What Makes a Good Champion in your Opinion???

OK everyone here debates about peoples record's...Who's is padded,,,,Who avoids top competition...Who should be seeking out better fights ect

It seems everyone here has a different idea on what makes a fighter a true P4P fighter and great Champion...

EG--Some guy's say Joe Calzaghe is a great Champion because of how long he has had the title and the fact he is undefeated...Others say he is only champion and undefeated becaused he fights the least dangerous guy's he can find making his title reign watered down....

Floyd Mayweather Jr gets simular criticizm due to the fact he has not fought names like Cotto,,Hatton,,ect....Yet others praise him for amount of belts he has won

So in everyones opinion what makes a great champion or at least a legit and worthy one....

Is it the guy who has the most defenses of a title reguardless of who it is against or the guy who has quality wins and quality defenses but less amount of successful bouts

Just curious on everyones opinion on which they prefer

Someone that fights only the best and stands up to be counted when it matters most

Manny pac is a good champ

id say imo that quality of competition and the manner in which they win

for eg; joe louis has the most defences, but i rate ali higher cause he fought much tougher opposition

.......as for calzaghe, if he keeps his word and convincingly beats kessler after his done with peter, i will rate him higher and have a greater respect for the man

.......to be considered the best you have to beat the best 8)

Fighting everyone ducking no one even if you lose fight best.

Clever matchmaking makes a good champion.

Fans constantly slag off the top fighters in the world because we only wanna see 'em matched against the very best. But it's not reality.

No good champions career would last 5 minutes if they weren't served-up gimmes in amongst the tough 50/50 type fights.

IMHO there is no problem with fighting easy fights every now and again. Heck even most of the time. The world series champs get to play against the last place team.

What I think makes a true champion is unifying your division belts. If YOU are the champion of say the HW division, then you should not allow some other guy have a belt in your division and be called a HW champ. Same thing for when you go up in weight. Don't go through 2 or 3 divisions claiming you were the champ in all those divisions unless you actually beat ALL the title holders of that division.

This is a reason I have great respect for Tito. He unifyied the WW div. whent up to 154 won a title, unifyied the 154 title, went up to 160 won a title, tried to unify but got beat badly by B-Hop. He was not successfull but he tryied to do it right, he does not have any fake titles in 5 or 6 divs. He was THE CHAMP in 2 div and won a title in 3.

Having a nice robe, I think.

;)

A fighter who is willing to fight any top fighter anywhere does'nt even have to hold a world title to be considered the best their is plenty of fighters who have world titles but only want to defend against the easier opposition to keep their titles notching up win after win not taking risks.A true champion should be willing to take risks only wanting to fight the pound for pound best risking a loss here and their.Barrera is a good champion he takes risks to prove himself and if he loses he is willing to take the risk again in a rematch a true warrior in my opinion even if he wins in a close fight rather than thinking a wins a win he fights them again to prove he can do better

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Originally Posted by tysonbruno

A fighter who is willing to fight any top fighter anywhere does'nt even have to hold a world title to be considered the best their is

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Yes, it's all about the robe. He doesn't need a world title to be considered the best ..... but a snazzy robe is a different manner.

The French Revolutionaries produced great fighters, all led by Robespierre

Win, loose or Draw hes fought the best opposition possible for him to fight.

Ali, SRR, Duran, ODLH, JCC, Gomez, Tito, Evander.

They were willing to step in the ring against whomever. To me thats one of the things that makes a great champion.

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Originally Posted by CutMeMicK

Win, loose or Draw hes fought the best opposition possible for him to fight.

Ali, SRR, Duran, ODLH, JCC, Gomez, Tito, Evander.

They were willing to step in the ring against whomever. To me thats one of the things that makes a great champion.

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Simple,precise,and succinct.CC Mick. I'd like to add willing to stay at a weight class for a period of time to unify the titles/clean it out/fight the dangermen and the best fighters there. One of the best examples of this is Pernell Whitaker.

His willingness,even when he was P4P number 1,to fight ANYONE,was brilliant.As was the attitude of the guys Mick mentioned. Oscar is another brilliant example. How much respect has he gained from fight fans alllll around the world,even guys like me,who are not his biggest fans,with his willingness to fight the best.

