A Ranking of All-time Greatest Fighters - Sports Novels mag. 1947

August 1947 issue of Australian ‘Sports Novels’ magazine. Article titled: ‘Sports Novels Magazine Presents Its Ring Ratings – Greatest Boxers of All Time. Prepared in Collaboration by Sports Novels Staff Writers.
Heavyweights: 1. Joe Louis, 2 Jack Dempsey, 3. Bob Fitzsimmons, 4. Jack Johnson, 5. Peter Jackson, 6. John L. Sullivan.

Light-Heavyweights: 1. Bob Fitzsimmons, 2. Sam Langford, 3. Jack O’Brien, 4. Georges Carpentier, 5. Tommy Loughran, 6. Harry Greb.

Middleweights: 1. Stanley Ketchel, 2. Les Darcy, 3. Billy Papke, 4. “Nonpareil” Dempsey, 5. Kid McCoy, 6. Mickey Walker.

Welterweights: 1. Joe Walcott, 2. Tommy Ryan, 3. Ray Robinson, 4. Jack Britton, 5. Ted “Kid” Lewis, 6. Jimmy McLarnin.

Lightweight: 1. Joe Gans, 2. Benny Leonard, 3. Kid Lavigne, 4. Jack McAuliffe, 5. Battling Nelson, 6. Barney Ross
Featherweight: 1. Terry McGovern, 2. Young Griffo, 3. Young Corbett, 4. Henry Armstrong, 5. Johnny Dundee, 6. Willie Pep.

Bantamweight: 1. George Dixon, 2. Jim Barry, 3. Babe Herman, 4. Joe Lynch, 5. Jimmy Wilde, 6. Al Brown.

Flyweight: 1. Jimmy Wilde, 2. Pancho Villa, 3. Small Montana, 4. Ad Wolgast, 5. Benny Lynch, 6. Johnny Buff.

This is why we ranked them –

With the task of choosing the great of all time, we had some big hurdles to overcome.

Firstly, we have not seen all the great boxers from John L. Sullivan on – probably no one else has either. So we must depend on the opinions of boxing writers in the days of John L. Sullivan as to how great he was. These same scribes pointed out his weaknesses and his strong points. Then came the job of deciding if the men he fought were as good as Louis’ opponents.

When all this was considered and thought over and over again, we came to the decision that Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight of all time – but if Jack Johnson and Louis had ever clashed maybe Johnson could have scored with a terrific punch which would have turned the tide for the whole bout in his favor.

Sports Novels has taken every point into consideration and judged every boxer’s ability when he was at the peak of his career. Jack Dempsey was judged when he fought Willard, not when he met Tunney the second time.

The heavyweight always has been the glamour division. It draws the million-dollar gates and monopolizes the sports pages when a title fight is looming on the fistic horizon. (Ed. Note – Except these days when it is boring as hell.)

The man for No. 1 position is the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis. This great fighting man has been the longest to hold the title and he has defended it the greatest number of times.

These records alone did not make Joe our number one choice. Throughout Louis great career he has only had one serious rival, Max Schmeling. The German figured early in Joe’s career.

Schmeling was the only man to defeat Louis, but in all fairness to Joe it should be said that Louis was young and had a weakness – he was open to a right-hand punch. Max Schmeling spotted this weakness, so he practiced and defeated Joe by means of this punch.

After the Schmeling fight Joe started all over again to learn to protect himself from a right.

The six feet 1 ½ inches Negro had a terrible revenge on Schmeling when he K.O.’d him in one round. Since that fight (on June 22nd, 1938) Louis has proved himself a great champion.

Louis has defended his crown against all comers, something that Sullivan, Fitzsimmons and many early champions did not do.

Joe Louis is probably the greatest hitter of all time and he has also proved on several occasions that he can take a punch.

Some foolish people say Joe Louis can be outboxed – they take Billy Conn’s first fight with Joe as an example. But Louis in that fight did not go in to box – he did not want to play Billy Conn’s own game – he went after a K.O. punch. Fans pay to see Joe knock his opponents cold, so that is the objective Joe Louis goes after – a K.O.
Joe won his title from James J. Braddock on June 13, 1935, and has yet to lose it.

Jack Dempsey, born June 24, 1895, began his career in Utah and Colorado. Many keen boxing critics rate him ahead of Louis, but Jack was not quite the fighting machine that Joe is.

Dempsey himself recently stated that he believed Joe Louis was the greatest of all time. So Jack must believe that he himself was not the Brown Bomber’s equal.

