Which great fighters to all intents and purposes ducked no one?

[Decebal]

...or came closest to ducking no one?

I define "ducking" not just doing your utmost to avoid fighting someone in your weight class who could beat you, but also not actively trying to make a fight against the best out there in your weight-class possible, within reason.


EDIT:
In other words..."thou shalt not kill; but need not strive officiously to keep alive" does NOT apply here. (crimes of commission are considered as bad as acts of omission)

[McGrain]

Langford and Hollyfield spring to mind.

Bulrey, obviously.

But of these three Hollyfield was the only one in a powerful position that didn't duck.

[K0NPHL1C7]

John Ruiz

[theHawtness]

manny 'pacman' pacquiao. he doesn't duck anyone. in all the interviews, he always stated that he wants marquez. its marquez who ducks.

[McGrain]

manny 'pacman' pacquiao. he doesn't duck anyone. in all the interviews, he always stated that he wants marquez. its marquez who ducks.

I agree - he hasn't ducked a soul in purer terms.

But for the purposes of this thread, i think he's exclueded - more could have been made to make Marquez II happen.

[Decebal]

I agree - he hasn't ducked a soul in purer terms.

But for the purposes of this thread, i think he's exclueded - more could have been made to make Marquez II happen.

In purer terms? I thought these terms were as pure as they could possibly be!:lol:

[bill poster]

Nigel Benn

[PJ]

Odlh

[McGrain]

In purer terms? I thought these terms were as pure as they could possibly be!:lol:

Well to "duck" means to opt out for whatever reason.

You've specified that the fighter named should do everything to make fights with the best out there, which is not the same for me.

[Decebal]

Well to "duck" means to opt out for whatever reason.

You've specified that the fighter named should do everything to make fights with the best out there, which is not the same for me.

crimes of commision are as bad as acts of omision in this case, I feel...

[McGrain]

You say SRR ducked him. What does it mean, to "duck" someone? To not fight them, in that case Burley ducked a lot.

I'm using the definition in the thread; to do your best to make fights with the best in your division.


SRR didn't duck Burley out of fear, I've explained this quite a bit.He didn't fight him because he wasn't a money or a high demand fight at the time and wasn't known as a crowd pleaser, in fact was known as the opposite, one to make other fighter's look bad but in a not so flashy manner. SRR was the biggest draw in boxing and was looking for the biggest money fights with the name fighters, and the fights that were draws, which is why he and his managers dismissed Burley.

And as i've explained quite a bit there was a LOT of money availiable for a SRR-Burley fight. Career best paydays for both. The fights were not made, in my opinion, because Sugar did not expect to win these fights.

Your surmise that Burley was not a crowd pleaser is not accurate either; at welterweight he was nothing less than a heavy banger who aggressivley persued his opponents in the early rounds.

[McGrain]

crimes of commision are as bad as acts of omision in this case, I feel...

Sure, i'm not cricising the thread topic, just explaining it as I see it.

[BigReg]

Odlh

Some will say he ducked Forrest and Winky Wright. I don't know about Forrest, but both Oscar and Arum and said that they weren't interested in a fight with Winky.

[Amsterdam]

Some will say he ducked Forrest and Winky Wright. I don't know about Forrest, but both Oscar and Arum and said that they weren't interested in a fight with Winky.

Avoided Tszyu also...

[enquirer]

How about duran? With the only caveat being why he didnt rematch buchanan?

[BewareofDawg]

Muhammad Ali
Lennox Lewis
Marvin Hagler
Oscar De la Hoya (Although some would argue against his greatness)
Barrera/Morales

[BewareofDawg]

manny 'pacman' pacquiao. he doesn't duck anyone. in all the interviews, he always stated that he wants marquez. its marquez who ducks.
Maybe Pac should have "ducked" a little more in rounds 2-12 of the Marquez fight :yep

[BigReg]

How about duran? With the only caveat being why he didnt rematch buchanan?

