this game is officially over? when does the site go offline? nice knowing everyone.

@Reaper said in Ob’s TOP 5 players:

@Bearalicious Well if i can do it then i think most of them can in my opinion.

Are you dominating them on a regular basis? Getting a few skipping/lagging connection wins against them here and there doesn't mean you're at that level.

@Reaper said in Ob’s TOP 5 players:

@Bearalicious hey, not sure if this is black bear? but i sort of agree. The era that we were in was so tough and the settings were completely different so it made it much more harder.
The thing is all one of the all time vets needs to do is comeback for a few weeks and be active then they could beat the current top players. I think that is the difference there but that is no disrespect to crank or faker but its just another level of experience. Hell i came back for a bit and beat both of them but wasn't dominant due to inactivity/lag issues.

Fatny was the best player for me because people just did not want to fight the guy.
It gets a little ropey after John because of how weak the era became and inactivity of players.

At this point, I don't believe most of the all-time vets can come back and dominate. There are few exceptions. Players like Crank and Faker have been playing the game under these settings for 10 years straight. One of those few exception vets would have to come back extremely motivated, willing to play consistently for years to rise to the top again. However, I just don't see that happening today with an unstable server (fights still skip or lag against certain players), people getting older, working, starting families, pandemic times, etc.

That said, I didn't play this game for over a decade, and I was able to get competitive with decade long active players in only a few months. If the server issue got fixed that means perhaps a Fatny, Larry Holmes, Here To Fight, Salvador Sanchez, john, etc. could come back to regain some glory if they were given a few years to get up to speed. They'd likely need a year or two since most of the top players today have a 10 year head start under the new settings.

There’s a difference between our all-time toughest challenges and the all-time greatest fighters based on accomplishments. I believe your list falls into the former category.

This game is like 20 years old and it’s not fair to downplay the first half (which happened to be the toughest era) because you weren’t around. Those were the years when the game was thriving with 20-30 regular players. Also, as I’ve mentioned to you before, the game had different settings and the dedicated server which ensured an even playing field unlike these days.

Based on my experience over both eras, here’s my list of toughest fights and all-time greats (based on various factors). If I don’t rank someone that high on this list, they shouldn't take offense. It just means I didn’t face them often enough at their peak. Also, I didn't research records and analyze H2Hs to ensure more accuracy in these lists. Maybe I'll do that down the road.

Toughest Challenges (Lots of ties since it’s hard to separate)

1. Fatny (OB2)
2. Crank (OB2)
3. Faker (OB2/HTF (OB2)
4. Larry Holmes (OB1/OB2)/Labratory (OB1/OB2)/Salvador Sanchez (OB1/OB2)
5. Unstoppable (OB2)/Nigel Benn (OB2)/John (OB2)

All-Time (OB1, overall accomplishments, level of opposition, & dominance)

1. Larry Holmes (OB1/OB2)
2. Fatny (OB2)
3. Salvador Sanchez (OB1/OB2)
4. Here To Fight (OB2)
5. Labratory (OB1/OB2)
6. Mike Tyson (OB1/OB2)
7. John(OB2)/Unstoppable(OB2)/Nigel Benn (OB2)/Crank (OB2)/Faker (OB2)

Something else to keep in mind, if someone like Fatny or Larry Holmes came back today, you, Faker, and several others would likely beat them consistently. However, beating those guys wouldn't make you greater fighter than those two. This is a game that you have to play on a regular basis to compete with the top fighters, and many of them no longer possess that same motivation from 10-20 years ago. I mean Chris Paul isn't a greater player than Michael Jordan because he'd kick his ass on the court today, right?

Just my two cents as an observer.