I'm NOT a fan of jumping weight to weight,picking and choosing who to fight(guys who are not usually top 3 in the division),winning titles and running to the next division.Not fighting the threats or the dangermen.

I think a good champion is a fighter who challenges himself by consistently stepping up the opposition.  Who is humble in the presence of other fighters and shows understanding for the plight of the fan by not committing himself solely to PPV.  A good champion will step aside when it is appropriate to do so and not make excuses in the midsts of defeat.

Lastly, a good champion is American...

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Originally Posted by X

Having a nice robe, I think.

;)

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LOL

Fenster you are absolutaly correct. cc

wILLINGNESS TIO FIGHT OFTEN AND LOT'S OF HUMILITY (READ NO TRASH-TALK).

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Originally Posted by CutMeMicK

Win, loose or Draw hes fought the best opposition possible for him to fight.

Ali, SRR, Duran, ODLH, JCC, Gomez, Tito, Evander.

They were willing to step in the ring against whomever. To me thats one of the things that makes a great champion.

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Exactly right my man!

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Originally Posted by CutMeMicK

Win, loose or Draw hes fought the best opposition possible for him to fight.

Ali, SRR, Duran, ODLH, JCC, Gomez, Tito, Evander.

They were willing to step in the ring against whomever. To me thats one of the things that makes a great champion.

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I agree... I would also add... “ no excuses “.. nothing worse then the” I broke my “, I this , I that... I think Cotto has shown good champion qualities in that regard.. fighting his last man while sick with Pneumonia and not making a issue on it... hell only outside sources picked up on it, as Miguel was rushed to the hospital after his match.... impressive mental toughness Cotto.. He gonna be waxing that Judah ass real soon . ;)

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Originally Posted by Fenster

Clever matchmaking makes a good champion.

Fans constantly slag off the top fighters in the world because we only wanna see 'em matched against the very best. But it's not reality.

No good champions career would last 5 minutes if they weren't served-up gimmes in amongst the tough 50/50 type fights.

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Exactly. Though he must possess the attributes of a good fighter, and a manager that helps get him those fights.

Out of the ring doesn't matter to me unless it prevents them from getting fights.

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Originally Posted by Fenster

Clever matchmaking makes a good champion.

Fans constantly slag off the top fighters in the world because we only wanna see 'em matched against the very best. But it's not reality.

No good champions career would last 5 minutes if they weren't served-up gimmes in amongst the tough 50/50 type fights.

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I also agree with what Fenster said here. That is why I said my ultimate champion would "consistently" step up the opposition and not constantly.

And I was "havin' a laugh" with the American thing, "don't cha know."

Somebody who gets to the top and stays there !!!

People always say Calzaghe has fought nobody ( Sheika ,Mittchell,Brewer,Lacy,Woodall,Reid,Eubank) but he has the resolve to stay at that weight and be a champion of that weight class to own that weight class to make his name synonymous with that weight !!

He fights his way the old fashioned way sometimes using Skill and sometimes using his fighting instincts which more often than not he has to reign in .

He may not be an alltime great but he is a the best champion out there today .

He's avoided nobody at Supermiddle he stood toe to toe with Vaunted punchers and boxed when he had to !!

I except Manfredo is a soft touch but he was willing to fight Hopkins FW made the fight.

He believes he's the best and whilst he has gone backwards technically and suffered injuries he'sstood up strong for 10 whole years and not BELLYFLOPPED through the divisions.

Being a champ for that long takes some doing.

You can't argue with his success.

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Originally Posted by Swashbuckling Gordy

Somebody who gets to the top and stays there !!!

People always say Calzaghe has fought nobody ( Sheika ,Mittchell,Brewer,Lacy,Woodall,Reid,Eubank) but he has the resolve to stay at that weight and be a champion of that weight class to own that weight class to make his name synonymous with that weight !!

He fights his way the old fashioned way sometimes using Skill and sometimes using his fighting instincts which more often than not he has to reign in .

