The Top 10 P4P Boxers from 1980-present?

[ironfist05]

Barrera in and Calzaghe out IMO. Calzaghe's career is overhyped, Barrera's under.

Calzaghe's the SMW GOAT, I don't see any issue in him being top 10 of the past 30 years
Barrera's great though

 

[Happy Boy]

Calzaghe's the SMW GOAT, I don't see any issue in him being top 10 of the past 30 years
Barrera's great though

Lack of signature wins. The only two fights where I thought he met another guy at their peak was Lacy and Kessler, and of those two only one of them was any good. The Jones and Hopkins victories were soft as i) I thought he lost both of them and ii) both were well passed prime by then.

Joe's career could have been so much better but he wasted so much of it fighting Kabary Salem's and Saiko Bika's in Cardiff.

 

[consortium11]

Lack of signature wins. The only two fights where I thought he met another guy at their peak was Lacy and Kessler, and of those two only one of them was any good. The Jones and Hopkins victories were soft as i) I thought he lost both of them and ii) both were well passed prime by then.

Joe's career could have been so much better but he wasted so much of it fighting Kabary Salem's and Saiko Bika's in Cardiff.

You thought Calzaghe lost to Jones?

I'd love to see some reasoning.

 

[Mad King]

Joe is vastly overrated and does not have career defining moments to back up his record.

He did not lose to jones

 

[Happy Boy]

You thought Calzaghe lost to Jones?

I'd love to see some reasoning.

I'll see if I can dig out my posts about it from the time it happened. Similar to the BH fight, although to a lesser extent, I thought most of his work was busywork and not effective, whereas RJJ landed the more telling shots and did more effective work.

 

[KenstaBoy]

I would throw Kostya Tszyu somewhere in there. The guy was an absolute animal P4P.

 

[ironfist05]

Lack of signature wins. The only two fights where I thought he met another guy at their peak was Lacy and Kessler, and of those two only one of them was any good. The Jones and Hopkins victories were soft as i) I thought he lost both of them and ii) both were well passed prime by then.

Joe's career could have been so much better but he wasted so much of it fighting Kabary Salem's and Saiko Bika's in Cardiff.

He beat Lacy and Kessler in their primes (both were good BTW), as well as guys like Eubank, Veit, Bika and Manfredo.

I'm not totally sure how you saw the RJJ fight for RJJ, but whatever.

The B-Hops fight you're totally misrepresenting. B-Hops was actually in the p4p top 10 (possibly top 5, can't remember) when Calzaghe beat him. He was still very much an excellent boxer, and you know very well that B-Hops is pretty much unnaffected by time (he also has the ability to never lose to white boys too).

Plus, who cares if you thought he lost both fights? I thought he won both fights (especially the RJJ fight), that's subjective. A lot of people thought Mayweather lost to ODLH and Castillo, is he not that great either? A lot of people though Whitaker beat Chavez, is Chavez not great? No, he's obviously one of the greats. Almost everyone thinks Joe beat RJJ and the B-Hops fight is pretty much split in the middle, give credit where credit is due.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Whats the difference?

The best fighter is judged off talent/ability.

The greatest fighter is judged off talent/ability, accomplishment, longevity, quality of opposition, among others.

For instance, some guys were just around at a bad time or bad circumstance (like Rodrigo Valdez who very possibly could have been a number 1 for a long time if he fought in an era without a Monzon, or Marcel Cerdan who was awesome, or Salvatore Sanchez who died young).

All guys that I'd rank inferiorly to less talented fighters.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

Lack of signature wins. The only two fights where I thought he met another guy at their peak was Lacy and Kessler, and of those two only one of them was any good. The Jones and Hopkins victories were soft as i) I thought he lost both of them and ii) both were well passed prime by then.

Joe's career could have been so much better but he wasted so much of it fighting Kabary Salem's and Saiko Bika's in Cardiff.

I thought Calzaghe lost to Hopkins...but I thought he beat the shit out of RJJ...

I wonder why Calzaghe never got the amount of love other undefeated fighters got...

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

can we move canelo from honorable mention to top 10 please

 

[Mr2urbo]

1980 to present?

