Monzon had one of the best level of opposition ever. B Hop has the best resume of this era and very few in history could match his but Monzon is one of those few so I would place Monzon above B Hop and Hagler. Back to ur question:
Bob Foster who IMO one of the very best offensive fighters of all time, made the mistake of moving up to the most dangerous era ever of HW boxing and his record suffered greatly because of that.
Juan Manuel Marquez who fought the very best from FW to WW and all of his loses could've gone either way except the one against Floyd.
Matthew Saad Muhammad fought in the best era of LHWs, a division which usually isnt known to be competitive but he happened to be among the murderers row of LHWs. BTW i think today's LHW are the most stacked since that era
Wilfred Benitez could easily had a record similar to Nicolino Locche or Floyd Mayweather in any other era
I believe they could of been, Defenses are great, but Era means more then anything. The best example of this is Whladimir Klitschko he has a lot of defenses, but name one Hall of Famer he beat? Name one great fighter he beat?
If we go by history and tradition of pro boxing, fighters who became champions or top fighters in their respective divisions coinciding with the reigns of popular heavyweight champions Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis ( with the exception of Sugar Ray Robinson and possibly Henry Armstrong ), Rocky Marciano ( with the exception of Robinson, Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler ),Floyd Patterson, Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali ( with the possible exception of Carlos Monzon and Roberto Duran ), Larry Holmes ( with the exception of Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler ) and Mike Tyson/Evander Holyfields/Lennox Lewis ( with the possible exception of Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Tito Trinidad and Oscar de la Hoya ) mostly suffered in comparison.
If I were to choose one fighter, I say it's Sandy Saddler. Not only he had to contend with the popularity of heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, he also had to compete for fan attention and adulation with his fierce rival Willie Pep. Saddler had a better record versus Pep but Pep was better known and loved by the fans. Pep also suffered for his perceived dirty style of fighting.
Another is Duran who had to contend with the huge popularity of Muhammad Ali and the comparative popularity of co-champions as Jose Napoles, Carlos Monzon and Bob Foster for most of the 70s. It was only in 1979 when Duran beat the also more popular Sugar Ray Leonard that really made a breakthrough as far as prominence with the fans was concerned. Most of his reign at lightweight, he was in the huge shadows of Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.
Jersey Joe Walcott, Floyd Patterson/Sonny Liston and Larry Holmes also suffered in comparison to the more illustrious eras of Louis, Marciano and Ali at heavyweight, the most popular division in boxing in the earlier days till the 80s.
Allot of fighters suffered because of other more famous stars in their era.
BHops is not one of them.
BHops had the most title defenses of the IBF but he had few title defenses of the WBC or as undisputed champion [he lost to Roy Jones when he tried to get those titles].
Emile Griffith lacked popularity because Ali was the star at the time
Wow! This Question is great
BQ: Hagler and Hopkins made the most defenses does that mean they are the best of their division?
