Vasyl Lomachenko is P4P #1

[ryanman]

Hey I love Blondie. One of the few blondes I would've done if I could.


Aw shucks R-man.... there's no empirical evidence he wouldn't have gotten blasted out, either. It's all theories and fantasies anyway.

Hell... if we can't pit our heroes against anyone from any era... and defend our guy.... what good are we?

True enough Tito. But I'm not a man prone to hyperbole but I don't see the sense in pitting Ancient Joe that fought B Hop and RJJ and having him against a prime killer like Kov.
Maybe you Americans and Honorary Americans didn't know but JC was well past his best by the time he beat Lacy like a drum. Its all about perspective. The JC we saw was not the guy that fought Hopkins etc. He was done. What I'm saying is watch a 25-29 year old Calzaghe.

I think Calzaghe was always great, but I think the more refined, less powerful Calzaghe would have outboxed his younger self over 12. The experience and adaptability added to his greatness IMO. Calzaghe was vintage between Lacy and Kessler.

That's often something I think about Miles. But what if JC had a proper coach? His dad was reading coaching manuals and staying one week ahead of Joe. I often felt that Joe was held back by his Dad's skill/ability/experience. Imagine JC with Roach or Hunter.

[Gandalf]

Hey I love Blondie. One of the few blondes I would've done if I could.


Aw shucks R-man.... there's no empirical evidence he wouldn't have gotten blasted out, either. It's all theories and fantasies anyway.

Hell... if we can't pit our heroes against anyone from any era... and defend our guy.... what good are we?

True enough Tito. But I'm not a man prone to hyperbole but I don't see the sense in pitting Ancient Joe that fought B Hop and RJJ and having him against a prime killer like Kov.
Maybe you Americans and Honorary Americans didn't know but JC was well past his best by the time he beat Lacy like a drum. Its all about perspective. The JC we saw was not the guy that fought Hopkins etc. He was done. What I'm saying is watch a 25-29 year old Calzaghe.

I think Calzaghe was always great, but I think the more refined, less powerful Calzaghe would have outboxed his younger self over 12. The experience and adaptability added to his greatness IMO. Calzaghe was vintage between Lacy and Kessler.

That's often something I think about Miles. But what if JC had a proper coach? His dad was reading coaching manuals and staying one week ahead of Joe. I often felt that Joe was held back by his Dad's skill/ability/experience. Imagine JC with Roach or Hunter.

I just rewatched Calzaghe/Eubank and maybe you are right too. He was pretty powerful in those days. It's hard to tell, isn't it? Just a really great fighter who had the intelligence to understand his changing physicality. Against Kessler he was more delicate, but Kessler then was also much better than the later incarnation of himself too with the injuries. Think I will rewatch all of Calzaghe's fights again to observe how he evolved. Either way, to be throwing 1000 punches a fight at 36 is superhuman. Even Pac slowed down much much more a while before then.

[mikeeod]

These are all subjective, opinion based lists, but I can see three solid arguments for GGG, Loma, and Ward being ranked in that top spot. GGG had an impressive ko streak going, is very solid fundamentally, and recently beat his #1 challenger in his division. Loma does things no one else can do in the ring right now, and has dominated world class fighters Like Nicholas Walters and completely outclassed them in the process. Ward hasn't been defeated since the amateurs, and has beaten better opposition than GGG and Loma combined.

I go back and forth on who I think is the best fighter today, changing my top two almost daily. Today I have Ward on top due to his longevity, and the fact that he has beaten so many tough fighters. Loma is a very close second in my opinion, because although he lost a close fight to Salido early on, he has outclassed his opponents since in a way that Ward hasn't ever been able to. GGG is a great fighter in my opinion, but p4p to me is exemplified in fighters who are able to fight bigger opponents and still dominate/win (Pac, Floyd, Roy, Hop, Evander...etc.), and I think that GGG will be ineffective if he moves out of that weight class (Hagler is the one fighter I forgive for remaining solely in one weight class his whole career since I'm a fan boy).