What were the single best performances of these exceptionally talented fighters?

Leonard
Duran
Mayweather
Lomachenko
Pacquaio
Roy Jones Jnr
Tyson
Ali
Whitaker
Hopkins

 

Can we stop listing things just for one day??

 

Leonard - Green
Duran - Joppy
Loma - too early
Pac - Barrera I
Roy - Toney
Tyson - Holmes
Ali - Folley
Whitaker - Haugen
Hopkins - Glen Johnson
Calzaghe - Lacy

 

Green? Joppy. Lol.

 

Leonard - Hearns. Faced with a guy who he couldn't outbox and who was one of the most feared punchers ever, he had no choice but to gun for the stoppage and hope his chin would hold up ... he pulled it off and proved his greatness indisputably

Duran - Leonard. Against a bigger, younger, faster, fresher fighter he outfought him, outboxed him ... he was at his peak at 135 but this is greatest night

Mayweather- Corrales. Yes, Chico had loads of flaws and was beatable but Mayweather made him look third-class... nobody else did that

Lomachenko - still too soon to really rate... he made Rigondeaux look like a clubfighter but Rigo was also small and old

Pacquaio- the first Barrera fight. Though some people thought he had a shot, he was still the underdog. He made it look easy against one of the best around at that time

Jones Jr - Griffin II... Griffin talked a whole load of shit for a guy who won the title face down and Jones simply annihilated him to take it back

Tyson - Tougher call ... many would say the Spinks fight for what it meant but to me the Berbick fight is remarkable... Berbick was awkward, strong and durable and yet Tyson went through him like he was Eric Crumble

Ali - another tough one! Gun to my head, what he pulled off against Foreman is his greatest moment

Whitaker - Chavez, both were declining but the stage was enormous and despite disgraceful judging, Whitaker more or less embarrassed him in front of a hostile crowd

Hopkins - has to be the Trinidad fight

 

I've always thought of the Glenn Johnson fight as Hopkins at his TRUE peak. He was a lot quicker and more athletic than his 00s self, while still every bit as skilled.

Whitaker's peak performance is the Pineda fight imo.

Tyson's peak performance can be debated to death, but after recently rewatching a lot of his 80s defenses... I'm gonna say the Biggs fight was Mike's best and most complete performance.

Duran's best performance was the third DeJesus fight. I've said it before... he was arguably the most complete fighter that ever lived in that fight.

 

The topic to me seemed to be more about great in ring accomplishment rather than best looking performance...

 

The equine would have to clarify. I took it to mean each fighter's peak performance.

 

Worrrrrd

 

My gratist accomplishment thus far may be causing this cowardly canuck to ignore me

call me Allen jerkens

 

Floyd Mayweather Jr is very hard to decide because, cherry-picking aside, he pretty much made all his opponents look like some had never boxed before.
The Canelo fight was ridiculous: Ginger, couldnt or wouldnt pull the trigger....he looked hopelessly befuddled.

 

He truly is a sensitive , insecure chap.

 

Peak performance not best achievement/accomplishment. Therefore Ali Foreman wouldn’t qualify. For Ali I’d pic Williams

 

Tyson : Berbick
Jones: Toney
Hopkins: Johnson
Pacquiao: Morales 3
Mayweather: Corrales
Whitaker: Pineda

 

The problem then becomes the opponent... it's way easier to look great against faded, never particularly good to begin with Cleveland Williams than against Sonny Liston

 

You can make a case that the Merqui Sosa fight was Roy's peak performance. It probably would be remembered as Roy's peak performance if the stoppage wasn't a bit early... as Roy was close to highlight reel KOing him.

Sosa wasn't a great fighter, but he was a solid and very durable fighter, and was coming off destroying Prince Charles Williams in their rematch.

Roy obliterated him like he was nothing.

 

Sosa's Definitely a VINTAGE Roy Jones Performance...

If the Criteria is CHAMPIONSHIP Level Guys, REED Would Probably Lean Towards Roy-Griffin II or Roy-Virgil Hill...









REED

 

Yeah, probably the Hill fight. It really gets no better than the Hill fight.

The famous body shot KO aside, he was making Hill look like a novice before the KO.

