I will take a quick swing at this: 01. Jack Dempsey 02. Jack Johnson 03. James J. Jeffries 04. John L. Sullivan 05. Sam Langford 06. Bob Fitzsimmons 07. Tommy Burns 08. Peter Jackson 09. James J. Corbett 10. Marvin Hart I could be persuaded to include Tom Sharkey somewhere in there.
Agreed, I would drop out Hart in favor of Wills & possibly drop out Burns &/or Corbett in favor of Jeannette &/or McVay.
Very good list. throw mine up here... 1. Jack Dempsey 02. Jack Johnson 03. Harry Wills 04. James J. Jeffries 05. Sam Langford 06. John L. Sullivan 07. Bob Fitzsimmons 08. Sam McVea 09. Peter Jackson 10. Jess Willard 11. Joe Goddard
Jack Johnson Sam Langford Jack Dempsey James J Jeffries Harry Wills Bon Fitzsimmons Sam McVea James J Corbett John L Sullivan Peter Jackson
No particular order; Jack Johnson Sam Langford Jack Dempsey James J Jeffries Harry Wills Bon Fitzsimmons Sam McVea Joe Jeanette Peter Jackson
It's a bit clichéd, but there's an argument for Jeffries to be higher or even at the top if you apply a 45 round rule-set. Even though their careers nearly overlapped, it feels that Jeffries and Dempsey were from completely different eras, and boxing changed dramatically during that period.
Another good list! McVea and Goddard are worthy. There sure was some good talent pre 1920! It is very hard to limit the list to 10!
Hmmm I'm going to put this in chronological order to spare myself the trouble of ranking them Peter Jackson Fitzsimmons Goddard Jeffries Tommy Burns Jack Johnson Langford Fulton Miske Dempsey I've said I don't think Jeffries and co beat any top guys from the 1910s and this list is kind of a contradiction in that regard but just picking like 5 top 1910s guys to take the 19th century guys spots would be arbitrary. So this isn't purely a H2H list in that sense. I also associate Willis with the 20s even more than Dempsey or I'd have picked him. Fulton should be on most peoples lists tbh. He'd wreck my entire list except Dempsey and Miske.
