I think I will sneak in and give my current top 20 while no one is paying attention. Tom Cribb and John L Sullivan would make my top 20 on a historical basis, but I am going to stick to the glove fighters since Corbett. 1--Ali 2--Louis 3--Marciano 4--Lewis 5--Holyfield 6--Holmes 7--Johnson 8--Frazier 9--Wlad Klitschko 10-Foreman 11-Tyson 12-Jeffries 13-Liston 14-Wills 15-Langford 16-Dempsey 17-Schmeling 18-Charles 19-Fitzsimmons 20-Bowe
This content is protected 1. Joe Louis 2. Jack Dempsey 3. Sonny Liston 4. Jack Johnson 5. George Forman 6. Lennox Lewis 7. Larry Holmes 8. Rocky Maricano 9. Joe Frazier I cannot do over top ten. I find it hard to care about ranking heavyweight that are not in the top ten. Also, I do not rank based on accomplishment. I rank on who I think can beat who. Since this is all the same weight, I fill that this makes my arguement relevant. If I did rank according the accomplishment. Jack Johnson would be first. His title defenses over the great black condenders that were being ducked and the official world title after his prime add up to over 11 years and over 20 something title defenses without a loss.
Daily True American Round # 1 Corbett 2 3 4 Jeffries 5 Even 6 near Even 7 Corbett 8 Corbett 9 Corbett 10 Corbett 11 12 Corbett 13 Jeffries 14 Even 15 Jeffries 16 Even 17 Even 18 Corbett 19 Jeffries 20 Jeffries 21 Jeffries 22 23 Corbett KO'd DTA didn't explicitly say Jeffries won round 22, but they preceeded that round with the header 'CORBETT WEAKENS' and notes that Corbett was clinching badly as the round closed. Eleventh round didn't explicitly state winner, but cited six punches landed by Corbett, two landed by Jeffries. Noted that even bets were being made. Round two, notes seven punches Corbett lands, five (maybe six) that Jeffries landed, one of which lifted Corbett off the ground. Corbett applauded at the end of round. Round three, notes six punches that Jeffries landed, two that Corbett landed. Figuring round 2 even, round 11 for Corbett, rounds 3 and 22 for Jeffries, that would make eight rounds apiece, with Corbett badly weakening when he was KO'd in the 23rd round. Very interesting! What's up here? How to square the rounds reporting here with opinions that Jeffries might have needed the KO? Were people getting a bit caught up with excitement for the smaller, older underdog who was exceeding expectations? This may merit it's own thread.
You have to put some of those loses in the context of the time. When he lost his title to Jess Willard he was 37 years old and his record at that point was 54-6. He had been the Colored champion from 1903-1908 having beaten Jeanette, Langford, and McVey and defending the title a combined 19 times before taking the World title and defending that title a total of 8 times until 1915. 27 title defenses against All-time great competiton over 12 years. After his loss to Williard and beat 17 straight guys and then lost at the age of 48 which his record was 71-6. Three of those loses were in the first two years of his career. This man was unstoppable until he was almost 50! More and more research I do on this man the more I am amazed by his professional career.
This is what I have been saying for years. Jeffries vs Corbett 1 was a close fight leading up to the KO. If you score round by round by the papers and use a 10 point must system scoring, Jeffries was tied or slightly in the lead. It figures a punk like McVey who " thinks " the scoring was one sided in Corbett's favor runs after he posts his own sources, which in fact clash with his thinking that Corbett was way out in front! This is the danger on relying on a few quotes from books. Your much better off on a detailed round by round report or flim.
1. Muhammad Ali 2. Joe Louis 3. Lennox Lewis 4. Larry Holmes 5. George Foreman 6. Wladimir Klitschko 7. Evander Holyfield 8. Joe Frazier 9. Rocky Marciano 10. Sonny Liston 11. Jack Johnson 12. Mike Tyson 13. Ezzard Charles 14. Max Schmeling 15. Riddick Bowe 16. Ken Norton 17. Floyd Patterson 18. Jack Dempsey 19. Jersey Joe Walcott 20. Chris Byrd
Larry has long since redeemed himself from that emotional outburst; a truly underrated fighter that refused to play the phony political charades of boxing and paid the price for it. He's also a lot smarter than people think.