Top 5 Favorite Fighters of Your Lifetime

[sheredia]

man, this is tough...but here goes my top 5:

mike tyson
julio cesar chavez
roberto duran
sugar ray leonard
oscar de la hoya

honorable mentions: manny pacquiao, marvin hagler, marco antonio barrera, muhammad ali

[Eiran]

Leonard, nor hearns could beat Aaron Pryor. Tommy Hearns lost to AP everytime they fought before turning Professional.

Leaonard ducked AP; AP called Leonard out at his of press conference and still wouldn't give him the fight.

Aaron Pryor STOPPED Alexis Arguello

Henry Armstrong was Aaron Pryor X2. Literally his 1st round looked like the 15th round. Conditioning and Endurance of Aaron Pryor and Henry Armstrong was UNREAL.

Jack Johnson ducked and vaicated his belt so that he wouldn't have the fight "The Boston Bonecrusher" Sam Langford.

Roberto "Hands of Stone "Duran wouldn't have Beat Julio Cesar Chavez.

[JayBee74]

Quote: Originally Posted by Eiran

Leaonard ducked AP; AP called Leonard out at his of press conference and still wouldn't give him the fight.

Here are my comments on Leonard-Pryor in October of 2016 when Aaron had unfortunately passed away.

"Leonard's career peaked with his victory over Hearns in their first bout in September 1981 which was preceded by his two bouts with Duran. Then came Leonard's eye surgery and effective five year retirement (other then bouts with two nondescript fighters) while Pryor was doing Arguello 1 & 2. Aaron was rising just as a much bigger name (Duran) was jumping two weight classes to set up a mega fight(s) with Leonard. I'm not saying Sugar Ray relished a fight with Pryor (which he probably would have won) but the economic timing wasn't there."

Here is the link to that thread:

Aaron Pryor Gone At 60

[aholbert32]

Leonard
Hamed
Paul Williams
Holyfield
Jones Jr.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Holy bump. My list hasn't really changed much since I made this thread. I'd probably take off Floyd for a number or reasons, though.

Tyson
Hopkins
Roy Jones Jr.
Zab
Lennox

Spence, Thurman, Matthyssee and Porter are all some guys that I've really enjoyed watching more recently.

[sheredia]

Quote: Originally Posted by Eiran

Leonard, nor hearns could beat Aaron Pryor. Tommy Hearns lost to AP everytime they fought before turning Professional. Leaonard ducked AP; AP called Leonard out at his of press conference and still wouldn't give him the fight. Aaron Pryor STOPPED Alexis Arguello Henry Armstrong was Aaron Pryor X2. Literally his 1st round looked like the 15th round. Conditioning and Endurance of Aaron Pryor and Henry Armstrong was UNREAL. Jack Johnson ducked and vaicated his belt so that he wouldn't have the fight "The Boston Bonecrusher" Sam Langford. Roberto "Hands of Stone "Duran wouldn't have Beat Julio Cesar Chavez.

pryor should be an honorable mention for me too.....that man was a beast. he destroyed arguello. twice. never got a chance at a money fight against mancini. i read hearns could not beat him as an amateur. leonard wanted no part of him and pryor was the smaller guy coming up in weight. after what he did to arguello, no one wanted to fight the man. unfortunately, the drugs did him in. had he been drug-free, who knows what he could have accomplished.

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by pk500

In an ESPN chat before the Marquez fight, Mayweather said Augustus gave him his toughest fight. I would have thought Castillo.

Augustus may have given him his toughest fight, but Castillo gave him his loss.....

Quote: Originally Posted by Sausage

This is tough, because I enjoy watching so many fighters, but here I go: Mike Tyson (first boxing match I ever watched Tyson vs Spinks) Riddick Bowe (when in shape dude was one helluva fighter) Arturo Gatti (never a dull moment) Prince Naseem (brought boxing back to the mainstream for a minute) Pretty Boy, not "Money" Floyd Mayweather (130/135 edition of Floyd)

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Leonard Hamed Paul Williams Holyfield Jones Jr.

Holy cow, I never realized that there were people that actually liked Naseem Hamed! LOL


Sort of pointless to put my list since it's largely the same as everyone else's, but for me it's always started and ended with Tyson, flaws and all. Tyson was boxing for anyone that grew up in the 80's and early 90's. Not sure we'll ever see anything like that ever again in the sport.

Hearns was always the hometown favorite. The Hitman had his warts, but you would never, ever feel cheated when he stepped into the ring. Action fighter from start to finish.

DQ of Antonio Margarito for obvious reasons, but he would have been close on my list. Honestly, the reason I hate that guy the most is that he forever ruined what was one of the great bouts in recent memory (until the cloud of suspicion wiped away the memory of that fight), which was that epic Margarito-Cotto battle. It's like that fight never happened, even though it was one of the best fights I've seen in years. And now it's forever tainted.

[JayBee74]

Quote: Originally Posted by sheredia

pryor should be an honorable mention for me too.....that man was a beast. he destroyed arguello. twice. never got a chance at a money fight against mancini. i read hearns could not beat him as an amateur. leonard wanted no part of him and pryor was the smaller guy coming up in weight. after what he did to arguello, no one wanted to fight the man. unfortunately, the drugs did him in. had he been drug-free, who knows what he could have accomplished.

The first fight was Ring Magazine Fight Of The Decade. Arguello was actually the 12-5 favorite.

Whenever anybody has time today, tomorrow or next year watch or rewatch the HBO Legendary Nights that showcased Arguello-Pryor I:

YouTube has it in two parts:

PART 1


PART 2