There's really not much between all of them. And I'm completely open to pursuasion. But if I had to give a reason for Gans' eighteenth placement; it would probably be quality of top wins. All these men have a long line of scalps so the top ones probably did it for me. Hagler/Hearns, Frazier/Foreman, Canzoneri/McLarnin, McLarnin/Chocolate, Welsh/Britton as opposed to Gans' McFadden/Nelson/Herman. Is it concrete? Hell no. Thus this is all just a draft. :good
Kid Herman was a meaningless bout where nobody, not even Herman's friends were willing to bet on him to win. Then it depends on which McFadden you mean. The June 1902 bout was considered by local fans "the most unsatisfactory fight in years", where McFadden was badly out of shape, the betting was 10 to 4 in favor of Gans. The 1899 victory was a good win in that McFadden was made a slight favorite as the result of his bout with Frank Erne, but George chose to fight a wrong bout, being all aggressive from the start, instead of his usual style of blocking and counter-punching. I don't think even this earlier bout deserves a top 10 placement.
Understood. What about flat-out top-3 opponents he's beaten? And what time frame would you say he was the best P4P boxer in the world?
Naming his best 3 wins would require a lot of look-ups in my scrap-books, I don't have time for that now. I'm not ready to name them from my memory, as I mostly concentrated on researching other boxers last couple of years.
Senya, am I ****ing invisible? I've asked you twice now on separate threads if you've got a pound-for-pound list, and twice you've blatantly ignored me.
Yeah and you, like many of us, are willing to put your lists on the line for criticism. Senya's one of the few snobs here who rarely puts forward any opinion and likes to pick out the trivial, arguable oversights of others. Of course, I could be proved wrong... Senya, your top ten?
Terry McGovern is an alternative option. He, along with Barbados Joe Walcott and Jimmy Wilde, I don't necessarily agree with, although I'm open to arguments and could see at least one of the three just inside the top twenty. Whitaker is perfectly reasonable. McLarnin is a tough one. I'd say the lesser fighter between him, Ross and Canzoneri, but a great fighter in his own right. George Dixon is another consideration. Gans really should be a bit higher. Some people would put Sandy Saddler around that level. Senya thinks McFarland should be higher although he hasn't yet produced a list as far as I can see. Currently I'd be persuaded to rate him about #15.
All great input, per usual. :hail McGovern, Saddler were men I considered. Wilde; I have actually lost some faith in. His traceable record just doesn't do it for me. You like McFarland at 15? I'm thinking about Gans at 14 above Canzoneri. How's that sound? With Leonard being pushed to 17?