Mout Rushmore By Weight Classes

[marbleheadmaui]

ESPN did a Mount Rushmore feature for the greatest athletes from the 50 states. I'm going to propose the same for the eight original weight classes. My criteria? The most important fighters by weight class. They need not be the four best, but those who had the greatest impact on the sport and its fans.

Flyweight-Jimmy Wilde. The division was basically created for him. England's greatest. Pancho Villa. Ushered the Philippines into boxing. Michael Carbajal. Reinvigorated the lower weights and got paid $1 million for his first fight with Chiquita Gonzales. Ricardo Lopez. Cause it's my damned list, that's why.

Bantamweight-Eder Jofre. On skill alone. After SRR perhaps the greatest boxing comeback in history. Ruben Olivares. One of Mexico's greatest and bodypunching representative. Johnny Tapia. One of boxing's all-time saddest and most compelling stories. Great TV fighter. Panama Al Brown. A 5'11" bantamweight? Spent more time in Europe than Hemingway.

Featherweight-Willie Pep. A boxing legend. Sandy Saddler. Because boxing is about rivalries and Pep without Saddler is like Michael Phelps without the bong. Salvador Sanchez. Boxing's James Dean. What might have been. Abe Attel. All-time great who also helped fix the 1919 World Series. A nod to the sleazy side of the sport.

Lightweight-The Old Master Joe Gans. The first American black world champion and a boxing revolution. Nothing happenes in the ring today that Gans didn't do 110 years ago. Benny Leonard. He turned boxing into art. The greatest Jewish fighter. Dropped dead refereeing a fight.Barney Ross. An ATG, he won the Silver Star at Guadalcanal, became addicted to morphine recovering from his wounds and then beat his addiction. As courageous a man as I've ever heard about. Roberto Duran. Boxing's greatest in-ring redemption story.

Welterweight-Yeah, like I'm gonna leave Ray Robinson off. Kid Gavilan. Fought over 30 times on national TV. Everyone who grew up in the 1940's-50's grew up on the Cuban Hawk. Emile Griffith-Best remembered for his nationally televised tragic third fight with Kid Paret. Lived a sad life denying himself. A boxing, personal and social tragedy. Henry Armstrong-Holding over 40% of all the belts in existence still boggles our imaginations 70 years later.

Middleweight-Jake LaMotta. Famously fragile hands, famously titanic chin. Only boxer to have their biopic win Best Picture. Marvin Hagler. The all-time lunchpail champion. The determined workman who achieves greatness. Dick Tiger. The greatest African fighter and a greater man. Charley Burley. Arguably the greatest fighter never to fight for a title. A reminder of boxing's essential cruelty and unfairness.

Light heavyweight-Billy Conn. The man who had Joe Louis beat...and then decided he had to knock him out. "What good is Being Irish if you can't be stupid?" Roy Jones. That combination of speed and power was made for television. Dwight Muhammad Qawi. A grand example of how boxing redeemed an entire life. From prison to the HOF. His breakthrough fight was against James Scott, in the very prison in which Qawi had been incarcerated. Jose Torres. Who showed us there can be a productive life after boxing.

Heavyweight-John L. Sullivan. The transition to the gloved era. Joe Louis. The guy who made Jackie Robinson possible. Probably the most important fighter in history. Boxers can change the world. Mike Tyson. A cautionary tale of the dangers of fame, fortune and Don King. Jack Dempsey. Ushered in the Golden Age of boxing. Eclipsed Babe Ruth as a superstar.

One more Mountain for Random others. Because it's my damned list! Ray Arcel. Trained from Benny Leonard to Roberto Duran. Told the mob to go take a flying eff at a rolling donut. A man of integrity. Alexis Arguello. The gentleman assassin who finally retired because he hated the beast the ring unleashed in him. Muhammad Ali. Do I really need to make the case? Nat Fleischer. Founded Ring Magazine, judges a zillion fights, boxing's great international ambassador.

Where did I screw up and whom did I leave out?

[CutMeMick]

In my list I would replace Attel with Saldivar.
Torres with Foster and Monzon with Burley.

[marbleheadmaui]

In my list I would replace Attel with Saldivar.
Torres with Foster and Monzon with Burley.

Hmmm. I dunno about Saldivar for Attel. Abe's resume I think is one a different plane and I LOVE that he was one of the guys who fixed the world series.

There is now question Foster was a dramatically more accomplished fighter. The reason I but Torres on their is kind of the opposite of Attel. Classy, wrote two great books and served ably as the head of the NY Commission. A good guy.

Again, Monzon clearly could deserve a spot. I put Burley on there to represent all the deserving fighters who never got a shot at the title.

But I got no problem with any of your picks.