Mark Breland?

Question

Based on his amateur record. Could he be considered the best U.S. amateur fighter ever?

Answer 1

Does it matter?  He, like Davis before him, was a great amateur fighter, key word being ''Amateur''.  What good is that if he can't cut it in the pros?  

Both Breland and Davis were over hyped and just couldn't run with the Big Boys.

Answer 2

Great answers, and each has their place.  I have a friend who had a spectacular armature record as well.  He never went pro, but Chuck Arnold was 86-0 with 82 KO's as an armature.  He would have been a great pro, but an auto accident injury derailed his plans for a pro boxing career, he ended up working as an electrician for Chrysler.  I cannot improve on the previous pros mentioned, Breland is certainly in the top 3 or 4 armature boxers in U.S. history based on his record.  I agree with Woody, a 100-1 ratio over 400 fights is an incredible achievement, in my eyes Curry edges the others slightly.

Answer 3

Brent how are you sir?  Good question as usual.  Breland had an amateur record of 110-1-0.  That is pretty darn incredible and yes he could be considered the best amateur fighter ever.  Sugar Ray Robinson had an undefeated amateur record of 85-0 with 69 kayo's!  The person above me mentioned Donald Curry had a 400-4 career amateur record and that also makes a strong argument.

Answer 4

110-1?   Maybe if you look just at percentages but when I look at Donald Curry's amateur record of 400-4 I am much more impressed.  He should have represented the USA in 1980 at the Moscow Games but thanks to President Carter he never got the chance.

Answer 5

I agree with both guys above me. Strong arguments can be made for Breland, Curry and Robinson. Though, I have to say that Curry's impresses me somwhat more, because who is to say that Breland or Robinson would have had a win-lose ratio of 100:1, if they had over 400 matches.

Answer 6

Donald The Cobra Curry has more wins but Mark Breland wins were more spectacular. He knock most of his opponents out, very difficult because one only has 3 rounds to work with. I always wonder why he didn't do well as a professional, he was built and fight just like Thomas Hearns.