By Doug Hattier: Caution: This piece is HIGHLY BIASED; Apologies in advance if I missed some of your favorites since there were so many greats. Also, you won’t see the greatest fighter pound for pound since the 70’s Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran because his last lightweight fight was for the WBC title vs the great Estaban De Jesus who was 52-3 at the time on January 21, 1978.
1. Alexis “El Flaco Explosivo” Arguello 82-8 Managua, Nicaragua. This guy is a full article in itself God Rest his Soul and murdered body. His two fights with Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor are EPIC and will never be forgotten. The Hawk is excluded on this list due to being a Junior Welterweight
2. Julio Cesar Chávez 107-6 Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Here is another full article in itself whom started in the war zone instead of padding his record with Tijuana Taxi Drivers. Didn’t have a single loss till his 90th fight vs Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall. Stopped the Philly great Meldrick Taylor in a fight he was clearly outpointed with just 2 seconds left in the fight. A true Spartan
3. Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker 40-4 Norfolk, VA Baffled and Confused the Best of the Best. Super Slick and Quick Southpaw. What was more Legendary his Actions in or out of the Square Circle???
4. Cornelius Boza Edwards 45-7 Kampala, Uganda/London England. Fought most of his storied career as a Super Featherweight, but ended as a lightweight as usual fighting the who’s who in every fight. Never been in a dull fight
5. Roger “The Black Mamba” Mayweather 59-13 Las Vegas, Nevada. Tremendous boxing skills that if he had used defensively no one would have touched him, but he would have none of that. He was a gunslinger and his storied career was that of a Spartan and of course a real crowd pleaser. Wha happened to PBF
6. Edwin “Chapo” Rosario 47-6 Toa Baja, Puerto Rico God rest his Spartan Soul. My personal favorite Puerto Rican Warrior, and that’s a mouthful when considering that Puerto Rico per capita produces the greatest boxing talent in the world, Cuba 2nd per capita. Mexico first in total, but look at the size of those islands versus Mexico. His destruction of the Great Livingstone Bramble was a textbook course on the Beauty of the Sweet Science.
7. Hector “Macho” Camacho 79-6 Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Another great Puerto Rican whose blazing hand and foot Speed also baffled and confused the Best of the Best. Hey dude if your out the Klink lets have a brewski
8. José Luis Ramírez 102-7 Culiacán, Sinaloa, México. Another Mexican Spartan who fought the who’s who of the great lightweights on the 1980’s only losing then beating the Best of the Best during this great period.
9. Greg Haugen 40-10 Seattle, Washington. This highly underrated Monster of the Northwest got his start beating Oil Riggers in Alaska in tough man contests and I do me heavyweights. Where is his life story on the “Big Screen”? This ought to start a riot. My take on the Trilogy with the Great Vinny Paz is first two were a typical grinding hard fought close decision Haugen, though the judges in a spirit of giving gave it to Vinny. In the “so called” rubber match The Paz ran away with it literally finally realizing that he couldn’t stay “in the pocket” with Greg. Hey Greg wish to share a brewski with you one day.
10. Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini 29-5 Youngstown, Ohio Another storied career which I believe made it to the small screen. His epic battle which he was losing against Korean Boxer Doo Koo Kim also went to the small screen because that Spartan found his “Beautiful Death” that night and his remorseful Mother committed suicide God rest their souls.
11. Livingstone Bramble 40-26 St Croix, Virgin Islands. His peek-a-boo style along with his granite chin was awe inspiring followed by machine gun style punching that KO’d the likes of 52-24 Gatean Hart, 29-1 Ray Mancini, 19-1 Tyrone “Butterfly” Crawley, 23-7 Edwin Curet, 63-9 Harold Brazier
12. Meldrick “The Kid” Taylor 38-8 Philly Fighter (Philadelphia, PA) highly decorated Olympic Gold Metalist. I believe thrown in too soon with the Legendary Julio Cesar Chavez, whom essentially ended his career much the same way Trinidad ended Fernando Vargas’s for the same reason. Blinding hand speed and defensive skills, but to no avail. Born a Philly Fighter (AKA Spartan) he couldn’t help, but fight balls out every fight which proved to be his undoing. Here’s to you “Take no Prisoners” Meldrick for your crowd pleasing Spartan ways
13. Bobby Chacon 59-7 Pomona, California. Another storied career, but did most of his damage at Super Featherweight. Notable wins at lightweight include Rafael “Bazooka” Limon, Cornelius Boza Edwards, Arturo Frias and Freddie Roach
14. Terrance Ali 52-15 Guyana/NY,NY. Surely one of the greatest Fighters never to have won a World title. Anybody who ever saw one of his fights saw every other one after that. This guy could run like a track star, but right at you with a non-stop barrage of punches from the first to the last round. Hey Terrance, Luis Lagerman says you da man cause the your last 3 fights he held your corner, and Luis don’t talk shit. I need to do a brewski with you too.