He may have been the only HOF'er to duck someone in the middle of the fight. In all seriousness, there aren't many fighters who I have more respect for than Duran. The guy was a natural LW, yet fought Benitez, Leonard and Cuevos(Cuevos was a monster that people said SRL ducked) at WW. He fought Hearns at 154, Barkly, Hagler, and Joppy at MW. As an old man he also fought Camacho and Pazienza. Duran was a true warrior who would fight anyone at any weight

[BewareofDawg]

He may have been the only HOF'er to duck someone in the middle of the fight. In all seriousness, there aren't many fighters who I have more respect for than Duran. The guy was a natural LW, yet fought Benitez, Leonard and Cuevos(Cuevos was a monster that people said SRL ducked) at WW. He fought Hearns at 154, Barkly, Hagler, and Joppy at MW. As an old man he also fought Camacho and Pazienza. Duran was a true warrior who would fight anyone at any weight
But he still quit in the middle of the ring :deal

[LogDog69]

I haven't seen Mosley, Hopkins, Trinidad, Gatti, Ward, or Corrales yet.

[Vantage_West]

Muhammad Ali
Lennox Lewis
Marvin Hagler
Oscar De la Hoya (Although some would argue against his greatness)
Barrera/Moralesoscar ducked like nobodies business.

he didnt want any one until they had been exposed or were in a place where there was a lot of money involved...he ducked but fought them later on

[McGrain]

He may have been the only HOF'er to duck someone in the middle of the fight.. Duran was a true warrior who would fight anyone at any weight

:lol:

Two conflicting points well made.

[Vantage_West]

if it was up to me it has to be mosley pure class
i know few men who would fight winky wright(bigger, harder to hit, amazing defence,stunning jab) instead of dlh (you have already beaten twice, has ducked you at the lower wieghts and would fighter you for TONS and TONS of money)
and he picked winky becuase no one was giving him credit

PURE class

mosley gets my vote

[BigReg]

I haven't seen Mosley, Hopkins, Trinidad, Gatti, Ward, or Corrales yet.

Mosely, probably should've ducked Wright, and Forrest. Gatti and Ward were in no position to duck anyone.

[enquirer]

Agree big reg,duran gets my vote as the most badass boxer...Remember he also fought and beat world champ castro
at midlde or supermiddle and this when he was well over 40 as well....I dont know any fighter that small who campaigned as well and as high as duran,especially with his height,age and style....

[paulfv]

I haven't seen Mosley, Hopkins, Trinidad, Gatti, Ward, or Corrales yet.
Great list, along with earlier mentions of Holyfield, Duran, Hagler, Ali, and Benn.

Not sure if they have been mentioned, but I want to add:

Toney

Tszyu

McClellan

Barkley


Of all of those mentioned, the guys that really stand out to me as will-fight-anyone, anywhere are:


Ali

Holyfield

Hagler

Duran

Mosley

Benn

Barkley

Trinidad

[Titan1]

Marvin Hagler
Michael Spinks(at light heavyweight, anyways).

[Bummy Davis]

Louis,Marciano,Ali,Hagler,Monzon,Greb,Pep,Frazier,Patterson,Lamotta,Zale,Cerdan,Benny Leonard,Ketchel,Jeffries,Charles,Walcott,Moore, I could go on, before the Alphabet titles and division in the divisions, most fighters fought the best in recent split titles W.ba wbc, etc. it was designed for fighters to avoid the best and get a title fight they could win and keep, a lot of times the promoter controlled the title(like in the Holmes era)

[Decebal]

...I started this thread because I couldn't fully respect any fighter that went on fighting after he dodged someone out there. If you feel you have reached your peak, you should fight the best out there and then retire. If you feel they would beat you anyway, and cannot be bothered to take the pain to body, psyche and ego, you should retire...this is what I think...

[enquirer]

In the ideal world decebal yes,but money,cherry picking and fake legacies is what motivates many fighters....Pbf and hopkins being prime examples....

[Decebal]

In the ideal world decebal yes,but money,cherry picking and fake legacies is what motivates many fighters....Pbf and hopkins being prime examples....