Dempsey won his heavyweight crown from Jess Willard on July 4th, 1919, at Toledo. The fight earmarked Jack as one of the really great fighters of our time. He knocked Willard down seven times in the first round and battered the game Jess throughout the second and third rounds. Willard, game to the last, would not give up the hopeless battle – but his seconds wisely threw in the towel at the start of the fourth round.

Dempsey’s career is highlighted by his fights with Luis Firpo, Georges Carpentier, Tom Gibbons, Gene Tunney and Carl Morris.

Jack Dempsey clashed twice with Gene Tunney, but he was on the down grade when he fought Tunney. The Jack Dempsey of Toledo would have whipped Gene Tunney any day in the week.

The first Tunney bout was in Philadelphia on September 23rd, 1926, over 10 rounds. Tunney, a boxer of great ability, let Dempsey lead to him while Gene countered and stung him with lefts.

Although the public was shocked at the result, the decision went to the right man – Tunney.

In Chicago in 1927 Tunney and Dempsey met again. Tunney retained his crown and the “long count” flashed to the newspaper headlines.

Dempsey knocked Tunney down – but in his eagerness he did not go to a neutral corner. The referee stopped counting and told Dempsey to go to a neutral corner. When this was done he resumed his count at one. Tunney had a total of 14 seconds counted over him.

Jack’s record was: 69 matches, won 47 by K.O., won seven decisions on points, won on a foul once, boxed five no-decision bouts, fought four draws, lost four decisions, and was K.O.’d once.

Dempsey is now in show business with Max Baer, who is also a former heavyweight champion.

No. 3 choice in the heavyweight rating goes to a man who could also make the middleweight division if he wished – Bob Fitzsimmons.

Bob was the man who made famous the solar plexus punch when he K.O.’d James J. Corbett with it. Fitzsimmons was a great fighting machine, and fought until he was in his late thirties.

In 1880 his career began in a small amateur tournament in Timura, New Zealand. Jem Mace, the great English bareknuckle fighter, discovered Bob and taught him the first steps.

Upon leaving New Zealand, because of a lack of opponents, he fought in Australia and won the middleweight title. Fitzsimmons lost the title to Jim Hall in 1890. After this bout Ruby Bob left for America.

The world middleweight title fell to Bob, then he want after the heavyweight title, held by James J. Corbett.
Corbett must be considered a wonderful boxer because of his defeat of the might John L. Sullivan. Bob Fitzsimmons defeated Corbett in 14 rounds on March 17, 1897.

In Bob’s first defense of the crown he met James J. Jeffries and was stopped in 11 rounds. After this bout Bob was beginning to show signs of his long stay in the boxing game. Friends tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to retire, but Bob was with a set ambition – to regain the crown he had lost.

The last fight Bob had was in 1914 and at the age of 52, after 35 years of fighting. His record shows that he had 40 bouts for 23 K.O. wins, five by decision, knocked out five times, lost one decision, one drawn bout, lost one on foul, had four no-decision bouts. The close of the life of “the man who would not lay down” in boxing came in 1918.

No. 4 position goes to the other Negro heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson. He was born in 1878 at Galveston, Texas, was six feet one inch tall, and weighed from 205 to 220 lbs. when in his prime. Johnson started his career in 1899 and fought his last battle in 1927.

Tommy Burns, the heavyweight champion who lost his crown to Jack Johnson, was finished in 14 rounds at Sydney Stadium. Probably Johnson’s greatest fight was against the iron man of the ring, Jim Jeffries.

Jeffries had gone into retirement, but when a Negro held the world crown he was persuaded by friends to make a comeback to “save the face” of the white people.

Jeffries was unsuccessful and was given a terrible beating on July 4, 1910, at Reno.

Then Johnson wasted the best years of his career. He was forced to leave the United States because he got on the wrong foot of the law. In Spain he took up bull-fighting.

From the Jeffries bout Johnson received $120,000. Johnson was far above the heavyweights of his day and it was not until Old Man Time caught up with him that he gave up his title to Jess Willard in 26 rounds in 1915.
Johnson, if he had been a little wiser, could have earned a lot more money than he did. He could also have earned himself a greater name as a fighter to hand down to future years. Johnson’s record is: 90 matches for 31 K.O. wins, 35 by decisions, 14 no-decision bouts, five draws, three lost decisions, knocked out twice.

Johnson was a great boxer, but he did not put boxing on a better social standing – as a matter of face he pulled it down a few steps.

