The Boxing Palace's Greatest Ever Light-Heavyweight Tournament (RD 1)

Just vote for who you think would win each fight if both fighters were at their peak in a 12 round fight.

1. Ezzard Charles vs Maxie Rosenbloom
2. Sam Langford vs Harold Johnson
3. Archie Moore vs Jack Delaney
4. Gene Tunney vs Billy Conn
5. Michael Spinks vs Jimmy Bivins
6. Tommy Loughran vs Harry Greb
7. Bob Foster vs Bob Fitzsimmons
8. Roy Jones Jr vs Dariusz Michalczewski

This video is just to help a bit-

this one is going to be harder than the HW one. ive heard of them all, but a few of them i dont know much about them at all.

charles- slappie isnt going to outbox charles which is his only chance.
langford- mainly because i have never seen and clips of johnson and know that he lost to the best LHW of his day.
moore- dont know much about delaney at all. haha.
tunney- this would be a great boxing match. i think that the difference is that tunney is just a winner. i think that its close but tunney pulls it out.
spinks- bivins is kind of like johnson for me in the fact that i dont know much about him other than he lost to the best during his days. fought the same time as johnson too.
greb- they actually fought a few times and greb won. so ill go with the real result.
foster- i think that fitzsimmons was too old school. i dont think that his style would translate well to nowadays.
jones-i know that boxinglawyer will totally disagree but jones was the best LHW during the time and dariusz wasnt.

hopefully some other people have better knowledge than i do about these people. haha.

1. Ezzard Charles vs Maxie Rosenbloom
2. Sam Langford vs Harold Johnson
3. Archie Moore vs Jack Delaney
4. Gene Tunney vs Billy Conn
5. Michael Spinks vs Jimmy Bivins
6. Tommy Loughran vs Harry Greb
7. Bob Foster vs Bob Fitzsimmons
8. Roy Jones Jr vs Dariusz Michalczewski

im going to add a few comments here since it seems theres no general thoughts on a sure fire winner so to speak.charles is to smart to dangerous as a puncher yes thats right ez could hit and skill wise is beyound tommy.so its ez...johnson vs langford.harold indeed belongs in the tourney .maybe a top ten lheavy.hes a well skilled defensive genuis and fundimently a extremly sound fighter with little or no flaws.to beat sam he has to counter punch agressively..johnsons lack of aggression says to me sam by ko after 10 rounds.archie all day long over delany who realy doesnt belong in the tourney.tunney -conn.what a shame billy draws gene first.billy skill wise is exceptional.so is gene..tunney could punch over billy and has a relaxed composure in the ring .this is a fight if possible id love to see.2 great stylist against each other..gene wins .there are several in this tourney that cant beat billy.bad luck of the draw for sure.spinks -bivins.bivins had talent.today no doubt he be a light heavy under todays weigh inn rules.he fought most of his career at 185 or so but did fight perhaps 35 percent or so at light heavy.id never think of bivins though as a top 16 lh because of that.talent and skill wise yes..spinks is realy a awkward type of fighter thats why he beat holmes because he threw larrys jab off.with bivins at his best thats not going to work at all.bivins fought and beat greater competion then spinks and a few greater fighters also.bivins will outwork outphyc spinks in the ring..a upset special.harry greb beat tommy 4 times.this will be 5.foster over fitz indeed..even iif fitz is transposed into fosters era he gets beat.fitz was a pioneer and dont hold his style against him because of that era of learning to develope skills that 20-25 years later are taken for granted.jones vs dariuz..this fight should of been at least a 2 fight series.one guy got all the exposure here via tv the other guy fought his entire career in germany.since this is a one fight and your done type of thing ill take jones.if they fought again ill say dariuz learns from that fight and kos jones glass jaw in a come from behind win in the 8th round.

1. Ezzard Charles vs Maxie Rosenbloom
2. Sam Langford vs Harold Johnson
3. Archie Moore vs Jack Delaney
4. Gene Tunney vs Billy Conn
5. Michael Spinks vs Jimmy Bivins
6. Tommy Loughran vs Harry Greb
7. Bob Foster vs Bob Fitzsimmons
8. Roy Jones Jr vs Dariusz Michalczewski

1. Ezzard Charles vs Maxie Rosenbloom
2. Sam Langford vs Harold Johnson
3. Archie Moore vs Jack Delaney
4. Gene Tunney vs Billy Conn
5. Michael Spinks vs Jimmy Bivins
6. Tommy Loughran vs Harry Greb
7. Bob Foster vs Bob Fitzsimmons
8. Roy Jones Jr vs Dariusz Michalczewski[b]

Charles has too much power and skill for Maxie, who is still very underrated.
Langford beats one of my favorites
Moore pretty conclusively
I wont pick this one. I think BOTH of these guys are great. Conn was spectacular and is still underrated by modern fans who dont realize how long and how great his career really was. In THIS fight, I guess I will pick. Ill take Tunney based on his superior size and length.
Spinks and Bivins would actually be a good fight. In the the end, Spinks size and power give him the nod in a pretty close fight. Spinks was AMAZING and ruled over the BEST 15 era EVER.
Greb, been there done that
Foster puts Fitz to sleep inside of 4 rounds
Darius takes Roy Jones out before the end of nine. The big suprise in the fight is DM outjabbing Jones all night long to set up his power shots.

1. Ezzard Charles vs Maxie Rosenbloom
2. Sam Langford vs Harold Johnson
3. Archie Moore vs Jack Delaney
4. Gene Tunney vs Billy Conn
5. Michael Spinks vs Jimmy Bivins
6. Tommy Loughran vs Harry Greb
7. Bob Foster vs Bob Fitzsimmons
8. Roy Jones Jr vs Dariusz Michalczewski

I think this area has been covered very well. I just have an interesting question. How many of these LHs would've been effective in the time of Michael Spinks? I have no problem with Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore and a few others fitting in the 80s LW scene and doing very well. I have a big problem imagining Roy Jones defeating Dwight Braxton, Eddie Gregory or even Matthew Saad Muhammad.

Bob Foster had a great punch and a helluva jab but could he have kept off Dwight Braxton? Could he have beaten Michael Spinks or Gregory? That's a damn good question.

Gene Tunney and Billy Conn are of the "Hit and not get hit" school of thought. Therefore, they could've been effective against any LH in my opinion.

For the most part, most others that will go unmentioned here (Harold Johnson, Harry Greb, etc.) would probably have done very well with the LHs of the 80s.

It's my opinion that eras and not dominant champs should be compared. For example, let's take a fighter like Yaqui Lopez who fought during the 80s. I don't think Roy Jones could've beaten him either, but Lopez is a sparring partner for Moore or Charles.

frank in all honesty eddie gregory doent deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as foster and others.

I dont feel confident enough in my boxing knowledge to really be a good authority on this tournament.

dmar5143 wrote:frank in all honesty eddie gregory doent deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as foster and others.

Dmar, I don't know why you would single out Gregory. He dominated Marvin Johnson and may have given Spinks his toughest fight as a LH. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but don't forget he beat Matthew Muhammad when he was Matthew Franklin.