Outstanding candidates would include Jack McAuliffe, Ricardo Lopez, & Rocky Marciano. Joe Calzaghe is the most recent graduate of this exceedingly-rare class. Floyd Mayweather may yet join the alumni, but for now remains out of the club. On pure ability, my vote goes to Lopez, though all achievements weighed up, McAuliffe gets the nod as Boxing's best, IMO. How about some others? They must have been legitimate champions, though --- no fringe or partial titles.
Well as I always say, comparing boxers from so far back to practitioners of the modern sport (30s-> roughly, IMO) is just fraught with too many difficulties. Perhaps just because I know less than nothing about these guys :: So I'll limit my pick to the 3 modern guys. I agree with you I think Lopez was by far the most gifted. But Marciano, pishy as his resume was, has probably the best of the 3. And to his credit, in a way which can't be credited to the other 2, he fought the best guys he possibly could. So IMO, in the greatness stakes 1) Marciano 2) Calzaghe 3) Lopez In the ability stakes 1) Lopez 2) Marciano 3) Calzaghe.
Ricardo Lopez... REED Isn't the Least Bit Familiar w/McAuliffe, but it's Funny How the Other Guys (Lopez, Calzaghe, Marciano) Catch More FLACK for who they DIDN'T Fight... Being Undefeated Obviously ISN'T the Be All to End All... REED:kidcool:
It isn't even the 'Be' never mind the 'end all', IMO. It's truly just a trivial oddity.:kidcool: Nobodies so great that they won't eventually come off second best one night if they'd continued seeking out real challenges. Not Pep, not Robinson, not Ali & certainly not Joe fucking Calzaghe. Marciano may be a fair exception since his era was just so eye poppingly weak there were no challenges to seek. But only for that reason.
More than anything, this thread illustrates that the distinction, undefeated champion, doesn't mean shit.
