I'm currently putting a list together but interested in what everyone thinks in terms of contenders for a top 10 and an order if you have one. Names I currrently have in the hat are: Roberto Duran Carlos Monzon Muhammad Ali Alexis Arguello Wilfredo Gomez Miguel Canto Jose Napoles Antonio Cervantes Ruben Olivares Carlos Zarate Masao Ohba Ernesto Marcel Wilfred Benitez Danny Lopez Victor Galindez Pipino Cuevas Bob Foster Rafael Herrera Any obvious names I'm excluding? Obviously, some of these (Duran, Monzon) are a lock but it's tight for the lower places.
Should add that only fights that took place during the 1970s (Jan 1st 1970-Dec 31st 1979 for avoidance of doubt... oh wait, it's okay, Ra's Al-Ghul isn't on this forum - and nor should he ever be) are part of considering these fighters' relative merits so Jose Napoles' outstanding work in 1969 doesn't count in his rating, for example. Likewise, Alexis Arguello's defenses of his super featherweight title at the beginning of the 80s are excluded from consideration.
Ok, here's my first attempt with some stats (compiled via Boxrec) to go along with it. Critique away... Greatest fighters of the 1970s (Records include only their work between Jan 1st 1970 and December 31st 1979) 1. Roberto Duran • Fight record: 54-1 with 41 KOs • WBA Lightweight champion 1972-79; WBC Lightweight champion 1978-79 • Title fight record: 13-0 (12 KOs) • Most notable wins: Ernesto Marcel (1970), Hiroshi Kobayashi (1971), Ken Buchanan (1972), Ishimatsu Suzuki (1973), Esteban DeJesus (1974 and 1978), Carlos Palomino (1979) 2. Carlos Monzon • Fight record: 25-0 with 19 KOs • WBA Lightweight Champion 1970-77; WBC Lightweight champion 1970-74 and 1976-77 • Title fight record: 15-0 with 10 KOs • Most notable wins: Nino Benvenuti (1970 and 1971), Emile Griffith (1971 and 1973), Bennie Briscoe (1972), Jose Napoles (1974), Rodrigo Valdez (1976 and 1977) 3. Muhammad Ali • Fight record: 27-3 with 14 KOs • WBC/WBA Heavyweight champion 1974-78; WBA Heavyweight champion 1978-79 • Title fight record: 12-1 with 6 KOs • Most notable wins: Ken Norton (1973 and 1976), Joe Frazier (1974 and 1975), George Foreman (1974) 4. Alexis Arguello • Fight record: 56-3 with 47 KOs • WBA Featherweight champion 1974-76; WBC Featherweight champion 1978-end of 70s • Title fight record: 12-1 with 11 KOs • Most notable wins: Ruben Olivares (1974), Alfredo Escalera (1978 and 1979), Rafael Limon (1979), Bobby Chacon (1979) 5. Miguel Canto • Fight record: 55-3-4 with 15 KOs • WBC Flyweight champion 1975-79 • Title fight record: 15-2-1 with 1 KO • Most notable wins: Betulio Gonzalez (1975 and 1976), Shoji Oguma (1975 and 1978 x2), Antonio Avelar (1979) 6. Wilfredo Gomez • Fight record: 26-0-1 with 26 KOs • WBC Featherweight champion 1977-end of 70s • Title fight record: 11-0 with 11 KOs • Most notable wins: Alberto Davila (1976), Carlos Zarate (1978) 7. Carlos Zarate • Fight record: 54-2 with 53 KOs • WBC Bantamweight champion 1976-79 • Title fight record: 10-2 with 10 KOs • Most notable wins: Rodolfo Martinez (1976), Alfonso Zamora (1977), Alberto Davila (1978) 8. Jose Napoles • Fight record: 19-3 with 13 KOs • WBC/WBA Welterweight champion 1970; 1971-1975 • Title fight record: 15-2 with 10 KOs • Most notable wins: Ernie Lopez (1970 and 1973), Hedgemon Lewis (1971 and 1974), Armando Muniz (1975) 9. Antonio Cervantes • Fight record: 40-2 with 28 KOs • WBA Super Lightweight champion 1972-76: 1977-end of 70s • Title fight record: 17-2 with 11 KOs • Most notable wins: Alfonso Frazer (1972), Niccolino Locche (1973), Esteban DeJesus (1975) 10. Ruben Olivares • Fight record: 32-10-1 with 25 KOs • WBC/WBA Bantamweight champion 1970; 1970-1972; WBA Featherweight champion 1974; WBC Featherweight champion 1975 • Title fight record: 6-6 with 4 KOs • Most notable wins: Chuco Castillo (1970 and 1971), Effren Torres (1971), Jesus Pimental (1972), Bobby Chacon (1973 and 1974), Jose Luis Ramirez (1978)
Just by going what they achieved in the decade, not they're overall careers: #10. Bob Foster #09. Alexis Arguello #08. Ruben Olivares #07. Wilfredo Gomez #06. Antonio Cervantes #05. Victor Galindez #04. Miguel Canto #03. Carlos Monzon #02. Muhammad Ali #01. Roberto Duran
You're definitely not letting the Gomez over Arguello thing go! Arguello is top 5 for me without much internal debate. Olivares in the 70s is in some ways what Duran was to the 80s - incredible highs and some low lows - maybe not as extreme as Duran but similar. He's edging some probably equally deserving guys out of the top 10 on my list. You've got Ohba and Marcel who were probably at better points in their careers but they weren't around for long. I'm still considering Galindez and Foster. I'd probably put Galindez in before Foster for the 70s. I put Napoles in but his place p4p and rep during the 70s probably benefitted from what he did in the late 60s and he was really only at his very best in the first year of the decade. And then where does Benitez fit in? Tricky...
For me, Arguello doesn't have a particularly deep record in the seventies. Gomez's demolition of Zarate, and going 11-0, 11 KOs in title fights is what tipped it to Gomez, for me. I haven't looked at who their record vs ranked opponents, but I have a hunch Gomez beat more. I won't go into why I think Davilla is better than any of Arguello's wins, apart from Olivares, on this thread, but I will at some point. I do really feel strongly about it. In short, I went with Gomez because a prime Zarate beats an old Olivares and one has losses in title fights, the other doesn't. I think Foster of '70, was levels above any Galindez but I think it's undebatable who had the better résumé in the decade. Galindez has Foster's two best opponents, then Eddie Mustafa, Yaqui Lopez, Jesse Burnett and Mike Rossman too. Oba and Marcel just weren't around long enough IMO. I suppose Marcel could go over Foster in the division. Actually, thinking about it, I'd probably go with that. Marcano, Shibata, Gomez twice, Serrano and Arguello is definitely a better than Foster's run, but Foster has a lot of title fight wins. Actually, I think I might change the list, there. Oba could be in it, just as Sanchez could be top five in the 80s, but he just died so damn young. Benitez is a good mention, but I don't think he was at the top long enough. He had three title fights at 140; then three at welterweight; where he went 5-1. Beating Cervantes is huge, and beating Palomino is big too. I don't think the wins in between, over guys like Curry and Weston (who he didn't exactly shine against in their first fights, as he didn't take them seriously which shows he didn't rate them either) are good enough to make up for that.
Great post (apart from the Gomez-Arguello bit obvs - just kidding, but we're just going to have to agree to disagree on that one!).
Duran Ali Monzon Gomez Arguello Canto Napoles Foster Zarate Cervantes I take it we’re excluding Frazier and Foreman because reasons.
