Firpo or Sanders: Who do you rank higher at heavy?

Firpo has the better resume.

 

not much between them as far as I can see. Sanders win over a near primed Klitschko arguably bests anything Firpo did though. I went with Sanders by a narrow margin.

 

The more I look at it, the more I see the comparison.

 

Nowhere even near!

But he does at lest have about three key wins.

 

Willard was old old when Luis beat him and in my opinion never very good anyway. Maybe Sanders beats a peak Willard. Ditto Brennan. Sanders would hammer Weinert.

 

The most important thing with Sanders, bar none, is to focus on what he actually did, rather than what he might have done.

He is basically a one trick pony.

 

One trick pony tops a donkey?

 

Well, let's look at those resumes-

Firpo went 31-6 (26) and was stopped 3 times. He went 0-1 in world title bouts. He beat Bill Brennan KO12, Jess Willard KO8 (in 1923), Homer Smith W10, and some others. He did knock Dempsey out of the ring but he was stopped in the 2nd round of their fight. He was also outboxed by Harry Wills over 12 rounds a year after the Dempsey fight.

Sanders went 42-4 (31) and was stopped 4 times. He went 1-1 in world title bouts. He did hold the WBU HW belt as well but are we really going to count that? 4-1 (3) in WBU world title bouts. He beat Johnny DuPlooy KO1, Johnny Nelson W10, Bert Cooper KO3, Levi Billups KO1 (not an easy man to stop), Mike Williams KO1 (another durable HW who beat Tillis and lost a SD to Witherspoon), Carlos DeLeon KO1, Ross Puritty W12, Bobby Czyz KO2, Jorge Valdez KO1, Al Cole KO1 (Cole went the distance with Witherspoon and Rahman among others), Wladimir Klitschko KO2, and some others. He was stopped by Vitali Klitschko in the 11th round (he did give Vitali one of his toughest fights though). He was stopped in 7 by a prime Rahman but he did knock Rahman on his ass.

I'll take Sanders by KO.

Sanders had size, good overall boxing skills, quick hands, plenty of power, and experience vs. some very good (Rahman) and a couple of great fighters (the Klitschko boys). He was also a southpaw.

 

Charley Wienert was fair. He had a few good stretches but for the most part he was hot and cold. He was stopped 8 times inlcuding once by Firpo but he did also beat Firpo by decision. He also had two wins over a very young Jack Sharkey (who would get much better). He went 71-21-4 (27). He was far from a W. Klitschko type of win. I'd rather boast about being stopped in the 7th round by Rahman (especially after dropping Rahman) than beating this guy.

 

Both these guys started off fighting locally. Firpo in South America and Sanders in South Africa. firpo actually one the South American championship, whereas Sanders never really established superiority against the local fighters. This means that Firpo has to get the slight edge, although to be fair the main local that Sanders didnt fight was Botha, who was probably a fair bit better than any south american champion. Different times also meant that regional titles were worth less as well so it is perhaps a little unfair to penalise Sanders particularly since Sanders does have the early losses, one by brutal KO to Rodriguez. I would call it even.

The next period was these guys establishing themselves. Sanders had some impressive wins over Nelson, Cooper, Williams and other solid fighters (if not world class), before he was upset by the average Nate Tubbs and he followed this with some more good results.
Firpo on the other hand arrived in the usa and immediately and consistently beat many good fighters including Bill Brennan who was a very good win, before his first real test in Willard. Advantage goes to Firpo.

The first real test for Sanders was Hasim Rahman. Sanders had reestablished himself by beating Purity and Cysz who were both good fighter. He met former World champion Rahman, and was knocked out in the 7th round. Firpo on the other hand, met his own former world champion in Jess Willard. Firpo won in the 8th round. He then went on a further win streak that set himself up for Jack Dempsey. I think the big advantage has to go to firpo.

Their next comparison is their match with an all time great. Firpo had Jack Dempsey while Sanders had Vitali Klitchsko. Both fighters were clearly beaten. But, both landed their big power shots early on. The difference being that Firpo's power resulted in a knock down with Dempsey going through the ropes and being helped back in the ring. Sanders power shots resulted in Klitchsko shaking them off (just) and basically wearing him down and dominating him. I think a slight advantage must go to Firpo here.

This leaves the last result which is Sanders best. The knockout of Wladimir Klichsko vs the No Decision fight with Harry Wills. Both are actually very good efforts. To last the distance with Wills is no easy feat. Particularly when you consider Firpo was past his best. Still, obviously it doesnt match up to what Sanders did to Wlad. Advantage to Sanders here.

OVerall, Sanders has to hang his hat entirely on the Wlad victory. This would be all good and well, but let us not forget that Ross Purity did the same thing before him and Brewster did it after him. I dont think there is much of a chance of any of these guys doing the same thing to the Wlad during Wlad's dominant title reign. In many ways, if Sanders is able to hang his entire case on this one victory, then Nate Tubbs must also hang his entire case on his Sanders victory. Or even Sanders himself would need to rank over Wlad.

In this case, i think that Firpo has done quite a bit more than Wlad and should rank quite a bit higher on the ATG lists.

 

Come on, Wlad got a lot better after the Puritty fight. As for Brewster? Well, Sanders beat his ass worse than Brewster and Puritty put together.

Sanders wasn't great but I think he was better than Firpo.

Why are you say high on Firpo? Relative perhaps?

 

On film, Firpo was an abomination. The quintessential promoter hype job. Absolutely horrible boxer.

I would give Bronco Billy Wright the nod here, let alone Sanders.