The No. 5 position goes to Peter Jackson. Although Peter was one of the greatest of all time, he did not wear a crown to denote the world’s title. The champions of the day were careful to keep clear of the Black Menace.
John L. Sullivan used the old trick of bringing the white color line ban into action. James J. Corbett fought a terrific draw with Jackson. Many of the spectators believed that the decision should have gone to Peter Jackson. Soon after this fight Gentleman Jim defeated John L. Sullivan for the title.

Jackson had everything – he could box, punch, duck, and, above all, he was a gentleman.

The most colorful of all boxers must have been the great John L. Sullivan, who takes No. 6 position in our ratings. John L. was the last of the bare knuckle fighters and was mainly responsible for gloves being worn in his bout with Corbett for the title. This bout made the use of gloves the common practice all over the world.

John L. defeated in his bare knuckle fights some of the great bare knuckle men, Paddy Ryan and Jake Kilrain, and at 38 years of age he fought the topnotcher, Tom Sharkey. (Ed. Note: No clue where they got this from, Sullivan never fought the topnotcher, Tom Sharkey.)

John L. Sullivan was born in 1858 and died at Abington in 1918. John L. Sullivan’s career was marked in great black spots because of his love for beer and his dislike for training. Toward the end, when he fought James J. Corbett, he was fat and horribly out of condition.

At his peak John L. was 5 ft. 10 in. tall and scaled about 195 lbs. From the time he won the championship to the day of his defeat John L. was the idol of the crowd. Those are (in our opinion) the top six heavyweights of all time – but you would have probably chosen six others. Men such as Corbett, Jeffries, Tunney, Choynski, Sharkey and a host of others we have not mentioned.

For a credit to the game, and for being a great all-round fighter, the blue ribbon must go to Joe Louis. (Ed. Note: Up until 1947 I think I’d only consider Fitzsimmons a light-heavyweight and I’d go with 1. Joe Louis, 2. Jack Johnson, 3. Jack Dempsey, 4. James J. Jeffries, 5. Gene Tunney, 6. Maybe Peter Jackson.)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Bob Fitzsimmons, 2. Sam Langford, Jack O’Brien, 4. Georges Carpentier, 5. Tommy Loughran, 6. Harry Greb.
The light-heavyweight division is a comparatively young field. The first recognized champion was in 1903 when Bob Fitzsimmons fought Georges Carpentier.

Fitzsimmons won the title to become the first recognized holder of the light-heavyweight crown. But not because he was the first to hold the title did Sports Novels choose him as the greatest of all time. Fitzsimmons fights against heavyweights when he was really within the middleweight limit marked him clearly as the greatest light-heavyweight or middleweight of all time.

Fitzsimmons was really never defeated for his middleweight crown. No other boxer has been able to step out of the natural class with such reckless abandon as Ruby Rob. For first choice in this division no one could pass Bob Fitzsimmons. This great boxer’s career has already been dealt with as a heavyweight.

The No. 2 position goes to the great Negro boxer Sam Langford. Rarely do boxers have active service in the ring for a period of 20 years, but Sam was one of the great fighters who did.

A native son of Nova Scotia, he entered boxing in 1902 and had his last bout 21years later against one of the leading contenders of the day, Jim Flynn. (Ed. Note: Sam’s last fight was really in 1926 and it wasn’t against Jim Flynn.)

Sam Langford K.O.’d Flynn in three rounds and was at the time practically blind. In the later part of Sam’s 20-year service he fought all his battles in a half-blind state, and after the Flynn bout he was forced to hang up his gloves because of his eye trouble.

Had this great boxer been a white man he would have surely been a world’s champion, but the boxers of his day saw how good he was and conveniently drew the color line.

Philadelphia Jack O’Brien is our No. 3 choice in this light-heavyweight division. The highlight of Jack’s career was his K.O. win over Bob Fitzsimmons in San Francisco in 1905. By comparing the dates one can see that Fitzsimmons who won his heavyweight crown in 1897, was at this stage in 1905 well on the down grade.

O’Brien was defeated by Tommy Burns, who was at the time claimant to the heavyweight crown. Burns rarely fought as a 175 lb. boxer and never tried to “cash in” on the crown he had won by defeating O’Brien when both of them had scaled under the limit for the bout.

Because of this Burns was considered as a heavyweight in which field he did not make the first six.

The idol of France, Georges Carpentier, won his way into the light-heavyweight field when he defeated Battling Levinsky in 1920. Previously Carpentier had defeated all of the top 175 lb. men in Europe and with Levinsky being the top man in America, it made their bout for the world crown. Georges won on a K.O. in four rounds.

