He was there at the finish against Jeffries ,after a total of 45rds. McCoy was a good hitter, 65 kos in 86 wins. I beleive Ruhlin was seen as a pretty good puncher too.
McCoy weighed 156lb!!! That is equivalent to being dropped by a junior middleweight! Ruhlin was not a big time hitter. He kayoed Sharkey twice, this means something. I hate to say it, but Jeffries power for a 220lb "Monster" is overrated
I think a much more appropriate matchup is Marciano vs Langford..both around 185lb in their primes. Both built like brickhouses. Both with a tremendous amount of punching power. I don't think Fitzsimmons lasts long against either of them.
mcvey, You have to admit. Tom Sharkey getting dropped twice by a junior middleweight is quite embarrasing.
Nobody at the time thought that Sharkey had a weak chin. Indeed his name was prety much synonymous with durability.
No argument from me Suzie ,but I think Sharkey's complete lack of defence was his undoing. A young Jack Johnson was sacked as his sparring partner because he kept embarrassing Tom, who instructed his corner to tell Johnson to keep his head up ,so he could hit him ,they replied ,"youre boxing him,you make him keep it up."
I think a lot of this may be related to the two wars with Jeffries though J. And I truly am not knocking Jeff, but his one shot power does seem to be overstated at times, especially when compared with Fitz's.
I guess we have to asses the case agaionst Sharkeys chin, and it seems to rest prety squarely on what Fitzsimmons did to him. Nobody else was able to do that to him and I think this can be cited as evidence that Fitzsimmons matched up well again st pressure fighters.
Let's be honest, when you say the same on Marciano's defense I'm not going to scoff. I'll read the article because I'm curious on any information on the man (I've heard tons of this from Janitor and Boilermaker) but my point is more about the cross-generation gap. I noticed you didn't deny the low-hands comments. That just ain't going to fly against Marciano. Not to mention, Marciano's style will befuddle Fitzsimmons. As Mark Jackson says "Hand down, man down."