1956 1 Tommy Jackson - W Baker, Mederos L Patterson (Pre rank) 2 Bob Baker -W Homan L Jackson 3 Eddie Machen - W Summerlin, Holmin, Mederos, Valdes & Others 4 Zora Foley - w Valdes, Bethea & others 5 Nino Valdes - W Friedrich & Others L Machen & Foley 6 Wayne Bethea - W Charles, Slade, Bygraves L Foley 7 Joe Bygraves - W Lave & others L Johanssen (pre rank) Bethea 8 Kitione Lave W Cockell, Johnson L Bygraves 9 Don Cockell L Lave 10 Harry Mathews W Breshears Charles Williams 11 Floyd Patterson W Jackson, Moore & Others 12 Jimmy Slade L Bethea 13 Harold Carter W Summerlin, Satterfield, Johnson L Summerlin 14 Satterfield W Summerlin & others L Carter 15 Johnny Summerlin W Johnson Carter L Satterfield Carter Machin 16 Young Jack Johnson W Sabedon, Wise L Summerin, Wise, Rischer, Carter 17 Ben Wise W Johnson L Johnson & Others 18 Roger Rischer W Johnson Powell L Foley & Others (pre rank) 19 Willie Pastrano W Norkus, Charles & others 20 Pat McMurtrie W Charles & Others L Pastrano 21 Ezzard Charles W L Bethea McMurtrie Mathews 22 Toxie Hall -No Fights Very interesting. Rocky Marciano retires, leaving Bob Baker to defend the number one ranking he earned by beating Valdes. Eddie Machen was on a huge run. Surely he was becoming a logical contender for the Rock at this stage? Folley was also starting a pretty decent run. Wayne bethea had a good run which was halted with a split decision loss to Foley. You would think Lave's win over Cockell was a nothing, but it ended up with Bethea, who lost a close fight to the highly rated Zora Folley. The Summerlin, Carter, Satterfield battle was closely fought with Carter coming out on top. This year seems to mark a real changing of the guard as new fighters flock into the top 20. Not only did Rocky retire, seemed to be finished by this point.
1957 1 Floyd Patterson - W Jackson Rademacheer 2 Machen - W Maxim, Baker, Romero, Jackson 3 Tommy Jackson - L Patterson Machen 4 Bob Baker -W Homan L Jackson 5 Zora Foley - w Romero, Bethea & others 6 Nino Valdes - W Holman, Erskine, Dyer 7 Harold Johnson - W Satterfield Bethea & others 8 Wayne Bethea - W Whitehurst, Dyer, Andrews L Foley Johnson 9 Henry Cooper - W Kalfalbh L Bygraves, Johanson Erskine 10 Hans Kalfalbh - W Neuhaus & Others L Cooper Moore (pre rank) 11 Neuhaus W London Friedrich Bygraves L Erskine 12 Joe Bygraves - W Lave & cooper L 13 Giacomo Bozzano - W Friedrich & others 14 Hans Friedrich - W Lave Basille L Nehaus, bozano 15 Kitione Lave W L London, Bygraves, Friedrich 16 Jimmy Slade W Luedee, Pitts 17 Harold Carter W Bob Baker 18 Mike De John W miteff & others D Welch 19 Alex Miteff - W Besmanoff, Mederos, Holman, Valdes & Others L Dejohn 20 Julio Mederos W Satterfield L Miteff & Others 21 Bert Whitehurst W Sawyer Satterfield L Bethea 22 Satterfield W Mederos & Others L Johnson Mederos Whitehurst 23 Johnny Summerlin No Fights 24 Young Jack Johnson W Sabedon, 25 Ben Wise W Ray L Satterfield 26 Archie Moore - W Rischeer & Others 27 Roger Rischer W Vargas L Moore 28 Roy Harris W Baker Pastrano Besmanoff & Others 29 Willie Pastrano W Holman, Welch, Besmanoff & Others L HArris 30 Pat McMurtrie W Vargas romero king Olson 31 Ezzard Charles No Fights Pretty amazing that for all the criticism of this system, Floyd Paterson instantly becomes the Lineal champion within a year. Harold Johnson with a big return to the top 10. German Champ Heinz Kalflbh sneaks into the top 10. This certainly was a golden era for the Germans. Not sure why they have never had as many good fighters before or since. It will be good to see where if anywhere he goes. I