Is Charlie Mitchell worthy of top 100 P4P placing?

Charlie Mitchell was a heavyweight contender despite weighing between 140-160 pounds in his prime. He defeated many men outweighing him by 30-50 pounds. He reportedly fought over 100 fights consisting of bareknuckle brawls and gloved matches, but as per usual of fighters from this period, info on some of these are lost or non-existent. It wasn't uncommon for Mitchell to fight multiple times a day.

His average gloved opponent weighed 176lbs, 26lbs heavier than Mitchell's prime weight, and 5'11", 2" taller than him.

Mitchell fought the lightweight champ of England to a draw, and became the heavyweight champion of England. After beating undefeated #1 ranked contender Mike Cleary whilst weighing 30lbs (some reports state 40lbs) lighter, he was given a shot at John L Sullivan.

Sullivan knocked Mitchell down 3 times in the first round, but Mitchell rallied to knock Sullivan down, despite weighing 40lbs lighter than John L. This was the first time John L had been down in his career. Sullivan rallied to stop Mitchell in the 3rd. He later fought Sullivan to a 39 round draw in a bareknuckle fight. He fought undefeated contender Patsy Cardiff to a draw.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...rdiff&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

^ reports Cardiff trains down to 200lbs, Mitchell could've been outweighed by 50lbs. He weighed 155 for his fight before Cardiff. Cardiff wasn't unknown to come in at 185-190 though.

Mitchell came out of a 3 year layoff of gloved fighting in 1890 to beat Jem Mace (who he had fought multiple times bareknuckle), who's considered the father of modern boxing and was a giant killer himself, and reclaimed the English heavyweight championship. He reportedly knocked Frank Slavin around silly in their final NC of 1891. He must've fought Kilrain a billion times bareknuckle.

Mitchel went his first 17 fights unbeaten at 15-0-2. Later in the 1890s his gloved career becomes harder to read due to all the No Contests he fought. His recorded bareknuckle fights are already a mess.

BitVesti's infinitely more informational thread than mine:

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/charlie-mitchell.622951/

There was scarcely a fight Mitchell had where he wasn't outweighed by at minimum 15lbs. Despite this, he was champ of England, the #1 contender in the world, and is generally considered the best man Sullivan fought (gloved) before Corbett. Does he deserve top 100 P4P?

 

Yes, though BitVesti is more qualified to answer that than me

 

The reason they're listed as debuting is usually because their previous fights aren't recorded or they're transitioning from bareknuckle, as an FYI

Not that I mind the call though. I currently don't have him top 100, I just think he has an argument

 

Mitchell was outweighed by 40lbs against Sullivan.......

Sullivan had a 10 year title reign, in that reign he was an undefeated monster and considered arguably the greatest heavyweight of those times.

Yet he's not top 100 worthy???

 

Good find. That fight must've been a war. Not often you get to see 2 undefeated contenders brawl it out that hard