Top ten Heavyweight champs based upon dominance of era

Pollacks book is an amazing historical effort. He literally examined thousands of primary sources to come to his conclusions.

One point that has not been mentioned was that in many places it was unlawful to have a real prizefight (such as NY) so the bouts had to be advertised as exhibitions. Those in attendance at the exhibition however knew in fact it was a real fight.

Another interesting point Pollack makes that I was unaware of is onlyTHREE of Sullivan's recorded bouts were bare knuckle. Sullivan preferred fighting WITH gloves.

As with many past fighters all the details well known in the day are forgotten or distorted over the course if so many years. White becomes black. Greatness becomes something much less.

 

That's been covered extensively in other books, as well.

Did Pollack also mention that Sullivan looked like a dumpy lesbian from behind?

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7244/14035829911_e077859733_c.jpg

Was he related to the Kardashians? Jesus. atsch

I've got to go. Have a wonderful weekend.

Nice debating you all.

No hard feelings.

 

Is date pudding a real thing?

 

I am not debating this, just asking a question,

but how can we be certain this is Sullivan? Where exactly did these pictures come from and when? 19th century pictures of everyone from Lincoln to Billy the Kid seem to arouse disputes about their authenticity. I have seen poses from the likes of Sandow and Jeffries, but in those photos they show the man's face in profile when shooting from behind.

Like I said, I have no idea, and am just asking, but certainly someone hawking photos could probably have gotten more and better sales by claiming they are of John L. Sullivan than just any old Joe Average.

 

Noone really knows how many defences Sullivan had.

But I can conclusively point to atleast 28 fights where, had he lost, the victor would have claimed the HW championship. Now it might not be a title defence by modern standards but his claim as HW champion was on the line many times, the exact number is unknown and, has been pointed out, the number of quality opposition is unflattering as far as we know.

In other weight classes a man could avoid a title fight by insisting on No Decision fights or insisting on a catchweight. Heavyweight fighters have no such luxury and as far as I'm aware, every single fight against the reigning HW champ is technically a defence, even today that is true.

I'm not bolstering Sullivan's standing here, everyone knows he was incredibly dominant and I personally don't feel his prime overlapped with Jackson's at all. On a basis of dominance as a champion, you could easily rank him number 1.

 

I hope I'm not considered the grandpa in this scenario, since I was arguing with someone who couldn't imagine how anyone could possibly keep track of the number of John L. Sullivan's title defenses pre-internet.:roll::!:

Yes, prior to the internet, no one had any idea who was fighting who and where for centuries.

And, yes, there were things like pencils and paper, pens, typewriters, ink, printing presses, newspapers, shipping and distribution, libraries, microfiche, film, video, movie houses, projectors, vhs recorders, dvd recorders ... pre-internet

But nobody knew how to work them.

Thank God for the internet.

 

So we've gone from 33 title defenses to 28 title defenses? Interesting.

Who were the 28 ... by name?

Just curious. John L. Sullivan fought pre-internet, so it's kind of confusing.:huh

 

John L Sullivan actually fought post internet. Merely pre television.

 

It is interesting, I'm confused as to how I missed out on a further 5 defences.

Even though he fought pre Internet we have boxrec which is a website that records every boxers record, it's quite useful at ones like this.

 

You said there were 28 men who would have been named heavyweight champion if they beat John L. Sullivan in their meeting.

Who are they?

The greatest achievement in heavyweight history - 33 successful title defenses ... or now 28 successful defenses - but nobody is willing to name the actual fighters he defeated.

Let's see the list of names. Who were they?

We know who Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Ali, Holmes, etc., defeated in title defenses.

Someone touting them should provide this record-shattering list of names who John L. Sullivan defeated in World Heavyweight Championship title defenses. Who were they?

I want to celebrate them.