Murphy’s Top Ten Middleweights

By Ian “The Boxing Historian” Murphy (who else would it be by?)

*NOTE: This series will be according to boxing’s long standing eight traditional weight division. Also, this ranking does not imply that one boxer who is ranked higher than another cannot be beaten by someone else listed (or not on this list, as styles make fights), as the separation in ability at this level is incredibly small.

With the upcoming middleweight mega fights (Cotto/Alvarez and Golovkin/Lemieux) just around the corner, we are seemingly in the midst of a return to glory in boxing’s greatest historical division. Bearing this in mind, perhaps it is in good form to take a look at the great 160lb fighters who preceded them. Some boxing fans need to be reminded (and sometimes educated) about the great fighters of yesteryear, maybe even for the sole reason of putting it all in perspective. Dominance is truly subjective and in many cases (especially in regards to Floyd Mayweather, JR.) it is downright illusory. In order to compile a short list of the greatest fighters in any given division, we need transparency and must strip away all the glamour to see who really belongs.

So, what qualifies someone as a top ten in their weight class? This can be measured in a number of different ways, but in reality, a true boxing fan who understands what they are watching will most likely have many of the same men in their top ten. It is the order where it gets complicated. How much weight do we give for dominance? Level of opposition? Wins over other all time greats? I personally value level of competition and displayable skills against tough opponents above all else. The other factors count, too, but really, are you going to rate Kelly Pavlik (a fine champion, but not a historically great fighter) over Jake LaMotta, who lost more times, but beat (and fought) a tougher caliber of opponent? Also, can you rate ANYONE who held just a portion of a fractured championship over someone who was an undisputed champion? In my opinion, you cannot.

While you may think I am solely favoring fighters from previous generations, there may be one exception to that rule. After watching how he operates in the ring, I will freely state that Gennady Golovkin may be in the discussion as an all time great Middleweight by the time he retires. He has blended the best of the Russian amateur style and the professional Mexican template to fantastic effect. I expect him to get past David Lemieux and I am confident he will defeat the winner of Cotto/Alvarez. If he wins these fights, (and captures the IBF title shortly thereafter) he will be the best Middleweight since Bernard Hopkins. Keep in mind that the jury is still out, and GGG needs a few career defining wins to even be in the conversation when mentioning the greatest at 160lbs. If he runs the table over his next few fights in dominating fashion, then he might just be the next great middleweight. Until (or if) that happens, let’s take a look below at the men who have already cemented themselves as the greatest 160lbs fighters in the history of the sport.

TOP TEN MIDDLEWEIGHTS

10. Bernard Hopkins

The “Executioner” cracks the top ten due to his utter dominance of the 160lb division. His level of opposition was not as good as his predecessors, and perhaps not as good as it is now (with Cotto, GGG, and Alvarez all being great fighters), but he was the immovable force in his division for the better part of a decade. So far he is the best Middleweight since Marvin Hagler in the 1980s, a time period spanning nearly twenty years. This alone merits his qualification on this list. Despite his impressive run at Middleweight (and subsequent LHW title), the lack of truly great adversaries keeps him on the lower rung of this ladder.

9. Jake LaMotta

The “Bronx Bull” didn’t hold on to the Middleweight title for long, but he might (along with Harry Greb, Ray Robinson and Emile Griffith) have the best resume in the division’s history. LaMotta was not a big puncher in the mold of say, Ketchel or Rocky Graziano, but he just walked people down and mauled them. He fought the Sugar Man a whopping SIX TIMES. He lost five, but all but one were close, and you could easily make the argument that LaMotta won two, if not three of those matches. Anyone who can give the best P4P fighter of all time that much trouble needs to be on this list.

8. Stanley Ketchel

The “Michigan Assassin” on film appeared to be a crude brawler, but he had more than enough skills to land with frightening power. He once even knocked Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson! Johnson returned the favor with a teeth extracting kayo shortly thereafter, but the fact that he dropped Ol’ Jack is a testament to his punching power. He died at 24 (shot over an argument), so we may not have seen the best of Ketchel. Either way, his 49 KO’s in 52 wins tells us he would test anyone’s chin.

7. Tony Zale
The Man of Steel had a bumpy start to his career, losing more often than most great fighters (Jersey Joe Walcott is another example), but once he got settled, he rarely lost and he had an incredible KO percentage. One of boxings best body punchers, Zale could break up your guts with the best of them. His resume is quite impressive, defeating champions like Al Hostak, Fred Apostoli, and Rocky Graziano. Zale was hindered by a 3 year stint in the armed forces and did not fight from 1942-1946. When he did return to the ring, he was already 33 years old. He held the title until 1948.