Carpentier will always be remembered for his bout with our No. 2 heavyweight Jack Dempsey. In 1922 a Sengalese boxer named Battling Siki K.O.’d the Frenchman in six rounds in Paris.

Tommy Loughran was our choice as No. 5 in this field. Tommy won his title from Mike McTigue after the latter reclaimed it when Jack Delaney resigned it to enter the open field.

In 1929 Tommy resigned to enter the heavyweight division himself. Although not weighing very much over the 175 lb. mark, he boxed such men as Carnera, Baer, and all of the other heavyweights of that day.

No. 6 position is taken by Harry Greb. Fighting as a middleweight, Greb won the world’s light heavyweight title from Johnny Wilson in 1923 and lost it to Tiger Flowers in 1926. Greb was a great fighter and punched at a rapid rate.

(Ed. Note: I already said that I’d be more inclined to rate Fitzsimmons as a light-heavyweight. I might just as easily say the same thing of Gene Tunney. And, if we ranked Tunney as a light-heavy I’m not at all sure that I wouldn’t rank him as the greatest light-heavy of all time. Then I wouldn’t really argue with the placement of Fitzsimmons and Langford for the 2nd and 3rd position. I’ve always thought of Greb as more of a middleweight and will comment on him there, though he was a light-heavy titled holder and could certainly be ranked among the greatest in that division. I can’t help but wonder if Jack Dillon and Tommy Gibbons don’t deserve greater consideration in the rankings for this division and I might also be more inclined to include Kid McCoy in this division instead of middleweight.)

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Stanley Ketchel, 2. Les Darcy, 3. Billy Papke, 4. “Nonpareil” Dempsey, 5. Kid McCoy, 6. Mickey Walker.
As a glamour division the middleweights rate second only to the heavyweights. Again, excluding the heavyweights, this field was probably the hardest to pick.

Two boxers stand out above all others in this field – Les Darcy and Stanley Ketchel. When Sports Novels made its decision to select Ketchel as the No. 1 man of all time, it had to ignore all the great beliefs that Australian boxing stalwarts hold in connection to Darcy’s ability.

Ketcel was born on October 10, 1887. He was known as the “Michigan Assasin.”

Ketchel had a powerful physique, all the ring courage one could hope for, and was of Polish descent. In his first fight he fought the veteran Jack “Twin” Sullivan and the bout ended in a draw.

Two years later he fought a draw with Joe Thomas , the top ranker among the middleweights of those days. The first Thomas-Ketchel bout ended in a draw, but when they clashed in their second fight Stanley won on a K.O. in the thirty-second round. This win made Ketchel the world middleweight champion.

The other great features in Stanley Ketchel’s career were his two fights with Billy Papke. (Ed. Note: They fought four times.)

In 1908 Ketchel fought Papke for the first time. Early in the first round Papke landed a heavy right on Ketchel and the Polish star was groggy for the rest of the fight. The end came in the twelfth rond – Ketchel was K.O.’d.
This did not worry Ketchel – he had a return bout in 1909. As the two met in the center of the ring Ketchel told Papke he would K.O. him in the eleventh and he did. This defeat in twelve rounds by Ketchel, then his slashing return fight win reminds one very much of the Joe Louis – Max Schmeling fights.

There is one thing a great boxer must have – guts. The hardest way for a boxer to prove to the crowd that he has what it takes, is to come back and defeat a man who has previously given him a lacing, as both Papke and Schmeling had done to the greatest middleweight and heavyweights of all time, Ketchel and Louis respectively.

The Johnson-Ketchel fight, when the Negro heavyweight champion of the world defeated the middleweight champion, was a battle that showed Ketchel’s greatness, although he was defeated. The weights were Johnson 200 lbs and Ketchel 160 lbs. (Ed. Note: I believe Johnson carried Ketchel in this bout per a pre-arranged agreement.)

In this fight Ketchel scored forty-four knockdowns; twenty-one of these came in succession. But finally, Johnson’s terrific weight wore down the great Pole. (Ed. Note: Don’t know where these figures came from.) Although Darcy was great – I think that in this fight with one of the masters of the manly art, Ketchel proved himself greater. (Ed. Note: Again, if Johnson-Ketchel wasn’t on the up-and-up they’d obviously re-think this stance.)

Stanley Ketchel led a turbulent life in and out of the ring. He was murdered in 1910 by a man named Walter Dipley. At the time of his death Ketchel was still middleweight champion of the world.

