Best five wins from the best contenders

Elmer Ray

1. Charles
2. Walcott
3. Savold
4. Walker
5 Haynes

Ray has a good top five, but his resume is full of no names too. Worthy of a title shot vs Louis. There is no film on him. Only a radio broadcast.

 

I agree that Terrell has more depth. I pick Williams over Savold, but Savold fought brutal competition without any record padding. Not true of Williams.

That #4 spot, though, will be where the rubber hits the road. Walker went 93-18-7 in 121 fights, with 63 KO's and was never stopped. His list of victims includes Bearcat Wright, Tony Galento, George Godfrey, Don McCorkindale, Maurice Strickland, Al Hart, Unknown Winston, and Elmer Ray. I view him as a toss up against Chuvalo. Both are tough men with spotty records.

I picked Chaney as the #5 guy for Ray as he was still going strong and would so go on a streak in which he beat Buddy Walker, Lee Oma, Henry Flakes, and Leonard Morrow. Haynes was a name from the past on a losing streak.

Overall, I think Ray might come up a trifle short with his top five, but he is a contender.

 

contender of the day

Joe Baksi

1----Tami Mauriello
2----Lee Savold
3----Lou Nova
4----Bruce Woodc-ck
5----Gus Dorazio

Others--Lou Brooks, Johnny Shkor, Buddy Walker, Buddy Knox, Gunnar Barlund, Freddie Schott, Freddie Mills, Bernie Reynolds. Mills was the light-heavy champion, but I don't see him as much of a heavy threat and so left him off the top five list.

Overall, Baksi was 61-9-3 with 30 KO's. He was stopped only once on cuts by Ezzard Charles. Baksi seems to me a 1940's version of George Chuvalo, about the same size, 6' 1" and 210+ and very durable, but vulnerable to being outboxed by such as Walcott and Oma. He strikes me off the film with Woodc-ck as being faster than Chuvalo and I think was a notch better. His top five and depth are decent but not outstanding.

Baksi apparently was penciled in for a shot at Louis in September, 1947 after KO'ing Woodc-ck, but for some reason elected to go to Sweden to fight Olle Tandberg and lost a decision few agreed with, including by the way Tandberg, who was honest enough to say to the press that he thought he lost. That cost Baksi his title shot. The subsequent loss to Charles in an elimination bout ended Baksi as a top contender.

Baksi also deserves dibs for beating one Jack Brazzo, who became Jack Palance and had a Hollywood career playing the heaviest heavies of them all, Attila the Hun, Dracula, and in Shane the most evil of all western gunfighters gunning down a hapless farmer.

A solid second-tier contender type. It would have been interesting to see if Louis could have stopped him. No doubt he would have outpointed Baksi if it went the distance.

 

Tommy Loughran

1) Jack Sharkey
2) Max Baer
3) Ernie Schaaf
4) Tuffy Griffiths
5) Johnny Risko

Jimmy Young

1) George Foreman
2) Ron Lyle
3) Jose Luis Garcia
4) John L. Gardner
5) Jeff Sims

Trying to nail these fighters down to their most relevant is sometimes no easy feat. As well as the fact that I'm trying to do this at heavyweight only, which is why I had to exclude Jimmy Braddock and Young Stribling from Loughran's because these were fought at light heavy. As for relevance, that #5 spot in Loughran's was owing to the fact that he caught Risko as Risko was coming off probably the best 5 wins of his career and he had done it consecutively. So there is always a method to my madness.

 

Tommy Loughran is extremely underrated HW contender. I'd go as far as say that he was close to Archie Moore in HW resume. These names are fantastic, even if some of them were not at their absolute bests.

 

Tommy Loughran

1----Max Baer
2----Jack Sharkey
3----Ernie Schaaf
4----Steve Hamas
5----Jim Braddock

others at heavyweight--Johnny Risko, Jack Gross, King Levinsky, Tuffy Griffiths, Vittorio Campolo, Paulino Uzcudun, Ray Impellitierre, Arturo Godoy, Al Ettore, Maurice Strickland, Jack London, Sonny Walker, Jack Renault, Pierre Charles,

others beaten at light-heavy but relevant at heavy--Harry Greb, Georges Carpentier, Young Stribling, Jimmy Slattery, Mickey Walker (plus Braddock), and a draw with Tunney.

Loughran has the most depth so far. I think one might be able to put together a second five which would have a good chance of making our top ten top five list. I think he is the only non-heavyweight champion to beat three lineal champions. Still there are points which can be made to provide balance. Elmer Ray, whom we just did, beat his two champions when they were peaking and at the top of their game. Baer was greenish and on a losing streak. Sharkey was coming off decisive losses to Carnera and Levinsky. Braddock was a light-heavy and would have a long drought before coming out of nowhere to become heavy champion. Loughran's best wins at heavy at the time he fought them might well be Schaaf and Hamas. Also, unlike Moore and Johnson, there is a lot of win one, lose one stuff. Sharkey, Schaaf, Hamas, Risko, Levinsky, Godoy, and Sonny Walker beat him, sometimes twice. Greb and Stribling won their series against him. And there are quite a few losses to guys he never beat like Poreda, Neusel, Farr, Foord, and Carnera.

 

Jimmy Young

1----George Foreman
2----Ron Lyle
3----John L Gardner
4----Jose Luis Garcia
5----Richard Dunn

Not making the cut--Jose Roman. On a long losing steak. Also has a draw with Shavers.

A great top name. A strong second name. And then more or less blah. As has been mentioned, a lot of his reputation rests on the disputed decision losses to Ali and Norton. Young getting the decisions in those fights would really have shot him high in all time heavyweight rankings. Overall, though, what an odd career. He was mediocre for quite a while, turned it around and for about three years was a peer of the very best, and then went back to being mediocre. Despite Foreman at the top, I can't see this top five as being one of the top ten ones.

*what an interesting pair of contenders for today

 

LOUGHRAN
1-Sharkey
2-Baer
3-Schaaf
4-Hamas
5=Braddock
nd great depth, as others have said at least 5 more good wins, Godoy, Stribling, Risko, Uzcuden, Walker et al.
Young;
!-Foreman
2-Lyle
3-Garcia
4-Rachette
5-Gardner

 

contender of the day

Willie Bean

1----Turkey Thompson
2----Pat Comiskey
3----Young Jack Johnson
4----Bill Gilliam
5----Rusty Payne

others--Ted Lowry, Bob Jacobs, Al Hoosman, Kid Rivera, Dave Whitlock, Frankie Daniels, Howard King, Bill Peterson, Dale Hall, Hank Thurman, Frank Buford

A gatekeeper, trial horse, type from the mid-1940's to the mid-1950's. Bean was physically imposing, 6' 2 1/2" and over 205 lbs and very well built. I have never seen him on film.

Overall, Bean had 41 wins, 22 losses, and 5 draws in 72 fights, with 22 KOs. He was stopped 5 times, and so was fairly durable.

Like a lot of these trial horse types, Bean failed consistently against the best men--Jimmy Bivins, Clarence Henry, John Holman, Rex Layne, Archie Moore, and a prime Turkey Thompson. His win over his biggest name victim, Thompson, came in 1952 when Thompson was at the end of the road. On the other hand, Bean was able to hold his own against second tier contenders and defeated at least ten men who were top ten ranked at one time or another.

An interesting trial horse who was always a good test for any up and comer.