Joe Gans - how high do you rank him?

Mickey Walker beat some decent fighters who outweighed him 15 or 20 or more pounds. Pound-for-pound he was a beast.

 

The Walker Law strikes me as as good a cut off point as any. After it went legit in NYC, other states soon followed and boxing changed. It got more organized, and after it got more organized, there were more rules that shifted and even changed tactics and strategy to some degree. In championships bouts, less emphasis was placed on endurance and more on busier and combination punching for example.

 

Yeah, it's a tidy cut-off point, not least because of quality and quantity of footage issues.
I don't necessarily think new styles were formed after 1920 though, although their may have been some sort of general shift away from endurance/attrition styles that hung over from the longer bouts.

I tend to think Joe Louis had an almost 'throwback' style to men like Blackburn, Gans etc.
But others think Louis was an 'evolved specimen', something new and improvement.

 

he , I sure do believe that Mickey Walker was a rare bird. As a 5ft7" inch Middleweight just ponder this. He tackled and whipped the likes of Paul
Berlenbach,Tommy Loughran, King Levinsky, Johnny Risko,the rubber man,
a prime toughie, 200 pound Paolino Uzcudun,the George Chuvalo of his time ,
Maxie Rosenbloom,Bearcat Wright,a 210 pounder,who outweighed Mickey by 40 pounds,drew with a PRIME Jack Sharkey in 15 rounds, and took amazing punishment from the prime Max Schmeling, before the referee stopped Mickey, still on his feet. Mickey Walker was truly a brave alltime great.
he,can you envision a Ray Robinson, or a Marvin Hagler even attempting to
tackle the TOP heavyweights of their times,and whipping them excuding
a great young Max Schmeling.? I can't. Please tell me ,what other fighter,could have duplicated the Toy Bulldog ,of recent times ? I think you
know the answer . Take care h...

 

Agreed. Certain aspects of the game shifted in, others shifted out, and there was an evolution, though that evolution slowed down and then regressed after the clubs closed down.

Blackburn knew a thousand tricks lost to history. It was Holman Williams though, who introduced Joe to the fundamentals. Joe fought in the style familiar to the Brewster gym in Detroit -moving in and out, throwing jabs, rights, hooks -boxing.

However, I think that Blackburn made critical adjustments because Holman's stye was for lighter guys who were always better technically than the gorillas in their midst, and also faster. I'm guessing here, but I think that Blackburn improved his balance and made Joe hyper-offensively efficient because he knew that the big boys were susceptible to certain things. He made Joe an offensive machine designed to exploit the bad balance and worse technique of so many HWs. Blackburn would know what Walker knew --Heavyweights were easier to deal with than the lighter classes. Louis was fashioned to knock them out by punching inside their loops and positioning himself to be always ready to punch, while at the same time maintaining that Brewster combination punching.

 

Burt, please note first I sent you a personal email earlier today so please try and take time to read it ...

As far as Walker goes I find him fascinating. Incredibly tough. The bombs he took from a prime Schmeling were scary ... talk about heart and chin, Walker was as tough as anyone ... he was also an amazing character and a terrific fighter .. just did not know if he is as high as a Greb, Gans, Langford .. that's the top of the top ...

 

I have him in my top 10 among Greb, Langford, B.Leonard, Charles, Fitzsimmons, Armstrong, Robinson and others

 

he, I never received your email today. Just checked again.
It is

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Thank you for your pearls of wisdom. And thank U for your kind words.atsch