Top 50 middleweights ever - the final list
For the sake of a bit of good housekeeping, I thought I would round off this series with a full top 50 and a few observations.
My first feelings looking back at the list are that Roy Jones Jr is a bit high. This is mostly due to his comparison with Hopkins and Toney, but a boxer who spent such a short part of his career at middleweight, shouldn't really turn up at No 7 on the list. Likewise, Ray Leonard is probably a bit lucky to be in the top 20. Marcel Cerdan could be a bit low, but his loss to LaMotta, who I don't feel really deserves a higher spot is dragging him back. Emile Griffith, Dick Tiger and Bob Fitzsimmons probably have claims to step up a bit too.
I feel it is very likely, if this list was done in 2-3 years time, that Kelly Pavlik will be entering the upper reaches of the list. That in turn would drag Jermain Taylor up a bit. Certainly, should Pavlik and Arthur Abraham meet, the winner of that would be worth of, at the very least, a top 20 spot.
I'll be starting another list in the next few days, which will give us the chance to debate a whole new division, as well as my latest pound-for-pound rankings, which I'm sure will feature Pavlik.
1. Harry Greb
2. Sugar Ray Robinson
3. Marvin Hagler
4. Carlos Monzon
5. Bernard Hopkins
6. Stanley Ketchel
7. Roy Jones Jr
8. Mickey Walker
9. Gene Fullmer
10. Tony Zale
11. Jake LaMotta
12. Marcel Cerdan
13. Charlie 'Kid' McCoy
14. Gerald McClellan
15. Carl 'Bobo' Olson
16. Freddie Steele
17. James Toney
18. Mike McCallum
19. Randolph Turpin
20. Ray Leonard
21. Nino Benvenuti
22. Laszlo Papp
23. Joey Giardello
24. Dick Tiger
25. Carmen Basilio
26. Bob Fitzsimmons
27. Michael Nunn
28. Rocky Graziano
29. Sumbu Kalambay
30. Marcel Thil
31. Mike O'Dowd
32. Tommy Ryan
33. Emile Griffith
34. Paul Pender
35. Billy Papke
36. Alan Minter
37. Julian Jackson
38. Kelly Pavlik
39. Jermain Taylor
40. Chris Eubank
41. Hugo Corro
42. Rodrigo Valdes
43. Vito Antuofermo
44. Tiger Flowers
45. Terry Downes
46. Charley Burley
47. Nigel Benn
48. Iran Barkley
49. Herol Graham
50. Thomas Hearns
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