 

your greatest accomplishment is fitting 2 dicks in your ass at the same time

 

Griffin wasn't much of a shit talker, as I recall. I sure don't remember him talking shit in the lead up to the rematch. Anything you recall specifically?

I found this looking for something and it's not trash talk, but more like how Griffin was back then even though it's from 2010: FIGHTER FLASHBACK: MONTELL GRIFFIN RECALLS FACING ROY JONES JR.|| FIGHTHYPE.COM

"I got my promoter and my manager, instead of being on my team, they going against me. I had fights set up where I could have fought other guys for basically the same amount of money I fought Roy for. It was like I was just fighting against myself. I accepted the fight [rematch with Jones] when I really didn't have to. He needed me; I didn't need him. The winner of our first fight was supposed to fight Tommy Hearns, which I would have loved to fight a legend, or Virgil Hill, who had the belt, but HBO didn't really even come with the money that I wanted. I was getting pressured by my promoter, so I took the fight. I went to camp for 10 weeks. I was as sharp as I had ever been in my career. I damn near knocked out every sparring partner that they brought in there. I knew I was going to go in there and destroy Roy. I ain't gotta make no excuses because it is what it is. I'm sitting in the dressing room getting ready to get my hands wrapped and my trainer, Kenny Crooms, comes back from looking at Roy get his hands wrapped and he comes back and says, "This man is dressed, warmed up and ready to fight." I said, "What?" I still had my street clothes on. HBO comes in and says I had 5 minutes to get in the ring. Like I said, if you knew then what we know now, I would have done things a lot differently. I would have gotten suspended or whatever. I would have told them to kiss my ass, but I was young, I was a fool, and I was a fighter. I didn't use my head and I went out there and fought the man cold. I got hit with a shot. Like I said, he's not close to being the hardest punching man to ever hit me and I can take a punch. I got a helluva chin. My body just wasn't prepared. I got hit with a shot cold and it is what it is. It sidetracked my career.

I spoke to Roy a few times personally and he said he would do a trilogy with me, but of course it never came around. You gotta think, if this guy was on steroids and I gave him that many problems the first time, he's gotta be thinking to himself, "This guy is someone to stay away from. Why take a chance with him again?" That's just like him hitting me when I was down on one knee. You know that's roid rage, but it is what it is."

 

The ENTIRETY of What You Just Posted is Shit Talk, Bruh...

Shit Talk is MORE Than Hurling Insults. Inherently, it’s About Tearing Down, MINIMIZING Your Opponent. And That’s ALL Griffin Did in that Interview.

You’d Have to Grant Griffin EVERY Benefit of EVERY Single Doubt, to Believe This Bullshit, mikE.

Think About It; What EXACTLY Would HBO PPV or the Promotion Itself Done Had Griffin Said “No, I’m NOT Fighting Right Now, I Need to Warm the Fuck Up”???

They’d Have GRANTED Him the Time he Needed, That’s What. And Make No Mistake, a RE w/Roy was the MOST Montell was Going to Make at That Time.

*sniff sniff* Bullshit!









REED

 

Reed, your post is bullshit. For starters, read the entire article. After that, take Roy's dick out of your ass and think a second. Montell had nothing but easier ways to make money than fighting an immediate rematch.

 

No, REED’s Post Makes Absolute SENSE, Motherfucker.

Griffin Wasn’t the CHALLENGER That Night, He was the Guy Who “Beat” Roy Jones, He was the REIGNINGfuckingCHAMPION.

The Idea of Griffin Being “Forced” Into Fighting Earlier Than He Wanted Makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER, Under Those Circumstances.

More Than ANYTHING Else, Roy Jones Wanted to Avenge his “Loss” to Montell Griffin and HBO PPV Wanted to Broadcast the RE. That Being the Case, If Griffin Says “Fuck That, I’m the Defending Champ and I’m NOT Ready to Fight Just Yet”, What EXACTLY was Roy Jones and HBO PPV Going to Do?

Clearly, This is an EXCUSE on Griffin’s Part, Attempting to JUSTIFY Getting the Shit Beaten Out of Him In LESS than a Fucking Round.

