My timeline of the premiere MW in the world.

Jack N.P. Dempsey: (march)1886-(jan)1891 [loses to fitzsimmons]
Bob Fitzsimmons: (jan)1891-(march)1896 [vacates claim whilst mccoy beats ryan]

Charles McCoy: (march)1896-(october)1898 [vacates claim whilst ryan beats bonner]

Tommy Ryan: (october)1898-(october)1901 [loses to green]
George Green: (october)1901-(january)1902 [loses to ryan]
Tommy Ryan: (october)1901-(january)1904 [loses to o'brien]
Jack O'Brien: (january)1904-(april)1905 [loses to kelly]
Hugo Kelly: (april)1905-(december)1907 [loses to papke]
Billy Papke: (december)1907-(june)1908 [loses to ketchel]
Stanley Ketchel: (june)1908-(september)1908 [loses to papke]
Billy Papke: (september)1908-(november)1908 [loses to ketchel]
Stanley Ketchel: (november)1908-(october)1910 [retires claim whilst papke beats williams]

Billy Papke: (october)1910-(december)1910 [loses to smith]
Dave Smith: (december)1910-(march)1911 [loses to papke]
Billy Papke: (march)1911-(october)1911 [loses to moha]
Bob Moha: (october)1911-(march)1912 [loses claim when klaus beats dillon]

Frank Klaus: (march)1912-(may)1913 [loses to dillon]
Jack Dillon: (may)1913-(october)1913 [loses to houck]
Leo Houck: (october)1913-(february)1914 [loses to murray]
Billy Murray: (february)1914-(july)1914 [loses to chip]
George Chip: (july)1914-(november)1914 [loses to clabby]
Jimmy Clabby: (november)1914-(january)1915 [loses to gibbons]
Mike Gibbons: (january)1915-(may)1915 [loses to bartfield]
Soldier Bartfield: (may)1915-(november)1915 [loses claim when darcy beats murray]

Les Darcy: (november)1915-(february)1917 [retires claim whilst gibbons beats greb]

Mike Gibbons: (february)1917-(november)1917 [retires claim whilst o'dowd beats mccoy]

Mike O'Dowd: (november)1917-(may)1920 [loses to wilson]
Jonny Wilson: (may)1920-(august)1923 [loses to greb]
Harry Greb: (august)1923-(august)1926 [loses to flowers]
Tiger Flowers: (august)1926-(june)1927 [flowers vacates claim whilst walker beats milligan]

Mickey Walker: (june)1927-(january)1931 [vacates claim whilst dundee beats harvey]

Vince Dundee: (january)1931-(july)1931 [loses to thil]
Marcel Thil: (july)1931-(july)1936 [loses claim when steele beats risko]

Freddie Steele: (july)1936-(january)1938 [loses to apostli]
Fred Apostoli: (january)1938-(february)1938 [loses to corbett III]
Young Corbett III: (february)1938-(november)1938 [loses to apostoli]
Fred Apostoli: (november)1938-(october)1939 [loses to garcia]
Ceferino Garcia: (october)1939-(march)1940 [loses to armstrong]
Henry Armstrong: (march)1940-(may)1940 [vacates his claim whilst ovelrin beats garcia]

Ken Overlin: (may)1940-(november)1941 [loses claim when zale beats abrams]

Tony Zale: (november)1941-(may)1942 [loses claim when charles beats burley]

Ezzard Charles: (may)1942-(february)1943 [vacates claim whilst burley beats chase]

Charley Burley: (february)1943-(july)1945 [loses to williams]
Holman Williams: (july)1945-(april)1946 [loses to lytell]
Burt Lytell: (april)1946-(august)1946 [loses to burley]
Charley Burley: (august)1946-(september)1946 [loses claim when zale beats graziano]

Tony Zale: (september)1946-(july)1947 [loses to graziano]
Rocky Graziano: (july)1947-(june)1948 [loses to zale]
Tony Zale: (june)1948-(september)1948 [loses to cerdan]
Marcel Cerdan: (september)1948-(june)1949 [loses to la motta]
Jake La Motta: (june)1949-(february)1951 [loses to robinson]
Ray Robinson: (february)1951-(july)1951 [loses to turpin]
Randy Turpin: (july)1951-(september)1951 [loses to robinson]
Ray Robinson: (september)1951-(march)1953 [retires claim whilst turpin beats cartier]

Randy Turpin: (march)1953-(october)1953 [loses to olson]
Carl Olson: (october)1953-(december)1955 [loses to robinson]
Ray Robinson: (december)1955-(january)1957 [loses to fullmer]
Gene Fullmer: (january)1957-(may)1957 [loses to robinson]
Ray Robinson: (may)1957-(september)1957 [loses to basilio]
Carmen Basilio: (september)1957-(march)1958 [loses to robinson]
Ray Robinson: (march)1958-(august)1959 [loses claim when fullmer beats basilio]

Gene Fullmer: (august)1959-(october)1962 [loses to tiger]
Dick Tiger: (october)1962-(december)1963 [loses to giardello]
Joey Giardello: (december)1963-(october)1965 [loses to tiger]
Dick Tiger: (october)1965-(april)1966 [loses to griffith]
Emile Griffith: (april)1966-(april)1967 [loses to benvenuti]
Nino Benvenuti: (april)1967-(september)1967 [loses to griffith]
Emile Griffith: (september)1967-(march)1968 [loses to benvenuti]
Nino Benvenuti: (march)1968-(november)1970 [loses to monzon]
Carlos Monzon: (november)1970-(november)1977 [retires his claim whilst valdez beats briscoe]

