Top 50 middleweights ever (41-50)

The top 50 middleweights of all-time starts here. The middleweight division has probably delivered more excitement over the years than any other - right from the days of Stanley Ketchel though to last year's Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor fight. But who will be top? Hagler, Leonard, Greb, Monzon, Robinson, LaMotta..?

Your comments as always are welcomed, as are your own top tens.

41. Hugo Corro
Carlos Monzon was not the only top-class Argentine middleweight of the Seventies. Corro won the title from Rodrigo Valdes, whom he beat twice, defended it against the useful Ronnie Harris but lost out to Vito Antuofermo on a razor-thin split decision.

42. Rodrigo Valdes
Twice champion from 1974-76 and 1977-78, either side of running Carlos Monzon very close twice, "Rocky" Valdes, from Colombia, probably would be remembered very highly had it not been for two Argentinians - Monzon and Hugo Corro. But seven world title bout wins shows he had plenty of talent.

43. Vito Antuofermo
Best remembered in Britain as the man Alan Minter won the world middleweight title from. This Italian-American beat Hugo Corro for the undisputed title and retained it with a draw against Marvin Hagler, which stands out as a brilliant result.

44. Tiger Flowers
In three world title bouts, he twice beat Harry Greb and lost to Mickey Walker, which is not a bad return for a boxer who did not get the best of opportunities and was the first black boxer to become world middleweight champion. Like Greb, he died while undergoing an operation to remove scar tissue from his face.

45. Terry Downes
As honest a fighter as there ever was. He briefly held the world middleweight title, winning it and losing it to Paul Pender. He holds a win over Sugar Ray Robinson, when Robinson was getting old, and also beat Joey Giardello.

46. Charley Burley
At the time that Joe Louis was dominating the heavyweights, Charley Burley was discovering that the colour bar that blocked the path of many to the top was still in place, a situation that denied him getting a title shot. He did, however, win two of three against Fritzie Zivic and also beat a young Archie Moore.

47. Nigel Benn
Benn's record as a super-middleweight far surpasses his record as a middleweight. But  it was at middleweight that he rebuilt his career in America after losing to Michael Watson, including his one-round win over Iran Barkley

48. Iran Barkley
A huge upset win over Thomas Hearns (repeated at light-heavyweight) and wins over James Kinchen and Michael Olajide don't really cover up a large number of defeats.

49. Herol Graham
A much-avoided boxer, but one who eventually came up short in world title bids against Mike McCallum and Julian Jackson, as well as a European title bout against Sumbu Kalambay.

50. Thomas Hearns
He held the WBC title briefly but nearly all Hearns's greatest wins were below or above the middleweight limit. But Hearns just creeps in on his 73-second knockout of James Shuler.

And a mention to some of the guys who didn't quite make it. I would expect Arthur Abraham to be belting his way up the list over the next two years, but his standard of opposition does not really deserve it. Felix Sturm does not make the list either, despite getting robbed by Oscar De La Hoya (who is not there either). John Mugabi put in a magnificent performance against Marvin Hagler but was better as a light-middleweight, Jack Dempsey (the non-pareil) does not make it as most of his best wins were pre-gloves). Others to get close were Keith Holmes and Mike Gibbons, a fine boxer of the 1910s who never won the world title but made the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

Comments

[Ron Lewis]

He's not, why do you think he should be? I would have thought there would be a better case to rank Frank Tate or Kevin Finnegan

[gezz]

Wheres Tony Sibson ranked?

[gezz]

No Tony Sibson?

[Stretz]

i have a question for any of you guys
im a distant relative of
Hans Stretz a german boxer who has fought Sugar Ray Robinson he lost
he beat Randy Turpin
well my question is Hans Stretz went
won 72 (KO 35)
lost 9 (KO 7)
drawn 8 = 89
would it ever be possible that he can make hall of fame?

[Crashing Dashing Kid]

Thanks for the clarity Ron. I am going against myself here a bit because I am going on who I think would beat who at middleweight rather than achievements, longevity etc but here is my top 10

1.Harry Greb – on his best day, he beats the crap outta them all. I never saw any footage of him fight but he beat Gene Tunney and ruled his division.
2. Ray Robinson – better at welter but still beats them all at middleweight
3. Carlos Monzon – what a killer
4.Bob Fitzsimmons- beat a champion who was regarded as unbeatable by fairs means and left the division behind because there were no meaningful challengers left there. Any other boxer on this list born into Fitz's era would be in heaps of trouble

5. Stanley Ketchel – the light that shone twice as bright but shone for half as long. No telling how long this man would have been champion had his life not been cut short

6. Marvin Hagler – not the best boxer ever by any means but in a brawl he beats them all

7. Mickey Walker – only just lost to Greb a fight Walker was keen to continue and claimed to have won on the street afterwards
8. Jake LaMotta – nobody has a better resume than LaMotta. He fought them all.
9. Marcel Cerdan – was he LaMotta’s master? With both arms able to punch maybe he was but never got the chance to prove it

10. Mike Gibbons – Greb rated him #1, so what does that tell you?

[Ron Lewis]

By the way, the next part of this list is delayed until after Saturday's Pavlik-Taylor rematch

[Ron Lewis]

Flowers did beat Greb two out of three times, although Greb was considered unlucky in the first one, wasat the end of his career and there were stories that he didn't put much into training. Flowers also lost two of two to Jack Delaney, which makes it tough to put him too high. As well a briefly holding the title, Downes beat an admittedly old Robinson and Giardello. I'm sure in many "non-British" lists, Roldan would among those contesting a place instead of Herol Graham. I found it difficult to place Gibbons and Burley higher on what they achieved.

[Crashing Dashing Kid]

Tiger Flowers beat Harry Greb twice and is only rated at #44? Burley, though I have only ever seen grainy footage of him, was frozen out of the championship fights cos he was just too good. If Eddie Futch et all said he was the best, surely he must rate higher than #46? Mike Gibbons, the St Pauls' Phantom is another anomoly altogether. Do we really think he was a lesser fighter than Downes? Gibbons was probably the best pure boxer of the lot.

[Francisco Appiani]

I will add Juan Domingo Roldan to the list. He was a tough puncher from Argentina. Unfortunately he couldn´t be world champion, but I think he was the only fighter who put Marvin on "floor". In this fight, Marvin had to put his thumb in "Martillo" eye in order to win the fight.
Moreover, one of the greatest knockout of the eighties was the one Martillo did against "Animal Fletcher". What a tremendous punch!!!
He also was in front of Hearns and another tops middlweights.
I think that he was bettter than Antuofermo and Corro unless he wasn´t world champion

[James Fairweather]

Funny thing about middleweight is that there is an enormous jump in quality between the top twenty or so and the rest (unlike lightweight or light-heavyweight, say, when there is a seemingly never-ending slew of top names). Antuofermo, Corro and Downes were all a long way from great fighters, but I guess that they're correctly placed.

It's hard to resist the thought that Hearns or Graham would have stood all three of them on their heads on the same night, but so far as pure accomplishments at the weight are concerned, it would be churlish to start cavilling at this stage. The ghost of Tiger Flowers is the only one here with a real cause for complaint at a low ranking, I would think.