By Brent Matteo Alderson

1) Tommy Hearns - Tommy Hearns was the WBC 154 pound champion for four years and made four defenses of the title.  The two things about his reign that standout are the quality of his opposition and the caliber of his performances.  The Hitman won the WBC-154 pound title in 1982 with a fifteen round decision over a close-to-his-prime Wilfred Benitez who entered the bout with a 44-1-1 record.  Then after an easy points win over Luis Minchillo, Tommy signed to fight Roberto Duran in a unification fight. 

The year before, Duran had resurrected his career when he won the WBA 154 pound title with a knockout victory over the previously undefeated Davey Moore.  Then in his next fight Duran took Marvin Hagler the full fifteen round distance in his quest for the Middleweight crown.  Even though Manos de Piedra lost to Hagler, the Marvelous one had to win the last few rounds to pull out a close decision victory and the competitiveness of the bout solidified Duran’s position as one of the best 154-pounders in the world.  Initially the bout between Duran and Hearns was supposed to be a unification bout since Duran was the WBA champ and Hearns was the WBC titlist, but Duran was stripped of the title for not making his mandatory defense against Mike McCallum.  Hearns did the unthinkable and brutally knocked out the Panamanian legend in to two rounds. 

In the final moments of the bout, Duran’s back was against the ropes when Tommy hit him with a right hand that caused him to crash face first onto the canvas.  The significance of this knockout cannot be overstated because except for his bout with William Joppy in 1998 when Duran was 47 years old, nobody throughout a career that spanned four decades and more than one hundred bouts ever annihilated Duran in the manner in which Hearns did.  In fact that bout was the only time that Duran was rendered temporarily unconscious during a boxing match.

After the Duran fight Hearns took out the dangerous 6’2 Fred Hutchings in three rounds on national television before moving up to challenge Hagler in their historic 1985 encounter .  In 1986 Hearn’s moved back down to defend his title against Mark Medal, but was unimpressive in scoring an eighth round knock out and attributed the lackadaisical performance to making the 154 pound limit and relinquished the title. 

At the end of the day Tommy Hearns defeated two hall of famers in Duran and Benitez and never lost at the weight and would have unified the titles if the WBA hadn’t stripped Duran.  Even though we remember Tommy as the Motor City Cobra, a skinny welterweight that almost decapitated Pipino Cuevas and thrilled us in his bout with Sugar Ray Leonard, Hearns may have been at his best at Junior Middleweight because he was more experienced and had physically matured into a man.    

2) Mike McCallum - I’m a Mike McCallum fan and feel as though he will never receive the credit that his ring skills and accomplishments merit.  McCallum won the vacant WBA title that had been stripped from Duran with a decision victory over the ordinary Sean Mannion and then made six successful defenses against an unusually high caliber of challenger and exited the division with an impressive 31-0 record after reigning for almost three years. 

Even though he denies it, I’m sure Mike still feels some animosity towards Emanuel Steward because in 1983, McCallum was the mandatory challenger for Duran’s WBA title and Manny maneuvered Hearns into a super-fight with the Panamanian legend, in affect orchestrating an event that prevented McCallum’s only real shot at fighting one of the superstars of the 80s.  In retrospect after evaluating the situation, Duran-Hearns was a bigger more intriguing fight at the time and making the biggest match possible is always in the best interest of the sport.  In a way Hearns-Duran made the Hearns-Hagler fight a super fight because it validated Tommy as a genuine challenger.  Also the Duran-Hearns match gave McCallum the opportunity to win a world title by beating an average opponent, an Ideal situation that most managers dream about.  From a managerial point of view it was ingenious maneuver because at the time no one realized how special McCallum really was. 

Even after working with McCallum, Emanuel Steward underestimated his ability and had his young stud Milton McCory target Mike’s 154 pound title after the rangy and talented fighter moved up to the division after getting knocked out in his unification fight with Donald Curry.  The results were the same as they were throughout McCallum’s entire reign; challengers got knocked out. 

In fact Mike scored a knock out in every one of his defenses.  And quite refreshingly most of the challengers were well respected pugilists, but the two victories that stand out and elevate Mike’s place in history are his bouts with Donald Curry and Julian the Hawk Jackson.  Julian Jackson came into their fight with a record of 29-0 (27) and immediately put the pressure on McCallum and stunned him in the first round, but Mike displayed a tremendous chin and came back to knock Jackson out in the second.

