite being a natural lightweight) and beat Iran Barkley immediately after Barkley knocked out Thomas Hearns.

That is the difference between weight climbing of the greats, and weight climbing of the likes of Pacquiao and Mayweather, beating shot fighters like Cotto, Margarito, and De La Hoya, solid but far from elite fighters such as Castillo, Corrales, Canelo, Maidana, and Hatton, and very mediocre competition such as Ortiz, Guerrero, Diaz, Clottey, Baldomir, Judah, and Gatti.

Roy Jones Jr is the last truly great weight climber of this sport. He started his career at 154 and then easily defeated Bernard Hopkins at middleweight with a broken right hand. Hopkins would go on to become one of the greatest middleweights of all time.

Roy Jones then moved up and defeated one of the greatest 168 fighters of all time, an undefeated James Toney, in an even more lopsided affair. From there, he again moved up, this time to 175, and defeated the under appreciated Mike McCallum and Montell Griffin (who had recently been in two fights with Toney that could have gone either way.) Jones then became the only man since Bob Fitzimmons to win titles at middleweight and heavyweight. Now, his opponent John Ruiz was hardly an elite heavyweight, but there is a big difference between a former 154 fighter fighting at heavyweight and a teenage flyweight naturally growing into the larger divisions with age, without fighting half as good competition along the way. With the end of Hopkins’ and Jones’ reigns at the top of the sport, the truly great boxers ceased to exist.

There are more factors that come in to play, but I feel that these three are the main ones. Again, the only central and truly necessary point is the level of competition. Next time you hear someone proclaiming himself as the best ever, or you hear the media label someone as the next great boxer, you should think for yourself instead of being one of the blind sheep that follows the herd. Take a moment to appreciate the TRUE greats of the sport, the history of greatness, and only then can one truly recognize what makes a boxer great.



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