Rodrigo Valdez: (november)1977-(april)1978 [loses to corro]
Hugo Corro: (april)1978-(june)1979 [loses to antuofermo]
Vito Antuofermo: (june)1979-(november)1979 [loses to hagler]
Marvin Hagler: (november)1979-(april)1987 [loses to leonard]
Ray Leonard: (april)1987-(october)1987 [retires claim whilst kalambay beats barkley]

Sumbu Kalambay: (october)1987-(march)1989 [loses to nunn]
Michael Nunn: (march)1989-(may)1991 [loses to toney]
James Toney: (may)1991-(september)1991 [loses claim when jackson beats milton]

Julian Jackson: (september)19921-(may)1993 [loses to mcclelland]
Gerald McClelland: (may)1993-(may)1994 [loses claim when jones beats tate]

Roy Jones: (may)1994-(august)1994 [vacates claim whilst johnson beats castro]

Reggie Johnson: (august)1994-(april)1995 [loses claim when hopkins beats mercado]

Bernard Hopkins: (april)1995-(december)2005 [loses to taylor
Jermain Taylor: (december)2005-(june)2006 [loses to wright]
Ronald Wright: (june)2006-(september)2007 [loses claim when pavlick beats taylor]

Kelly Pavlick: (september)2007-(april)2010 [loses to martinez]
Sergio Martinez: (april)2010-present [premiere mw in the world]

 

Ok that's my preliminary timeline.


Ok I'm upto this so far although during the nws era it gets messy. we can't count wins and discount losses, far as i'm concerned if someone loses a nws fight and reports check out, they lose (mcCoy horrific title claim is my main point here) Splitting the murderers row lot was very hard, especially as by the mid 40's they'd all beaten the snot out of ech other thus degrading future victories.

From what I can find on Clarke, he competed mainly in the HW divison, I'm not 100% sure where his claim would come from to be honest, I have only had a cursory glance at his accomplishments however. Unless you're stating during a certain period you think he'd beat anyone else?

RE Darcy, bound to bring up disagreement, I can't find a better claimant during the years 15-16 although he might be the best claimant after Darcy's death. It's close between the two for this period but I think Darcy edges it personally.

From 1931-1951 there's so many different claims imo. Plus controversial decisions to contend with. I'm sort of happy with what I've got but it only just holds together by virtue of Zale coming back scoring a career defining victory at just the right time when murderer's row had all fallen from grace.

Armstrong's claim is rock solid though, garcia was the mw king when armstrong beat him.

Just like the LHW divison, this era seems to be in direct relation tot he war (the likes of bivins and marsahll at LHW etc) so there has to be something I've not connected. It's too coincidental that just as all the great american champions went off to war there was suddenly and influx of great contenders that suddenly died down again once the war finished.

Anyone else have further insight into these?

I'm totally convinced that kalambay's victories over Graham and Barkley catapult him to the top once Leonard retired his belt, hearns never deserved the label as top MW as demonstrated by barkley destroying him shortly after being schooled by sumbu. Barkley's close loss to Duran was historic but still, Sumbu has the best active resume until he loses to Nunn, plus he beat barkley better than roberto did (not in a p4p sense but in a mw sense).

Another difficult time to nail down was after Toney's loss to Tiberi. we had Jackson knocking people out before two dominant performances by Jones catapuleted him above everyone. McCllelan didn't do much in 93 but he began 94 with a rematch ko over jackson putting him top of the pile once Jones left the division and he stayed there until his ill fated move up to SMW. Johnson has two unofficial victories over Castro making him the standout candidate until he then left the division by which point Hopkins had done enough to build a slight lead over the divison; a lead he maintained for the next decade.

Very Difficult division this. the lhw was messy but it seemed clear who the best was at any given time. the mw division is stacked and it's hard narrowing it down to 1. even guys like Pender have missed out :-( but his "lineal" claim was certainly way behind Giardello's in my honest opinion.

 

The LHW was very very difficult to nail down.

I've just had an easy run with Cruiser and Super Middle this past week so it's only fair I go into a much more difficult one.

I think i'm gonna keep Fitz until he vacates his belt but no doubnt some will tell me he should be recognised with a 25 year reign as mw champ

 

well without competing in the division I can't rank him.

Darcy gets an edge from 1915-1916. Him and Gibbons seem neck and neck imo.

the one split is that gibbons lost to packey.

 

:good

 

Bit of an update that took an aweful lot of time to go through; I've just spent 3 hours sifting through all the files, footage and reoports I can find for the period between 1920 and 1950.

 

Ok I have a preliminary timeline. very very difficult task that will need revisiting over the coming days.

 

Yeah that's my quandry. Sumbu was better than barkley and duran but it's hard to overlook the monumentous victories scored by barkley and duran respectively.

I don't wanna consolidate it by saying hearns was past best because he was seen as one of the best going into the barkley fight.

 

He was a hell of a fighter :good