Afterward McCallum commented, “He stunned me in the first, but I just thought to myself, I’ve taken your shot so now let’s see if you can take mine.”  After the loss, Jackson ended up winning the WBA title that Mike vacated on his way up to middleweight and also won the WBC 160 pound title on two different occasions.  The loss to McCallum took place in 1986 and the Hawk didn’t lose again until Gerald McClellan knocked him out in their 1993 slugfest. 

The other victory that validates Mike’s place in history is his final defense against Donald Curry.  The Lone Star Cobra which was Curry’s moniker had dominated the Welterweight division after Sugar Ray Leonard’s retirement and successfully unified the title with a second round demolition of Milton McCory, but in one of the biggest upsets of the decade, Curry had lost to Brittan’s Lloyd Honeygan and immediately attributed the loss to the debilitating experience of making the 147 pound limit. 

Curry had been so successful and displayed such a high level of professionalism and boxing genius with in the ring during his stint as welterweight champ which saw him defeat such solid pugilists as Colin Jones and Marlon Starling that most observers believed and whole heartedly endorsed Curry’s claim that making the 147 pound limit was to difficult since Donald was 5’10 and had been fighting at the weight since he had been 17 years old.  The overwhelming majority of the boxing community felt that the jump to 154 pounds would re-invigorate Curry and he was installed as a favorite to end McCallum’s reign.  During the first five rounds of their bout it seemed like the experts had been on target.  Curry was backing McCallum up and had visibly stunned the champion on a number of occasions, but then in the fifth round McCallum caught Curry with a perfect left hook and knocked him out.  It was McCallum’s final bout at 154 pounds and his reign ended with six knockouts in six defenses against a very impressive group of challengers. 

Now I was tempted to place McCallum ahead of Hearns because he made more defenses and almost all of his performances were impressive, but I didn’t because McCallum won the vacant title from Sean Mannion and Hearns won it from Wilfred Benitez, a three division champ.  Also even though Duran wasn’t in his prime at the time of the bout with Hearns,  he was still five years away from beating Barkley for the WBC 160 pound title and even though Curry and Jackson are underrated and are damn good fighters, Duran is in another league.  I will say this and lots of people will probably disagree, but I think McCallum would have beaten Hearns if they had met in 1986.  McCallum was never knocked out in his entire career and Tommy’s only weakness was his chin. 

I think Tommy might have knocked McCallum out or even decisioned him, but to me the most likely scenario would be Tommy out boxing McCallum for six or seven rounds before getting knocked out by a slick counter.
        
3) Terry Norris - Terry Norris is one of my favorite fighters of all time.  He had speed, power, and boxing ability and his reign spanned almost a seven year period during which time he accumulate nineteen title fight wins.  Surprisingly Norris failed in his first try at a world title when he was knocked out by Julian Jackson in the second round.  Really the only guy that could beat Terry Norris was Terry Norris because his temper and his inability to follow a sound gamelan led to most of his defeats. Even though Norris was a very versatile fighter who could outbox you or out-punch you, he had a very ordinary chin.

Still, his subpar whiskers didn’t stop him from engaging in a hall of fame career and Norris burst on to the title scene in 1990 with a first round knock out over an over the hill John the Beast Mugabi for the WBC title and then after an easy defense Terry was handpicked as an opponent by Sugar Ray Leonard. 

At the time Norris was 23 years old and came into their bout with a 26-3 record.  Leonard was just 34 years old and hadn’t fought since he had decisioned Duran 14 months before.  The match wasn’t even considered that big of an event because Norris wasn’t seen as a real threat and most observers felt that the Sugar man wanted to stay active while the pot brewed for  a showdown with Michael Nunn, who at the time was viewed as the next great middleweight.  In fact Leonard had already started laying the psychological foundation for the fight with Nunn, by approaching him at a Vegas night club and informing him that “I’m going to fuck your world up.” 

