Jim Corbett vs Jack Sharkey

He may have been ahead of the pack in the 1890s (which doesn't really mean that much) - but in Sharkey's time, he would have been nothing.

 

Maybe a Charley Weinert? Or a Bartley Madden?

 

Maybe a Charley Weinert? Or a Bartley Madden?

A green Jack Johnson showed him up when he was his sparring partner. If Corbett was as skilled as they say, how come a face first brawler like Sharkey ran over him? Skilled for his time yes ,when boxing was in its rudimentary stages ,in Sharkey's time he would be pretty underwhelming..
Big fish little pond.

 

More Weinert, Madden was a basic fighter/plodder with prodigious punch resistents and ok power.

 

This is a tricky one.

While Sharkey was active, and shortly after he retired, most people would have sad that eh was not in Corbett's class.

Looking back from where I sit now, Sharkey seems to have a prohibitive advantage in depth of opposition.

 

You talk like you were around at the time.

 

It is more that I talk like I wasn't around at the time.

It is possible that we are greatly undervaluing some of Corbett's wins!

If people back then rated Corbett more highly than we do now, it is important to ask why?

 

Yes Weinert was a good boxer.

 

As a youngester he boxed exhibitions with Mike Cleary, Jack Burke, Professor Miller and Jack Dempsey, and on the whole appears to have done well. Add in the Kilrain and McCaffrey fights and he certainly was a pomising fighter. The problem was after he won the title he didn't want to defend it, forget the Mitchell fight, it was nothing. He avoided Jackson, Maher and especially Fitz as long as he could. He redeemed himself somewhat with his Jeffries fights, hard to know what to make of the McCoy and Sharkey fights, as McVey said, he just wasn't active enough to get a handle on him.

 

Maybe Jeffries wasnt quite as good as some thought? Should a guy 4 inches shorter and 30lbs lighter give you life and death twice?

 

You put it well Matt.

 

This is exactly what is going through my mind right now, but I still wonder if we are missing something.

Perhaps Killrain really was the monster that some people said he was, or McCaffrey was more than we understand today?