It is generally accepted that Sugar Ray Robinson is pound for pound the greatest boxer of all time do you agree with this?

Answer 1

Yes, it is. The only boxer who was probably a better pound for pound, according to the boxing critics, is Harry Greb. Greb fought 299 fights and winning 261 of them. Under his opponents were also some heavyweight boxers he defeated. Greb however is like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster or the Yeti in boxing. There aren't some films left of his fights, who could show how good he really was. The only films existing of Greb are some training footage, showing a terrible performance of Greb. Greb for example hits the speed ball much slower than Robinson, Manny Pacquaio, Roy Jones Jr, Sugar Ray Leonard and many other speed fighters of the newer era. He is also slower in his movements than his sparring partner, who is older and heavier than he is. All we can imagine about him is based on his record (only 117 fights of him are known and recorded as official matches) and what other boxers of his era said of him. But when you compare his official record with the one of Robinson, also here he makes a poor impression. Greb lost his third official fight against an unfamous boxer called Joe Chip, Robinson losing in his 41st match against the great Jake LaMotta (also one of the greatest pound for pound boxers in the middleweight class). Greb losing again in his 7th match to a no-name fighter, Robinson however did not lose again until his 132th match, second time against a famous middleweight boxer (Randy Turpin). Robinson defeated every great middleweight boxer of his era. Harry Greb boxed almost only against unfamous fighters. The only famous fighters of his time he faced were: Gene Tunney (winning two times out of three against Greb), Kid Norfolk (winning his only match against Greb), Mickey Walker (Greb's greatest success against one of the greatest middleweight fighters) and Tiger Flowers (winning both of his fights against Greb). All other fighters Greb faced were unfamous. Greb maybe won against a Gene Tunney once, who was heavyweight boxer and so much slower than Greb, plus Tunney was never a great fighter. Maybe Tunney was undefeated at his retirement, but he won only against Jack Dempsey(his only good enemy in the ring), cause of "The Long Count". All that lasts is the fight against Walker. Robinson fought against tons of famous fighters of his era. Everything that makes Greb a great boxer is his legend, created because Jack Dempsey(his sparring partner, who was defeated by Greb during sparring) and Gene Tunney said how great he was. Of course they couldn't say that Greb wasn't that fighter everyone thought, otherwise how awful would Dempsey and Tunney would have looked, defeated by a medium middleweight boxer and both of them as heavyweight boxers. Robinson is proved the greatest pound for pound, Greb however is just a legend like Bigfoot, Nessie or Yeti. Maybe he was a good boxer, but nowhere on the level of Sugar Ray Robinson.