He may not be an alltime great but he is a the best champion out there today .

He's avoided nobody at Supermiddle he stood toe to toe with Vaunted punchers and boxed when he had to !!

I except Manfredo is a soft touch but he was willing to fight Hopkins FW made the fight.

He believes he's the best and whilst he has gone backwards technically and suffered injuries he'sstood up strong for 10 whole years and not BELLYFLOPPED through the divisions.

Being a champ for that long takes some doing.

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Are you saying that he has faced better competition than ODLH or PBF? Moving up in weight is HUGELY taxing.
The problem with calling Calzaghe a good CHAMPION at this point is that there is another person that he has
yet to face....................Kessler...........who has a legitimate claim to the same Champion title.
I am not trying to discount what Joe has done, I think he is a phenomenal boxer, the last thing he has to do
IMO to be a good champion is beat Kessler, THEN he can claim he owns the division and move on to more
lucrative novelty money-making fights like Hopkins, Taylor etc. etc.

1. Takes on all opponents; ducks noone.
2. Enjoys the sport; gives back to the fans.
3. Leaves it all out in the ring; takes few, if any, rounds off.
4. Acts with CLASS, both in and out of the ring.
5. While focused on the task at hand while in the ring, shows respect for other boxers.
6. Has an exciting style for fans to watch.

There's others, but those are just a few off the top of my head.

Personally...

I like a champ to be the sort of guy to defend against all comers..
Not one of these fighters that skips through the weight classes earning different title after title...

Basically, To win the title off the guy who is considered the real champ, to be the man ya gotta beat the man.. and then defend against the top competition..

I would describe Tito, Bernard Hopkins, Duran, srl, hagler , hearns among many others as true champions..

None of these ducked another fighter and they wanted to fight the best...

I think hatton could be such a good champion if it werent for his brief outing at welter and the ibf..
I mean.. he won the title from the real champ, then beat another champ to unify, and hes been looking for the big fights since in all fairness.. The way it was supposed to go was to defend his titles against juan lazcano..A legitimate contender and great fighter with a name, then castillo would have come along.. so he wants these big names but cant seem to keep hold of a title

jus take a look at guys like muhammad ali and james toney, they'll fight anybdy, anywhere anytime. toney when he was younger was a very active champ, infact he fought 6 weeks after he won the title in a tough fight against michael nunn. not onli did he fight often but he fights the best no matter how dangerous they are. infact toney has fought arguably the most dangerous puncher in the world in sam peter.

i say a prime tyson,louis, leonard, ali, toney and ray robinsons come to mind as true champs.

imo calzaghe hasnt proven to me to be a true hamp. he has heart whilst he is fighting against empty tomato cans like mitchell. he doesnt fight often, and when he does he's fighting bika (a good fighter but he should have fought somebody like kessler) or manfredo, its ridiculous! i hope manfredo causes a huge upset, he definetly has the skill n power to do so, jus watch his fight against pemberton.

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Originally Posted by Lionheart Lacy

jus take a look at guys like muhammad ali and james toney, they'll fight anybdy, anywhere anytime. toney when he was younger was a very active champ, infact he fought 6 weeks after he won the title in a tough fight against michael nunn. not onli did he fight often but he fights the best no matter how dangerous they are. infact toney has fought arguably the most dangerous puncher in the world in sam peter.

i say a prime tyson,louis, leonard, ali, toney and ray robinsons come to mind as true champs.

imo calzaghe hasnt proven to me to be a true hamp. he has heart whilst he is fighting against empty tomato cans like mitchell. he doesnt fight often, and when he does he's fighting bika (a good fighter but he should have fought somebody like kessler) or manfredo, its ridiculous! i hope manfredo causes a huge upset, he definetly has the skill n power to do so, jus watch his fight against pemberton.

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Cc.. Good point brother..

Toney in my opinion would make an excellent heavyweight champion..
The guy has a proven track record and has fallen just short of bieng heavyweight champ twice..
But its a proven fact that he will fight anybody anywhere anytime..
If only he had the discipline to get in shape then he would dominate the heavyweight division and could have been champ for a while now