15. Vinny “Pazmanian Devil” Paz 50-10 Cranston, Rhode Island. Fought the who’s who during this storied time, except only had a few at lightweight before he moved up. Here’s to you Paz you got your 50th win
16. Tyrone “Butterfly” Crawley 22-2 Philly Fighter. Not a typical in your face Philly Fighter, but actually a more crowd pleasing with his super slick style. He preached his sermons in the “Square Circle” on “the Sweet Science”. Never in a dull fight. Notable wins 14-0 Gene “Mad Dog” Hatcher, 25-3 Al “Earthquake” Carter, 14-0 Edwin Curet, 22-0 “Rockin Robin” Blake, 22-1 Steve Romero, 24-4 Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown, One tomato can after another Ha Ha. Hey Ty how many “0”’s you take. Remember spare the rod spoil the child; expecting much from Ty, Jr.
17. Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown 26-16 Philly Fighter. Typical crowd pleasing style except he also had a super slick style, but laid down more leather. Notable wins 28-5 Al “Earthquake” Carter, a young 9-0 Gary Hinton, 27-6 Philly Legend Jerome Artis, 16-3 Ruben Munoz, Jr., lost title to Harry Arroyo
18. Harry Arroyo 40-11 Youngstown, Ohio. Surprised everyone no one seen him coming like Al Pacino in “Devil’s Advocate”. Notable wins over a young 8-0 Joe Manly, 22-1 “Rockin Robin” Blake, KO’d Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown twice in Championship fights, then Terrance Ali, then he lost to Jimmy Paul and it all unraveled. Hey Harry you showed um
19. “Rockin” Robin”Blake 33-8 Lubbock, Texas. Unusually tall lightweight who always gave up his height and reach advantage because he wanted to take you out. Notable wins 16-2 Ruben Munoz, Jr., 23-1 Tony Baltazar, 17-1 Melvin Paul, 16-2 Edwin Curet, losses to Tyrone Crawley, Harry Arroyo, Jimmy Paul and Meldrick Taylor
20. Jimmy “The Ringmaster” Paul 33-6 Detroit, MI, Storied Kronk Gym. Dethroned Harry Arroyo 4/6/85 then had 4 successive wins vs 27-2 Rockin Robin Blake, 13-12 Freddie Pendleton, 32-1 Irleis Perez, 24-1 Daryl Tyson before relinquishing to the Great Greg Haugen. Came back 6/29/92 to take vacant WBO Light Welterweight title.
21. Howard Davis, Jr. 36-6 NY, NY Unquestionably one of the greatest American Amateur Boxers of all time. He not only went Gold with the storied “Dream Team” which included the Great “Sugar” Ray Leonard, Michael “the Spinks Jinx”, “Neon” Leon Spinks, Leo Randolph, Clint “the Sheriff” Jackson at the 1976 Olympics. He won “Outstanding Boxer” over Sugar Ray Leonard because it looked as if he had reinvented “The Sweet Science”. Notable fights 22-0 Tony Baltazar Howard drug his sorry ass off the canvas twice to decision the great Tony “The Tiger” Baltazar, 23-0 Edwin Rosario, 21-3 Bobby Johnson, 23-3 Joe Manley, 12-0 Meldrick Taylor, 18-1 Othal Dixon, 30-0 Hector “Macho” Camacho, 21-6 Shelton LeBlanc and 37-1 James “Buddy” McGirt,
22. Hilmer Kenty 29-2 Austin, Texas. TKO’d 27-1 Ernesto Espana for the WBA title 3/2/80, then TKO’d 39-7 Young Ho Oh, TKO’d Espana again, UD 24-7 Vilomar Fernandez before decisioned by Sean O’Grady
23. Arturo Frias 28-5 San Diego CA. KO’d 27-3 Claude Noel For the WBA title 12/5/81, then decisioned Ernesto Espana before getting TKO’d in the 1st round compliments of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini
24. “Fearless” Freddie Pendleton 47-26 Philly Fighter. Shocked the world with a 6th round KO of none other than 23-3 “The Black Mamba” Roger Mayweather, Other notable wins 19-3 Shelton LeBlanc, 26-1 Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall whom by the way ain’t on this list because he did his damage as a junior welter, 26-2 Livingstone Bramble, 27-1 Tracy Spann, and even the great 46-5 “El Maromero”Jorge Paez whom is not on the list because he wasn’t a lightweight in the 80’s, 45-6 Daryl Tyson, and 45-5 Tony “The Tiger” Lopez
