Jack Johnson rates the top 12 from Sullivan to Tunney.

I would make the observation that Johnson fought six people on the list.

It is interesting that many both Johnson and Burns have Philadelphia Jack OBrien on their all time top 10 lists.

 

It's not a surprise to anyone who read this thread a week ago. [url]http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=440248&page=3[/url]

 

No great surprises, but then again I've seen it before.

The list seems pretty good. I think having O'Brien above Tunney and Dempsey is the biggest indicator of an 'era bias' though.
I'm not sold on McVey and Jeanette either.
Interesting that he leaves off Tommy Burns.

I have no doubts that Peter Jackson, Jeffries, Sullivan and Fitzsimmons were great fighters.

 

Johnson sure did get a lot of room in the press back in those days.

And it's a silly list. He obviously either was not informed about or chose to ignore the kind of shape Sullivan was in by the time he fought Corbett. O'Brien in front of Dempsey and Tunney just reeks of the worst kind of sentimentality. And filling the list with your own opponents is a narcissists's delight. Did Tony Ross just fail to make the cut?

 

To be fair to Johnson, he did fight a lot of the top names.
Almost any top 12 list of HWs 'from Sullivan era to 1929' would include at least 3 or 4 men who Johnson fought, I would imagine.

He left off Burns and Hart.

I'd have Jeffries, Fitz and Langford as certainties. Perhaps Burns, perhaps Willard. Not sure about Jeanette and McVey. O'brien ? No.

 

I posted this about 8 months ago.

 

Although Johnson defeated his #1 in Bob Fitzsimmons, he always played down the win on the grounds thgat Fitzsimmons was shot. I would therfore suggest that this is a sincere pick.

 

What I'd really like to see is Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Corbett, or Jem Mace's top 10 or 20; so we could see how the bare knuckle champions were compared to the early gloved champions, and if there'd be a lot of old timer bias there as well. That sort of thing is too early for The Ring but maybe it would get covered in the National Police Gazette, or a local paper. Maybe find an old paper by Hype Igoe or W. W. Naughton, some early sportswriter who would have seen both and could tell how the sport was changing.

 

Fabulous old article.

 

There were old timers who picked Jem Mace over Jim Jeffries, while the latter was champion. One person who might provide an interesting insight is Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, who sparred with both Jem Mace and Joe Louis. I have seen Corbetts top 10, and he has Peter Jackson and Jim Jeffries tied at #1.

 

Then why didn't Marvin Hart or Jess Willard make his list?