Starting to get more interested in him. Didn’t Nat Fleischer have him in one of his earlier top heavyweight lists ? Looks like he fought a lot of the top named at the time
O'Brien was the greatest of the early light heavyweight era, although I thought he looked pretty bad against Tommy Burns. Apparently he almost beat Jack Johnson during his championship reign, but got a draw instead.
I ranked him at #6 in the 1910's in Rummy's thread. During that decade alone he went 116-11-12. He was 65-1-4 and 98-3-7 for the decade, before his results started to drop off. He beat: Past prime Bob Fitzsimmons (1-1), Tommy Burns 6R NWS (1-1-1), Marvin Hart 6R NWS (1-1), Joe Choyinski x 2 6R PTS, Peter Maher x 2 6R NWS, Jack Bonner x 4 (3 of which were 6R NWS), Hugo Kelly x 2 6R (2-1-1), Tommy West 6R NWS, the much bigger Jim Jeffords x 5 (inc. 3 x 6NWS), Jack Twin Sullivan (3-0-1), Dido Plumb, Charlie McKeever x 5 (inc. 3 x 6R NWS + 1 DQ), Barbados Joe Walcott 6NWS (1-0-1), Mike Schreck x 2, Young Peter Jackson (3-1) inc. 1 DQ, Billy Stift x 2 and the 14.5lbs lighter Jack Blackburn 6NWS. This is an astounding win resume. Where you rank him to a large degree depends on how much value you assign to 6-round newspaper wins. I, like almost everyone else, had Joe Gans number 1 for the 1910's. If we just look at the above names only, it's arguably a better resume than even Gans, but I valued the 6R wins to a sufficiently lower degree that he ended up down at #6 for the decade, which is still very credible.
The Johnson fight was a 6 rds no dec ,knowing O Brien could only win by a ko Johnson did not train for the fight.
Fleischer ranked him the number 1 Lhvy. I don't believe he ever defended his title. I dont rank him highly.
He has a pretty incredible resume. He looks bad in that Burns fight - lucky to get a draw. But to be fair sometimes when facing a hyper aggressive shorter fighter like Burns it can make for a clinch fest stinker.
He invented the Philadelphia shell. Which was a pastry. Inspired by Philly Leotardo. Who created the Philly Shell boxing guard. But lost the patent rights to Floyd... Patterson. Who did not use that guard and maybe should have. Against Liston.
This is a myth. He was really from Jersey, but developed such a fondness for cheesesteak that he spent most of his afternoons at lunch counters in Philly and thus got a key to the city as an honorary citizen and the nickname was coined. Non-Pareil Boston Tom McMustache, the one from Barbados by way of New Orleans ,was his twin brother.
