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(continued from the first thread)



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5. Sugar Ray Robinson – Unbeatable at welterweight, he moved up to middle and was able to do amazing things… Had methods of communication been developed to the point they are today, the sky would have been the limit for his earning potential. At first you don’t know what to believe… your grandfather would tell you things about him that was sure to get the “tongue in cheek” reaction from you. Stories of his fights can be made to sound legendary. But everything you would hear coming through your radio offering the blow-by-blow wasn’t hyperbole… Sugar Ray, “the dancing man, as they used to call him, gliding ever so effortlessly to the right, you’d almost think he had skates on… But Fullmer’s been putting on the pressure and getting to Ray consistently now. Gene is just too big and too strong… OH, Fullmer is going to take a 10 count on this one. He was nailed by a perfectly timed left hook and he is out, he won’t make it up!” The most beautiful thing about the Sugarman was his originality… oh he could fight… go to the body, head, throw any combination you could dream of… knock a man out backing up and all without getting his hair too mussed up! Ray’s style was so crowd-pleasing with his ability to make something so brutal look so beautiful, he was the epitome of nature. He also took an unbelievable punch… and that’s where gravity comes into play. Ray unfortunately took too many of them. And that was his biggest shortcoming. In the department of defense he lacked, BIG TIME. It’s almost like his trainers didn’t believe there was such a thing as punch drunk syndrome. I guess boxing still was in its infancy and it’s not like the medical profession was voicing its concerns for the professional boxer and his “sort.” No one ever seemed to have a problem getting to Ray; their biggest concern was getting out of his way… and what a huge problem that was. Of all the fighters of yesteryear, Ray is the most modern and advanced, his style plays in any arena, but the porous defense… the room for error is thinner when you get to the top and when it’s all even, hand speed, reflexes, power, conditioning, attributes like defensive capability start to come into play and against a fighter that could do it all, Ray is in for a long fight, trading punches even the viewer would feel through the TV screen. Robinson Ali? Sugar1-Sugar2? Sugar-Jones? Sugar-Pryor? Sugar-Holyfield? Sugar-Marciano? Sugar-anyone… he definitely gets my “most crowd-pleasing” (Pryor and Hearns are close seconds though) though edged out of the Greatest Of All Time title by the thinnest of margins.

6. Evander Holyfield – This man is like your pet pit-bull, just point to whom you want him to fight and let him go, he will die trying. The type of heart, spirit and ability Holyfield possesses can never ever be sold short. In fact, Evander’s “overachiever/underdog/giant slayer” worked so well for him that people forgot this man was the REAL DEAL. He knew how to fight and had the technical skills of fighters from a bygone era. But there was much more to Evander’s game than courage… to see him execute against Dwight Muhammad Quawi (a hardened and proven champ that was chopping up everyone) over 15 rounds in their first fight… and Holyfield only had something like 12 fights at the time, his roll and counter, his ability to stand in the direct line of fire with some of the most powerful punchers boxing has ever seen, absorb their power and dish it back twofold, that’s the stuff legends are made of. It’s this opinion that what limited Holyfield’s ability as a heavyweight boxer was his weight-training program. In order to bulk up to heavyweight, he had to put on muscle… but someone neglected to remind Evander that boxing is about how often and hard you can punch, not how often and how much you can lift, so I think the weights really inhibited his punch and performance endurance and caused him to tire so rapidly in fights against Bowe (for example) when he was stopped in the 8th round. He had other fights were he almost refused to let his hands go in combination. He could beat the big men, but would lose or have a lot of trouble with a smaller faster man because he had more armor to lug around. Weights add “perceived” strength but zap your spiritual strength and often he went “quietly into the night” against fighters that weren’t interested in doing nothing but jab and move, or jab and hold. Scurrying away with timid decisions, careful not to awaken the sleeping dog. One thing for sure: at any weight, Evander Holyfield can never be discounted. Physically he is as gifted as mentally he is resolute. He can go toe-to-toe with anyone, BUT, should he be fighting a boxer with good wheels, not so interested in physical collisions, Evander’s in big trouble. He can box, but his true nature is that of a fighter and this is his undoing with types like Benitez, Ali, Leonard and so forth. How is this for a mega super fight… Joe Frazier (Ali 1 version) vs. Evander Holyfield (mid to late 80’s version)

