Here is the link below to ESPN's 50 Greatest Fighters of the each 50 States if you have not checked it out it's good stuff. Any thoughts or disagreements? I posted in in the boxing forum and everyone jumped all over De la Hoya not representing California over James Jefries. So far so good and even some lesser known names for us history buffs(i.e.Clyde Hull). http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/features/fifty
Great read. I've taken quite a lot from that aswell reading up on the likes of Buster Beaupre and Patsy Sweeney etc. Thanks for the link. :good
I'm curious who they are going to pick for my home state of Alaska. I imagine they are probably going with Greg Haugen or something. Pat Jefferson who fought Alexis Arguello also lives up here now I believe and works on the north slope. And he was actually a very talented fighter; but he's originally from Oregon so i'm sure he won't be included.
...............I'm afraid we claim Haugen here. :bart I'm shocked to see that not only wasn't Freddie Steele chosen as the best from Wash. State, he wasn't even a notable mention. Then again, since when has ESPN known dick about boxing? Interesting feature though, good conversation thread.
To be fair they do say he could be #1, I guess they think it's pretty even as do I, though the edge would have to go to Steele just on that record alone. Both were World Champs and Hall of Famers it's a tough call-though my knowledge is certainly not vast when it comes to these two fighters I must admit.
I'm from Chicago, and we've had a couple of good heavyweight like Oliver McCall and Earnie Terrell, but I can't think of too many others.
I re-read this and am confused as to voted on this list.....for instance North Dakota: Virgil Hill was an Olympic Medalist and multi champion in the Lightheavyweight and Cruiserweight divisions....Pat Jefferson in South Dakota was the greatest boxer ever produced by the state...Kenny Keene of Idaho was not even mentioned and his record was considerably better than Matthews......Augie Sanchez in Nevada?...WTF?....and no mention of Joe Frazier in South Carolina? No Freddie Steele in Washington?
I guess it all depends on how you count it: Joe Louis and Evander Holyfield are both from Alabama and in the state's sports hall of fame (along with Jesse Owens, Willie Mays and numerous others). Both definitely trump Petey Sarron. Byron Mitchell fought out of Alabama and I'm pretty sure was born in Ozark, and Tracy Harris Patterson is from Birmingham.
This was the subject of a thread created by Rumsfeld back in June 2008, which generated the most recent contributions a full month before this new thread was created. Check it out! http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72773
True, but if you compare his quality of opposition to Billy Petrolle's it becomes clear that "The Fargo Express" far outranks Hill in just about every respect. If there'd been numerous titles floating around in his day (as in Hill's) he would have no doubt won one and made many defenses of it. Petrolle is a solid number 1 in North Dakota in my opinion :smoke
1) Born in Alabama:--------Joe Louis 2) Born in Alaska:----------Billy Wallace 3) Born in Arizona:---------Michael Carbajal 4) Born in Arkansas:-------Sonny Liston 5) Born in California:-------James J. Corbett 6) Born in Colorado:-------Jack Dempsey 7) Born in Connecticut:----Willie Pep 8) Born in Delaware:-------Al Tribuani 9) Born in Florida:---------Roy Jones, Jr. 10) Born in Georgia:-------Sugar Ray Robinson 11) Born in Hawaii:--------Bobo Olson 12) Born in Idaho:---------Harry Kid Matthews 13) Born in Illinois:---------Packey McFarland 14) Born in Indiana:--------Jack Dillon 15) Born in Iowa:-----------Michael Nunn 16) Born in Kansas:---------Jess Willard 17) Born in Kentucky:-------Muhammad Ali 18) Born in Louisiana:-------Tony Canzoneri 19) Born in Maine:----------Joey Gamache 20) Born in Maryland:-------Joe Gans 21) Born in Massachusetts:--Rocky Marciano 22) Born in Michigan:--------Stanley Ketchel 23) Born in Minnesota:-------Mike Gibbons 24) Born in Mississippi:-------Archie Moore 25) Born in Missouri:---------Henry Armstrong 26) Born in Montana:--------Marvin Camel 27) Born in Nebraska:--------Max Baer 28) Born in Nevada:----------Ishe Smith 29) Born in New Hampshire:---Jason LeHoullier 30) Born in New Jersey:------Marvin Hagler 31) Born in New Mexico:------Bob Foster 32) Born in New York:--------Benny Leonard 33) Born in North Carolina:----Ray Charles Leonard 34) Born in North Dakota:-----Charley Retzlaff 35) Born in Ohio:-------------James J. Jeffries 36) Born in Oklahoma:--------James Quick Tillis 37) Born in Oregon:----------Denny Moyer 38) Born in Pennsylvania:-----Harry Greb 39) Born in Rhode Island:-----Vinnie Pazienza 40) Born in South Carolina:---Joe Frazier 41) Born in South Dakota:----Shawn Hawk 42) Born in Tennessee:-------Tommy Hearns 43) Born in Texas:------------Jack Johnson 44) Born in Utah:-------------Gene Fullmer 45) Born in Vermont:----------Buster Beaupre 46) Born in Virginia:-----------Pernell Whitaker 47) Born in Washington:-------Freddie Steele 48) Born in West Virginia:------Fitzie Fitzpatrick 49) Born in Wisconsin:---------Eddie McGoorty 50) Born in Wyoming:----------Cowboy Eddie Anderson 51) Born in Washington, D.C.:--Winky Wright 52) Born in Puerto Rico:--------Carlos Ortiz
I don't like how sometimes on this list.. they go with where the person grew up.. sometimes they go with where the person was born.. and sometimes where the person claims.. too the better suit their lists apple.
Some states have a very anemic boxing tradition, or a long dormant one. Going by place of birth is not subjective, but concrete fact. It also proved to be an excellently challenging criteria, but one that ultimately could be met. It also led to the identification of names like Billy Wallace for Alaska, Fitzie Fitzpatrick for West Virgina, and Cowboy Eddie Anderson for Wyoming. Being born in North Carolina got Ray Leonard on the list, something which he might have been excluded entirely from if it came down to him versus Gans for Maryland. There's no way "carpetbagger" SRL could be rated over the Baltimore native Old Master for state honors. Frazier is also there for North Carolina. As great as Philly boxing tradition is, there's no way Frazier or anybody else trumps Pittsburgh native Greb for that distinction. For Rhode Island, ESPN went with Fox Point, R.I. born George Araujo over Pazienza, and gave Providence born Joey Archibald honorable mention. That may have been ESPN's best work in compiling their list. (ESPN also cited Tommy Garrow as an honorable mention for New Hampshire, but I haven't found anything yet which explicitly states Tommy was born in that state, although it seems likely. ESPN's top pick for that state, Patsy Sweeney, was born in Galway, Ireland, while Patsy Haley, who did not get an honorable mention like Garrow, was born in Newmarket, New Hampshire.)