25. Jim Watt 38-8 Glasgow, Scotland. TKO’d 29-4 Alfredo Pitalua for the title, TKO’d 20-4 Robert Vasquez, TKO’d 21-1 Charlie Nash, UD 13-0 Howard Davis, Jr., TKO’d in the 12th 73-1 Sean O’Grady before losing a UD by none other than the Great Alexis Arguello God rest his Soul
26. Sean O’Grady 81-5 Oklahoma City, OK. SD 25-0 Gonzalo Montellano for the USBA title 7/27/80, was TKO’d by 37-7 Jim Watt for his first crack at a world title, UD 20-0 Hilmer Kenty for the WBA title, before he got KO’d in the 2nd round by hard hittin Andy Ganigan
27. Andy “The Hawaiian Punch”Ganigan 34-5 Waipahu, Hawaii Hit the bigtime with a 2nd round KO of Sean O’Grady before getting KO’d successively by Alexis Arguello then Jimmy Paul for a wise hang up of the gloves. Here’s to you Andy you could really lay that leather down
28. Tony “The Tiger” Baltazar 38-7 Phoenix, Arizona. Notable fights 21-1 Howard Davis, Jr., 20-0 “Rockin” Robin Blake, Upset UD over17-1 Roger Mayweather, 29-5 Miguel Angel Dominguez, 42-2 James “Buddy” McGirt, and 37-0 Hector “Macho” Camacho,
29. Ernesto Espana 36-8 La Flor, Venezuela. Notable Fights 23-1 Arturo Frias, 23-1 Ray “Boom” Mancini, 20-2 Rafael Williams
30. Freddie “La Cucaracha/The Choir Boy” Roach 40-13 Phoenix, Arizona. Burst on to the Scene with a split decision loss to 10-1 Tommy Cordova for the ESPN Junior lightweight title which actually was a classic Slug Fest, Other Notable fights 53-7 Bobby Chacon, 19-1 Jaime Balboa, 11-0 Greg Haugen, 27-0 Hector Camacho and 23-1 Daryl Tyson
31. John Montes 43-6 LA, California. Notable fights 21-1 Hilmer Kenty, 19-0 Hector Camacho, 27-0 Sergio Medina and 43-5 the Legendary Cornelius Boza Edwards
32. Edwin Curet 27-16 Chelsea, MA. Notable fights 16-0 Greg Haugen, 16-2 Sterling McPherson, 26-2 Alvin Hayes, 21-0 John Duplessis, SD over 14-0 Mickey Ward, 25-2 Livingstone Bramble and 40-2 James “Buddy” McGirt,
33. Ruben Munoz, Jr. 17-7 Odessa, Texas. TKO’d 24-2 Arturo Frias for the USBA title, 12-0 Roger Mayweather, 17-0 “Rockin” Robin Blake, 21-2 Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown, 15-0 Kenny Baysmore and 18-2 Othal Dixon
34. Jerome Artis 27-27 Philly “Gym War” Legend fought everybody on a moments notice. Notable fights 41-8 Sammy Goss, 55-4 Alexis Arguello, 18-1 Charlie Nash, 20-3 Claude Noel, 24-1 Aristide Piazzo, 33-6 Rolando Navarette, 24-1 Cornelius Boza Edwards, The Legendary 88-11 Antonio Cervantes, 8-1 Livingstone Bramble, 24-2 Al “Earthquake” Carter, 11-0 Jimmy Paul, 13-0 Gene “Mad Dog” Hatcher, 28-1 Oscar Arnal, 26-0 Orlando Romero, a young great to be 8-0 Maurice Blocker, 14-0 Alvin Hayes, 19-2 Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown, 16-3 Terrance Ali, 31-0 Patrizio Oliva, 10-0 Frank Montgomery, 41-8 Barry Michael, 13-0 Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall, 24-2 Chris Clark and 20-1 Vincent Pettway. Sorry Jerome maybe you should have been on top.
35. Ron “The Yid Kid” Aurit 12-2 Philly Fighter. Super Slick Defensive Master held The Legendary “Sugar” Ray Leonard to a split decision win by one point just before he joined the storied “Dream Team” in the 1976 Olympics. Was the first one to teach me “the Sweet Science”. Love ya Ron, and you owe me a keg of brewski’s.
Next up WORLD WAR III Part 2 The Light Heavyweight Warriors (160 to 175lbs) of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s
That is if you are interested???