6. Freddie Steele

Steele is one of the most underrated of all boxing champions. Middleweight champ in the mid 1930s, Steele faced an astounding 8 world champions, including Ken Overlin, Fred Apostoli, Al Hostak and Ceferino Garcia. He beat nearly all of them. A great boxer/puncher, Freddie matches up well with almost anyone on this list. The fact that Steele rarely is in the discussion of all time great Middleweights is a travesty. Steele isn’t rated higher due to his relatively brief peak and his subsequent slide afterwards. At his best, however, he was as good as anyone.

5. Mike Gibbons

Like Freddie Steele, “The St.Paul Phantom” is criminally underrepresented on lists of great Middleweights. Gibbons had an incredible 65-3 record in official bouts (108-11 when you count newspaper decisions) and was the dominant Middleweight of his era (appx 1910-1920) until he ran into the human buzzsaw that was Harry Greb in 1919. That match saw the great defensive wizard Gibbons overwhelmed by Greb’s ferocity and punch volume. Gibbons was still a top fighter after the Greb loss, but lost 5 times in the next few years, prompting retirement. Style wise, Gibbons was like his younger brother Tommy (who challenged Jack Dempsey for the HW title in 1923), a defensive specialist with a punch.

4. Marvelous Marvin Hagler

The last of the truly great Middleweights, Hagler was a complete beast in the ring. Having no weaknesses beyond a slight vulnerability to movers, Marvin was a nightmare for his opponents. Switching back and forth between southpaw and orthodox, Hagler was always in position to deliver maximum damage to his opponents, and he fought all the best of his era. His fight with fellow great Tommy Hearns was easily the greatest fight in the last quarter of the 20th century. Hagler was hurt (very rare) but came back to KO his foe in the third round. Hagler is rated fourth only because of the incredible era defying skills of his predecessors, who amazingly were even more well rounded than he was.

3. Sugar Ray Robinson

The Sugar Man was as close as we’ve ever had to a perfect fighter. A rare blend of exceptional athleticism and refined skill, SRR could adapt to any style. A nearly universal pick as the best pound for pound (this term was invented for him!) boxer to walk the planet, Robinson was perhaps the most balanced fighter in the history of boxing. He could do it all. SRR was a multiple time Middleweight champion, defeating the likes of Jake LaMotta, Bobo Olson, Gene Fullmer and Carmen Basilio. He was even better at 147lbs, but he was the dominant Middleweight of the 1950s. Only his losses to 3 of the 4 above fighters keeps him from being rated #1.

2. Carlos Monzon

Many lists have the great Monzon rated underneath Sugar Ray Robinson. I do not because I personally feel Monzon was a better Middleweight. Robinson was at his absolute best at 147lbs, and was nearly unbeatable there. Monzon, the immovable rock, was rarely even tested until very late in his career and was practically unbeatable at 160lbs. Robinson was (even near his prime) defeated more often at Middleweight, losing and regaining his title a number of times. Head to head, I feel that Monzon would also match up well against Robinson. Monzon was a master boxer/puncher who resembled a Middleweight Joe Louis. Massive power and exceptional timing kept Carlos’ opponents from mounting much offense and left them vulnerable to his big power.

1. Harry Greb

Greb’s record is nearly unbelievable, and that is part of the problem. The strength of his competition and the sheer amount of fights he had (well over 300) would appear to warrant his #1 ranking. The curious case of there being no available footage of Greb actually in the ring complicates matters. There is film on Jim Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons, who fought around 1900, and none on Greb, who fought in the 1920s mostly. That complicates the rating. However, when reviewing his record and the abundant primary sources (newspaper articles), I have decided that his record must be legit, despite the lack of film. Stylistically, Greb was so busy with his punch rate that it must have been like fighting an airplane propeller. One foe said fighting Greb was like fighting “an Octopus”.

HONORABLE MENTION:

The below men were capable of hanging (and sometimes defeating) the greatest of their divisions, but come just short. Some of them could be inserted in the top ten, and there could be little argument. Others (like Ezzard Charles and Roy Jones, JR) did not campaign long enough as middleweights to merit top ten status.

*a notable exemption from this list is triple champion Bob Fitzsimmons. Some lists rate him as a Middleweight due to his size (he won MW, LHW, HW titles weighing around 165-170lbs), but I personally feel his contributions were much greater (and more impressive) at Heavyweight.

Gene Fullmer
Dick Tiger
Marcel Cerdan
Ezzard Charles
Emile Griffith
Roy Jones, JR.
Mickey Walker

Tiger Flowers
Charley Burley
Holman Williams

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