Yeah. He was not in his prime but hadn't lost since Benitez. Just saying - arguello wasn't the only past his prime star that pryor beat - cervantes was another.
Does one win against a fading ATG....make you an ATG? It´s a step above McGuigan beating an old Pedroza....
To respond to the thread, my opinion is yes. I think fighters who are content not to chase fighters in other divisions, but who dominate nondescript competition for several years consecutively can obtain atg status. They will probably earn less than the average atg, and be less famous. But i think ultimately atg status is determined by boxing insiders who value longevity and consistency. Possible examples: Ricardo Lopez Tszyu (some consider him an atg at 140) Holmes Wlad Bob Foster
No, but that wasn't the question of the thread. Pryor DOES have a win over an ATG. Pryor was awesome in that fight, but so was Arguello. That's what made it special and meaningful. It wasn't akin to Tsyzu beating Chavez.
For Vitali to be criticized for not fighting Rahman, Rahman needed to actually accomplish something. He didn't. Imo, Rahman's 2nd best performance is when he drew with Tua in the rematch...and that was when he came in as a fatass and had miraculous stamina for whatever reason. On the other hand, Wlad fought too many of the best of Vitali's era and vice versa. Imo, Vitali was better, Wlad greater and both fucked on a resume contest.
So idiotic. Rahman koed the same fat unmotivated LL that Vitaly lost to, and KOed the best win on Vitaly resume
As joey maxim said when people were crediting the heat for his win against Robinson. ''Did I have air-conditioning in my corner?''
heh!!!??? A bigger guy will burn energy faster than a smaller one, this is basic biology. Sure, the bigger one can use his size to wear out the smaller one, but being bigger is far from being a clear advantage in a boxing match, in high temperature, when it comes to conserving energy.
Not when the bigger guy is just standing there getting beat up We aren't talking about some 350 pound slob
Maxim did fuck all to win that fight ... if it had been 80 degrees, Robinson is the world's light heavyweight champion
Changing one thing changes the whole fight though. Had it been a normal temperature, perhaps Maxim would have been more aggressive and not conserved energy
I never bought that this was some strategy on his part... he was made gunshy because he was getting tattooed... his manager said all that shit after the fact
So if Maxim didn't use his size to wear down SRR, him being bigger is a disavantage when it comes to stamina
It's probably one of the least celebrated "big wins" in boxing history for the basic fact that Maxim basically just got dominated and couldn't even mount much of an offensive when Robinson was basically lifeless the last couple of rounds
Good question. Probably a bit hypocritical of me as I'm a big fan of both Tyson and Golovkin, but one of the reasons I don't rate Chavez, Sanchez, and Pryor very highly compared to most people is their opposition. Not particularly impressed with any one win of theirs tbh. Especially given their historical standing.
They didn't beat just scrubs, but like I said before - one of Chavez's marquee wins, Rosario, he's a pretty fucking far cry from the Fab 4 isn't he? Not a single opponent they beat I would class as a great fighter tbh, at least within the context they beat them. Gomez was legit, Arguello was excellent, just not at those weights/times.
If this is in reference to my point about the altitude, Rahman did what you are supposed to do and got there early to acclimatise. Lewis was fucking around with the Ocean's 11 shit, got there late and out of shape, and was clearly struggling with it. Not Rahman's fault obviously, and he took full advantage of it, but he did have that extra factor in his favour that night which Vitali didn't.
If you think Rahman had a chance against Vitali at the time you just don’t know boxing. Vitali, injuries aside, was still in great form, where Rahman was a fat tomato can who little brother easily dispatched shortly later. To assume that Vitali was afraid of him is just laughable.
Lewis was faster and heavier against Vitaly than against Rahman, not to mention older. Vitaly also has extra factors going for him that Rahaman didn't have
If you think that Rahaman (who Koed a much better fighter than vitaly) had no chance against Vitaly (who never beat anyone as good as Rahman), then you're the one who's clueless my friend. Would I have picked him No, but Rahman was better than Sanders, who gace a hell of a fight to VK. And for anyone who has a good enough memory to rebember what actually happened (which is not your case unfortunately) it's obvious that Vitaly was not keen on facing Rahaman
Sanders gave Vitali a good fight for a couple of rounds (and shook Klitschko in the first) but after that got seven shades of shit punched out of him.