Lineal Rankings System

The 1900s is below.

Bob Fitzsimmons, as with every single time i have ever looked seriously into his career, as always completely astounds me with just how good he really was. Past prime, in a decade which was not his prime decade, he still managed the number 1 spot. That is phenomenal and unbelievable. Another who did very well under this system was Jack O Brien.

1 755 Bob Fitzsimmons – L Johnson
2 530 Jack Johnson
3 527 Jack O Brien – Burns, Kelly, Carter, Schreck & Others ND Ryan, Sullivan, Fitzsimmons, McCoy & Others
4 500 James Jeffries - Ruhlin
5 490 Gus Ruhlin – D Hart ND Jeffords
6 346 Tommy Burns – No Fights
7 285 Marvin Hart – W Ferguson D Gardner & Ruhlin
8 235 Tom Sharkey – ND Monroe
9 177 Jack Root – L Hart
10 174 George Gardner – L Flynn, D Mustain
11 165 Al Kaufman – ND Ross, Johnson
12 155 Jim Corbett – L Jeffries – Retired
13 150 Pete Everett –L Ruhlin - Retired
14 141 Mike Schreck – W Gardner, Barry D Cole L Twin Sullivan
15 125 Ed Martin – L Johnson, Armstrong, McVey
16 117 Jack Sullivan – D
17 115 Sam McVey – L Johnson, Martin
18 105.193 Kid McCoy - Retired
19 86.9 Barbados Joe Walcott – D Smith, Sawyer Others
20 80 Sandy Ferguson – L Hart, Walcott, ND Johnson
21 79 Stanley Ketchell – W Mike Sullivan, Papke, Kelly
22 79 Sam Langford – W Cole, Holly, Jackson L Jeanette
23 68 Jim Flynn – W Battling Johnson ND Barry, Sullivan L Kaufman, Langford
24 60 Jimmy Burns - W Rowen, Everett, Tracey – Then Retired!
25 57 Tony Ross – D Schreck, ND Kaufman, Johnson, L Har
26 53 Hugo Kelly – D Ryan, Sullivan, Papke
27 53 Dixie Kid – D Cole, Temple
28 50 Bill Lang – W Fitzsimmons, Squires
29 46 West – L Ryan, Hart,
30 46 Tommy Ryan – W Stift & Others ND O’Brien & Root
31 45 Joe Choynski – L Carter – Retired
32 43 Kid Carter – W Butler, Grim L McVey, O brien, Ruhlin, Walcott, Hart
33 34 Young Corbett – L Ryan – Retired.
34 33.6 George Cole - Stift, Holly & Williams L O Brien
35 28.776 Peter Maher – L Choynski Gardner, Munroe
36 27.9 Frank Childs – L Johnson W Klondike - Retired
37 25.34 Jack Williams – L Bill McKinnon, D Clarke
38 24 Bill Hanrahan – L Childs, Choynski – Retired
39 21.9 Joe Kennedy – D HankGriffin, L Jim Jeffries
40 19.994 Terry Mustain – D Gardner, L Young Peter Jackson
41 19 Mike Donovan – D Blackburn & others W Walcott
42 15.7 Nick Burley – L Billy Woods, Sullivan
43 15 Bill Papke – W Kelly, Ketchell & Others L Ketchell
44 14.1 Peter Jackson- L O Brien, Langford D Johnson
45 13.5 Joe Jeanette – Jeffords, Cole, Ferguson & Others D Langford ND Barry
46 12 Bob Armstrong – W Martin, Black Fitzsimmons L Gardner, Ferguson
47 9 Billy Woods – D Barry – Retired
48 7.4 Jim Barry – W Gunboat Smith & Others L Ferguson, McVey ND Langford
49 5.5 Morgan Williams – W Burley & others L Terry Mustain
50 5.3 Fred Bradley –L Stewart, Connolly, Kaufman
51 5 Mike Sullivan - W Martin, D Gardner & Others
52 4.39 Jack Blackburn - W Williams, Barry & Others D Donovan, Cole & others
53 4 Eddie Smith – W Donvan then retired
54 3.18 Jim Jeffords – Jeanette, Ross, Stewart
55 3 Jimmy Gardner – W Sullivan & Others
56 2.419 Fred Cooley – Riordan & Mills L Willis & Moran
57 2.26 Young Mahoney – L Tim O neil
58 1.2 Jim Stewart – W Bonner, Jeffords & Others ND Mccoy L Barry
59 0.985 Sailor bourke – Grim, Holy & Others ND Johnson, Jeffords
60 0.708 Charles Cutler - W Jeffords, L Jim Barry, Johnson then Retired
61 0.6 Bartley Connolly – L Thomas, Sawyer,
62 0.5 Terry martin – W Conolly ND Sawyer
63 0.5 Gerry Connley – W Bartley Connolly & Retired
64 0.4 Tom Thomas W Bartley Connolly, & Others
65 0.37 Bill MacKinnon – D Sullivan L Gardner W Sailor Burke
66 0.3 Tom Sawyer – D Walcott, L Martin
67 0.23 Willis – W Mustain, Geyer L Jackson, Flynn
68 0.197 Willie Lewis – W Sailor Bourke & Others L Papke
69 0.17 Frank Klaus – W Williams ND Papke, Flynn & OThers
70 0.15 Gunboat Smith – W Martin & Others
71 0.14 Tom O Neil W Young Mahoney, Young Peter Jackson
72 0.14 Joe Kosid – W Young Mahoney L Mahoney retired

