Who's the best middleweight (160lbs.) of all time, Bernad Hopkins, Ray Robinson, Marvin Hagler, Ray Leonard,

Question

Bernard Hopkins: 20 successful title defenses (the middleweight record), he's the only man to knock out Felix Trinidad & Oscar De La Hoya, & he moved up in weight & beat the best light heavyweight of that time, Antonio Tarver (Ray Robinson tried the same thing but failed).

Ray Robinson: Has recorded 175 wins & 108 of them was by knock out, was named ESPN's best boxer of all time (over the likes of Ali & Ray Leonard ), & he was the 1st boxer in history to win a divisional title 5Xs.

Marvin Hagler: He recorded 62 wins & 52 of them was by knock out, he had 13 successful title defenses (the formal record), & has knocked out the likes of Duran & Hearns.

Sugar Ray Leonard: His 1st appearance at middleweight he took on the likes of Hagler & was successful. His win over Hagler broke the long riegn of Hagler's titles defenses. He also has beaten Duran, Hearns, & Benitez....and he's won a title at light heavyweight as well.

That's their resume! You decide who's the best?
I pick SRL!

Let me correct myself. I think SRL would beat the others...but I think that Bernard Hopkins has the best resume.

Ashida K,
what do you mean? It doesn't matter what you started off as! Didn't Leonard make weight & was successful at 160? Didn't he go further then 160 & was successful at light heavyweight? Saying that Leonard was a natural WW doesn't make any sense! How are you going to discredit a guy for what he started off as? Holyfield wasn't a natural heavyweight but he's considered one of the best ever! Anyways, Ray beat Hagler at 160! Now who's better?

bigpete 7,
Bernad knocked out middleweights! Oscar & Felix made weight at 160 didn't they? They weren't weighing at 147 when they fought Bernard! Discrediting a guy who beat great fighters who were able to move up in weight is just plain stupid! Anyways, how are you going to diss Bernad but give Hagler props? What do you think Hearns & Duran was when they 1st started. WW's you moron! Hagler's famous wins are over formal WW's! ..and he have a famous lost from a formal WW as well (SRL)! At least Bernard didn't let anyone move up in weight and beat him!....and another thing, him beaten Tarver is proof that he could beat bigger fighters. Nuf said!

mowglieb,
didn't Leonard beat Hagler & take his middleweight crown? Nuf said about that! Anyways, their is no 160 pounder that got a better resume then Hopkins. 20 successful titles defenses (the 160lb RECORD) & knock out wins over Oscar & Felix at 160. It doesn't get any better then that!

Automatic,
Hopkins was UNDISPUTED! What are you talking about?

Bundini,
Hopkins spent most of his entire career at 160 too. What weight class do you think those 20 titles defenses came from? MIDDLEWEIGHT!

Jourman,
you have good sense. Alot more fans needs to listen to you....... It's Bernard by resume & Leonard by who could actually beat the other fighters.

Henry,
how is Hopkins not on that list? What a moron!

Answer 1

Ima go with B Hop because the best run of his career was at middleweight. SRL defined his career at a lower weight. Hopkins was one of the smartest fighters and he did most of his damage at a old age. Ray Robinson is a legend and you cant deny his record but that was so long ago before boxing was seriously competative. Hopkins took out tito, oscar, tarver, and in my opinion he won the first fight against taylor.

Answer 2

For me it should be a toss-up between Marvin Hagler and Ray Robinson. There's no question that Sugar Ray is a far better boxer than Hagler, and he is absolutely the best pound-for-pound of all time. However, if we're talking about the best middleweight of all time I'd have to pick Hagler simply because he was a natural 160-pounder and he was a middleweight throughout his career. And of course, we shouldn't forget that he was undisputed middleweight champion for 7 years. On the other hand, Robinson was a natural welterweight who merely climbed the middleweight ranks once he ran out of opponents at 147. But he'll be remembered much more as a welterweight champ.

Answer 3

The best is Sugar Ray Robinson, followed by Carlos Monzon and then Marvin Hagler.

Hopkins is no where near these three fighters in terms of skill. Also, Leonard was a natural WW not a MW.

Answer 4

Sugar Ray Robinson was better as a welterweight -- this is the sentiment of many who are in to boxing history. With that being said, he was one heck of a middleweight.

