Ranking fighters across different eras is always a rather tricky business, but it can also be a lot of fun. Ranking fighters within the same decade in the same weight class can be also but fun, but tricky, and that is what we are trying to do in this series of ranking experiments.
In Part 1 of the new “Top 10 by Decade” series, we first explored the heavyweight division with a new scoring experiment designed to try and objectively identify the Top 10 heavyweights from each decade. Then we examined the cruiserweights, the light heavyweights, and the super middleweights as we continue working our way south. Here in Part 5, our attention is this time directed towards the middleweight division.
For the middleweight division, Ring Magazine began doing divisional rankings all the way back in 1924, so for the purposes of this latest installment of our rankings experiment, our journey begins with the 1930s, because this is the first full decade with a complete data set to work with.
The middleweight division has long been one of the most popular attractions in professional prizefighting, and it has produced a slew of amazing fights over the years, as well as a lot of awesome talent and tremendous world champions. Some of the very greatest middleweights whoever laced up the gloves include Sugar Ray Robinson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, Bernard Hopkins, Dick Tiger, Marcel Thil, Jake LaMotta, and Emile Griffith just to name a few. It has long been identified as a powerhouse weight class, and not without good reason.
The main idea here in these ranking experiments is to try and eliminate personal bias and individual preferences, while also excluding all head-to-head considerations, both real and hypothetical. It is more a measurement of tracking the boxers who had the most prolonged success in a given weight class during very specific time intervals. This edition of Rummy’s Corner is the fifth episode in a series of “Top 10 by Decade” videos that will be released over the course of the coming weeks. Please watch and enjoy this, the fifth installment in this new series of videos – the middleweight division!
