Without question, yes. Criminally underated. In 113 fights he lost once, if at all (some reports suggest it was a different McFarland), when he was a 16 year old child. Over 100 fights with 1/no losses and hardly mentioned today, he must have fought poor opposition, right? Think again. He went 1-0-2 with my no.8 all time LW, Freddie Welsh, and is generally considered to be on the better end of both draws. He twice beat my no. 5 all time WW, Jack Britton. Absurdly, after a 2 year retirement, he came back to beat my no.6 MW, Mike Gibbons. To be balanced, much of the film of that fight survives today and to my eye, Gibbons appears to shade the fight in the remaining footage. From memory, there are also mixed reports about what weight it was contested at, which wasn't the full MW limit. So, over 100 fights, 1/no loss, got the better of top 10 all time greats at LW, WW and MW, his 2nd tier wins must be lacking, right? Nope. Owen Moran (shame on me for describing the brilliant Owen Moran as a "2nd tier win"), Benny Yanger, WW Jimmy Duffy, Leach Cross x 2, Matt Wells, Harlem Tommy Murphy x 3, Dick Hyland and Jimmy Britt. Reports of his fights regularly used terms like "bemused" and "dominated". It wasnt just that he always won, he seemed to often appear on a different level, to some very good fighters. Top 15 pfp imo.
Aye, a truly great fighter, arguably top 10-12 or so. Looks awesome on film too, if of his time and rule set etc. Greg summed it up nicely.
