Oh hells bells. You are correct. I did a typo. Sullivan died at 59, not 49. Good catch. My own book says 59, duh. Sorry. I'm amending the whole thing so it is correct.
I think there is a difference. But if you really want to include Liston, he died at 38, or thereabouts, when he died of the drug overdose. Marciano was 45 when he died in the plane crash. He was obviously in good health at that time, and a really good ring commentator. Johnson was 68 when he died in a car crash. From what Ive seen of clips of him when older, he aged very well and still had a lot of spunk, so he may well have had several more years of life, Id wager.
Here are some stats my wife just gave me: Average life span of an American born in 1860 = 41.8 Average lifespan of an American born in 1890 = 45.2 Average lifespan of an American born in 1925 = 56.9
http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/steckel.standard.living.us Table 2: Life Expectancy at Birth in the United States Year Life Expectancy 1850 38.3 1860 41.8 1870 44.0 1880 39.4 1890 45.2 1900 47.8 1910 53.1 1920 54.1 1930 59.7 1940 62.9 1950 68.2 1960 69.7 1970 70.8 1980 73.7 1990 75.4 1998 76.7
Holmes is a butterball. He's seriously packing on the pounds! Foreman impresses me as a very sturdy, hearty individual; I would wager a long life for Big George. Holyfield and Bowe -- if these two guys live long enough, I bet they wind up in pretty sad shape.
Holyfield really surprises me with his insanity. You would think after so many losses that it would finally dawn upon him that he just doesn't have it anymore. I've said it once and I'll say it again - fighters probably do ten times more damage to themselves in the last few fights of their careers than the bulk of their careers prior to that. What really ruins the brain is hanging on too long. Same goes for Roy Jones, Jr., who is just being foolish.
i think they still became very old. you made this list but did you compare at with the lifespan of a normal male adult of those days ?? i think in the 1910 and 20ties and30ties most man who worked hard with there hands say farmers and construction workers and factory workers did not grow very old maybe i am wrong but probably the average age up untill the 1940ties was not far from those you mentioned
I understood that it was a combination of diabetes and liver disease, but didn't recall specifically whether or not cancer was involved. In any event, I figured he couldn't enjoy terrific longevity simply by virtue of his acromegaly. (Abe Simon only got to 56.)
I hear ya. My comment was more of a questioning of where one draws the line between natural and "unnatural" deaths. Had he lived more moderately, John L. would most likely have lived quite a few more years. In other words, he didn't die of natural causes at all.