I think he is an underated contender throughout history. He apparently had some of the best footwork skills of his time, and he was 6'6. I have film of Denver sparring with white contender Gus Ruhlin and he completley toys with and embarrases Gus Ruhlin(who looks awful) and even my father commented Denver ed should be the one fighting Jeffries for the title, not Ruhlin. Denver Ed Reminds me of a more slick Ernie Terell, which clearly is impressive. I think these are solid wins under Jack Johnsons resume. How do you think 6'6 Denver Ed would have done vs a top white contentender like 5'8 Tom Sharkey?
A verry much overlooked fighter. Martin was the best black heavyweight of the period between Peter Jackson and Jack Johnson. He would certainly have stired things up in the top echelons of the heavyweight division given a chance. He had height, reach, mobility, defensive prowess. One newspaper described his first fight with Jack Johnson as like seeing two chess masters at work.
Is there any chance you could put the Denver Ed Martin--Gus Ruhlin footage on youtube so we might get a gander at it? It sounds most interesting. Martin was stopped twice by Bob Armstrong whom Jeffries defeated. He was skilled, but appears to have had shaky whiskers.
In fairness, one of those knockout lossses was in Martin's professional debut. Also Denver Ed Martin beat Bob Armstrong in a wide decision over 15 rounds and appeared to dominate armstrong in there ND bout outboxing him and the bell saved armstrong twice. heres a fight report "Martin proved the cleverer and never gave his opponent a chance, being declared an easy winner on points at the close of the fifteenth round; Martin, it is announced, will challenge the winner of the Jeffries-Fitzsimmons fight in San Francsico."- AP funny how Jeffries wouldnt give Denver Ed Martin a shot.
"Funny how Jeffries wouldn't give Denver Ed Martin a shot." Jeff made no bones about drawing the color line as champion. Interestingly, if he had not and managed wins over Martin and Johnson, it would be difficult not to rate him right at or near the top.
Martins weakness wasn't whiskers so much as a soft belly if I recall correctly, not surprisingly with his height and weight.
He was a very talented fighter with good skills, but he was too inconsistent, even for the days he fought...
The skills and speed were there but, Martin was too easy to Ko. He was stopped 7 times inside of 4 rounds.
