I'm just curious since it appears that these guys don't get much play on here despite being atgs. Each of these three had a great series of lw/ww fights with the others in the 30s, but amongst them, who do you rank as first, second, and third greatest in terms of resume, power, defense, etc.? How relevant do you think their h2h matches are? Here are the combined records for their fights: 1. Barney Ross (4-1) 2. Jimmy McLarnin (2-3) 3. Tony Canzoneri (1-3)
It's hard to separate them. McLarnin is quite remarkable in the fact that he started out way down in the flyweight division and was fighting great fighters there in the mid-1920s. He ended his career at welterweight with a win over Lou Ambers who was reigning lightweight champ at the time. If he was around in this era I'd imagine he'd win a world title belt in about ten divisions.
Truly you cannot separate them. They were all great, but jimmy McLarnin gets less notice than Ross and Canzy, though he was a great welterweight who beat everyone at one time. Speaking of Jimmy McLarnin he once told his admiring fans. "if you think I was great, you should have seen Harry Greb "...Unquote...
Interesting. And yeah, that is quite a feat. He would certainly be a force to reckon with if he was fighting today. Wish I had a damn time machine. Yeah, I guess that they are inseparable, like Legend also said. I personally think that all three of them don't get the attention that they deserve, but McLarnin might very well be the least recognized of them all. I remember that McLarnin quote but couldn't remember who said it. Just adds even more to Greb's legacy. Great quote.