:-( sad but true...will this ever change, or will things in fact get worse?

[Illmatic]

its easy to not "duck" anyone when you're begging for big fights

[Stewbear]

Holyfield ducked Lewis for a long time.

[Illmatic]

In the ideal world decebal yes,but money,cherry picking and fake legacies is what motivates many fighters....Pbf and hopkins being prime examples....

I know, fighting Winky Wright and DLH....anybody could beat those guys...they should fight a future HOFamer and ATgreats like Margarito...

[1lehudson]

Odlh:lol:

[BigReg]

I know, fighting Winky Wright and DLH....anybody could beat those guys...they should fight a future HOFamer and ATgreats like Margarito...

He also KO'd Tito, TKO'D Glen Johnson, fought RJJ, and Jeramin Taylor twice. Let's not also forget the man went up two weight classes at the age of 41 to beat Tarver

[1lehudson]

Some will say he ducked Forrest and Winky Wright. I don't know about Forrest, but both Oscar and Arum and said that they weren't interested in a fight with Winky.he ducked alot of fighters. Tszyu, Phillips, Forrest, Wright, Page, and Jose Luis Lopez. In hindsight it looks as if only two three of those fights would have done anything for Oscar in terms of history, but at the time they were all fights that should have been made.

[MacManJr.]

Ali

[enquirer]

Hopkins fought winky at 16 pounds above winkys normal weight,winky being p4p shows the weakness of the sport.....De la hoya v pbf,de la hoya is an old man with no stamina and pbf is a fake lagacy chasing runner,he should man up and fight prime guys at his normal weight,he only fough hoya for the papers,hack i would fight hoya for that money and then retire.....
Hopkins doesnt want to take on any of the current live contendors at lt heavy or super middle,he dont even want to revenge his losses to taylor!!!!!! Hoppo just want to make money and chase a fake superficial legacy,which is fine but real fans can see through him and pbf....
For years hoopo never rematched with jones, never fought toney,jackson,benn,eubank,calzaghe or any prime lt hevies with a pulse....Guys like duran,hagler,hearns,pac and such like put him to shame....Remember hopkins could have been a supermiddle/lt heavy years ago but choose to build up a paper legacy rather than challenge jones,hill,mccallum,toney and such like....

Decebel; i dont think it will change unless the unifying bodies merge or work together and force champions to make real fights....That scenario may be unlikely as money talks.....We need to reward risks and exciting fighters.....Make rings smaller,penalise butting,holding and running/overdefensiveness....Strip champs who dodge top contendors for no reason....Put boxing back on mainstream tv....Only promote fighters who are exciting....

[LennoxGOAT]

Lennox....he ducked no one and was by far the most ducked heavyweight of the past 40 years.

[Irish Steel]

Jack Dempsey. After he lost to Tunney, he rematched him.

[BigReg]

Jack Dempsey. After he lost to Tunney, he rematched him.

I remember watching ESPN classic one day and Larry Merchant had this to say about Dempsey, "He didn't many fights, and he never fought a Black heavyweight". I'm not criticsing Dempsy, I just always thought that was a funny quote.

[gilad]

Active Champions/former Champions I can think about right now (in no particular order):

Shane Mosely
Juan Manuel Marquez
Marco Antonio Barrera
Glen Johnson
Chris Byrd
Bernard Hopkins
Winky Wright
Jose Luis Castillo
Joel Cassamayor
Israel Vasquez

[Vantage_West]

there is another thread going on about how ruiz never ducjed anyone and in all tenses and purposes he didnt duck anyone

[Decebal]

there is another thread going on about how ruiz never ducjed anyone and in all tenses and purposes he didnt duck anyone

sorry, I missed that one!:good

[Danny Ocean]

dlh

[McGrain]

Ali

Avoided the Foreman rematch.

But for the most part.

