THE GREAT TITLE REIGNS

Joe Louis is of course the exemplar of this. He won the heavyweight crown from Jim Braddock in 1936, three years after turning pro. Over the next nearly twelve years he defended the crown an astonishing twenty-five times. And lest the "Bum of the Month" raise it's ugly head? Six of those wins were over HOFers and a total of twenty were ranked. Joe Louis' reign remains the one by which all others must be judged. But there have been other great ones. These are NOT in any order.

Marvin Hagler-Once he finally won the crown? Hagler's challengers were ranked 4, 3, 2, 10, 6, 2, unranked, Roberto Duran, 4, 1, 1, 1 and Ray Leonard. You look through the list of contenders of the 1980's and say I wish I'd seen Hagler and...there is just nobody. The way it oughtta be for an ATG.

Ricardo Lopez-Objective work here is a little tougher because Ring didn't rank this division for a long time. But here are some things to consider. After winning a strap in Japan, he went 25-0-1, united the straps twice, defeated probably the second and third best guys ever in this division in Bufalo Alvarez and Saman Sorjaturong and defended in the USA, Mexico, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. Lopez beat strapholders on over a dozen occasions.

Abe Attell-A featherweight who somehow doesn't get his due. Probably one of the 30-40 greatest fighters ever to lace'm up. In a time of eight divisions, Attell defended the featherweight crown an incredible 14 times. He also often fought HOF lightweights and held his own. For six years Attell was THE MAN at 126.

Carlos Monzon-Escopeta, the Argentine crazy man, shocked the boxing world when he stopped HOFer Nino Benvenuti to win the middleweight title. He went on to fourteen defenses, four against HOFers and guys like Bad Bennie Briscoe and Rodrigo Valdez. Another exemplary run.

Henry Armstrong-Like so much of what Armstrong did, his run at welterweight was so remarkable it bordered on just being silly. He beats ATG Barney Ross to take the title. Over the next thirty months Armstrong put the title on the line TWENTY times! In that run he beat #1 Cefarino Garcia, HOFer Baby Arizmendi, #3 Ernie Roderick and #1 lightweight Davey Day. Not so bad huh?

Eusebio Pedroza-The forgotten great of Panama! El Alacron was as tough and dirty as they ever came. He was a strapholder and not really the man until Salvador Sanchez died. But after beating Celio Lastra he defended that strap 19 times. And not against a bunch of stiffs either. Juan LaPorte, Ruben Olivares, Bernard Taylor, Patrick Ford, Rocky Lockridge, Ernesto Herrera and Royal Kobayashi.

This makes one wonder about Wlad Klitschko's place. Now one might argue that unless he fights his brother? None of it counts. I struggle to argue with that. But if one is willing to set that aside for obvious reasons? Since taking a strap from Chris Byrd, Wlad has beaten six ranked guys and knocked out five of them. So he has a long way to go.

Where am I wrong and who have I left out?

I know he didn't beat alot of HOFers but Bernard Hopkins reign was respectable.

Good read though

Excellent thread. Eusebio Pedroza was a really interesting champion. I recall his fight with Juan LaPorte. I think Juan won the first 7 rounds of a fifteen rounder. All of the sudden, Pedroza cornered him and gave him a bunch of elbows, punches and low blows, none of which the ref saw. Pedroza won the next 7 rounds and came away with a decision. Tough guy. Can a man be a great champion without being a great fighter? I think so. Pedroza proves that. I'm not knocking him. I know he's a HOF fighter and one of the best featherweights to ever do it. However, he was a champion more than anything else. The phrase, "Let's win this one and look good later" should've been coined after him. I think he must've said that every time out, and won them all. LOL

Robinson at Welterweight?

Pedroza was a dirty fighter and it was a shame he never got the chance to fight Sanchez.I would have loved to have seen Sanchez beat him at his own game.

Pedroza is on my list of guys I detested in boxing.

+1 coming your way when i get a vote marble great read

I was hoping you would include Armstrongs, glad ya didl, it may not have been the longest reign but man he was so active it was nuts
how do you feel about Jack Johnsons 7 year reign?

Ali_1748 wrote:

I know he didn't beat alot of HOFers but Bernard Hopkins reign was respectable.

Good read though

you beat me to ali Hops title reign was pretty impressive

Ali_1748 wrote:

I know he didn't beat alot of HOFers but Bernard Hopkins reign was respectable.

