THE BEST DIVISION

What division, of the original eight, has the strongest history as measured by its five finest fighters? What really are the top divisions?

Rather than pick my five in each, I'll go with what the IBRO guys said. That way it isn't me making mistakes

You will notice that Sugar Ray Robinson is in two divisions and Henry Armstrong is in three divisions (think about THAT for a second).

Pick your top 3 in order. Feel free to give details as to why.

Heavyweights (4 Ninja Immortals)
1.Joe Louis
2.Muhammad Ali
3.Jack Johnson
4.Jack Dempsey
5.Rocky Marciano

Light Heavyweight (4 Ninja Immortals)

1.Archie Moore
2.Ezzard Charles
3.Sam Langford
4.Gene Tunney
5.Bob Foster

Middleweight (4 Ninja Immortals)

1.Harry Greb
2.Sugar Ray Robinson
3.Stanley Ketchel
4.Mickey Walker
5.Carlos Monzon

Welterweight (5 Ninja Immortals)

1.Sugar Ray Robinson
2.Sugar Ray Leonard
3.Henry Armstrong
4.Barbados Joe Walcott
5.Barney Ross

Lightweight (5 Ninja Immortals)

1.Benny Leonard
2.Roberto Duran
3.Joe Gans
4.Henry Armstrong
5.Tony Canzoneri

Featherweight (Four Ninja Immortals)

1.Willie Pep
2.Sandy Saddler
3.Henry Armstrong
4.Abe Attell
5.Johnny Dundee

Bantameweight (3 Ninja Immortals)

1.Eder Jofre
2.Panama Al Brown
3.Ruben Olivares
4.Pete Herman
5. Manuel Ortiz


Flyweight (2 Ninja Immortals)

1.Jimmy Wilde
2.Pancho Villa
3.Pascual Perez
4.Fidel LaBarba
5.Benny Lynch

I'm going with WW. I love the Robinson, Leonard,Armstrong trio.

Toss up between HW and WW.

At HW you have 3 guys who are top ten P4P all time greats and at WW you have 2-3.

take out ketchel from middleweight and put in hagler then you will have 5 immortals at MW. thats the weight im going with....maybe....maybe welter or lightweight. AHHH!!! its too hard to pick.

not possible to choze with just 5 representing the division..if you look at the divisions as a whole threwout boxing .champs and non champs the glory division the HWS are probably the weakest followed by the light heavys..the rest are very close..maybe the lightweights rank first overall.just a maybe the welters and middles close by..the bantams could sneak in there maybe also..a strong history..very strong..id place the flyweights as the third worse but a good measurement of strenth over the HW and LH.all the rest are awsome in debth and history.

dmar5143 wrote:

not possible to choze with just 5 representing the division..if you look at the divisions as a whole threwout boxing .champs and non champs the glory division the HWS are probably the weakest followed by the light heavys..the rest are very close..maybe the lightweights rank first overall.just a maybe the welters and middles close by..the bantams could sneak in there maybe also..a strong history..very strong..id place the flyweights as the third worse but a good measurement of strenth over the HW and LH.all the rest are awsome in debth and history.

Hey it's my GD post !

I think the mythology of the sport says the welters are first. I'm not so sure it isn't the lights.

i think that overall its the lightweights or the welterweights. with this list of five, the middleweights are looking pretty strong though.

Man the HW's are getting no love.

soonermark890 wrote:

Man the HW's are getting no love.

Nor should they. It only makes sense. If one assumes the distribution of human population in terms of size is roughly a bell curve, doesn't it make sense the least amount of cumulative athletic talent would be found at the tails of the curve, i.e flyweights and heavyweights?

Wow no Hagler at Middle?

I believe Jr WW should be added. Their top 5 would be just as good as any otherr.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

Man the HW's are getting no love.

Nor should they. It only makes sense. If one assumes the distribution of human population in terms of size is roughly a bell curve, doesn't it make sense the least amount of cumulative athletic talent would be found at the tails of the curve, i.e flyweights and heavyweights?

But the 5 you put up should get some love right? Also I do agree with you.

If this is a top three list I would take marciano, louis and Ali hands down.

Diego408 wrote:

Wow no Hagler at Middle?

I believe Jr WW should be added. Their top 5 would be just as good as any otherr.

In no order

Pambele, Locche, the Hawk, Chavez and Duilio Loi?

Pretty good. Does Kostya earn a spot?

soonermark890 wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

Man the HW's are getting no love.

