All time at welterweight and P4P? Fleischer thought very highly of him, ranking him #3 at welter, tho I don't know in which year. That he was stopped only once in 344 fights is amazing, especially considering the level of opponents he fought and that he campaigned into his mid-40's. Leonard, White, McFarland and a 20 bout series with Lewis. The Britton McFarland matches would be in my Top 5 time travel must see bouts. Thoughts?
Arguably one of the top 3 of all time in a glamour division and hardly a peep of mention on this board. And not some swing for the fences slugger but a finesse type... a (gasp) modern fighter from the Stone Age. Klompton, McVey... anybody have more thoughts on him?
Thanks for your input... However, if he is Top 2 in possibly the deepest division in the sport's history, how does he only make top 20 all time P4P?
I rate Lewis quite highly and Briton seems to have gotten the better of him. Britton being on the verge of losing to Leonard gives me pause though. Of course we have to take into account Britton was then about35. Didn't Britton have around 300 fights and was only stopped once? Great defence? I find it very hard to get a definitive line on so many of these guys who fought lots of No Dec bouts. .I read Leonard fouling out in that fight was the basis for Hemingway's "Fifty Grand" novel. Klompton probably has a lot more background to add if he is so inclined.
I have local reports for all Lewis-Britton bouts, except the 1917 one held in Toronto, but I'm not ready to provide any details from memory, would need to look them up when I have time.
Not sure where the story got started that Leonard was on the verge of beating Britton. Probably Fleischer or Dan Daniel. Most reports say that Britton was on his way to winning. One speculated that Leonard fouled out because he didn't want the stain of a loss on his record. One report had Leonard losing every round to Britton.
I guess it could be because of the odd ending but reports are muddled about exactly what was going on there. Nobody who witnessed it seemed to have a clear indication or view. Leonard threw a bodyshot and Britton went down claim a foul. Patsy Haley seemed to consider the punch fair and in the middle of it all Leonard punched Britton, and got DQd. Some have tried to say there may have been a fix but this doesn't really make sense. If Leonard was intent on losing he could have just continued to get outboxed like he had most of the fight. Instead, the 12th round was his best round of the fight. If Britton was going to take a dive and Leonard just double crossed him by fouling out, why did Britton go about outboxing Leonard most of the fight? Why not just get outboxed and make it convincing? I think Leonard knew he was behind and saw blood when he dropped Britton. He rushed Britton when he was down and screwed up.
No, thats what happened but it was a little more muddled than that. After boxing Leonards ears off Britton was dropped and appeared to be claiming a foul. Britton later denied he was claiming a foul but almost every report agrees he was. Haley later said he saw no foul and wouldnt have allowed one, anyway, in the midst of the confusion Leonard hit Britton with a light punch and was DQd. It was a weird situation and I dont think its clear that Leonard was on his way to winning by KO and certainly not on points. It seems to me confusion on all sides was the winner that day and the entire situation was clear as mud.
Okay thanks for that ,it seems Seamus' thread has served its purpose in educating some of us[me], about Jack.