havent heard of him before. He was coming off a loss to Archie Moore this year. Henry Cooper threw the rankings a bit with an upset over Kalflbh after failing to beat other fringe top 10 opposition in the year. Giacomo Bozzano bburst into the top 15 with a 15 and 0 debut year. Pretty impressive though he didn’t manage to step up Honorable mention to Harry Mathews and Don Cockell who both bowed out in the top 15. Bert Whitehurst Might have just missed the top 20 with his win over Satterfield which was against the run of results, but it certainly wasn’t lack of trying that failed to get him in the top 20 He followed this small success with Harold Johnson, Archie Moore and Sonny Liston. IN fact, he ended up fighting Liston twice. Certainly no lock of courage. Archie Moore might be sitting a bit on his rating but he is still dealing with top 25 or so fighters quite easily. It is interesting that Roy Harris climbed into 28th spot and next year would get a title shot with Paterson. Paterson really does seem to have gone the easy route with his title defences so far. Bob Baker Couldn’t stay in the ratings. He lost to Basmanoff Harris and Machen. Besmanoff in particular was struggling himself with unranked guys. You would think that (with the benefit of hindsight) he would be cannon fodder for a young George Chuvalo, but he lifted and scored the win.
I think it’s a darn good system to be honest. Will be interesting to see where Sonny Liston crops up. I have a hunch 1960.
1958 1 Floyd Patterson - W Harris 2 Ingemar Johansen - W Erskine, Neuhaus, Machen 3 Machen - D Foley L Johansen 4 Tommy Jackson - W Vick 5 Nino Valdes - w Bethea, Dejohn, Summerlin, Carter, mcmurtrie 6 Mike Dejohn - W Besmanoff L Valdes 7 Henry Cooper - W Richardson Foley L Shoepner (pre rank) 8 Dick Richardson - W Friedriech Baker, cooper Sawyer L Williams (pre rank) Cooper 9 Alfredo Zuany - W Baker, Charles & Others 10 Bob Baker -W Thomas L De John, Richardson, Zuany 11 Zora Foley - wBygraves Rademacher, Swiden, Sawyer D Machen 12 Harold Johnson - W Whitehurst wilson King Watkins 13 Sonny Liston - Whitehurst, Mederos, bethea & Others 14 Wayne Bethea - W J Johnson L Valdes Liston 15 Erich Shoepner W Cooper 16 Westphal - Heidrich, Kalfalb Neuhaus & others 17 Hans Kalfalbh - W Freidrich Neuhaus Hecht & others 18 Neuhaus W Maxim Cooper D Neuhaus L Westphal Johansen 19 Brian London - W Erskine Pastrano L Pastrano 20 Willie Pastrano - W London Bygraves Cavicci Thompson L London 21 Joe Bygraves - W Armstrong L Pastrano Foley 22 Giacomo Bozzano - W Maxim, Cavicci & others Floyd Patterson continues his run of defending against nobodies with Roy Harris at 28 being the chosen challenger. Bob Baker creates one of those ripples that upsets the system so much by losing to three unranked fighters. I don’t know how long this will take to correct. Nino Valdes comes back into the top 5, in themiddle of his 6 fight win streak. Just to prove that the system isnt completely screwed, Henry cooper, who benefited from the 'blip' and jumped from 9th to 6th and then fought Zora Foley who was previously ranked 5th and usually considered more favourably today. Yet Cooper actually won the fight and kept the ratings true. Zuaney, is in interesting form. Coming off about a 15 fight win streak, he is about 25-1 and his last two wins were against Bob Baker and Ezzard Charles! Sonny Liston appears at no 13 and looks to be starting his run to the title. Erich Shoepner is a light heavy I know nothing about. He looks a touch luck to appear in the rankings, but has a really long win streak.