[Illmatic]

Johnny Ruiz may have taken on many fighters during his career, but you won't ever be able to get him within 100 miles of David Tua again.
Tua wouldnt get within 100 miles of any fighter with a pulse ever again

[Illmatic]

Jack Dempsey. After he lost to Tunney, he rematched him.
You named the only fighter he didnt avoid and that was just b/c he lost to him. Dempsey is the most overrated fighter of all times

[Napoleon]

Shane Mosley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BigReg]

Active Champions/former Champions I can think about right now (in no particular order):

Shane Mosely
Juan Manuel Marquez
Marco Antonio Barrera
Glen Johnson
Chris Byrd
Bernard Hopkins
Winky Wright
Jose Luis Castillo
Joel Cassamayor
Israel Vasquez

Travis Simms claims he ducked him

[Illmatic]

id have to second Evander Holyfield

[Spitfire7]

Active Champions/former Champions I can think about right now (in no particular order):

Shane Mosely
Juan Manuel Marquez
Marco Antonio Barrera
Glen Johnson
Chris Byrd
Bernard Hopkins
Winky Wright
Jose Luis Castillo
Joel Cassamayor
Israel Vasquez

Didn't he overpriced himself and went to f'n Indonesia (only to lose to John) just to avoid a rematch with MannyPac? Some say it was a managerial blunder of Beristain, which is BS to me.

[Spitfire7]

Evander gets my vote.

[Stinky gloves]

Barrera

[Slothrop]

De la Hoya.

[Spitfire7]

...and Rafa.

[john garfield]

Check Jimmy McLarnan's record: Right out of the gate as a teenager, he faced one Hall-of-Famer after another.

[Danny Ocean]

Some will say he ducked Forrest and Winky Wright. I don't know about Forrest, but both Oscar and Arum and said that they weren't interested in a fight with Winky.

oscar offered winky a fight 2years ago

[Boom_Boom]

Active Champions/former Champions I can think about right now (in no particular order):

Shane Mosely - ducked out of a 3rd match with DLH
Juan Manuel Marquez - ducked Pacquiao for 2 years
Marco Antonio Barrera - same as marquez, only fighting Pacquiao now cause he has nothing to lose
Glen Johnson :thumbsup
Chris Byrd - hes got nothing to lose why would he duck
Bernard Hopkins - Stayed at middleweight for a long time for a reason
Winky Wright - bitched out of a rematch with JT
Jose Luis Castillo - makes you wonder why he needed extra weight against chico
Joel Cassamayor - just ducked Juan Diaz, was offered 750,000 back in feb to fight him but didnt take it
Israel Vasquez :thumbsup


wow that has got to be the worst list of current fighters, you only got 2 legits

[Napoleon]

wow that has got to be the worst list of current fighters, you only got 2 legits

Those were some stupid reasons. :good

[Mind Reader]

Gotta go with Mosley for me, Im still sore at Hopkins for not making RJJ Hopkins 2 happen... I thought it was more his fault than it was Roy's.

[psychopath]

Among the active fighters . . . I'll say Cotto and Vic Darchinyan so far.

[chewy 22]

Shane Mosley skipped a whole division to escape Kostya Tszyu

[Mike T]

Tommy Hearns

[thunder06]

hagler, de la hoya, ali, hearns, pacquiao

[BigReg]

oscar offered winky a fight 2years ago

Funny, I've read articles on this very website where Arum and Oscar said that they didn't want the fight with Winky because nobody wanted to see it. Check the archives, it should still be there

[The Italarican]

Shane Mosley skipped a whole division to escape Kostya Tszyu

Laughable. :lol:

Mosley is the first one to come to mind as a modern fighter who ducked no one. Even in getting decisively beaten by Forrest and Wright, it was he who chose to directly fight them again. Keep in mind these were not guys that would get him megabucks. These were standard HBO fights with paydays that were lower than what he could have gotten elsewhere. He went straight to welterweight to become a star, fighting bigger guys and bigger fights in a much tougher division than he would have had at 140. Also, when Mosley moved up, Tszyu was still on the comeback trail from the Phillips loss and attempting to regain his status at the top of 140. He was not as feared a force around 1999-2000.

