The battle of the Lee's !!!!!! These guys were around fairly close to the same time frame to where there is some overlap, though I don't think a lot of their primes ran together. Who wins the battle of the Lee's? Who was the best Lee ever?
Good question! Ramage was a truly exceptional boxer, basically the only person who dominated Louis on the cards before the Charles fight. He never really got to the top of the division, for a number of reasons. Murray is a bit like George Godfrey and Cleveland Williams. He is a guy that contemporaries absolutely raved about, but the record doesn’t quite prove the rhetoric. Savold actually had a title claim at one point, and he was consistently very good, but he was never really seen as outstanding. Oma was a top contender. He almost got the title shot over Jersey Joe Walcott. All of them could be best, depending what criteria you chose!
Lee Q. Murray. He was a good boxer with a powerful punch. Plus he could switch-hit ala Hagler and Bramble. His record against his fellow contenders is impressive too. Wins over Jimmy Bivins, Curtis Sheppard, Harry Bobo, Turkey Thompson, etc.
Joe Louis said he was the best 'boxer' he ever fought in terms of boxing skills/boxing ability/boxing and moving etc - better than Billy Conn/Wally/Charles etc which is high praise if you rate them as highly as I do
I saw Lee Oma several times at MSG against, Top heavyweights ,and you are correct, Oma had the strangest style I ever saw. He would have his hands at his side while strolling sideways [ala Jersey Joe Walcott], then lash out at his opponents effectively....When in shape [rarely], he was hard to fathom and beat but it was said his training consisted of walking from one end of the bar to the other end...He could be seen today in the old movie, On The Waterfront, playing [what else], a bartender...
He totaly schooled Louis twice, and Louis's power bailed him out both times. Nobody else realy did that!