[1949] Article describing the top heavyweights of the day

I recall reading Ring magazine in the 90’s and Jeff Ryan writing a piece bemoaning the sorry spectacle that was the heavyweight division.

The gist of the article was that Lewis, Bowe and Holyfield, Moorer, Morrison, Mercer, McCall were all flawed medium talents just treading the boards as footnotes until Tyson was released from prison to fix up the mess that heavyweight was in. Foreman still being relevant was a further indictment on the division.

Now the 90’s is celebrated as being a great period for the heavyweight division. The point being people are never appreciative at the time for what they have. The passage of time always brings a change in perspective towards the achievements of hero’s from the past. Sometimes in a good way and sometimes not so good.

 

observations--

This is Jimmy Powers list. Not the list of either The Ring or the NBA. Neither rated Maxim at heavyweight in 1949, but at light-heavyweight. Joe Baksi, a 210 lb, 27 year old contender who won three fights in 1949, was rated by the NBA.

Was Charles all that small by the historical standards of someone looking back from 1949. Corbett was 178 when he beat Sullivan. Fitz even smaller. Tunney had also moved up from the light-heavies. All would have been rated by most "experts" in 1949 as top 10 ten ATG's. None had beaten nearly as many good man as Charles had.

One thing which strikes me is that Charles was a 28 year old man in his physical prime. There were old guys rated. Walcott at 35. Savold at 34. Oma at 33. But youth was more the standard. (Maxim 27, Bruce W 28, LaStarza 22, Brion 24, Reynolds 24, Marciano 26, Valentino 29. Power's list averages out to 27.7 years, or basically a human's physical prime. I looked up the ages of the current boxrec top ten as they will be as of 12/31/2021--Fury 33, Joshua 32, Wilder 36, Whyte 33, Usyk 34, Povetkin 42, Ruiz 32, Hunter 33, Parker 29, Chisora 38. That averages out to 34.2 years of age. Well past physical prime. Modern heavyweights might be big, but they are not young.

One thing about 1949. There was a lot of young talent on the horizon. Marciano and LaStarza as noted, but coming along and about to break into the ratings in 1950 were Rex Layne (21), Clarence Henry (23), Bob Baker (23), and John Holman (22), as well as light-heavies Harold Johnson (21), and Bob Satterfield (26), who would make an impact in the heavyweight division over the next decade. The heavyweight division was small by modern standards, with the action between 170 and 220 lbs, but not devoid of talent in my judgment.

On why Charles reputation rose over the years. I think two factors not yet mentioned played a key role. Increased access to records. Most observers didn't know who had fought whom back in the day to the extent we do today. There was only The Ring Record Book. Today one can find an old fighter's record at several much more available sources. Even more important, I think, was the increasing availability of films of the old timers. Actually seeing the fighters from past "golden ages" in action took the gold out of the golden. Muhammad Ali commenting on films said that he thought Charles and Walcott looked better than most earlier champions, and he had a point.

 

He was almost correct, except he overrated Tyson.

 

I often wonder what happened to Jeff Ryan.

 

Did you obtain these EOY rankings from Boxrec or another publication?

I only ask because I have seen a different list and reports published for the end of 1949, which in effect, rate the top 5 in the following order:

1. Ezzard Charles
2. Jersey Joe Walcott
3. Lee Oma
   
4. Bruce Woodcock
5. Lee Savold

Oma was unbeaten in 9 or 10 bouts during '49 and posted wins over Flynn and Agramonte, whom I suspect were both ranked fighters, at the time.


I've noticed, now and then, that The Ring Ratings were published in a groupings format, i.e...

World champion -- vacant.

Group 1
1. Ezzard Charles. Cincinnati.

Group 2
1. Jersey Joe Walcott. Camden. N. J. 2. Lee Oma. Detroit 3. Bruce Woodcock. England. 4. Lee Savold. Paterson N. J.

Group 3
1. Pat Valentino. San Francisco. 2. Turkey Thompson. Los Angeles. 3. Jimmy Bivins. Cleveland. 4. Omelio Agramonte. Cuba. 5. Kid Riviera. St. Louis. 6. Jo Baksi. Kulpmont. Pa.


I can't be sure, but I think this format has occasionally thrown the Boxrec researchers, when reproducing historical ratings in a straight 1-to-10 listing.

 

How the f could they rate him behind someone he beat three times, two of them convincingly? And behind Conn?

 

In fairness the division seemed to be picking up by 1950/51

You had up and coming contenders like Rex Layne, and Clarence Henry, who were quite highly regarded.