The greatest Australian sportsman of all time, Les Darcy, rates second in the middleweight field. American experts agree that Les was a great boxer but will not give him his rightful place amongst the greatest of all time.
In previous issues we have fully covered the life of Les Darcy, so readers are fully conversant with his wonderful career. His wins over George Chip, Jimmy Clabby, Eddie McGoorty, and Fitz Holland mark him as the best of his time and second only to Ketchel for all time.

The No. 3 man amongst the middleweights is the great Billy Papke. The two (really four) fights with Ketchel mark Papke as one of the greatest middleweights of all time. It was indeed a treat that Ketchel and Papke were fighting at their peak about the same time. It was hard to separate Papke and Darcy for second place because Ketchel and Papke were so close to each other.

The great old time middleweight “Nonpareil” Jack Dempsey fills No. 4 place.

In 1884 Dempsey established the middleweight class when he became world’s champion after his defeat of George Fulljames. Four seven years Dempsey was on top of the tree.

Bob Fitzsimmons, scaling under the middleweight limit, K.O.’d Dempsey but did not claim the title or fight in the middleweight division. For this reason we did not rate Bob Fitzsimmons as a middleweight.

Kid McCoy, the trickiest boxer of all time, fills No. 5 place. McCoy, like all other great middleweights fought out of his division. He took on Peter Maher and a host of others who all outweighed him.

Mickey Walker is the No. 6 choice. He won the world crown in 1926 when he outpointed Tiger Flowers in 10 rounds. By 1931 Walker found it impossible to fight under 160 lbs so he relinquished his crown to fight in the open class. One month after doing this he fought Jack Sharkey and weighed 169 ½ lbs.

(Ed. Note: Keep in mind Sugar Ray Robinson wasn’t campaigning as a middleweight when this article was written so is excluded from discussion for this division. As I said earlier, I consider Greb more of a middleweight and as of 1947 would have rated him as the greatest middleweight of all time. Still, not sure I wouldn’t rate him above Robinson today based on how much more success he had fighting against so many much heavier quality opponents outside the division. I guess I’d be among those American’s the article says won’t give him his rightful place among the greatest of all time for the simple reason is that I think his career gets an incomplete rating because of the timing of his tragic death. So, I guess I’d go with Ketchel as No. 2 after Greb, and Walker No. 3. I guess that I’d consider the likes of “Nonpareil” Dempsey and Mike Gibbons strongly when attempting to round out the top six and also take a look at the careers of some lesser known fighters, like Freddie Steele for example. Nat Fleischer considered Tommy Ryan a middleweight and ranked him 2nd all time in the division.)

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Joe Walcott, 2. Tommy Ryan, 3. Sugar Ray Robinson, 4. Jack Britton, 5. Ted “Kid” Lewis, 6. Jimmy McLarnin
The welterweight division caused a few headaches but we finally decided on Joe Walcott – the great Negro ace – as the greatest welterweight of all time.

In 1901 “Rube” Ferns was K.O.’d by Joe Walcott in the fifth round of their fight for the world’s title. Walcott was one of those great men like Sam Langford who stayed 20 years in the boxing game.

Although only a welter he had victories over men like Joe Choynski, Sandy Ferguson and Sam Langford. (Ed. Note: Not true, he only fought Langford once, when Langford was a young 18-year old and they drew in that bout, one that many thought Langford should have been awarded for the welterweight crown as Sam was within the welterweight limit at the time.)

In 1904, “Dixie Kid” defeated Walcott in 20 rounds on a foul – but few of the experts recognized “Dixie Kid” as the new champion. It was not until 1906 that Honey Melody defeated Joe on points and took the crown.
Could you imagine a welter of today, say Ray Robinson, fighting out of his class with men of the caliber of Choynski and Langford? (Ed. Note: Again, Langford was a welterweight at the time.) When Robinson fought a second rate middleweight, Jake LaMotta, he was defeated. That will give you an idea why we selected Joe Walcott as the greatest middleweight of them all. (Ed. Note: LaMotta obviously went on and proved he was far from a second rater.)

The second place goes to another old-time boxer, Tommy Ryan. Ryan won his crown in 1894 when he defeated “Mysterious” Billy Smith in twenty rounds at Minneapolis. Tommy Ryan, during twenty years service in the ring, dropped only one foul decision. The only man ever to K.O. Ryan was “Kid” McCoy, who scored the trick in 1896.

No. 3 choice goes to Ray Robinson, who is at present the world’s welter champion. Robinson is far above the welterweights in the world today and has to spend a lot of time fighting middleweights. This Negro has had a fine string of wins and each fight is proving him to be nearer to the class of Walcott and Ryan. To the welterweights of today Robinson is as far ahead as Louis is to the heavyweights.