7. Roberto Duran – His ability is legendary. He wiped out the lightweights, skipped the super lightweights and jumped to welter and beat the golden goose, Sugar Ray Leonard, continued up and knocked out the champ Davey Moore in the super welterweight division and then took undisputed middleweight champ Marvelous Marvin Hagler to the limit in a close title fight… any slugger, or fighter, that threw round house punches would get eaten alive by this man. Definitely one of the greatest DEFENSIVE fighters to ever lace up the gloves, he was also extremely aggressive and had amazing dexterity with the mitts… here’s something you don’t see which I saw Duran execute… a guy throws a left hook at you, you move into and under the punch and score with your own left hook to the body AT THE SAME TIME… you have to see it! The man was a fistic virtuoso and surely the greatest fighter to ever lace up the gloves. Picture him as a heavyweight – he would eat up Holmes, Forman, Liston, Frazier, Tyson… Duran and Sugar Ray Robinson? That’s a fight! WAIT A MINUTE… But not Ali and certainly not the Ali fight breed. Make Duran move his feet as he had to do against the Viruet brothers, against Zeferino Gonzales, against Sugar Ray Leonard in the second fight, and it’s a new day. If you can move your feet and move your hands at the same time… you are going to do very well against Roberto. Intelligent straight punching boxers were his Achilles heel, always were. With a shortcoming that obvious, no way could he be considered pound-for-pound. OK, no mas on that.

8. Sugar Ray Leonard – I have to be careful with Sugar 2, because I grew up on him, idolized him, was fed a steady stream of him from 7UP commercials to sales of all sorts of product. But I gotta say this about Ray… THE MAN COULD FIGHT! As much as he ushered in the media friendly-packaged smile – mega watt nice guy – he had a wicked competitive streak that you would never want to go up against unless you thrive on that kinda thing. He KO’d the Hitman, when the Hitman was KOing everyone… and continued to afterwards. Lost to Duran, but came back and thumped him right away. I mean, as a boxer, if you can make a man – and not just any man, a great fighter –consciously quit, to your intellectual side it can be as gratifying as knocking him cold. But we know the savage side of the brain always wins out. We prefer to see a man take the 10-count. Leonard beat Marcus Geraldo at middleweight, in 1980… and that’s BEFORE Marvin Hagler beat Geraldo… AND Sugar was a welterweight, Marcus a legit middleweight. Leonard had speed and power… (often he sacrificed it wisely unwilling to go toe-to-toe) was amazing working the body and the head, had amazing reflexes and that certain quality that makes you feel so assured going into battle. A man with a heart and fight spirit like this you always want on your team. He was to boxing what Jordan was to basketball, that simple. Looking at his talent, you could put him in with any fighter from any era at any weight and be relatively secure betting the kid’s college fund… AND your retirement fund, that he will win… But is he my choice for the #1? Alas, no, and I will tell you why: the one loss to Roberto Duran showed me something… psychologically he can be rattled, not often, but it can and did happen and #2, he didn’t adapt in the way you thought he would to win the fight… he kept trying to force something that wasn’t there for him… That looping overhand right… so ineffective against Duran… gotta be laser straight, like he did in the second fight. He fought grade-A opposition and defeated them convincingly and with style… Cream rises to the top, and the Sugar almost made it too. Imagine Leonard vs. Ali… WOW!

9. Roy Jones Jr. – What can you say about a man who possessed god-like instincts – reflexes, power and ability? It really was unreal watching him throw triple and quadruple left hooks against opponents that were otherwise champions if not for him. He went into a fight as Ali did against Cleveland “Big Cat” Williams and fought the perfect fight, nearly landing every punch he threw while not getting hit AT ALL… Knocking out his opponent in the 6th round… maybe he had an “aversion” to being hit that made a couple fights hard to watch, but if you have that ability why not? Every attribute you would want of your fighter, Roy possessed, with the exception of one thing that became more apparent as he continued fighting… a defense. As Howard Cosell would say about Thomas Hearns pre-Sugar 1: “Defense? His defense was his offense.” Which is absolutely cool and crowd-pleasing until you come upon someone with an equally potent offense and what do ya do then? Roy’s offense was amazing speed, intelligence, a healthy fear of getting hit and amazing fistic gymnastics, multiplied by numbing power… His defense consisted of putting his hands to the sides of his head and letting guys whack away at his ribs like a side of beef as long as you don’t give up the headshots. No slipping, ducking, not even the winged feet to provide different angles, nothing. Whenever Roy would punch, his head was ALWAYS right on top of his shoulders, which were always over his hips, which were always over his feet. In other words, as an opponent you didn’t have to see his head to know where he is, you simply had to punch where you last saw his head and BINGO… That’s what we are seeing now, unfortunately. But make no bones about it, when Roy was at the top of his game… as a middleweight, it is virtually impossible to see him lose to anyone fighter… I seen him break unbendable guys. But what about Roy vs. Duran? Leonard? Ali? Hearns? Robinson? All great fights and their outcomes can change depending on what day of the week it is, but alas… Roy don’t get the brass ring either for all the aforementioned champs had potent offenses as well. Check it, everyone’s chin gets tested at some point and that being the case most of the aforementioned passed with flying colors. Roy didn’t. And why didn’t he ever have a nickname? That always bothered me.

10. Muhammad Ali- “I’m the Greatest”…And if you have to ask why, you don’t really know your boxing.



Contact Michael Olajide @ TheSweetScience.com


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