Moore and it wouldnt be close. Stribling was very carefully matched most of his career and typically when he stepped up in class he faltered badly. Hos best showings against good fighters were against guys who couldnt punch. Moore could punch and was a great boxer. I dont think hed have any problem with Stribling.
Stribling has wins over Loughran, Slattery, McTigue, Delaney, Rosenbloom and a draw with Berlenbach (one of the harder LHW punchers). He has a more impressive resume at LHW than Moore and he gave a better account of himself in his move up to Heavyweight by going into the 15th round against Schmeling in a competitive bout. His losses at Heavyweight were against 3 of the best of that time: Sharkey, Schaaf and Schmeling. He only got knocked out once in his career. I lean more towards him than I do to Moore.
Loughran and Rosenbloom couldnt punch as referenced in my initial post. Mike McTigue was sucked. He was one of the biggest cheese champs in history and should have never been a champion to begin with. Stribling beat Jimmy Delaney, not Jack Delaney, big difference in quality there and the draw with Berlenbach was over 6 rounds in Berlenbach's first year as a pro when Stribling had over 100 fights. When the fought in their primes over 15 rounds Berlenbach easily beat him in a sided fight in which Stribling basically fought to survive. Lol, he had a better LHW resume than Moore and gave a better account of himself at HW? Good luck with that.
Loughran is considered a top 10 all time LHW. So it's an impressive win regardless of how hard a puncher he was. Rosenbloom at his best was a tough fight for anybody. If he did so terribly against punchers he would have more than one knockout loss in his career. What LHW did Moore beat that was better than Loughran. Do you think Moore would've done much better against Schmeling? Marciano had one foot out the door when Moore fought him and wasn't as skilled as Schmeling. It's easy to be smug when you don't have a counterargument. The only LHW wins that Moore has that are near that level are against Johnson and Bivins. McTigue knocked out Paul Berlenbach, got wins over Loughran, Smith, Platts, Siki and Flowers. He was saved by the KO only rule a few times but he was a solid fighter.
It's an interesting fight, but I think Moore's wins over Marshall, Maxim, Bivins and Harold Johnson weigh a little heavier in his favor compared to the wins cited for Stribling. But it isn't just the names in 'W' column that matter here really. It's the ceiling they were respectively able to break through to demonstrate a level of performance that is perhaps more important, and Moore's 10-0 record in Light Heavyweight World Title fights is significant here. Consider then, despite his consistency, Stribling's biggest name wins in the division seem to have occurred when his opponent was either pre-prime, or post-prime (Loughran/Levinsky) or a relatively inconsistent performer (Rosenbloom). Consider also that Stribling, during his prolific career, never managed to lift the title, having had his chance against Berlenbach in their second encounter - a contest in which Stribling was thoroughly outclassed. To put this into further perspective, Stribling twice bested Loughran when Loughran was still beating a path to the door of title honors - but, when they both stood at the threshold of said door, in their third meeting, Stribling was again starkly outdone. Loughran's victory here part-laid the foundation of his world title bid, which he would go on to make count that same year. Additionally, Stribling's wins over Rosenbloom, both in non-title affairs, were relatively unexceptional, given that almost all the top flight Light Heavyweights of the times beat Rosenbloom at some point or another. Had there been a title on the line, my money would have been on Slapsie Maxie to get the job done. Contrast this with Moore, who at an already advanced age, having served a lengthy, high-end apprenticeship, took the Title from a Maxim coming off his successful defense against Robinson. Moore would go on to defend the title nine times - twice more matching and beating Maxim, and earning a stoppage victory over future champ Harold Johnson. At the same time, I do not see Stribling's stoppage loss to Schmeling being any kind of barometer for how Moore would fare against him. Stribling was undeniably tough but he was, once again, being woefully outclassed by Schmeling, whereas I would take Moore as the value-for-money bet against the same. Stribling, of course, should not be entirely written off here. While I might not rate him as highly as some, head-to-head, he had an exemplary career as his record reflects. However, from the information available and on balance, I would speculate that, in the heat of top-flight competition, Moore demonstrated a superior level of performance than did Stribling. That is to suggest that Moore was the boxer most likely to push the envelope in order to get the win.