Nor should they. It only makes sense. If one assumes the distribution of human population in terms of size is roughly a bell curve, doesn't it make sense the least amount of cumulative athletic talent would be found at the tails of the curve, i.e flyweights and heavyweights?

But the 5 you put up should get some love right? Also I do agree with you.

If this is a top three list I would take marciano, louis and Ali hands down.

The level of comp is SO tough here. SOMEBODY's gotta lose...I'll let you tell Mr. Dempsey though

marbleheadmaui wrote:

Diego408 wrote:

Wow no Hagler at Middle?

I believe Jr WW should be added. Their top 5 would be just as good as any otherr.

In no order

Pambele, Locche, the Hawk, Chavez and Duilio Loi?

Pretty good. Does Kostya earn a spot?

I wouldnt think so

I agree with MarkyMark it's a toss up between Heavyweight and Welterweight. You've got your combination of great fighters and charismatic characters.

BTW watched a short documentary about Marciano last night, hearing him talk was weird he sounded like a normal humble guy.

[quote="Ali_1748"]I agree with MarkyMark it's a toss up between Heavyweight and Welterweight. You've got your combination of great fighters and charismatic characters.

BTW watched a short documentary about Marciano last night, hearing him talk was weird he sounded like a normal humble guy.[/quote]

That's what he was. Parents were off the boat immigrants, working class in a blue collar town.

Ali_1748 wrote:

I agree with MarkyMark it's a toss up between Heavyweight and Welterweight. You've got your combination of great fighters and charismatic characters.

BTW watched a short documentary about Marciano last night, hearing him talk was weird he sounded like a normal humble guy.

Finally some HW love. Thank you Ali.

I don't why but I expected Rocky to be a bit more intimating considering how was able to receive all that punishment from Walcott then demolish him with one right hand. But he came across as a really genuine down to earth shy humble guy you could approach in the street.

[quote="Ali_1748"]I don't why but I expected Rocky to be a bit more intimating considering how was able to receive all that punishment from Walcott then demolish him with one right hand. But he came across as a really genuine down to earth shy humble guy you could approach in the street.[/quote]

One of the reasons he was beloved.

That LHWs are pretty scary

[quote="marbleheadmaui"]

Ali_1748 wrote:

I don't why but I expected Rocky to be a bit more intimating considering how was able to receive all that punishment from Walcott then demolish him with one right hand. But he came across as a really genuine down to earth shy humble guy you could approach in the street.[/quote]

One of the reasons he was beloved.

Marble do you know the quote they used to describe Marciano in the program I watched ?

I am trying to remember but not having much luck, I think it started out with it saying he could take alot of punishment.

[quote="Ali_1748"]

marbleheadmaui wrote:

Ali_1748 wrote:

I don't why but I expected Rocky to be a bit more intimating considering how was able to receive all that punishment from Walcott then demolish him with one right hand. But he came across as a really genuine down to earth shy humble guy you could approach in the street.[/quote]

One of the reasons he was beloved.

Marble do you know the quote they used to describe Marciano in the program I watched ?

I am trying to remember but not having much luck, I think it started out with it saying he could take alot of punishment.

No idea, but the guy might as well have been made of granite. Except his nose

i had my first talk with marciano when i was thirten years old..rocky was friends with rufie ventura who owned a very popular italian resteraunt in my home town..rocky was the bartender that night..50 people were invited including my dad .they closed the place that night..i was the only kid there..the second time i met him i was 19..my friend called me to go over his uncles house cause rocky was going to have diner there..his uncle of course was bushy graham..the third time was when rocky was heading to syracuse to visit basilio and go to a fight there..again rocky stoped overnight to visit bushy..
rocky was very approachable and indeed humble..he loved to talk boxing and tease bushy but rocky also loved to talk about italian food his family and upbringing..he indeed was extremly humble and had a deep respect for ALL fighters..a regular guy ..yep he sure was...he was extremly loyal to his friends and felt at ease if you didnt make a fuss over him..that seemed to embarse him...ali your observations are pretty good..

wow that's amazing dmar, you're so lucky to have met Rocky more than once.

dmar you really should post more about some of the boxers you have met. I think everyone would enjoy those stories.

I'll take the HWs. It's the glory division. And at the end of the day those are the best fighters in the world.

If I'm going p4p skill or # of quality fighters I have no idea. Based just on the guys on the list, maybe feather? It's a very hard question.