Yes, I too would put my money on the Jurassic beasts! Tougher era, producing a tougher breed of animals... who, I believe, would also hold a significant stylistic advantage over their modern counterparts.
Couple of points: Herb Goldman, despite his reputation was hardly a reputable historian. The guy threw so much bull**** up into the air during his time with Ring that he essentially killed the record book. He created title lineages that never existed prior to his imagination. Hes one of the last guys I would look to as support for my argument. Second: Just because the NYSAC decreed in 1912 that there was a LHW division didnt suddenly legitimize it over night. At that point the NYSAC was nowhere near the power house it would become a decade later and continue being for decades more. Go back and research Jack Dillon, Battling Levinsky, Bob Moha and the confusion or outright ignoring of their championship pretensions for the better part of the 1910s and you will see that the title was next to meaningless until the Walker law took effect (late 1920), Battling Levinsky sold his championship to Carpentier (the following month), and the NBA was formed to counteract the emerging influence of the NYSAC (January 1921). With the need to give Carpentier some legitimacy as a challenger for Dempsey the LHW title got tons of press that it had never received before and from that point on a clear cut lineage was established. During the era of Levinsky (who didnt take the championship very seriously either) you had dozens of claimants and dozens of fights promoted as LHW championships that had no clear lineage attached to them. Finally, the title is meaningless to me at this point in history. The bottom line is that Bob Fitzsimmons, being a smaller fighter beat the best middleweights, LHWs, and HWs. Thats pound for pound in any sense of the word. He also weighed, in his prime, about 154 or so. Nevermind that the guys he was beating were better than Lalonde whose ONLY claim to fame was getting knocked out by Leonard in a synthetic title fight designed to give Leonard a chance at taking two title at once (one of which was essentially created just for this task). As far as Im concerned when Fitz beat him Gardner was a better fighter than LaLonde... and he didnt where a mullet either which automatically places him several rungs higher than LaLonde on my respect ladder.
You do know that Adam Pollack has read all the sources regarding this bout already? He is a more esteemed historian than Goldman ever was. But of course, something The Ring published 60 years later without a source is more valid than reports from the time.
Take the title out of the equation. Gardner was the best around that weight at that time. Therefore, Fitz was the best at middleweight, the best at heavyweight, and the best at a weight that would become known for housing very good fighters. There were some quality fighters of that size at that time and Fitz was the best. Ain't you the guy who thinks Gilroy was 'World class'?
I repeat, it wasn't directed at you in particular. Just to show it here're a few other more or less recent books that I have the same complaint as about your book: Muscle and Mayhem. The Saginaw Kid and the Fistic World of the 1890s - by Lauren D. Chouinard (I helped him somewhat with what reports I had retyped for my scrap-book on Kid Lavigne's early years, using Saginaw Evening News and a couple other Michigan newspapers). The only thing I can do is to fight. The real story of the biggest little man who ever lived. Chicago's world champion Jimmy Barry - by Mark T. Dunn (we never communicated, even though I think I had sent Tracy Callis my version of Barry's early record several years ago, and I mentioned that I had compiled one at boxrec forum a while ago; my version contains more early Barry's bouts than what is included in this book, besides, I think a couple of dates are listed incorrectly). The longest fight. In the ring with Joe Gans, boxing's first African American champion - by William Gildea (never communicated with him, even though my version of Joe Gans' record has been online at boxrec and CBZ for several years). Joe Gans. A biography of the first African American world boxing champion - by Colleen Ayc ock and Mark Scott (only communicated via e-mail and on this forum after their book had been published). Willie Pep vs. Sandy Saddler. Notes on the boxing legends and epic rivalry - by Doug Werner (never communicated; describing Pep-Saddler series of fights using only NY Times as a primary source, really???) Then there's a million of examples of the same problem at boxrec site, which is filled with "Newspaper decision from Chicago Tribune, Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, etc." Another tendency is to list "Newspaper decision from local newspapers researched by Jack Kincaid", I just hated that one while I was an editor and still hate it now. What newspapers exactly? Which of them voted for whom? Then there's the IBRO journal (I don't have them, but I'm able to see the table of contents for many of them at boxrec wiki), filled with articles from NY Times. When I asked why that was so, why few if any other newspapers were used, I was replied with a suggestion to join IBRO and send whatever other newspapers I wanted. So, let's make it clear. I'm pretty sure your book has been wonderfully researched, based on the number of sources you used, but the approach of picking some of these sources I don't fully agree with or like.
One comment and a question on this issue of primary sources. While I strongly agree that it is important to obtain the microfilm of the local newspaper coverage of fights whenever possible, I believe there is also value in obtaining and reviewing coverage of the fights on the part of other reporters from out of town newspaper who covered the fight to obtain other prespectives as well. It was always my impression that any report accompained with a byline and an '(AP),' '(UP),' or '(INS)' was likely written by an individual who attended the fight. Does anyone here know one way or another if that is true? I sent an inquiry yesterday to the AP concerning this issue and received the following response from AP's Global Sports editor Michael Giarrusso: "Almost all of those stories were written by reporters who worked for The Associated Press. If the story has a byline and an (AP) on it, then the writer was there working for the AP. We cover almost all the important boxing matches wround the world, and continue to do so today. In fact, I just paid for a ticket for our Las Vegas reporter Tim Dahlberg to go to Macau for the Pacquiao-Algieri fight next month."