The Top 100 Pound for Pound All-Time Greats

Leave me alone :|

 

I just honestly didn't think it was even in question.

 

Flea have I congratulated you yet on your recent writing success. Good job Khan!

 

1922-06-22 The Evening World (New York, NY) (page 22)
As Edgren Sees It
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Leonard-Tendler Bout Brings Back Memories of Packey McFarland and Other Old Timers.
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Lew Tendler's knockout of Bobby Barrett threw the calcium on what may easily have been the main reason for the Leonard-Tendler quarrel and the barring of Tendler for so long by Leonard. It's evident that Tendler is a mighty dangerous punches.

Bobby Barrett was and still is a great fighter, and one of the hardest hitters of his weight in the world. But Tendler outfought him and knocked him for a row of minutes instead of seconds.

The Leonard-Tendler meeting has been signed for and promised so many times that, personally, I'm not going to be entirely sure it's on until the men step into the ring.
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From Jack McAuliffe's time the lightweight limit has been 133 pounds, weighing in at the ringside. Lavigne, Erne, Gans and other great champions all made that weight. Erne went several pounds under it to fight McGovern, and Gans made 133 in trunks and shoes for Battling Nelson, whose natural fighting weight when champion was from 130 to 132 pounds, ringside. Wolgast was below 130 pounds. Ritchie made 133 pounds in his championship fights. Welsh weighed from 128 to 130 at his best. Benny Leonard made the 133-pound mark when he won the title, but usually fights at several pounds over that figure.

Boxing Commissions of late have been busy raising weight limits, and not only raising them but allowing added weight by holding the weighing in several hours before the contests. The "lightweight" of to-day would have been the welterweight of a few years ago. Tendler weighs 137½. Leonard will not be much less, ringside, when he meets Tendler, Kansas or any other rival for the lightweight title.
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Under the present "accepted" lightweight limit Packey McFarland would have been the greatest lightweight champion we've ever seen, not excepting Joe Gans or any other champ whose skill has become a ring tradition. Packey never got the lightweight championship simply because the champions he could whip easily dodged behind the weight question. It was hard for McFarland at his best to do better than 135 pounds ringside. Taking off two pounds more weakened him, although he did make 133 pounds ringside for Welsh in England, in a bout he won by miles, although he received no better than a "draw" decision.

McFarland was a much greater boxer than Leonard--which is going some. He was extremely aggressive. He didn't knock out many opponents, because he didn't want to. He often said he'd rather win by completely outboxing his man than by knocking him out. Yet, like Kilbane, he could hit if he cared to. McFarland's amazing speed and skill were best shown when he boxed Jack Britton in Madison Square Garden nine years ago. Britton was as clever as he is to-day, and faster and tougher. He had become famous through knocking out a lot of good fighters, and was generally expected to beat McFarland. In the ten rounds fought McFarland stayed close to Britton and laughingly punched, jabbed, slapped, pushed, turned and played with him the way a cat plays with a mouse. He held his face for Britton to hit, and then slapped Jack's glove aside and cuffed Jack across the mouth, one side and then the other, with each hand in turn. Deliberately using only the lightest punches, McFarland kept Britton on his heels, hit him a thousand time from every position, and kidded Jack into such a rage that for the only time in his life he swung wildly and hit nothing but the air.

(Copyright, 1922, by Robert Edgren.)

 

Thanks for posting this

 

At last I'm learning about Packey's prowess. Thanks Senya :good

 

I like Leonard but at a certain point you have to value depth. I don't really get the Leonard over Walker arguments. Leonard is in the 15-20 range and I'd never even consider him in a top 10 position. I think the 10-15 range is way too steep.

As for Walker over Pep, well that's another thing entirely.

Quickly glossing over the list I'm surprised Moore over Ross. Not that it's bad, it's just you rarely see that.

Louis above Duran, B Leonard, Walker, and Pep is probably my biggest qualm with the top of the list. I know McGrain loves him some Louis. But hey, everyone's got an opinion. For me, Pep had the same kind of dominance, and then some. Duran has the much higher quality opposition. Leonard has both the quality & consistency. And Walker, well Walker & Louis are tougher to split but I prefer Walker's multiple-weight achievements.

 

Commendations to McGrain for this herculean effort!

I just copied and pasted your list and after putting your choices of fighters reaching their prime before 1920 in gray font and your choices of fighters not ~5 years retired in pink font, I've found that we have about something like 83% commonality. (Ray Leonard, for instance, doesn't make my top 30; though I'm, well, relieved that he didn't make your top 10). The order varies a bit, and at times a lot, but that is to be expected. Interesting.

A great read that should be read often by boxing purists, and a lot of fun. I loved it.

After all of that radically-focused work, prepare for a week or two of feeling a great, stark emptiness in your life. Get up early and for a run or something! Haha

 

along with everyone have to offer a very hearty cheers as a fan of boxing for the effort of making this list...Good job.

 

Great for me to see there was a dispute over weigh-in's and weightclasses back then. Makes the nearly 11 stone lightweights we see today even more of a ludicrous travesty.

 

My triumph was Pep out of the top 10. Beautiful.

 

Feel pretty good about advocating for one of the fighters who got in (LaMotta) and feel better that another fighter (Fidel LaBarba) was given serious consideration for inclusion in a list that's about as good and well reasoned as any I've seen.

Wonderful work, everyone. :good

 

Feeling good I helped get berg in

Really happy Frazier made it

Also glad de la Hoya got moved down from the original tier he was put in

 

McGrain, you need to do an ebook and put it up on Amazon. Do it quickly, so you can have copyright.

Once that's done, you have plenty of time to try to think about doing a paper version with pics that any boxing fan would want as a Christmas present.

Well done, mate. Awesome stuff. We're all proud of you. Well done to everyone who helped Matt too. :good

 

I've told him this :twisted:

Even as it is, a little bit more fleshed out at the Amazon minimum royalties rate you'd sell a couple of thousand at LEAST and then make some serious rainy day money out of it.