Good read though

I think BHOP's reign is better than respectable. I left him off only becaue I think the 20 defenses thingy is just crap. He had 6-7 as THE MAN.

But he clearly cleaned out the division and deserves huge kudos for that.

4445Frank wrote:

Excellent thread. Eusebio Pedroza was a really interesting champion. I recall his fight with Juan LaPorte. I think Juan won the first 7 rounds of a fifteen rounder. All of the sudden, Pedroza cornered him and gave him a bunch of elbows, punches and low blows, none of which the ref saw. Pedroza won the next 7 rounds and came away with a decision. Tough guy. Can a man be a great champion without being a great fighter? I think so. Pedroza proves that. I'm not knocking him. I know he's a HOF fighter and one of the best featherweights to ever do it. However, he was a champion more than anything else. The phrase, "Let's win this one and look good later" should've been coined after him. I think he must've said that every time out, and won them all. LOL

That is a truly GREAT insight!!!!!!!!!!!! Never thought of it that way. I have to agree.

WinstonSmith wrote:

Robinson at Welterweight?

As great as he was? He only defended the 147 crown four times before moving to middle. Of those four wins, only Gavilan was a HOF quality fighter.

WinstonSmith wrote:

Pedroza was a dirty fighter and it was a shame he never got the chance to fight Sanchez.I would have loved to have seen Sanchez beat him at his own game.

Pedroza is on my list of guys I detested in boxing.

You're a Rules-ist!

Birdofthad wrote:

+1 coming your way when i get a vote marble great read

I was hoping you would include Armstrongs, glad ya didl, it may not have been the longest reign but man he was so active it was nuts
how do you feel about Jack Johnsons 7 year reign?

I think the issue with Johnson's reign is who he didn't fight. Langford, Jeanette, McVea. Now do I think as a heavy Johnson was the best of them? Yup. Do I understand there was no money in a balck champion fighting a black challenger in those days? Yup.

But there were a series of rough customers he never fought as champ.

Didnt Ricardo Lopez go 25-0-1.....

Diego408 wrote:

Didnt Ricardo Lopez go 25-0-1.....

Arrrgh, typo! I will fix!

marbleheadmaui wrote:

WinstonSmith wrote:

Pedroza was a dirty fighter and it was a shame he never got the chance to fight Sanchez.I would have loved to have seen Sanchez beat him at his own game.

Pedroza is on my list of guys I detested in boxing.

You're a Rules-ist!

Just never liked the guy,I felt the same way about Aaron Pryor as well.

WinstonSmith wrote:

Robinson at Welterweight?

B-hop's reign was pretty great IMO.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

WinstonSmith wrote:

Robinson at Welterweight?

As great as he was? He only defended the 147 crown four times before moving to middle. Of those four wins, only Gavilan was a HOF quality fighter.

You're right again!I wasn't aware that Robbie's stint at WW was so short lived.

What about Roy Jones Jr Marble?

soonermark890 wrote:

What about Roy Jones Jr Marble?

Well other than not being the man at either 168 or 175 you mean

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

What about Roy Jones Jr Marble?

Well other than not being the man at either 168 or 175 you mean

i would say that its not fair to say that jones wasnt the man at 175. he held most of the belts. dariusz should never be called the man over jones.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

What about Roy Jones Jr Marble?

Well other than not being the man at either 168 or 175 you mean

At 175? Who do you have being the man above Roy?

powerpuncher wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

What about Roy Jones Jr Marble?

Well other than not being the man at either 168 or 175 you mean

i would say that its not fair to say that jones wasnt the man at 175. he held most of the belts. dariusz should never be called the man over jones.

Why not? He was the guy who actually won all the belts.

soonermark890 wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

What about Roy Jones Jr Marble?

Well other than not being the man at either 168 or 175 you mean

At 175? Who do you have being the man above Roy?

There doesn't need to be anybody. There isn't always a man. But in this case? Darius.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

What about Roy Jones Jr Marble?

Well other than not being the man at either 168 or 175 you mean

At 175? Who do you have being the man above Roy?

There doesn't need to be anybody. There isn't always a man. But in this case? Darius.

OK well its hard to argue with that. I was just wondering. Thanks marble.

Is it cool if I post this at ESPN or would people have beef with that?