Link the boxers

The first flyweight champion ever, Sid Smith, fought Jimmy Wilde, who fought Pancho Villa, who fought Jimmy McLarnin, who fought Lou Ambers, who fought Henry Armstrong, who fought Sugar Ray Robinson, who fought Joey Maxim, who fought Floyd Patterson, who fought Muhammad Ali, who fought Larry Holmes, who fought Ray Mercer, who fought Wladimir Klitschko, who fought the current heavyweight world champion, Tyson Fury.

 

Also the first heavyweight champion ever, John L. Sullivan, fought Jim J. Corbett, who fought James J. Jeffries, who fought Jack Johnson, who fought Jess Willard, who fought Jack Dempsey, who fought George Carpentier, who fought Tommy Loughran, who fought Max Baer, who fought Joe Louis, who fought Rocky Marciano, who fought Archie Moore, who fought Muhammad Ali, who fought George Foreman, who fought Evander Holyfield, who fought Hasim Raham, who fought Wladimir Klitschko, who fought the current heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury.

 

Who fought Steve Cunningham, who fought Guillermo Jones, who fought David Noel, who fought Bobby Joe Young, who fought Aaron Pryor, who fought Alexis Arguello, who fought Ruben Olivares, who fought Efren Torres, who fought flyweight champion Horacio Accavallo.

 

What is the shortest link that can be made between a flyweight champion and a heavyweight champion?

 

Manny Pacquiao, who fought Oscar Dela Hoya, who fought Hopkins, who fought Roy Jones, who fought John Ruiz.
Three fighters was the shortest i could.

 

Well i forget that Jones was actually a heavyweight champion, so that makes only two fighters between the two, Dela Hoya and Hopkins.

 

Yes he was, actually... and I don't think a shorter link between a flyweight and heavyweight champ can be found :good

 

I don't think this is supposed to be the shortest link between Sullivan and Fury, as it obviously contains far too many names for that... but it would be interesting to see, who can make the connection using the fewest names.

 

jls - corbett - fitz - jj - wright - baer - ****ell - marshall - moore - ali - same as above

 

??

 

You could trim this by replacing Carpentier, Loughran and Baer with Jack Sharkey.

 

c o c k e l l

i could have put rocky for marshall, not sure why i didn't but it's the same.

 

Yes, I'm aware who ****ell is... i was questioning the baer-****ell connection.

 

my bad, twice.

checked boxrec, tommy farr not don co ckell.

 

Yeah, I kind of figured, you probably were thinking of Farr!