The guy who I saw as he happened that I wish the younguns had? Philadelphia Middleweight Bad Benny Briscoe.

Why? Because Benny was truly a bad mutha (shut your mouth). He was about 95% of Marvin Hagler in every area but maybe raw talent. Benny fought EVERYBODY. HOFers on seven occasions (0-6-1). He fought ranked guys on perhaps 15 occasions and lost most of them. He fought for the undisputed 160 crown on three occasions and lost each time. The thing about Bad Benny was he was in all those fights but one. The time Rodrigo Valdez handed him his only KO defeat. But you get just the slightest step below top tick fighters and Benny was just too big a puncher. How big? He came THIS close to KOing the great Carlos Monzon in the ninth round in Argentina. Carlos did the chicken dance but Briscoe couldn't finish him. Briscoe beat champions Vincente Rondon and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.

In those days just being the best middleweight in Philadelphia meant something. Philly had four middles who were ranked in those days. Briscoe, Cyclone Hart (anothe banger), Willie the Worm Monroe, Bobby Boogaloo Watts (who got a win over Hagler) and Briscoe was the best of them. He was also a good guy. He knew it was time to retire when he knocked down sparring partner and friend Jimmie Sykes in a fight at the Blue Horizon and then just didn't want to hurt him anymore.

If I go back before my time? He's a HOFer but I'm still going to pick Jimmy McLarnin. Why? Because his history puts to rest the notion that a fighter can't go from 112-147 and bring his power with him without PED's. The Belfast Spider started at 112 and defeated HOFers Fidel LaBarba and Bantam HOFer Memphis Pal Moore and defeated 112 legend Pancho Villa in a catchweight fight. At feather he beat HOFer Bud Taylor and future champ Jackie Fields. At lightweight he knocked off future champ Joe Glick, and drilled reigning 135 king and HOFer Kid Louis Kaplan in an over the weight fight. At 147 he won the undisputed crown by stopping HOFer Young Corbett in one round then had an extraordinary trilogy with Barney Ross. In a period of one year the two men fought three unbelievably close decisions. How did McLarnin end his career? In his last 13 fights he fought HOFers a dozen times and went 8-5.