What do you consider to be a justifiable placing for McLarnin all-time? He has an impressive resume and a good amount of success through several weight classes, does he make the top 35 or 40?
I wrote this obit for McLarnin, tc: 'An afterthought -- just a few lines -- on the back page of the sports section: Jimmy McLarnin, dead at 96. Five words hardly fitting for the man who filled Madison Square Garden the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field, was two times welterweight champion -- when there was only one title -- and the hex for every Jewish great and prospect in the 1920s and 30s. The ruins of Benny Leonard, Barney Ross, Sid Terris, Joe Glick, Ruby Goldstein, Sammy Mandell, Al Singer, and Louis Kid Kaplan litter his resume. When two or three names define a fighters legacy now; and squabbling goes on for an eternity before a fringe contender steps in with the current Hula Hoop, McLarnin beat future and past champions Fidel La Barba, Jackie Fields, Pancho Villa and Bud Taylor. McLarnin had the coloring of Freddie Roach and the look of his native British Columbia, fresh faced and aquiline a striking contrast with all his urban foes a little like an intramural fighter in the Ivy League. He was called Baby Face, but Im sure thats not what Tony Canzonari and Lou Ambers called him when his hand was raised. He was an orthodox stand-up boxer/puncher only 56 -- with trigger-quick reactions and a thudding straight right to match. His arms appeared much longer than they were; he got full extension on every punch. He was that rare amalgam: an aggressive counter puncher, drawing leads with foot feints -- broad-shouldered and strong, rarely out muscled. In the vernacular of the day: He gave no quarter. He turned pro when he was 16 and hungem up when he was 29 never tempted to make a comeback. Hed been wisely guided by Pop Foster, and retired comfortably on investments until he passed away in Washington last week as quietly as hed lived. When the greats are mentioned, McLarnin is rarely thrown in, but he was a cracking good fighter, and would have been that in any era. He finished 53-11-3, 20 KOs. Scan his record; one champion after another jumps out. Donnie Lalonde, the former WBC Light Heavyweight champ, remarked to me once: People say there are no good Canadian fighters There are! Theyre just all hockey players. Jimmy McLarnin was no hockey player. To paraphrase a line from DEATH OF A SALESMAN: Respect should be paid this man!
Top 30. He has great speed, and power as well, though he preferred to box. One of the very best. In the book Boxing's greatest fighters by Bert Sugar, McLarnin is ranked number 21. Kinda high, I feel, but hey, that's Bert.