No. 4 welterweight of all time is Jack Britton – his is another man who fought for twenty years.
Whenever Britton is mentioned one always couples him with the Englishman who fills the No. 5 position Ted “Kid” Lewis.

In 1915, Lewis defeated Jack Britton on points over 12 rounds. Between 1915 and 1919 Lewis and Britton fought over a dozen times, each winning and losing an equal number of times and alternating as champion.
The end of this long, drawn-out battle between Lewis and Britton came in Canton, Ohio, when Jack Britton K.O.’d Lewis in nine rounds. Thus, although the two men were almost equal, Britton won the final and deciding bout.

Mickey Walker, who later grew into a middleweight, fought Britton in 1922 and defeated him on points to win the world title.

Seldom does the world see two men so closely matched in ability as Lewis and Britton. Had it not been for that final bout in 1919, we would have had no choice but to rate them equal fourth.

Jimmy McLarnin, who fills the No. 6 position in the welterweights, will be remembered for his great tussles with Barney Ross and Young Corbett III.

In 1933, McLarnin stopped Corbett in the first round of their world title bout in Los Angeles. In 1934 Barney Ross defeated McLarnin on points to win the crown but Jimmy came back and defeated Ross in September of the same year to win back his title.

The deciding bout between Ross and McLarnin came in 1935 – with Jimmy McLarnin now starting on the down grade. Barney Ross defeated him over fifteen rounds and after this bout Jimmy retired.
(Ed. Note: Even in 1947 I think I would have had to rate Sugar Ray Robinson # 1 in this category. No real problem with any of the other ratings but will admit that I don’t know as much as I should about the careers of Lewis or Britton.

LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Joe Gans, 2. Benny Leonard, 3. Kid Lavigne, 4. Jack McAuliffe, 5. “Battling” Nelson, 6. Barney Ross
The lightweights division have always been in the limelight. No doubt some Australian boxing fans will say we should rate Vic Patrick amongst the all time lightweights but Vic has as yet to force himself into the top three of today – let alone the top six of all time. In our recent quest, “Who was Australia’s greatest sportsman,” the public rated Patrick ahead of the immortal Griffo.

The greatest boxer in the lightweight division was Joe Gans, the American Negro. Gans undermined his health by trying to keep his weight down and finished his days in a tuberculosis home. In 1901 Gans K.O.’d Frank Erne in the first round.

Previously, Erne had been K.O.’d by Terry McGovern in three rounds but it was a handicap match with the stipulation that Erne could not lose his title in the bout. For this fight McGovern, our No. 1 choice among the featherweights, only scaled 125 lbs.

Between 1901 and 1908 Gans successfully defeated all challengers.

In 1908, Battling Nelson fought Gans, who had to shed many pounds of weight.

Joe, considerably weakened by his wasting, was K.O.’d in 17 rounds. After this fight Gans’ health slowly deteriorated and his career finished.

A fairly modern lightweight takes No. 2 position – Benny Leonard. Very few boxers have the strength of mind to retire undefeated, but Leonard was one of the few. In 1917 this great boxing machine T.K.O.’d Freddie Welsh in nine rounds in New York. For seven years Leonard stayed on top of the tree and in 1924 retired undefeated.
In 1893 Jack McAuliffe retired and Kid Lavigne claimed the title. Lavigne is the No. 3 choice in the lightweight division with McAuliffe fourth. Between 1893 and 1896 Lavigne defeated all American boxers of his weight and was considered champion. Late in 1896 Dick Burge, English lightweight champion went to American and fought Lavigne. Burge was K.O.’d in 17 rounds by Lavigne, thus Britain lost all claim to the world title.

On July 3rd, 1899, Frank Erne defeated Lavigne in a 20-round battle.

McAuliffe turned professional in 1885 and won the title by defeating all those who claimed it. While with the “lilywhites,” McAuliffe won the lightweight championship. For nine years McAuliffe remained undefeated and in 1893 retired. His record reads, 10 wins by K.O., 32 wins on points and nine draws.

Battling Nelson, No. 5 selection, was one of the toughest men ever to don a glove. In 1908 Nelson K.O.’d our No. 1 choice, Joe Gans, to win the world title, but in all fairness it should be said that Gans was but a shadow of the mighty boxer he was in 1901.

