Top 20 since the 1990s (P4P)

[Saddo]

A few other candidates worth mentioning.

Michael Nunn
Nigel Benn
Chris Eubank
Terry Norris
Orlando Canizales
Kostya Tszyu
Steve Collins
Johnny Tapia
Mark Johnson

never rated Steve Collins... made his name by beating a past prime Eubank and Benn... ducked the young new upcoming fighter Calzaghe BIGTIME.

[ICB]

A few other candidates worth mentioning.

Michael Nunn
Nigel Benn
Chris Eubank
Terry Norris
Orlando Canizales
Kostya Tszyu
Steve Collins
Johnny Tapia
Mark Johnson

never rated Steve Collins... made his name by beating a past prime Eubank and Benn... ducked the young new upcoming fighter Calzaghe BIGTIME.

I think he is a bit underrated Saddo, he did give Mike McCallum a tough fight while being only a novice. And he had close decision losses to good names like Reggie Johnson, Sumbu Kalambay.

I think Steve Collins deserves alot of credit for beating Chris Eubank who was 41-0, with countless title defenses. Yes he wasn't at his 100 percent peak but i still think he was a good fighter and he was coming off one of his best performances against Henry Wharton.

Agreed about the Nigel Benn fights clearly Nigel Benn was shot to pieces, after the brutal war with Gerald McClellan. And a loss to Thulani Malinga.

Lastly about the Joe Calzaghe thing i heard somewhere that Steve Collins, passed out in sparring and had a detatched retina, and thats why he retired ? maybe someone could clarify that ?

[Saddo]

Lastly about the Joe Calzaghe thing i heard somewhere that Steve Collins, passed out in sparring and had a detatched retina, and thats why he retired ? maybe someone could clarify that ?

no mate i'm about 80% sure that happened when he was going to make a comeback.

he retired before the Calzaghe fight because he said his heart wasn't in it anymore and only wanted to fight Roy Jones or somthing like that.... remember thinking at the time it was a piss poor excuse thats for sure

[ICB]

Lastly about the Joe Calzaghe thing i heard somewhere that Steve Collins, passed out in sparring and had a detatched retina, and thats why he retired ? maybe someone could clarify that ?

no mate i'm about 80% sure that happened when he was going to make a comeback.

he retired before the Calzaghe fight because he said his heart wasn't in it anymore and only wanted to fight Roy Jones or somthing like that.... remember thinking at the time it was a piss poor excuse thats for sure

Thanks for clearing that up mate i feel Steve Collins, may of been able to do drag Joe Calzaghe into deep waters and beat him with his extra experience, because remember Joe Calzaghe had never fought a 12 round prior to his fight with Chris Eubank i don't think and he was seriously inexperienced.

I feel the fight would look similar to the Robin Reid fight, i noticed Joe Calzaghe doesn't do too well in those kind of fights as history shows against Kabary Salem, Sakio Bika, Bernard Hopkins, David Starie, ETC.

But a prime Joe Calzaghe i feel would of been too classy and fast for Steve Collins, and would of won a hard fought decision. Just a shame it never happened.

[JazMerkin]

Ok, having thought about it, I've got it. My Top 10 for this decade (can't do back to 1990s) is:

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2. Bernard Hopkins
3. Manny Pacquiao
4. Juan Manuel Marquez
5. Marco Antonio Barrera
6. Shane Mosley
7. Kostya Tszyu
8. Erik Morales
9. Joe Calzaghe
10. Winky Wright

Combination of talent & what they've done.

Narrowly missing out based on records:

Wlad & Vital Klitschko: the division has stagnated in their time & Vitali took too much time off.

Vernon Forrest: had some great wins but the KO against Mayorga hurt him how the Sanders fight hurt Wlad.

Jose Luis Castillo: was very close, but the way he has faded in the last few years means I had to leave him out.

Diego Corrales: lost some big fights, but was never in a bad one. If I did this again he might well get in there.

Roy Jones Jr, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad: Felt all these guys did their best work in the previous decade & have not been dominant enough throughout for me, whilst Lennox & Tito effectively were both done by 2002.

Probably still left someone out.

[CutMeMick]

3 titles in 3 weight classes and only 2 loses since 2000. 14 title defenses total... Jorge Arce at the very least deserves a mention IMO.

3 titles in 3 weight clases and only 2 very disputable loses since 2000.
11 title defenses total... Fernando Montiel also deserves a mention.

[JazMerkin]

I knew I'd forget some of the little guys, as my knowledge of Featherweight & below has only really got better in the last year or so. I don't know enough about Arce or Montiel to have them in the ten best of the past decade, I couldn't even find a place for Izzy & Rafa who I forgot to mention. My top 8 is pretty solid but 9 & 10 I could easily replace.

[BIG H]

Lastly about the Joe Calzaghe thing i heard somewhere that Steve Collins, passed out in sparring and had a detatched retina, and thats why he retired ? maybe someone could clarify that ?

no mate i'm about 80% sure that happened when he was going to make a comeback.

he retired before the Calzaghe fight because he said his heart wasn't in it anymore and only wanted to fight Roy Jones or somthing like that.... remember thinking at the time it was a piss poor excuse thats for sure

There were rumours that Collins was getting dropped by juniors in sparring before the JC fight and that's why he called it a day - probably rubbish, but that was the word around the camp fire

[Fenster]

Nut-nut Eastman sparked Collins in sparring before his failed comeback attempt.