It's funny because I've been on a huge SRR kick this last week or so, I've gone back and watched a lot of the old fights that I haven't seen in many years.

Sugar Ray was a great fighter, a true ATG legend in the sport, and actually stayed very good even into his late 30s and early 40s!

That being said... I think he benefits greatly from the "era bias", where the "experts" pass down this message that he was the greatest fighter who ever lived until it becomes gospel that everyone recites. People watch the highlight videos, they read the great stories of victory but they don't study the old fights with a critical eye.

As far as being the greatest in-ring talent of all time... I don't buy it. I think there were better technicians in the ring - Floyd and Pernell included.

And I'll say that other than having a clear punching power advantage over Floyd, I really don't see what he did better than Floyd in the ring. Floyd was the superior talent and I would pick him to win a (probably boring) decision in a fight that would largely be a fencing match.