The Greatest Boxers of the 1960s - PART 1

The greatest boxers everisthe years of the last century - PART 1

Top 10 athletes who were part of a golden era in the sport

The sixties of the twentieth century in boxing is a golden era in which we can find a number of classy competitors. The name that dominated the heavyweight division during this time is well known, but who are the fighters who also impressed in this decade besides Muhammad Ali? Are there any names from other categories that could make it into the top 10 best boxers of the 60s? We will offer you the answer to these two questions in two articles, in which we will divide the top ten athletes who appeared in the boxing ring and left a serious mark with their performance in this period of time.

In tenth place we place Bob Foster. Known for his powerful left hook, Foster was one of the best fighters in boxing in the 1960s. He won the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight titles in May 1968 with a fourth-round knockout of Nigeria's Dick Tiger, who was previously world middleweight champion. The Texas-born boxer has a total of 65 fights in the professional ring, in which he achieved 56 victories, 46 of them by knockout. After winning the world titles for both organizations at the end of the decade, he fought 6 more times in which he managed to defend his titles. While he's underachieving in his heavyweight fights, he's dominated the light heavyweight division and that's why he finds a place in our rankings.

And in the ninth position you will not find a competitor who is part of the heaviest. It is about the Cuban Luis Manuel Rodríguez. Even before moving to the United States, he already had two wins over Benny Parrett. With his arrival in the USA, he began to accumulate success after a judge's decision in the welterweight category, over competitors such as Virgil Aikins, Isaac Logart and Garnet "Sugar" Hart. In his first 36 bouts, Luis Rodriguez was undefeated before falling to Emil Griffith in 1960 in a non-world title match. All four of his bouts with Griffith have been highly contested and each of them is believed to have been a no-win. One thing's for sure, all four clashes have impressed pundits and fans alike, and Rodriguez's performance earns him a place in our rankings. He also had serious success at middleweight where he defeated George Benton, Hurricane Carter, Benny Briscoe, Holly Mims, Tom Bethea and Bobby Cassidy.

In eighth place we place Giovanni Benvenuti, better known as Nino Benvenuti. The Italian who made people in his homeland fall in love with the sport. He is a true superstar at light middleweight, middleweight and light heavyweight, and quite a few top American boxers are flying across the Atlantic to face him in Italy. Isaac Loggert, Gaspar Ortega and Deno Moyer are among the names, but none of them manage to win their match with Benvenuti. In 1965, he also won the world middleweight title, knocking out Sandro Matzingi in the sixth round. He then made two successful defenses before losing to Korea's Ki-So Kim in Seoul. In 1967, he moved up to middleweight and won the title after defeating Emil Griffith at Madison Square Garden, then successfully defended the title a year later. Nino made three more successful matches in which he retained the championship belt.

Seventh in the ranking is a boxer whose name we have already introduced you to. This is Dick Tiger. The Nigerian who won the WBA middleweight title defeating Gene Fulmer by unanimous decision in San Francisco in 1962. Four months later, there was a rematch, but there was no winner, and in August 1963, Tiger inflicted another loss on Fulmer, who gave up the sport after it. That same year, he lost the title to Joey Giardello, but regained it in the rematch. The next to break him was Emil Griffith, after which Tiger again had great matches, but at light heavyweight, where he also won the world title after success over Jose Torres on points. Without a doubt, Richat Ayetu, as his birth name is, was one of the classiest boxers of the 'sixties' of the 20th century.

The sixth position is assigned to Emil Griffith, who became the world champion in the welterweight category already at the beginning of the century, knocking out Benny Paret in the 13th round on April 1, 1961. Two more matches between them follow, in which they exchange one success each. First, Parrett regained the title, then lost again by knockout, and then died from the heavy blows that Griffith inflicted on him. The boxer from the island of St. Thomas defended his title twice in 62, but lost it a year later to Luis Rodriguez on March 21. On the eighth of June, he got it back after another great match, which lasted 15 rounds. In '66, Griffith also won the world middleweight title, defeating Dick Tiger. There were matches with Nino Benvenuti, who first stripped him of the title, then Griffith won it back, but on March 4th, 1968, the Italian ended the American middleweight's reign.

In the second part, we will also show you who are the contestants who enter the top five. Will there be another name, besides that of Muhammad Ali, among heavyweight boxers, you will learn in our other article.