Floyd ray not in the top ten

[Tito BHB]

Hearns was one of the best jr. middles of all time. The quantity might not be there but the quality is, win over Benitez, and the dominant win over Duran, along with all the other wins he had there. Just how good he looked there gives him a spot.

Especially considering 154 is not one of the old divisions, how many great 154's have there been? You've got guys like Terry Norris, Mike McCallum, Winky, a lot of guys didn't stay long at 154.

i dunno man yeah hearns was a bad bad man, a great fighter for sure but things could have been alot different for duran had he chased these fights earlier and at lower weights etc..
i mean put it this way... duran beat leonard in about 1980 1981 .. and didnt fight hearns till something like 4 years later and then didnt fight hagler till something like another 5 years after hearns or something..
and if duran had not blown up 40 odd pounds after each fight and had to loose all the wieght before each fight that on top of bieng naturally a heavy handed lightweight, he just couldnt stand up to hagler and hearns at the time he fought them...
i say this while taking as little as possible away from hagler hearns lol i cant say i dont take anything away from them cos that would be false.. but still very big wins!
peace

Beating Duran was a big win, but even more so it was how he beat Duran. Nobody did that to Duran. And Duran came back to give Hagler a pretty close 15 round fight at 160 and beat Barkley at 160. And Benitez is another very good one.

Mainly though, its just that 154 doesn't have that huge list of top guys. For one, it wasn't one of the original weight classes, it hasn't been around as long. Two, its not the glamour division that 147 or 160 is so the really elite guys don't tend to stay there that long. At 126, 147, 160, 175, HW, the alltime lists are so deep cause they've been around the whole time and they're glamor divisions. Divisions like 154 and 168, its easier to make an all time list, a lot of people think Roy Jones was the best super middle of all time and he didn't have many fights at that division either. Right off the top of my head I can't think of ten better stints at junior middle than Hearns'. None of the current guys except for Winky, Oscar's beaten Vargas and Mayorga there but lost to Mosley. Mosley's beaten Oscar and Vargas but lost twice to Winky. Tito had a good stint there with the Reid and Vargas wins but he was gone quick too and I'll take Benitez and Duran over Reid and Vargas. Not saying Hearns is the best jr. middle of all time, but there's not that many better.

yeh i definately get what you mean ..
im one of the guys that aregue that although toney and roy jones never stuck around in super middle theyr still both some of the best super middles in history!!
just as i feel tito should be remembered as a great fighter a light middle...
so yeh my sentiments exactly its who they fight not how many fights!!
i always found it a shame that we could never find out how duran matched up with the other greats of the 80's prime versus prime and maybe at a lower wieght... but that doesnt take anything away fromt he mark that hearns and hagler left on the light middle and middleweight divisions!! lol
peace