That super-fight wasn’t to be because Leonard underestimated Norris.   Leonard had looked at the Jackson fight and Norris’s three career losses and figured he would catch the young champion, but didn’t realize that Terry just got caught by Jackson, who is probably one of the hardest punchers in the history of the sport.  And that the other two losses were learning experiences that occurred before Terry turned 21.  The miscalculation cost Leonard a beating.  He was knocked down twice and his eye was closed and he lost a one sided twelve round decision.  The victory over Leonard increased Norris’s appeal substantially and in his next fight he knocked out a faded Donald Curry.  That’s when the pundits started to criticize Norris’s propensity to defend against old, often times smaller fighters and during the next two years Terry went threw a slew of big name challengers like a hot knife through butter. 

Really, in contrast to what some critics were saying, the quality of opposition was of a very high caliber.  He knocked out an undefeated Carl Daniels, easily decisioned the tough Jorge Castro, and completely annihilated Maurice Blocker and Meldrick Taylor who at the time were reigning 147 pound titlists.

Norris did what he was suppose to do, he didn’t go 12 rounds with these guys like Jermain Taylor did with Ouma and Spinks, he gave these guys ass whippings like a bigger, stronger younger champion should.

In actuality these in the ring massacres probably had a detrimental impact on Norris because he was at his best when he was on his toes boxing, but when he started knocking guys out he became an aggressive head hunting type of fighter which increasingly exposed his mediocre chin.  This reckless yet exciting style showed itself in June of 1993 when Norris defended against tough Australian Troy Waters and was knocked down while he unloaded a massive assault on the tough Aussie.  Later that year Norris defended against a still talented Simon Brown and was knocked out in four rounds. 

In the rematch Norris boxed cautiously and easily out boxed Brown to regain his title in May of 1994.  Then later in the year he was disqualified for hitting Luis Santana behind the head.  Then in one of the most peculiar title reigns in history Santana defended his title on his back when Norris hit him and knocked him out after the bell had sounded.  Terrible Terry finally regained the title from Santana and then partially unified the 154 pound title when he pitched a shut out against then undefeated IBF champ Paul Vaden. 
Around 1996, Norris wasn’t looking as sharp as he once did and most observers felt that he never fully recaptured his old form after the loss to Brown.  Norris was still considered one of the best fighters in the world and he was supposed to fight Trinidad in August of 97, but Norris broke his contract with King and signed with Arum in hopes of getting match with the Golden Boy, but that dream was shattered when the unheralded and ordinary Keith Mulllings upset him in December of 97. 

Even though Norris seemed vulnerable at times his knock out ratio doesn’t do an adequate job of representing his awesome offensive ability.  Norris was truly an awesome fighter.  He partially unified the 154 pound title, was a major champion in the division for seven years, and won nineteen title fights.  Even though I would definitely pick Hearns and McCallum to beat him, if this list was called my favorite 154 pounders of all times, Norris would be number one. 

4) Winky Wright - Ronald Winky Wright became the undisputed 154 pound champion in March of 2004 when he decisioned Shane Mosley.  Wright had already been one of the best fighters in the division for quite some, but because of his style which was based on a tight defense, a quick south paw stance and a propensity for making people look bad he was avoided like the plague.  Much like Bernard Hopkins, Wright’s ascension to boxing stardom should have came much earlier in his career, but all the blame shouldn’t be put on the establishment because just as Felix Trinidad proved, if you keep winning they can’t stop you and that’s what Bernard and Winky eventually learned. 

Hopkins lost a clear cut decision to Roy Jones and a young and inexperienced Wright lost a close decision to the underrated Julio Cesar Vasquez in his try for the WBA title in 1994.  Wright was a skinny 22 year old and still developing physically when Julio Cesar Vasquez handed him his first loss as a professional.  The bout was competitive and Wright landed clean combinations and often times controlled the bout with his jab, but make no mistake about,  Vasquez decisively beat Wright that night, legitimately knocking him down five times.  After the loss to Vasquez Wright reeled of some wins before upsetting a still youthful Bronco McKart for the WBO 154 title in March of 1996. 

Winky made three defenses of the title before losing a razor thin decision to Harry Simon. 