Ad Wolgast, who narrowly missed selection in the top six, won the title from Nelson on Feb. 22, 1910, when the referee stopped the bout in the 40th round to save Nelson from further punishment – it was scheduled for 45 rounds! How many of today’s top-liners could go this distance?

The sixth of the all time lightweights is Barney Ross. Great little fighter, Tony Canzoneri, dropped a decision and the title to Ross over 10 rounds in Chicago in 1933.

By April 15th Ross found it impossible to make the weight and retired from the lightweight division to campaign amongst the welters.

As we have previously stated Ross fought McLarnin and won the title only to lose it to him the following year, but Ross came back to win the deciding bout when he defeated McLarnin in 1935. Later Barney lost his crown to Henry Armstrong.

If Ross had not put on weight he would have certainly been higher up the ladder than the No. 6 position. In this division, as all others, we found it hard to select the last two positions because of the cream of boxing talent available. Such men as Frank Erne, Tony Canzoneri, Ad Wolgast, Sammy Mandell and Henry Armstrong were notable omissions.

(Ed. Note: Personally, I don’t know how you could keep Freddy Welsh out of the top six as of 1947. Nat Fleischer rated him # 4 all-time among the lightweights. I also wonder why Packey McFarland isn’t typically rated amongst the very top of the lightweights by more folks.)

FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Terry McGovern, 2. Young Griffo, 3. Young Corbett, 4. Henry Armstrong, 5. Johnny Dundee, 6. Willie Pep.
As a trio of the top featherweights of all time , McGovern, Griffo and Young Corbett, would be hard to beat.
McGovern and Corbett were great punchers and good ring generals, while Griffo was the trickiest and quickest ring merchant ever to lace on a glove.

We thought we had overcome the biggest problem when we rated Louis ahead of Dempsey and Fitzsimmons and Ketchel ahead of Darcy but when McGovern and Griffo came up for judgment we spent more time than we had in either the heavyweight or middleweight divisions.

In 1899 the featherweight limit was fixed at 118 lbs. by George Dixon, who held the title – this 118 lb. now stands as the bantamweight limit. Terry McGovern met Dixon in 1899 at the weight set by George and K.O.’d him in eight rounds.

In 1901 our No. 3 selection, Young Corbett, defeated McGovern in two rounds and the weight limit was set at 126 lb., at which mark it now stands. Another highlight in McGovern’s career was his K.O. win over Frank Erne, lightweight champion of the world when he himself only scaled 126 lb.

The Australian featherweight start, Young Griffo fills No. 2 place. His fights against McAuliffe, Lavigne, Gans and Ike Weir marks him as one of the greatest ever to grace the ring. Griffo’s life story is appearing in this issue of Sports Novels, so we will not repeat ourselves here. We could not look over Griffo’s career without thinking of all the “raw deals” he got at the hands of American referees in their “judging” of drawn contests. Griffo’s draw with McAuliffe robbed the Australian flash of a world title – but that all goes in the boxing game.

It is funny that neither Darcy nor Griffo, who both rate among the greatest of all time, never won a world title, but that was the way the cards were stacked against them. (Ed. Note: Darcy surely would have received a title shot if he hadn’t passed away when he did, that is assuming he would have been able to earn the opportunity.)
The No. 3 featherweight is Young Corbett, who K.O.’d McGovern in two rounds in 1901. By 1904, Corbett had outgrown this class and fought in the lightweight division.

Henry Armstrong won the featherweight and welterweight championship of the world and is ranked No. 4 featherweight of all time.

Armstrong knocked out Petey Sarron in six rounds in New York on October 29, 1937, to win his first world title. By October, 1938, Armstrong had outgrown his division and resigned the crown to fight as a lightweight. Armstrong was a tear-in fighter who never stopped throwing punches. Could readers imagine a fight, if it were possible, between Armstrong and Young Griffo? Armstrong tearing in throwing punches all the time and Griffo ducking and weaving, clipping them back. It would be a great fight.

Johnny Dundee fills No. 5 position. In 1923 Johnny outpointed Eugene Criqui, the brilliant Frenchman, over 15 rounds to win the world title.

By 1925 Johnny Dundee had followed many of his predecessors by outgrowing the division and was now fighting as a lightweight.

The sixth position in this class goes to the present day champion Willie Pep.

(Ed. Note: Wondering how Jim Driscoll failed to make their top six in this division. I see Fleischer ranked Driscoll and Abe Attell 2 and 3 in this division in his own all-time rankings and also had McGovern No. 1. Interestingly, Fleischer only placed Griffo No. 8 and had Johnny Kilbane (5) and Kid Chocolate (6) ahead of him.)