And Given Your History of Favoring 90’s European Lightheavy’s In Lieu of Roy Jones, Kindly Fuck Off and Take Your TIRED Ass Contrarian Bullshit Elsewhere Bitch.

And for Fuck’s Sake, Acknowledge Griffin Took the More LUCRATIVE Route, if Not the Easier One. That Much Should Even Be Obvious to YOU.









REED

 

LOL, compelling testimony

 

Going by peak performance rather than best achievement, I’d go with this:

Leonard: Wilfred Benitez

Duran: Sugar Ray Leonard 1, although I wouldn’t argue against Esteban Dejesus 3. That was just a brilliant display of controlled aggression, making Dejesus constantly miss and countering him silly.

Mayweather: Diego Corrales, or maybe Arturo Gatti or Philip Ndou.

Lomachenko: not sure

Pacquiao: Ricky Hatton. Miguel Cotto & Marco Antonio Barrera 1 are up there too.

Roy Jones: I have said that Bryant Brannon was Roy’s “Cleveland Williams” fight. I guess I’ll go with that, although no argument with other fights like Merqui Sosa, Vinny Pazienza, or James Toney.

Tyson: Michael Spinks, I guess. He looked great against Trevor Berbick and Tyrell Biggs too.

Ali: Cleveland Williams

Whitaker: Jose Luis Ramirez 2, or maybe Rafael Pineda

Hopkins: Felix Trinidad, or maybe Glen Johnson.

 

cdogg, you've offered nothing to support your position that Montell talked shit leading into the Jones rematch. I don't think you are remembering it correctly.

 

You're lost. Montell already says what happened--his manager and promoter were working against him. I'm not going to back this up because you and cdogg aren't, but I think we are in the pre-Ali bill and I doubt the WBC had already been sued for all of their Rocchiagianni fucking. HBO had a stranglehold on the business back then, at least when it comes to the biggest money of the sport other than King, and they used it. What would Roy and HBO had done? They probably would have shut Montell the fuck out. The WBC would have stripped him. Who knows? We do know the sport wasn't as fair back then, though.

Griffin explains what happens about getting caught cold and why it happened. He fucked up. He admits it. You're just too comfortable sucking Roy's cock to read it clearly.

 

No, YOU'RE the BLIND, LOST, Perpetual Roy HATER Affording Montell Griffin EVERY Single BENEFIT of EVERY Single DOUBT in this Scenario...

It's Comical How You FAIL To Recognize that You're Doing This...So Because Montell SAYS it, it MUST Be True, Huh???...

w/a "WIN" Over Roy Jones, Montell Griffin Possessed ALL the Leverage That Night...Roy Jones WASN'T Leaving the Building that Night w/Out Fighting Montell Griffin and HBO PPV WASN'T Going Off Air w/Out Broadcasting that Fight 1st...PERIOD....

Even if it Meant GRANTING Griffin an Extra 15, 30, 60 Minutes to PROPERLY Prep Himself for the Fight...Roy and HBO Would've Had NO OTHER Recourse than to Play Along...

The Fact You CAN'T See This Shows Just How LOST YOU Are...

The RE w/Roy was Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar and Away THE Most Lucrative Bout Montell was Going to Be Offered...Given the Controversial Nature of the 1st Bout, NOBODY Wanted to See Montell or Roy Face Anyone Else Next BUT Each Other...

The Idea of Roy/HBO "Shutting Out" Montell w/Out a RE is ABSURD, Even by Your Contrarian Ass Standards...Roy's Career Would've Undeniably SUFFERED Had he Not RECTIFIED that "L" to Griffin...

Keep Believing Montell All You Want, but LOGIC and COMMON SENSE Certainly Don't...







REED

 

Nobody ever mentions this one, but imo the Bruce Finch fight was Leonard at the VERY apex of his ability.

 

You aren't saying anything. I like Roy. I like Montell. He's not talking shit. He admits he fucked up by going into the fight cold and got caught. There's no shit talking going on. Griffin didn't talk shit back then, he doesn't in this article. Plus, Roy wasn't even a ppv fighter at this time, was he? The rematch might have been a ppv, but wasn't it on a Thursday? Jones was an HBO fighter and it makes complete sense that if Montell wanted to be an HBO fighter, too, he needed to listen to HBO.