His next big break came in December of 1999 when he challenged Fernando Vargas for the IBF 154 pound title.  In a close competitive fight Winky was at the losing end of a close decision, but his performance in the bout made the boxing world  take note and Winky eventually won the IBF belt when Trinidad moved up to Middleweight and made four defenses before beating Shane Mosley for the undisputed 154 pound title.  He defended that title against Mosley then moved up to Middleweight.  All in all Wright won 11 title bouts at the weight (If you count the WBO title),  successfully unified the title and beat a very good fighter in Shane Mosley and fought a high caliber of opponent in non title fights which included solid wins over guys like Andrew Council and Keith Mullings.  Also Wright fought at 154 pounds for almost his entire career. 

Still besides the win over Mosley, Wright really didn’t beat any great fighters at the weight and often times looked ordinary in out boxing average contenders like Angel Hernandez and JC Candelo.  Even if you think Wright won the Vargas fight, the bout was close, real close, and Vargas’s corner told him he had to win the last round and he went out and did it.  So basically I have Wright rated fourth because his performances weren’t as impressive as those of the three fighters rated above him and the quality of his opposition wasn’t as good.  I respect Wright and believe that he is so solid defensively that he probably could have been competitive with any fighter in history at or around the 154 pound limit.  And in their hypothetical primes he might be able to beat one of the guys rated above him in one on one match up.  I’ll tell you one thing; I don’t think he would have a chance against the Hitman because nobody outboxes Tommy Hearns.  Leonard couldn’t do it, hell, even Virgil Hill couldn’t do it and he was a big Light Heavyweight. 

5) Julio Cesar Vasquez - Vasquez isn’t really held very high regard in boxing circles, mostly in part because he was just a solid strong well conditioned fighter with a pretty good punch.  He was somewhat ponderous, slow, and unimaginative.  Plus in the biggest fight of his career he lost his title to a Pre-Wilfredo Rivera Pernell Whitaker.  If you look at the length of his reign and the quality of competition Julio Cesar Vasquez has to be considered one of the most underrated fighters of the 1990’s.  He won WBA title that Vinny Pazienza had vacated when he was involved in a near fatal car accident and Made ten successful defenses over two and a half years.  And his reign wasn’t like Orlando Canizalez’s paper reign at bantamweight, Vasquez beat some legitimate guys and he beat them on the road. 

In fact Winky Wright came into their bout with a 25-0 record and the fight took place in France where Wright had already developed a following having previously fought there on five different occasions.  Vasquez also retained his title in neutral territory against Aaron Davis, who came in the bout with a 38-1 record and was a real solid professional; he just always seemed to be at the wrong end of close decisions.  Throw in title fight wins over Tony Marshall, a 29-1 Javier Castillejo, and Carl Daniels, and you have yourself a very respectable title reign. 

I think a lot of observers kind of down play Vasquez’s accomplishments because they feel as though he must not have been that good since Whitaker hand picked him as an opponent, but that’s not the case.  Vasquez was tough and even though I wasn’t a big Whitaker fan I applaud him for his accomplishment and credit him for moving up to 154 pounds and beating a real world champion.  Of all the 3< multiple title claims in the sport, Sweat Pea’s may be the most legit.
    
6) Felix Trinidad - Even though the 1994 version of Trinidad was a lethal Welterweight I think he was at his best at 154 pounds where he ruined David Reid and Fernando Vargas.  I just think Tito was the full package at 154 pounds.  He had the experience and he didn’t have to cut off his arm to make the weight like he did during the last two years of his 147 pound title run. 

Just look at Tito’s fight with Oscar De La Hoya; he hardly broke a sweat because he left everything in the plastic suit he had to use to make a weight he had been making since he was eighteen years old.  So at the end of the day, two victories over two undefeated Olympians and successful partial unification of the title help Tito make the list. Even though he only engaged in three title fights at 154 pounds, all three performances were spectacular and allowed the Puerto Rican great to leave an indelible mark on the division.  Please Click Here for a Story I wrote about Trinidad’s career and place in history.

7) Julian Jackson - How can the Hawk be rated four rungs below Terry Norris, a man he knocked out in two rounds?  Well when there is such a disparity in the accomplishments of two men, sometimes the head to head match up doesn’t have such an underling impact on their historical rankings.  Norris won 19 title fights and partially unified the title while the Hawk won the vacant title and only made three defenses before moving up to middleweight. It’s kind of like the Sandy Saddler-Willie Pep thing, Saddler won three out of four bouts, but Pep is almost universally ranked higher in the all time rankings.  Also like Norris, Jackson was knocked out in two rounds in his first crack at the title. Even though Jackson had a 4-1 record in title fights at the weight he was probably one of the hardest punchers of the last fifty years.  His power was phenomenal and his spectacularly brutal knock outs cement his legacy as one of the 154 pound division’s best fighters.   