That's a tough list to come up with but ill try my best

In no order
JCC
Whitaker
Hearns
SRL
Duran
Gomez
Sanchez
Floyd
R Lopez
RJJ

 

[realdealgeale]

I would throw Kostya Tszyu somewhere in there. The guy was an absolute animal P4P.

hell to the yeah. came in to mention kostya. id have him in ahead of azumah and joe. may suffer without a real signature win?! judah seemed big at the time but he was shown to struggle at the elite level same as mitchell and jcc snr was old as balls. fck it sounds like im talking myself out of it. he stays in! tsyzu crew for life!

 

[The Batkilt]

He beat Lacy and Kessler in their primes (both were good BTW), as well as guys like Eubank, Veit, Bika and Manfredo.

I'm not totally sure how you saw the RJJ fight for RJJ, but whatever.

The B-Hops fight you're totally misrepresenting. B-Hops was actually in the p4p top 10 (possibly top 5, can't remember) when Calzaghe beat him. He was still very much an excellent boxer, and you know very well that B-Hops is pretty much unnaffected by time (he also has the ability to never lose to white boys too).

Plus, who cares if you thought he lost both fights? I thought he won both fights (especially the RJJ fight), that's subjective. A lot of people thought Mayweather lost to ODLH and Castillo, is he not that great either? A lot of people though Whitaker beat Chavez, is Chavez not great? No, he's obviously one of the greats. Almost everyone thinks Joe beat RJJ and the B-Hops fight is pretty much split in the middle, give credit where credit is due.

Eubank was past his best by that point. When 'old' Eubank, Veit and Manfredo, Jr are the signature wins to justify someone being classed as one of the top ten fighters of the last thirty years, and in response to folk saying Calzaghe didn't have a deep CV? I think it sort of proves that his CV wasn't that deep and that he wasn't one of the top ten fighters of the last thirty years.

 

[ironfist05]

Eubank was past his best by that point. When 'old' Eubank, Veit and Manfredo, Jr are the signature wins to justify someone being classed as one of the top ten fighters of the last thirty years, and in response to folk saying Calzaghe didn't have a deep CV? I think it sort of proves that his CV wasn't that deep and that he wasn't one of the top ten fighters of the last thirty years.

No, his wins over Eubank, Kessler, Lacy and B-Hops are signature wins (plus maybe RJJ based only on name value)

 

[Sunfish]

Beating Roy Jones did nothing for Calzaghes legacy.

 

[ssx]

Sugar Ray Leonard
Roy Jones Jr.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In no particular order, those are my top 3.

 

[Spirit Breaker]

Eubank was past his best by that point. When 'old' Eubank, Veit and Manfredo, Jr are the signature wins to justify someone being classed as one of the top ten fighters of the last thirty years, and in response to folk saying Calzaghe didn't have a deep CV? I think it sort of proves that his CV wasn't that deep and that he wasn't one of the top ten fighters of the last thirty years.

I don't think Calzaghe should be in the top 10 of the past 33 years, but he did fight everyone available to him whether or not it happened at the most opportune time. I thought he beat Hopkins and loved it. It should have shut Hopkins racist mouth, but of course he complained his ass off. Calzaghe doesn't get much credit from hardcore fans I find.

I would argue that Salvador Sanchez shouldn't be on the list because his career was cut short tragically. He was a great fighter, but there needed to be more to it. I would put Pacquiao in his place. With the knockout loss to JMM people are shitting on him. Two years ago the guy's only weakness was kryptonite. Now he's a bum? How quickly we forget.

 

[JayElectra]

Whitaker
Lewis
Holyfield
Mayweather
Jones
Pacquiao
Leonard
Hearns
Hagler
Sanchez

Something like that. M. Spinks, Hopkins, Tyson, Barrera, Marquez, McCallum, Toney, Morales, Oscar, Chavez, Wlad, Bowe, Kalambay, Duran, Gomez, Lopez, Calzaghe and Nelson could all be mentioned, too.

 

[KenstaBoy]

hell to the yeah. came in to mention kostya. id have him in ahead of azumah and joe. may suffer without a real signature win?! judah seemed big at the time but he was shown to struggle at the elite level same as mitchell and jcc snr was old as balls. fck it sounds like im talking myself out of it. he stays in! tsyzu crew for life!

Yeah, Tsyzu was insane. He had an 81% KO ratio. He just mauled his opponents. Not many guys could compare to him when it came to sheer power P4P. He was one of the best Knock Out artists of all time.

 

[CabCoola09]

Roy Jones
Mike Tyson
Oscar Delahoya
Evander Holyfield
Pac-man
Miguel Cotto
Floyd Mayweather
Bernard Hokins
Hitman Hearns
Barrera