I went through five books with lists of the world?s greatest fighters ever and found only four common picks ? Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong and Jack Dempsey.
The books I consulted were: ?Boxing Legends of All Time? by Steve Nicholaisen and Robert Cassidy Jr. (1996), ?100 Greatest Boxers of All Time? by Bert Randolph Sugar (1984), ?100 Greatest Boxers? by Henry Cooper (1990), ?Boxing Legends? by Angus Gerber (1988) and ?The Boxing Companion? by Richard O?Brien (1991). Additionally, I went through a special Ring Magazine edition called ?The 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years? (2002) and included the list in determining the four common choices.
Manny Pacquiao was not on any list because he emerged as the world?s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter only in the last few years.
Surely, there are strong reasons to cite other fighters like Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Rocky Marciano, Benny Leonard, Carlos Monzon, Joe Louis and Willie Pep as among the world?s greatest. But for the purpose of this column, we?ll limit our discussion to the four common denominators and Pacquiao in coming up with a choice as the greatest fighter of all time.
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Ali held the world heavyweight championship thrice and campaigned from 1960 to 1981, posting a record of 56-5, with 37 KOs. Ring Magazine described Ali as ?the symbol of the turbulent ?60s and perhaps, the most charismatic athlete the world has ever seen ? love him or hate him, when Ali fought, the world watched.? He gave meaning to boxing as an art and science. Ali also used it as a platform to ventilate views on global issues such as his crusade against war. Ali revolutionized the sport, introducing the ?Ali shuffle,? the ?rope-a-dope? and the classic strategy of ?hit-and-run? while floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee.
Ali became an ambassador of goodwill in his retirement and in 1996, lit the cauldron to ignite the fire in opening the Atlanta Olympics. He was inactive for three years after being stripped of the heavyweight crown for refusing induction to the US military. Fans remember his trilogy with Joe Frazier and the ?Thrilla In Manila? climax at the Araneta Coliseum in 1975. Ali, however, continued to fight long after he should?ve retired, losing three of his last four bouts, and as a result, became afflicted with pugilistic Parkinsonism.
?In all of boxing history, Ali stands alone,? wrote James Roberts and Alexander Skutt in ?The Boxing Register,? ?In early boasts, he called himself ?The Greatest? and by the time his storied career came to an end, most fight fans agreed. Ali had also become the best-known athlete in the world and very possibly, the best-loved as well.?
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Robinson is considered by The Ring Magazine as the greatest fighter ever. He held the world welterweight and middleweight titles. Sugar Ray posted a record of 175-19-6, with 109 KOs and two no-contests, in a long career from 1940 to 1965.
?Robinson set the standard by which all fighters are judged,? wrote The Ring. ?He inspired the term ?greatest fighter in the world, pound-for-pound.?? The five-time world middleweight king was stopped only once by Joey Maxim ? who was 15 1/2 pounds heavier ? in 1951. Robinson retired after the loss and toured as a dancer for two years before returning to the ring when the money well dried up. Sugar Ray went on to win three more middleweight crowns.
?Robinson will be remembered not only for his spectacular ring record but even more for the style and flair he brought to the role of a champion,? wrote O?Brien in ?The Boxing Companion.? ?In the days before celebrity was bestowed on any athlete who ever hit a baseball or dunked a basketball for pay, Robinson ? with his pink Cadillac, his Harlem nightclub and his unmatched personal grace ? was the real thing.? Robinson introduced the concept of an ?entourage? to the boxing world.
Like Ali, Robinson fought beyond his peak because he needed the money. He retired at 44 and in 1989, died in poverty at 67 from complications due to Alzheimer?s disease.
Former heavyweight champion Max Schmeling called Robinson the greatest fighter of all time. ?A distance fighter, a half-distance fighter, an in-fighter,? said Schmeling. ?Scientific. He was wonderful to see.? Joe Louis said Robinson was ?the greatest fighter ever to step into the ring.?
Gerber said, ?Robinson was a complete boxer who could win in any fashion he chose ? he had blinding hand-speed, the muscular legs of a sprinter and powerful shoulders; he danced, he ducked, he deftly slipped punches and he delivered them with a controlled fury … above all, Robinson had charisma.?
In tomorrow?s column, we?ll review the careers of Armstrong and Dempsey. Then, we?ll examine Pacquiao?s ring history. In the end, we?ll try to make a logical conclusion as to whom among the five ? Ali, Robinson, Armstrong, Dempsey and Pacquiao ? deserves recognition as the greatest fighter of all time.
