How Good was Gunboat Smith?

A narrow argument, as he lost to GunBoat Smith via stoppage. Flynn was Ko'd 10 times before facing Johnson again, and Johnson trashed him in the first fight.

 

I'll agree with you. The problem is yours. So far have added nothing in this thread about Smith.

 

TKO'd in a sparring session,kudos to him for getting that in!

 

Flynn got his title shot because Johnson was guaranteed $30,000 to defend against him, he actually cleared $31,500.
Flynn hadn't lost in his last 11 fights and had scored ko's in 9 of them among those he had beaten were;
Kaufman
Morris
Battling Johnson x3
Bill Squires
Langford
After losing to Johnson the first time, Flynn was stopped 3 times before he met Johnson again, twice by Langford and once by Kaufman.

 

I do not personally class Smith as a white hope, because he was not a product of the white hope campaign.

He was a fighter of the period who just happened to be white.

He was pretty darn good.

He beat Sam Langford, at a point where Langford was an absolute standout, among the contenders.

He also made a pretty clean sweep of the white hopes, including a young Jess Willard, before he lost to Carpintier.

In the two year period before that, he beat 21 opponents including:

McMahon
Moran
Wells
Rodel
Willard
Flynn
Morris
Ross
Langford
Pelkey

In the end he failed to seize the moment.

He was waiting for Jack Johnson to get old, and Jess Willard took the opportunity when he was given it.

 

I'd pick him to brutally take out AJ

 

Gunboat Smith stops both K2 brothers and AJ 10/10. FACTS!!!!!​

 

The Flynn-Smith fight is irrelevant to this discussion, it happened after the Johnson title fight with Flynn. Flynn had the good run mentioned above plus a win over Langford. Smith had a similar run in 1913/14 until Carp beat him and then Battling Kevinsky boxed his ears off in October 1914. To answer the original question Smith was a big puncher, average boxer, slow but for about a year or so was probably in the top 5 in the world.

 

There's some decent reading (some of the usual shyte too) in this older thread for you too mate.

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/how-good-was-gunboat-smith.283488/

 

He was billed as the White Heavyweight Champion

Smith fought Arthur Pelkey for the White Heavyweight Championship ,won it and lost it to Georges Carpentier,I can't see how he wasn't a "White Hope"?

 

Geyer was a sparring partner for both Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey,I don't know if he ever tko'd either of them in sparring.
He was also Tom Mix's bodyguard.

 

My definition of a "white hope", would be a fighter who was a product of the white hope campaign.

So Carl Morris would be classes as a white hope, but not Fireman Flynn.

 

Well I've read 4 books on the era,and in all of them Smith figures prominently as a White Hope. He was referred to in contemporary newspapers as such,took part in a white heavyweight contest billed as for the White heavyweight Championship ,and was billed as the White Heavyweight Champion .I don't know what more needs to be said for him to qualify as a White Hope! The White Hope era is defined as beginning in1908 and ending in1915,thus both Smith and Flynn are accepted universally as White Hopes.
Using your stricter definition,neither of them ,nor Al Kaufman,Tony Ross, or Sandy Ferguson ,since they began boxing before 1908 would qualify.