Never seen this one before. Quite possibly the two greatest fighters who ever did live, one slightly pre-prime, the other slightly post-prime. Who wins, or who comes out on top in the trilogy/pentalogy?
the two most overrated fighters of all time going at it (honorable mention to Roberto Duran). Gimme Charles because he was bigger.
Duly noted. Our differing opinions on these things have been well explored, best not to reopen the can. (That said, Charles KO 7 Jones!:cheer:::)
Charles was a pretty handy Middleweight, & probably better than he's credited with being. The Robinson of his earlier Middleweight days was pretty near to his peak, in truth. It wasn't the same gent who still pulled rabbits out of hats against legitimate (lesser) all-timers like Gene Fullmer & Carmen Basilio. One look at Robinson's admirable (though pretty heavily over-rated) performance at LHW against the very formidable Joey Maxim stands him in good stead for this fight --- but Charles was an athletic specimen, who benefitted heavily from reflexive speed & rapid response-times. No better for this than at his career lightest. He did lack the big-fight experience of his LHW & HW days, though, & Robinson was duly-seasoned by the time he hit his straps at 160. Give me...I don't know :: It could be that close. Perhaps Charles, because if there were two types of fighters Robinson seemed to run into difficulty with at the fundamental level, one was strong, well-built 160lbers, which a growing Charles fits the description for. On a sidenote, Charles may be the most under-appreciated & over-criticised all-time legend in his own time. He was routinely trashed & discredited during his career. Demonised even, during the Walcott saga of his later-career. Edit: I suppose someone like Sam Langford would dispute the above sidenote, but I still make the point. Ezzard got a real rough ticket with the press, & like too many great champions, there would be no happy ending.