The claim before that he "ducked" a third fight with Oscar is equally laughable. The fact that he'd already fought Oscar twice tells you that he wasn't scared of Oscar. A third fight didn't materialize because of legitimate arguments by Mosley; that is, the beltholder who is 2-0 against the other guy just has to receive his just in the payout for a third fight. He proceeded to fight Winky, while De La Hoya moved up to middleweight. You're allowed to have a legitimate reason to not want to fight someone (or fight someone AGAIN) without it being ducking.

[Jinx]

Avoided Tszyu also...

no he DUCKED Vince Phillips after Phillips blasted Tszyu...

[Jinx]

for current fighters Mosley has ducked no one...matter of fact he fought the guys that DLH wanted none of like Forrest and Winky...and Taylor has alos ducked no one...

[nezy37]

Jermain Taylor

[1lehudson]

LOL @ pathetic DLH haters :tired

He didn't duck Tszyu. When ODLH was at 140 Tszyu was not well known and there was no demand for that fight fool. Oscar fought Chavez the lineal and long reigning 140 champ, but recognised it could be a great fight once Kostya established himself as a great champion and became more renowned and if Tszyu hadn't got KTFO against Phillips he would've had himself a superfight as they were close to making it. Yeah right, so DLH ducked an unknown fighter who just got a belt, in order to fight a legend in Chavez and then move up to 147 and take on P4Pers in Whitaker, Quartey and Trinidad? It's like saying Mayweather is currently ducking the likes of Joachim Alcine, Sergiy Dzinziruk ([Only registered and activated users can see links]) and Paul Williams to fight the likes of Hatton, Cotto, Mosley... ridiculous

And Vince Phillips, Please. This chump gets a fluke win while Oscar was at 147 and Oscar's supposed to drop his plans to fight Whitaker, Quartey and Trinidad who reigned in their divisions for years so that druggie bum could cut ahead of them at a shot at him? If Oscar fought Phillips he would've been ducking them. Terron Millet put him in his place soon afterwards anyway. Surprised he wasn't on your list of people Oscar ducked.:roll:

and how did he duck Forrest? Forrest was nothing in the scope of things when Oscar was at 147. He was a spec of dirt in the division compared to the likes of Tito, Quartey and Whitaker. A mere contender amongst many. If he wanted to fight Oscar then why didn't he work himself towards a mandatory? Same with Page. These guys were nobodies who'd beaten nobody and proven nothing. and Jose Luis Lopez had his chance with Ike, if he'd beaten him he might well have fought Oscar instead of Ike. Forrest only made his name while Oscar was at 154 by beating Shane. So again Oscar was supposed to immediately abandon his plans to unify a division to fight a flash in the pan in a lower division? In any case, Forrest straight away got his ass handed to him twice by Mayorga blowing any chance of a DLH megafight. I would liked to have seen Oscar fight Forrest and Lopez, but he couldn't fight everyone. The important thing was he fought everyone that mattered.

And now you'll no doubt bring up Winky. Why didn't he fight him at 154? Because when Oscar was there Wright was coming off a couple of recent losses including one to Vargas and hadn't beaten anyone or done anything yet to deserve a shot. when he finally made his name by beating Mosley and Tito...well, in Winky's own words (same guy who turned down 5 million for a Taylor rematch):

"A while back, after I beat Tito (Trinidad). Oscar came up and said that he would fight us. Somebody made a proposal from his camp. They gave us the proposal and we felt that the proposal was not good enough. We turned it down." :dealWhat ever dude, Was KT less know then Darryl Tyson?

As far as Forrest being nothing while he was ranked in the top three by all ABC groups at the time that oscar was champion at 147, and if Forrest was nothing then what would you call Davic Kamu??? how about that French bird I cant even remember his name. Then there was of course Corley and the same Gatti that Mayweather got so beat up for fighting. yeah i guess all those fighters were somebodies.:hi:

[The Italarican]

Jermain Taylor

Maybe it's because he's still pretty young and early into his career (so he'd still have time to duck someone in his prime), but Taylor has definitely been overlooked in this thread.

