Jack would be awed by the prospect of fighting one of his heroes and subconsciously find a way to blow the fight.
If Jack doesn't come into the fight prepared Tom would eat him alive. Man was a hard mo' fo', he'd grind and break Jack out of there.
You can find a brief clip of Jack Sharkey shaking hands with Tom Sharkey here: http://www.itnsource.com/compilations/sportlifestyleandquirky/sports/?lr=S31030701 Clip 28 Tom Sharkey was tough but other than that Jack seems to have all the advantages here. He was 4 inches taller, had a 20 lb weight advantage, was a better boxer, faster. I imagine Ruhlin beat him mostly because of his size while Fitzsimmons just destroyed him.
I have seen very little footage of Jack Sharkey, and frankly I don't even know what's available of Tom Sharkey's career if anything. I think its fair to say that Jack probably spent a larger portion of his career fighting the elite of his era, but Tom was a dangerous man from what I've both heard and read.. He was apparently a real pain in the ass for Fitz, Corbett, Jeffries and some others.. The man could obviously scrap, and had the tendency to go to extreme lengths to win fights, even if it meant getting dirty. This would be a hard fight to call, and I think its fair to say that no matter what happened, Jack would have his hands full. Sharkey meant serious business in the ring, while Jack was a very savvy and smart fighter on the world level... Who knows.. I think Jack's best chance is to stay away from him and try to go for a points win, but from what I've heard, Tom was very difficult to keep off of you.... Who knows.
Sharkey points over the tough Sailor. Did Jack name himself after Tom? As far as I know of Tom he was bullish, strong and tough, but I don't feel he has enough to beat a prepared and 'with it' Jack Sharkey.
All true; but the flipside to this is that Jack could sometimes be troubled by fighters who pressured him and roughed him up on the inside - ie: Tom Heeney, Johnny Risko. Can't make a certain judgement either way without having seen Tom fight, but on paper at least I think this has the potential to be interesting.
True. Although I felt that Sharkey got the better of Heeney atleast based on what I've seen, he would only box in spurts and got too much into the wrestling, clinching which was Heeney's game. I imagine much of the same happened with Risko. He seemed to handle young Schmeling's pressure very well though, until the low blow DQ that is. Dempsey also ate a ton of punishment before getting in his own low blows. Maybe Tom Sharkey despite his size disadvantage can pull off a "Mickey Walker" and make it a very close, tough fight for the Boston Gob. This content is protected
