OK, so [Archive]

RedSonRising

25th June 2011, 00:00

1. Juan Manuel Marquez
2. Miguel Cotto
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Roberto Duran
5. Roy Jones Jr.

1- Beautiful counter-puncher who has near-perfect fundamentals, punches with dynamite in both hands and a visible aggression, and moves with the flow of a fight beautifully, throwing combinations of technical purity. He is literally willing to die in the ring, and has one of the best abilities to adjust to a fighter's style in the history of the sport. In my opinion, he beat the pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao twice, and is one of the best fighters of his generation, cleaning out three weight divisions and reigning supreme at Lighweight at 38 years of age against naturally bigger, sharper, and younger lions with his heart and technical skill. Going to the canvas often but never staying down, the man is the quintessential combination of intangible traits that define greatness and a supremely refined physical application of technical prowess.

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2- A fighter who always fought his heart out in his prime, and even after two brutal losses, one being to a suspected cheater and the other to All Time Great Manny Pacquiao without a proper trainer, is still showing elite-level abilities inside the ring. Great boxing ability and timing, especially with his dominant left-handed jab, exciting aggressive style with lots of skilled body-punching, has one of the best resumes of his generation, and nothing but class outside of the ring, regularly contributing to community projects and charities while carrying the Puerto Rican people on his shoulders.

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3. Muhammad Ali was the only one of his kind. A crusader for social justice and an utterly dominant force in a long Golden Age of heavyweights. His resume can only be challenged by a few. With one of the most beautiful and talented boxing styles ever (if not the most), he was able to revive his career as champion after a 3 year layoff in prison for refusing service in the imperialist war against the Vietnamese forces to beat his stylistic foil and rival Joe Frazier in some of the greatest fights witnessed by mortals, and proved the public wrong by upsetting the seemingly invincible George Foreman in Zaire. There was-and will always be-only one Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali in boxing history.

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4. Roberto Duran is a legend. Manos de Piedra, Hands of Stone, dominated the lightweight division for nearly a decade, suffering only one loss which he avenged twice. Moving up in weight to upset a prime and undefeated All Time Great in Sugar Ray Leonard cemented his place among history's best fighters, as well as giving great victories and losing efforts against elite opposition years past his prime and many pounds past his best weight. His combination of crafty skill, relentless but intelligent pressure, murderous punching power, and animalistic aggression gave him one of the most renowned and controversial careers in the sport. True legend.

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5. Though many criticize Roy Jones Jr. for not facing the best competition, the truth is, RJJ made top contenders look like nobodies. The first and most obvious dimension to his individuality as a fighter comes from his freakish athleticism. Nobody in the sport, besides perhaps Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Muhammad Ali, have come close to the insane combination of one-punch knockout power, blinding hand-speed, and feline reflexes. To top it all off, he was an underrated technician who understood the dimensions of the game, and knew how to control nearly everything that went down in that squared circle. A phenom who went years without losing rounds and became the first man in 100 years to win titles from Middleweight to Heavyweight, dominating non-peak but still very game versions of fellow All Time Greates James Toney and Bernard Hopkins. I doubt we'll see another like him anytime soon, if ever.

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