Best five wins from the best contenders

Context is one of the things to consider. Cooney obviously beat up over the hill top men and second stringers. That is not true, though, of some of the other contenders, such as Satterfield, or Harold Johnson. Some contenders come out looking good and some are exposed as pretty much ?? as to their real ability. In Cooney's case, for example, how can Norton, Young, and Lyle be left off when they are his name wins. If they don't amount to much due to how far they had slipped, it defines Cooney's legacy.

 

Lee Savold

1----Joe Baksi
2----Lou Nova
3----Bruce Woodcock
4----Lem Franklin
5----Nate Bolden

Others--Ford Smith, Tom Kenneally, Maurice Strickland, Arne Anderson, Bob Nestall, Solly Krieger, Lou Brooks, Buddy Knox, Tony Musto, Bill Poland, Johnny Flynn, Eddie Blunt, Gus Dorazio, Kid Riviera, Bob Garner, Buddy Walker, Eddie Simms, Erv Sarlin

Savold is an interesting contender for longevity and fighting them all. Everyone of the above names was a rated fighter either by The Ring or the NBA at some point. I totaled 23, which is better than most champions could do. Savold was fighting and sometimes defeating rated fighters from 1936 to 1950 and was consistently rated himself from 1939 into 1951.

On the other hand, it is a Bob Baker style record. Lots of second-tier names, some close to first-tier names past their best, but failure against the top men. Savold came up short against Buddy Baer, Conn, Bivins, Ray, Louis, and Marciano, and lost 2 of 3 to Baksi. There were plenty of other defeats to second tier guys.

His top five is ordinary, certainly not a contender for our top ten, but one could easily slip in several others.

*off the issue, a bit, but boxrec has found all kinds of early fights which no one knew about from the early thirties, but checking the few that are commented on, they accept a fighter (or fighters) named Savoldi as being Lee Savold. I wonder. It seems unlikely Savold would try to pass himself off as Italian and Savoldi is not an unusual Italian name.

 

Mike Weaver

1) John Tate
2) Gerrie Coetzee
3) Carl Williams
4) Quick Tillis
5) Scott Ledoux

Never a big fan of Ledoux, but he was coming off arguably his 2 greatest fights against Ken Norton and Ron Lyle only to be soundly outpointed by Weaver. I just couldn't leave a solid win like that off.

Lee Savold

1) Lou Nova
2) Joe Baksi
3) Lem Franklin
4) Bruce Woodkock
5) Tony Musto

 

Mike Weaver

1----John Tate
2----Gerrie Coetzee
3----Carl Williams
4----Bernardo Mercado
5----James Tillis

 

Young Stribling

1----Johnny Risko
2----Tuffy Griffiths
3----Don McCorkindale
4----Phil Scott
5----Otto von Porat

others--Primo Carnera. Can't see putting a foul victory which seems generally to be believed to have been a fix on this list.

Actually, a rather unimpressive heavyweight career. He beat scads of set-ups and nobodies and a few second tier contenders, but lost to Sharkey, Schmeling, and Schaaf decisively. Critics charged he didn't try to win against top opposition, but only fought to last, with frequent clinching. Hence his nickname of "Willie the Clutch."

Stribling was a better light-heavyweight and came close to being champion, but the weights show that these were far from heavyweights at the time.

McTigue--162 lbs. Slattery--160, 164 lbs. Berlenbach--168 lbs. Loughran--168, 170 lbs. Rosenbloom 171 lbs. Rosenbloom did weigh 178 for the second Stribling fight so I suppose could be put down as a heavyweight win, but I passed on him. I don't know Levinsky's weight, but he was a light-heavy also, and washed up anyway.

Stribling was accused of touring the South and sending sparring partners and even his valet ahead to preen as Yankees and badmouth the locals so when Willie arrived plenty of folks showed up to see this son of the South put the arrogant northerners in their place. The whole thing was closer to pro wrestling than legit boxing.

A spectacular stat record with tons of set-ups and possible fixes. A decent contender, at least at light-heavy, but probably the most overrated heavyweight we have dealt with.

 

Michael Dokes

1----Mike Weaver
2----Randy Cobb
3----Ossie Ocasio
4----Jimmy Young
5----John L Gardner

A good stat record, but I am underwhelmed. Young was past it, the rest erratic or second-tier. I would be very interested in those who know more about this era commenting on Dokes.

 

Stribling's record does cause some varying views on all our parts. He was a bit of a barnstormer and really didn't have the real heavy names. I too excluded Carnera due to the result and the controversy around it and I excluded Loughran as they were still 175 lbers at the time. I did include Rosenbloom since, although light heavy champ, he had invaded the heavies. And of course, taking onto consideration how they were rated at the time. Anyways, here is how I had it:

Young Stribling

1) Maxie Rosenbloom
2) Tuffy Griffith
3) Johnny Risko
4) Otto Von Porat
5) Phil Scott

Michael Dokes

1) Mike Weaver
2) Jimmy Young
3) Ossie Ocasio
4) Randy Cobb
5) John L. Gardner