https://www.si.com/vault/1958/10/13/560230/our-wandering-heavies This makes for some interesting reading. Schoepner (or however you spell it) actually had a win over Henry Cooper but it was a DQ win where he was knocked out by an illegal blow! It is funny that George Chuvalo seems to be considered a bit of an underdog against the once ranked Pat McMurtrie. Mc Murtrie was once ranked under these rankings, though not all that highly from memory. Probably around the 20 or so. You would think Chuvalo would be a raging favourite yet he doesnt seem to be.
“It is interesting that Roy Harris climbed into 28th spot and next year would get a title shot with Paterson. Paterson really doesseem to have gone the easy route with his title defences so far”- boilermaker
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/cruiser-weights-slug-it-out/query/Eric And here is some footage of Schoepner in action! Schoppner was actually scheduled to fight Archie Moore for a title fight, being preferred by Archie to Harold Johnson who was not a draw because of his style. I am not sure why it didnt go ahead, i saw an article about Moore needing a delay to make the weight. here is an interesting article which talks of some of the fighters of the time, mostly moore. https://www.si.com/vault/1960/03/14/585148/overmatched-the-nba-concedes-to-archie Actually here, Archie says that he delayed the fight because he didnt want to go down in weight, because of Ingo had beaten Patterson, he would have got the title shot and he didnt want to tax his body with the weight loss. https://books.google.com.au/books?i...Q6AEIUjAM#v=onepage&q=schoppner moore&f=false
1959 1 Ingemar Johansen - W Johansson 2 Floyd Patterson - W London L Johansen 3 Machen - W J Johnson, McMurtry, Besmanoff & others 4 Tommy Jackson - W McTier Locgan king 5 Roy Harris - W Powell, Bygraves & Others 6 Mike Dejohn - L Liston, Besmanoff (pre rank) W Powell & Others 7 Powell W Valdes L Harris Dejohn 8 Tony Anthony W Ray Johnson L hunter, vargas (Pre rank) 9 Zora Foley - W Miteff, Besmanoff, King, Johnson & others 10 Billy Hunter - W Dixon, Baker, Miteff, Anthony L Johnson (pre rank) 11 Alex Miteff - W Carter Bethea A Johnson L Foley Hunter 12 Alonzo Johnson W Slade, Valdes, Pastrano & Others L Miteff, Anthony, Foley 13 Liston - W Dejohn, Williams Valdes 14 Nino Valdes - w Hodge L Powell Johnson Liston 15 Besmanoff W Williams Dejohn Marshall L Fleeman, Foley, (pre rank) Machen Liston 16 Henry Cooper - W London, de Clerk Erskine 17 Joe Erskine - W Pastrano Richardson Carabello L Cooper 18 Dick Richardson - W Whitehurst L Erskine de John 19 Alfredo Zuany - W Fleeman, Williams & others L Williams 20 Alvin Green - W Williams, Charles & others L Moore, Augustus (pre rank) Floyd Patterson loses the title after defending against 19 and then number 2. Ingemar caps a solid run with his win over Floyd Patterson. Tommy Jackson sitting on his rank but still well rated at this stage. Alvin Williams Snuck into the top 20 with a win over Alfredo Zuaney but then went on to go on a 10 fight losing streak. Including a rematch to Zuaney and a loss to 15th rated Besmanoff. His 20th ranked spot was taken by Alvin Green. Interestingly, Alvin Green held onto the rank, but not before he had to stave off the challenge from none other than former world champion Ezzard Charles.
No because When Liston beat De John, DeJohn was not ranked so highly. De John had to beat a higher ranked opponent to climb back over Sonny.
