Fantastic nation at boxing for their small population and size. & Paddy Donovan is the future for Irish boxing, Donovan is an excellent talent.
1 Jimmy McLarnin 2 Katie Taylor 3 Nonpareil Jack Dempsey 4 Steve Collins 5 Barry Mcguigan 6 Carl Frampton 7 Rinty Monaghan 8 Wayne Mccullough 9 Dave Mcauley 10 Ryan Burnett
George Gardiner is another little known Irish great.. in a time when many white fighters drew the color line and would not fight a black man Gardiner fought anyone black or white .. ATG Bob fitzsimmons, ATG Jack Johnson, Marvin Hart who beat Jack Johnson, Barbados Joe Walcott colored WW champion, Jim Flynn who KOd Dempsey, Bob Armstrong colored world HW champion, Frank Craig colored MW champion, George Byers colored world HW & MW champion , Charles C Smith first colored world HW champion, Jack Root first LHW champion, Peter Maher HW champion.. all over 3 divisions.. MW, LHW & HW.. he was the first undisputed World LHW champion & held claims to both the World MW title as well as the HW title. His career is well worth a deeper dive.. I mean no offense using the term coloured btw.. in historical context that is the label attributed to those times & champions.
Not the greatest in terms of skill or accomplishments, but the greatest in terms of awesomeness goes to Sailor Tom Sharkey.
It's funny because I think we should be doing a lot better in the pros, the amount of young lads we have had that where European and World Junior Champs in the amatuers that retired before 21 and also we have had a few Olympic medalists that didn't turn over or died young like Kenny Egan and Darren Sutherland. If we had a big Irish promoter who put in regular shows with an Irish tv contract we would have way more pro Champs.