I would honestly have to say that Marvin Hagler would be my pick. Marvelous was SO strong for his weight division. The man could swat like a heavyweight. A very close second and third would be the "Sugar Rays," with Robinson as 2nd and Leonard as 3rd.

Answer 5

One Boxer that rarely if ever gets a mention when this question is asked, but who is given his record one of the greatest middleweights the world has ever seen, is the young Australian, Les Darcy. Born 1895-Died 1917.
Les had a great record 50-46-4 29 KO's

In Australia he fought such top-flight visiting Americans as Eddie McGoorty, Billy Murray, Jimmy Clabby, George Chip, George "KO" Brown, and Buck Crouse, as well as knocking out Jeff Smith and Fritz Holland in rematches.

Darcy also held the Australian Heavyweight Title after KOing
Harold Hardwick
Darcy only stood 5 ft 7 inches (170cm) tall but he had a reach of 6ft 2 (188cm)
In his 50 fights he was never knocked down, never staggered and never cut.
The same can not be said for his opponents. For even many of the ones who went the distance looked as though they had gone through a meat grinder.

He went to America in 1916 to start fighting there, but due problems brought about by WW1, his fights were cancelled. Unfortunately for the boxing world and history, even though the problems had been sorted out, before he could have his first fight in Memphis, Darcy contracted a streptococcus virus, due to an infected tooth and died in 1917.
Good judges of boxing believe that if Darcy had lived and had been able to finish his boxing career, he would now be considered the greatest pound for pound boxer the world has ever known.

Answer 6

Sugar Ray Robinson is the greatest fighter of all time period!!
but, Marvin Hagler, and Leonard are all time greats. Bernard Hopkins is most famous for knocking out welterweights (trinidad & delahoya) found excuses not to fight in a rematch with roy jones jr., I believe he held a middleweight title for about ten years 1995-2005 so please don't misunderstand me Bernard is a great boxer, but still is a notch below his three counterparts

Answer 7

It's Robinson for one reason, greatness is derived out of greatness.

3 title rematch victories against other hall of famers who took the title from him. Randy Turpin-1951, Carmen Basillio-1957, and Gene Fullmer-1958. And there was NOTHING harder in all of boxing in ANY weight class than to regain a lost world title. Now it's all "ABC" organizations that has "championships" split 3 or 4 ways. It's a joke now.

And just for the record, Hagler was the last truly undisputed Middleweight champion. 2 of the "big 3" stripped him of his title in 1987 for agreeing to fight Ray Leonard.

And despite his greatness as a Middleweight. Most historians say that he was at his absolute unstoppable best during his Welterweight championship years from 1947-51.

Answer 8

First of all, why did you even list Leonard? He was one of the best WW's of all time, but definitely not the best MW, or even a fighter who can be considered. The best MW ever was Harry Greb. SRR was the best WW ever and a top 5 MW, but he wasn't as good at MW and others accomplished more at that weight than he did. Greb has the best resume of all time. Here's the top 5:

1. Harry Greb
2. Carlos Monzon
3. Marvin Hagler
4. Sugar Ray Rbbinson
5. Bernard Hopkins

Answer 9

you are talking about fighters who fought 15 round championship rounds. remember the twilight zone........... rnds 13,14,and 15??????? remember the second time ray leonard and hitman fought? it was a 12 rounder and it was a draw. but the same scenario was playing out, but ray did not have the extras rounds to do the same thing to tommy. these legends were destroyers in the late rnds, they did not back up, they went for the kill. floyd would not have lasted even if he could have went that far in the fight with ray or tommy. duran would have cornered him and mauled him to death. pryor would have possibly hurt him because he was a destroyer. look what he did to alexis, a great champion. ray robinson was a great champ who deserves to be called pound for pound the greatest of them all . the sugar man was a showman plus a warrior like ali was in his class. if you never have been in the square jungle you can never imagine the heart and perserverance that it takes to be a great champion. it's easy to speculate, but put on some 12 ounce gloves and get in there and test your own heart and then you will see how great these men truly are and were!!

Answer 10

Robinson, just look at the Lamotta fights. Though Jake had a low knockout ratio than any champ does anyone think any middleweight other than Robinson could have stood toe to toe for 15 (not the sissy 12) rounds with him? Robinson without a doubt, end of discussion.