Who Benefited the Most from the introduction of "Junior" Divisions?

[asero]

Who Benefited the Most from the introduction of "Junior" Divisions?

do you think holy, jcal, gomez and pryor would be ATG had there been only 8 divisions

[pare]

can't vote cos i don't know too much about gomez and pryor.

don't understand why holyfield is in there cos he did ok at heavy.

my guess is calzaghe. in his prime he would've actually had to face either hopkinsin his prime or rjj in his prime. not saying he'd get blown out, but i don't think anyone beats rjj at light heavy (pre-ruiz), and i thought bernard won his fight against calzaghe anyway*.

*i have no problems with the decision - joe was definitely the busier more aggressive fighter, and bhop did hug a lot. but i personally look at clean effective shots above all else, and bhop won that category bigtime.

[PH|LLA]

Hatton

[My2Sense]

Out of the ones listed, I'd say Pryor.

Partly because the others proved they could still be successful in the "major" weight classes.

[PowerPuncher]

Pryor could have had success at 135 or 147, Calzaghe and Gomez had success at the full division above their junior 1 BUT both would be toasted by the best of the best in that division and Gomez was.

[GPater11093]

you missed out Sugar Ray and Tommy heanrs with out them they would only be 3 weight champs same with DeLaHoya and mayweather who would only be 2 weight champs (delahyoa 3)

[asero]

you missed out Sugar Ray and Tommy heanrs with out them they would only be 3 weight champs same with DeLaHoya and mayweather who would only be 2 weight champs (delahyoa 3)

i guess they would still have some consideration to be called ATG ...

do you think the four choices above would have an hall of fame career had gomez competed at 126, holy at HW in the tyson era, calzaghe in the jones era and pryor at WW

[GPater11093]

i guess they would still have some consideration to be called ATG ...

do you think the four choices above would have an hall of fame career had gomez competed at 126, holy at HW in the tyson era, calzaghe in the jones era and pryor at WW

yes i think they would have been decent fighters at any time

but De La Hoyas weight jumping isnt better than Tony Canzoneris but Oscar gets more credit because 7 divisions

[asero]

i feel gomez would still be one of the best 126 pounders had there been no junior divisions

calzaghe would have been KO'd by Darius M and Holy may not be as timeless as he is now

[TommyV]

you missed out Sugar Ray and Tommy heanrs with out them they would only be 3 weight champs same with DeLaHoya and mayweather who would only be 2 weight champs (delahyoa 3)

I wouldn't include them in honesty.

Obviously them winning titles is a fantastic achievement, but they would be ATG's with or without them.

I mean nobody gives SRL much real recognition for beating Donny LaLonde for 2 belts in 2 different divisions, nobody really talks about the titles when they talk about his resume.

But they talk about wins over Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Benitez etc, which firmly cements him as an ATG. Same with the others, they've all won big fights that put them into the greats category.

Hatton was a fantastic call. He'd be nowhere without the light-welterweight division. Couldn't make 135, and looks awful at 147. Even if he comes in at 140 every fight, he's still going to be fighting guys that outweigh him by 7lbs and that takes away his physical strength advantage.

[GPater11093]

I wouldn't include them in honesty.

Obviously them winning titles is a fantastic achievement, but they would be ATG's with or without them.

I mean nobody gives SRL much real recognition for beating Donny LaLonde for 2 belts in 2 different divisions, nobody really talks about the titles when they talk about his resume.

But they talk about wins over Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Benitez etc, which firmly cements him as an ATG. Same with the others, they've all won big fights that put them into the greats category.

Hatton was a fantastic call. He'd be nowhere without the light-welterweight division. Couldn't make 135, and looks awful at 147. Even if he comes in at 140 every fight, he's still going to be fighting guys that outweigh him by 7lbs and that takes away his physical strength advantage.


what about Oscar

[asero]

i do not include hatton in the choices because i feel almost everybody do not consider him as ATG yet

[MAG1965]

Pryor a little since he would not have wanted to fight Leonard or Hearns.

[GPater11093]

Pryor a little since he would not have wanted to fight Leonard or Hearns.

he challenged tehm alot

[flamengo]

Governing bodies. simple.

