How good was Rubin Carter?

[The Number 6]

We all know about the Hurricane, what a tragic storey it was too.

What about Rubin Carter the fighter though? How good was he? Could he have been world champ had he not gone to prison?

Any thoughts?

[TheGreatA]

He was very good but I'm afraid he had already seen his best days by the time he went to prison.

Carter had his best chance at winning the title against an aging Joey Giardello but he was too conservative and ended up losing a close decision.

At his best he was a boxer-puncher with devastating punching power in both hands, mainly the left hook.

[sonnyboyx2]

Carter was a decent fighter but definately not an ATG he came over to britain in 1965 and Mickey Duff matched him with Liverpool Legend Harry Scott.. Carter opened a cut on Scott`s right-eye in the opening round, the fight was even when referee Harry Gibbs thought the cut was bad enough to call a halt in the 9th round... They had a rematch 5 weeks later with Harry Scott being the comfortable winner.

[mickey malone]

We all know about the Hurricane, what a tragic storey it was too.

What about Rubin Carter the fighter though? How good was he? Could he have been world champ had he not gone to prison?

Any thoughts?

He wasn't as good as legend suggests, which is the real reason he didn't win the title, but he was certainly good enough to have songs and movies made about him.. He'd more than likely be an alphabet champ if he were fighting today..

[GJC]

He wasn't as good as legend suggests, which is the real reason he didn't win the title, but he was certainly good enough to have songs and movies made about him.. He'd more than likely be an alphabet champ if he were fighting today..

Yes with multiple titles he could certainly have nicked one but like GreatA said his best days were gone by the time he went to prison. Whether he was innocent I have my doubts too.

[Silencers]

Carter was OK. Not great by any means, a big puncher with limited skills who liked to fight at mid-range but didn't employ much of a jab, pretty one dimensional really. If he was too far out, he gets outboxed, if the fight gets on the inside, he gets outworked. He was only really effective from midrange, his success would've surely gone up had he used more of a jab which was proven when he used it more against Ellis.

He really could've won the Giardello fight had he worked more on the inside and used his jab more, he pretty much let Giardello get in and out on him in the later rounds to win the fight.

Anyways, he was a one dimensional fighter to me but was pretty good at that one dimension. Had a killer left hook.

[Obama]

Georgie Benton got robbed. Carter had no answers for him. The ref (the great Arthur Mercante) called the fight the right way. Johnny Dran on the other hand should have been banned from ever judging another fight.

Giardello also took him to school.

Close the book on the Hurricane...

[BennyST]

Well, although it's been answered already, I'll also just throw in that he was ok, but the big myth was that he was on his way to championship glory when he went to prison.

He was well past it by then. Had lost numerous times and had his best days, and beaten some very good fighters, well before then.

So, he was a good fighter/contender but he would not have won a title if he didn't go to prison.

Edit: Oh, and as silencers said, he had one hell of a left hook. It was truly brutal. Very short, compact and quick. One of the better left hooks you'll see.

[TheGreatA]

Carter still has a better list of wins than most champions these days.

He did well to survive the **** Tiger fight which displayed that although he had a powerful left hook, there were stronger fighters than him in the division. Fights against Joey Giardello and Luis Manuel Rodriguez of course showed that there were many better boxers as well.

Carter is one boxer from the past of whom a lot of film has survived, almost all of his important fights are on film. He was quite popular for a while.

[BennyST]

Carter still has a better list of wins than most champions these days.

He did well to survive the **** Tiger fight which displayed that although he had a powerful left hook, there were stronger fighters than him in the division. Fights against Joey Giardello and Luis Manuel Rodriguez of course showed that there were many better boxers as well.

Carter is one boxer from the past of whom a lot of film has survived, almost all of his important fights are on film. He was quite popular for a while.

Very true, though it's kind of sad to think about. A great contender from that period in all reality has a much better resume than nearly every champion fighting today.