[BigReg]

um no, infact you could say Winky ducked Oscar

google this: "we turned it down" oscar winky and click on the b-scene interview with wright

Winky also ducked the Taylor rematch

Mosley ducked Mayweather and Margarito :deal

anyway, one guy i don't think has got many mentions is Zab Judah. he's never ducked out of a fight, and this knowing he would get his ass kicked. prolly the only good thing going for him

Nobody ducks Oscar, the guy brings too much money to the table. Winky has been trying to fight Oscar since he came up to JMW. He called him out again after the Hopkins fight. Nobody in their right mind would turn down a legitimate offer from Oscar. Turning down a bullshit offer from Oscar is not ducking. Please give me one good reason why Winky would duck Oscar?

[Druid]

I haven't seen Mosley, Hopkins, Trinidad, Gatti, Ward, or Corrales yet.

Good list!

[BigReg]

i was half-joking

but fact is he turned down oscar, and i remember reading when it happened it would've been a career high payday for him. he turned 5 million to fight taylor again didn't he?

He turned down that fight with Taylor because he felt it should've been a 50/50 split. Winky has gotten to where he is the hard way. He spent alot of his career fighting overseas or on RJJ undercards. He's finally a known commodity. He's not going to take less than 50% from a guy who isn't a big draw, and that he felt he already beat. Guys like Winky Wright don't duck people.

[BigReg]

understandable, but 5 mill is alot of money to turn down for someone who made his name the hard way. winky doesn't seem to me to be one to duck opponents, but he turned down oscar and he turned down taylor for multi-million dollars purses. people are slagging oscar saying he ducked winky, when he infact made him an offer after the trinidad fight when winky was at his peak. my intent is not to slag wink, it's to defend oscar

People like Oscar have to duck people. He can't risk losing against someone who isn't a know commodity. Oscar ws already a name when he came into boxing. This allowed to dictate his career at young age. He built up a huge following, and has been able to keep up that following by fighting exciting fights against big names. He ducked Winky when they were at JMW because Winky was an relative unkown, defensive minded southpaw, who would've made Oscar look bad. I'm not putting Oscar down, he's done what people in his position should do.

[BigReg]

not to mention wink had recently had two losses to vargas and i forgot the other guys name. oscar fought vargas, then mosley who beat him at 147, then middleweight king hopkins. it's not like he took easier options

Wright loss to Vargas in 99 and didn't lose again until a couple of weeks ago. In 2003 Wright was the IBF champ and DLH was the WBA/WBC champ. A fight between the two would've created an undisputed champ. Oscar and Arum said nobody wanted to see the fight, and Oscar opted to fight Yory Boy Campas instead.

[BigReg]

yeah but who'd he beat after those losses to win the title? where was he ranked p4p? what would oscar have got out of fighting him at that time? wink was unknown outside boxing circles. oscar fought mosley after campas, then moved on to middleweight. when wink beat mosley twice and tito oscar made him an offer. that shows he wasn't ducking, just used the wait and see approach he used with tszyu. you don't duck winky who's tough to match up with but not got much pop then fight a big middleweight like b-hop

You're saying excatly what I said earlier, except you're renaming it "wait and see" instead of "ducking". Wait and see is a euphamism for ducking. I never said Oscar wasn't brave, but he did duck people. Beating Winky would've made Oscar an undisputed champ. He didn't because, like we both said, Winky was a big threat without a big name. Oscar would've never have fought Nard if Tito never got in the ring with him. Nard was a relatively big name when Oscar fought him. Oscar knew he could make some good money off of that fight without hurting his popularity had he lost.

[sweet_scientist]

De la Hoya ducked rematches with Whitaker, Quartey and Strum (though he probably shouldn't have been fighting Strum in the first place).

I always love bringing up the fact that after facing Whitaker, de la Hoya went on to face David Kamau, a 36 year old Hector Camacho, Wilfredo Rivera, Patrick Charpentier and a 36 year old Chavez who he had already beaten decisively. And all this mind you when he was heralded the no.1 p4p fighter in the sport!

