The 1880's!

I think Harding was a stooge for Richard Fox. I have seen his name bandied around a lot of fights at this time. Strange to rate Fryer that high as the Kilrain fight had not occurred at that point.

 

Revised end of year ratings for gloved contests,in the decade, if bare knuckle fights were included then the greatest beneficiaries would be Jem Smith, Kilrain, Mitchell and Sullivan in terms of rank and longevity. The reason I am dealing exclusively with gloves is to try and show that the decade was a vibrant period of marquis of Queensbury rules. It is often that we see the decade excluded when dealing with the glove period. The ratings are a bit iffey for 1880/1881 but I'm reasonably happy with the later years.

1880

1-Goss
2-Miller
3-Ryan
4-Foley
5-CC Smith
6-Greenfield
7-Elliott
8-Sullivan
9-Dalton
10-Stewart

1881

1. Ryan
2. Sullivan
3. Miller
4. Farnan
5. Greenfield
6. Hadley
7. C C Smith
8. Dalton
9. Wilson
10. Stewart

1882

1-Sullivan
2_Farnan
3-Hadley
4-Godfrey
5-Kilrain
6-C C Smith
7-Mitchell
8-Cleary
09-Elliott
10-Ryan

1883

1-Sullivan
2-Mitchell
3-Godfrey
4-Kilrain
5-Miller
6-Farnan
7-Cleary
8-McCaffrey
9-Greenfield
10-Foley

1884

1-Sullivan
2-McCaffrey
3-Kilrain
4-Burke
5-Mitchell
6-Farnan
7-Cleary
8-Godfrey
9-Cardiff
10-Thompson

1885

1-Sullivan
2-McCaffrey
3-Burke
4-Mitchell
5-Kilrain
6-Fryer
7-Cleary
8-Cardiff
9-Godfrey
10-Lees

1886

1-Sullivan
2-Kilrain
3-Cardiff
4-Mitchell
5-Nolan
6-Burke
7-McCaffrey
8-Killen
9-Godfrey
10-Lannon

1887

1-Sullivan
2-Kilrain
3-Cardiff
4-Killen
5-Burke
6-Nolan
7-Mitchell
8-Godfrey
9-Jackson
10-McAuliffe

1888

1-Sullivan
2-Jackson
3-Killeen
4-Kilrain
5-Cardiff
6-Godfrey
7-Burke
8-Slavin
9-McAuliffe
10-Ashton

1889

1-Jackson
2-Sullivan
3-McAuliffe
4-Godfrey
5-Slavin
6-Killen
7--Cardiff
8-Kilrain
9-Ashton
10-Goddard

 

Interesting at least!
I'd love to hear the arguments for Viro Small, O H Smith, Jack McGee, J W Curtis, Jimmy Doherty, George Taylor, and Dave Campbell before drilling down into some others!

 

Aw, these are the ratings compiled by the late, great Mike Paul, a good friend. They were computerised rankings, a precursor of the likes of Boxrec. They got more accurate as the years went on and the data base got bigger.

 

Foley's Hall in Sydney was the scene of near weekly boxing shows in the 1880's featuring an unreal amount of talent eg on August 16 1886 Dooley, Fitz, Newton, Jackson, Slavin and Billy McCarthy all appeared. Jackson, Fitz, Slavin and O'Donnell were on another night and these are typical bills, not outliners. Hall, Foley, Lees, Buffalo Costello, Prof.Donaldson, Miller, Goddard all boxed there, incredible.

 

As stated, the 1880/81 are iffey, for 1880 I included the top contenders that had had some glove experience, Foley had plenty of glove encounters, indeed his 1878 47 round clash with Peter Newton was one of the first chief glove battles. I have seen a lot of mentions of the tourney that Farnan won and a load more fights too. He certainly was close to an 1880 rating but its a matter of opinion, he had yet to score a signature win, similarly with Burke's win in the 1881 tourney, despite been a big advocate of Jack, I felt it was not of sufficient quality. Wilson was sparring a lot with gloves at this time, including with George Fryer, but in truth it is a poor selection.

 

Add in Owen Sullivan, Dan Creedon, Steve O;Donnell and you see the depth at the turn of 1890.
It is interesting to see the best boxers by nationality for the decade. Some licence is taken with this list;
America; Sullivan, Kilrain, McCaffrey, Killen, Nolan/McAuliffe
Australia Jackson, Miller, Slavin, Goddard, Farnan/Lees
Ireland; Burke, Cleary, Ryan, O.Sullivan, Elliott
England; Mitchell. Greenfield, Fryer, Jem Smith, Ed Smith
Canada; Cardiff, Godtrey, Lannon, Lambert, Fell
New Zealand; Laing, Fitz, Matthews, Pettergell, Slade

I actually think if you picked the top 10 Aussie fighters for the decade, that they defeat the usa,