8) Koichi  Wajima - He is one of Japan’s most accomplished champions winning the unified crown in 1971 and making six defenses before losing the crown.  He then regained the undisputed championship and then lost it in his first defense and later regained the WBA version of the title before losing it again in his first defense.  With his numbers, Wajima could be rated higher, but at the time the 154 pound division was still in infancy and a large number of world class fighters chose to go south and compete at Welterweight or move north to Middleweight in search of bigger paydays and greater recognition.
 
9) Wilfred Benitez - Won the title with a one punch knockout over Maurice Hope and successfully defended against Duran and Carlos Santos before losing his title to Tommy Hearns.  Benitez was a natural and might have had more natural ability than anybody on this list, but his championship reign was short.  His raw talent and ability to anticipate the location of incoming blows earned him the nickname “El Radar” and his smooth boxing skills and his victory over a still youthful Duran cement his place in the pantheon of 154 pound champs. 

10) Oscar De La Hoya - The Golden Boy is 4-2 in title fights at the weight, but his wins over a still useful Javier Castillejo and the post Trinidad-Vargas help De La Hoya sneak in on the list.  Plus I don’t care what all the Golden Boy haters say; I truly believe that De La Hoya won the second Mosley fight and consider it to be one of the unjust decisions that negatively impacted the popularity of the sport.  Oscar probably shouldn’t be on the list, but he fought well in some big fights, which also happen to be some of the sport’s biggest events.  At the end of the day, the magnitude of his bouts at the weight as well as the quality of his competition put Oscar on the list.  Vargas’s entire career was spent at 154 pounds so I was tempted to rank him in front of Oscar, but I ended up going with the winner of the head to head match up in this one.  Call it a retro-active penalty for Vargas for coming into the De La Hoya bout ripped and shredded on anabolic steroids and still not being able to get the victory.  

11) Fernando Vargas - Vargas won the IBF title from Yori Boy Campas and made five defenses of the title, which included victories over Winky Wright and a still relatively young Ike Quartey before engaging in his breathtaking war with Felix Trinidad.  Then he won the vacant WBA strap and lost it in his first defense against Oscar De La Hoya.  Still, all of his title fight losses were fight of the year caliber type of fights with historical implications involving hall of fame fighters so his seven title fight wins and his claim to being the youngest champion in the division’s history secure his place as one of the best 154 pound champs in history. 

Notes:

Some other great fighters such as Emile Griffith, Ralph Dupas, and Nino Bevenuti won titles at 154 pounds, but these men didn’t leave an indelible mark at the weight.  Griffith’s two title fights were only recognized by the Austrian Board of Boxing Control and Ralph Dupas and Nino Benvenuti both only made one successful defense of the title.  Prior to the 1980’s,  the division wasn’t highly regarded and was kind of viewed as one of the sport’s bastard divisions, but with the influx of the superstars of the eighties, the importance and relevance of the division increased substantially. 

There were also some other fighters that had some longevity at the weight, guys like Gianfranco Rosi and John David Jackson (if you count the WBO in the early nineties), but those guys never really beat a genuine top three type of contender and couldn’t really ever lay claim to being the best fighter in the division at a certain point in time.

In May of 1992, I attended the Terry Norris-Meldrick Taylor bout at the Mirage in Las Vegas.  I was just a sophomore in high school and after the bout I jumped over some seats and found my way into the ring and on to the HBO broadcast.  During Larry Merchant’s interview with Mills Lane I popped my head into the camera’s view numerous times and was seen by a number of friends back home.

Later that year I attended Holyfield-Bowe 1 and watched Lennox Lewis and Bowe almost come to blows after the fight.  If I could pick one match over the course of the last 25 years that I wish would have happened, but didn’t, it would be the Riddick Bowe-Lennox Lewis match. 

Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004 and teaches Spanish at the High School level in Southern California.  He has published articles in Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2006, and Latin Boxing Magazine.  He has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?”  Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com