Ok, I’m getting tired of all this typing and rather than give the articles explanations of their rankings for the bantamweight and flyweight divisions will now just list them here. If someone would really like to read those sections let me know and I’ll go back and do it later if there’s enough interest. Here’s how they ranked them:

BANTAMWEIGHT DIVISION

1. George Dixon, 2. Jim Barry, 3. Babe Herman, 4. Joe Lynch, 5. Jimmy Wilde, 6. Al Brown

FLYWEIGHT DIVISION

1. Jimmy Wilde, 2. Pancho Villa, 3. Small Montana, 4. Ad Wolgast, 5. Benny Lynch. 6. Johnny Buff.

Excellent, thanks for sharing!

Great stuff cmoyle, and as Scott says, thanks a lot for posting. Very interesting, although no amount of explanations will make me think that Australian Sports Novels' placing of Les Darcy as the second greatest Middleweight of all time up to 1947 was anything other than pure and verging on the ridiculous bias!

Fascinating stuff, a wonderful read. So many different things to consider and plenty of things I would agree and disagree on with the rankings and comments behind them.

Cheers for that - although i'm in tears trying to read that. Do you mind If i copy it and space it out for easier consumption?

"Do you mind If i copy it and space it out for easier consumption?."

Sure, feel free. It never pastes in the way it looks when it's typed up on a Word document. If someone knows how to make it paste in the same way I'd appreciate learning how to do it. I always have to go into the post and re-space everything after it's pasted in. Normally I don't mind, but when I've already spent so much time typing 6,000 words I didn't want to spend any further time on it.

Fascinating stuff Clay, find the ranking of Fitzsimmons particularly interesting as I have seen quite a few of these older pieces rank Bob similarly high, whilst obviously he is well respected now is not uncommon to see him outside of top ten P4P's or certainly outside the top 5's, does give food for thought if Bob is a guy like Sullivan who has suffered somewhat with the passing of time in not being regarded anywhere near as highly as he was back in the day.

I'll edit the post and try to respace some of it, guys.

Thanks for posting this Clay, very interesting.

There we go, hopefully that is a bit easier to digest.

Also have just noticed there is no place for Tunney at either light heavy or heavy, given he is a guy normally well regarded on modern P4P lists this is something of a shock. I know a lot of the press found him aloof and pretty difficult to warm to at the time, wonder if this is a reflection of this?

Tunney's absence from the light heavyweight list is the thing that jumped out at me most along with Greb's name being missing from the middleweight list (albeit he is in the light heavyweight list) when he shoudl be at the top.

Going by the names included in the list alone and not making any other changes, Tunney should be at least as high as 3.

As Jeff said, Tunney fell out of favour and turned his back on boxing pretty quickly and even as early as 1947 would have been almost a forgotten figure and I supect that has led to his omission. Can see why they've left him out of the heavyweight list but again, going on the basis of the names on the list, I'd have him ahead of Fitzsimmons (who should be behind Johnson who, in turn, should be at number 2). Jackson and Sullivan probably belong on a different list.

Fascinating stuff, Clay, and a worthy addition to our ' Historians' rankings of all time great fighters ' in the ' Boxing vault ' section, into which I shall merge this when it has run its course.

However, though it is of immense historical interest, the shocking inaccuracy of some of it makes me wonder how it ever passed the editor's scrutiny.

Greb, lightheavyweight champion ? Not so, of course. He was middleweight champion of the world and lightheavyweight champion of North America. Much else about which to quibble, also, but fascinating, nonetheless.

Thanks for sharing.

Also claims that Fitzsimmon was not the middleweight champion which he was, looking at the list he should be rated at that weight as well.

Some foolish people say Joe Louis can be outboxed – they take Billy Conn’s first fight with Joe as an example.

They may have been fairly rubbish at ranking fighters but they did have a knack for predicting the behaviour of certain 606 users.

The Money Man wrote:Also claims that Fitzsimmon was not the middleweight champion which he was, looking at the list he should be rated at that weight as well.

~ Why sir, to quote the obvious:

Fitzsimmons was really never defeated for his middleweight crown.

Perhaps not an example of the best English ever penned, but it works in a pinch.

The list is a rare international perspective on what was an American dominated sport back then, so a hearty thanks to Mr. Moyle. One can easily see how Mr. Dempsey and Mr. Louis dominated the rankings/fantasy debates of the era and that still ain't too shabby a match up by modern standards.

If only Joe Cortez could referee them, what an all time donnybrook and ring riot we would have by fight's end!