[thunder06]

Jake LaMotta. He was usually the one who was ducked. And Hagler as well.

[sweet_scientist]

he fought them, he won. whitaker fought conservative and turned it into one of the most boring big fights of all time. would it have sold a second time? and quartey risked nothing and threw half his punch average per fight. no risk no reward. these guys should've tried harder. the closeness of the fights maybe deserved a rematch, but the fighters themselves sure didn;t

More people thought he lost than won both fights.

Oscar also fought conservative in both fights. He threw less punches than both Quartey and Whitaker in his fights.

And please tell me how DLH would have done better numbers fighting the likes of Kamau and Rivera than Whitaker again. Bullshit he would have.

[cardstars]

Hagler and Duran get my votes - they feared no one and would take ANY challenge. Out of current fighters Pacman and Cotto (thus far anyways but something tells me we can expect it to continue) are the first couple I think of

[BoppaZoo]

i would like to think that i could say

Kostya Tszyu

i think the only question mark was a rematch with Phillips but as far as im concerned by the time Tszyu had comeback Phillips had already lost the belt and had nothing to offer.

Tszyu fought anyone anywhere. it was him that was more feared than any other. i mean by that big risk little reward.

now we we know ODH was trying to get Tszyu eposure so they could have a mega fight. but once Tszyu got good again in 2000 ODH was nowhere to be found.

Mosley skipped the 140 division while Tszyu was on top there and everyone thinks he didnt aviod him. what else would you call it. PBF had the option i feel to go after Tszyu but choose Gatti. and was quoted as saying he was waiting for Tszyu to get old like when Tszyu fought his uncle Roger. (but what got me in that comment Tszyu fought Roger when he was 34 years of age when they fought. when PBF made these comments that he was waiting for Tszyu to get old like Roger, Tszyu was already 35 years of age. what was PBF waiting for until his 36 birthday.

anyway i feel Tszyu was avioded by a few men but these fans will never admit it because for me jumping from 135 to 147 to face Rivera and Wise instead of facing Tszyu who had just punished Gonzalez going to 147 seamed like the easy way out.

Yet if Tszyu did this he would get ridocuoled to the end of time if he did that.

[kaygb]

Putting Oscars name here is laughable. Tell me something. Why is it that the mighty "never ducked anyone" DeLa Hoya ever unified in his entire career?

[RDJ]

James "Lights Out" Toney.

[hooligan]

Hagler and Duran get my votes - they feared no one and would take ANY challenge. Out of current fighters Pacman and Cotto (thus far anyways but something tells me we can expect it to continue) are the first couple I think of

:good :good

[KTFO]

Joe Calzaghe didn't deck anyone.

[retriever]

Erik Morales

[Farmboxer]

Klitschkos!!!!!!!

[Maxmomer]

Ketchel. Greb. Langford.

[Stovepipe]

Maybe Pac should have "ducked" a little more in rounds 2-12 of the Marquez fight :yep
Pac won round 2 and other rounds after that

[Wiirdo]

De La hoya for sure.

[Boxed Ears]

The term "ducking" gets thrown around way too much. Often in complete ignorance. It's used as in "he SHOULD fight him but he's scared" when there are boatloads of reasons fights don't take place and often whether or not you think a fight SHOULD happen is just a completely personal opinion not any kind of commonly accepted assumption. Not to mention how many times fights were unsuccessfully attempted to be made without people hearing about it, only to have the people call one of the fighters a ducker while being in the dark about the attempt.

[MAG1965]

I almost said Hagler until I recall that he always wanted the smaller guys like Duran and Hearns and Leonard to fight him. Yet when Michael Spinks challenged him to move up he wouldn't do it. That would have been an interesting fight. I do agree Hagler fought them all at middleweight. I just think moving up to light heavy would have proven he had the guts of the guys who moved up and fought him.

[anarci]

Delahoya the only one in recent history to come close to fighting the amount of quality fighters was Holyfield.