[CottoDaBodykill]

Governing bodies. simple.
and bingo was his nameo!

[Flea Man]

Pryor was fine at LW, he only moved up out of nessecity as no one would fight him.

I say Gomez, who would've had trouble making Bantam but was too small for FW.

[tony mush]

hatton

[MAG1965]

he challenged tehm alot
He might have challenged them but he did not go up and dominate the divisions they were in to make it an issue. Saying he wants to fight them and wanting to are two different things. I think those two guys were greater than Pryor.

[asero]

do you think holyfield would be good at HW early in his career or tyson would destroy his future???

[sweet_scientist]

Hatton is probably the best call but there's been plenty of others. For example:

Terry Norris - Would have been Ko'ed by PLENTY of middleweights, and I doubt he could make 147 without being utterly weight drained.

Ricardo Lopez - If there was no 105 or 108 I think he would have been bothered by lots of flyweights.

Kostya Tszyu - I think there's a reason he never moved to 147. Welterweights would have been more punch resistant, and with height and reach advantages, I can't see Kostya doing much. I think the likes of Quartey, Tito, DLH, even Jose Luis Lopez would have destroyed him.

Joe Calzaghe - I think he would have been in trouble if he faced some prime guys at 168, to say nothing of the strife he'd have been in at 175. That said 175 wasn't exactly stacked during his time and he'd probably be able to pick up a belt before Roy hit the division.

[asero]

we have have seen darius m destroy calzaghe before he even become boxing's superstar..

[MAG1965]

Hatton is probably the best call but there's been plenty of others. For example:

Terry Norris - Would have been Ko'ed by PLENTY of middleweights, and I doubt he could make 147 without being utterly weight drained.

Ricardo Lopez - If there was no 105 or 108 I think he would have been bothered by lots of flyweights.

Kostya Tszyu - I think there's a reason he never moved to 147. Welterweights would have been more punch resistant, and with height and reach advantages, I can't see Kostya doing much. I think the likes of Quartey, Tito, DLH, even Jose Luis Lopez would have destroyed him.

Joe Calzaghe - I think he would have been in trouble if he faced some prime guys at 168, to say nothing of the strife he'd have been in at 175. That said 175 wasn't exactly stacked during his time and he'd probably be able to pick up a belt before Roy hit the division.great picks. Norris is definetly a guy who would have had trouble at 147 and 160. 154 was made for him. Actually 154 was made for Hearns also, but Tommy Hearns seemed to have to move up and take bigger challenges.

[Beeston Brawler]

Hatton would have made 135 if necessary.

Think - all that booze and fried breakfast..... he makes 140 without pain really, an extra 5lbs is very little.

[GazOC]

he challenged tehm alot

He challenged them without actually bothering to fight at 147. Don't beleive all the BS about Leonard and Hearns ducking Pryor, it just didn't happen.

By the time Pryor had finished with Arguello, Leonard had retired and Hearns was a Junior Middleweight.

I' going to vote for Pryor (Hatton a close second) for the reason that if he couldn't make lightweight then he had Leonard, Hearns and then later Curry to contend with.

Without Cruiser Holyfield would have had the luxury of leaving 175 and then fighting small heavies until he thought he was ready for the big guys and Gomez proved he could win a title at feather.

[Bigcat]

Overall it made it very easy for some fighters to duck dominant champions...

Evander used cruiserweight (jr Heavy) to bridge his gap of success coming out of the amateurs , and aiming to eventually becoming a full heavyweight...

Many fighters (when James Toney became Middleweight champ) chose to either drop to jr middle of move up to supermiddle... i remember it at the time so clearly... And when Mike Moorer was a light heavyweight, a few fellers shifted up to cruiser and a few down to light middle..

[ThinBlack]

Between Pryor and Gomez.

[lufcrazy]

Flash ellorde is worth a shout.

[Flea Man]

Good enough to beat the man at Feather...and was doing well over 15 until busted up.

[lufcrazy]

History remembers flash as one of the longest reigning champs in history and i'm not sure he'd have achieved that had there been on inbetweeners