 

mattdonnellon,

if you are around, is there any chance you could put up all of the pre 1900 rankings you have done. I am virtually at the stage of putting together the all time lists and i wouldnt mind looking at/including some of your earlier work so we could get a bit of a comparison on some of the pre 1900s fighters. I know it is not strictly the same as the lineal rankings i did, but they will be very similar at the top end and the difficulties in record tracing probably means that it is the only real way to get rankings from these earlier times.

 

Thanks Matt,
I have just about put together the all time list (hopefully i dont have too many arithmetic errors). it was amazing how many mistakes i picked up on the way through. I will add your rankings in, which should give us a good guide of those early rounds, although to start with, sticking with the lineal formula, i probably could put in the following:

John L Sullivan 1882-1892 - 985 points. 9 years at the top plus 1 second place.
Jim Corbett 1892-1897 500 85 60 - 645. 5 years as champion before losing to Fitz and then Sharkey.
Bob Fitzsimmons 1897-1899 200 85 285
Tom Sharkey 70 70
Jim Jeffries 100 100

 

Here is the 1880s based purely on Matts Rankings. In time i will probably change some of these according to the known lineal results but there shouldnt be too much difference.

1 945 John L Sullivan 1
2 500 Jake Kilrain 2
3 415 George Godfrey 3
4 340 Charlie Mitchell 4
5 285 Patsy Cardiff 5
6 255 Jack Burke 6
7 235 Dominic McCaffrey 7
8 235 Pat Killen 8
9 230 Charles Hadley 9
10 210 Peter Jackson 10
11 177 Mike Cleary 11
12 177 William Miller 12
13 155 Paddy Ryan 13
14 142 Joe Lannon 14
15 100 John Dwyer 15
16 90 Bill Farnan 16
17 85 C C Smith 17
18 82 Jack Ashton 18
19 80 Paddy Slavin 19
20 47 Jimmy Eliott 20
21 40 Alf Greenfield 21
22 40 James Dalton 22
23 40 Joe Goss 23
24 40 Morris Grant 24
25 35 Larry Foley 25
26 30 Harry Woodson 26
27 25 John Donaldson 27
28 25 McHenry Johnson 28
29 22 Joe Goddard 29
30 22 John Knifton 30
31 22 McDonald 31
32 22 Mervine Thompson 32
33 22 Tom Lees 33

 

And Here is the 1890s. Jim Corbett finishing just ahead of Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Jackson. Once again, i have used Matts rankings with no adjustments at the moment.

1 665 Jim Corbett
2 620 Bob Fitzsimmons
3 525 Peter Jackson
4 437 Peter Maher
5 372 Joe Choynski
6 335 Paddy Slavin
7 305 Joe Goddard
8 275 Tom Sharkey
9 215 Jim Jeffries
10 152 George Godfrey (Chocolate)
11 145 Jim Hall
12 125 Gus Ruhlin
13 125 Joe McAuliffe
14 110 Smith (Denver Ed?)
15 107 Jake Kilrain
16 105 Frank Childs
17 90 Charles Kid McCoy
18 87 Bob Armstrong
19 60 Dan Creedon
20 60 Denver Smith
21 47 Laing (Harry)
22 47 O’Donnell
23 35 Kennedy
24 35 Peter Felix
25 25 Pat Killen
26 22 Ed Martin
27 22 Steve O’Donnell

 

I will post the all time greatest top 1000 (and a bit) heavyweights soon.

Some comments first:

Hopefully there are not too many errors. I found an awful lot of double ups and other errors which had to be fixed on the way through, so no doubt there will be some errors but i think they are pretty good and accurate. In reality, most of the errors occur in the low rankings and have little if any effect on the fighters final all time great ranking.

The rankings are good in that they assume a parity of era. Eg a top 10 fighter in the 20s is as good as a top 10 fighter in the 90s for example. This is the only fair way of ranking. Especially with Rule changes and other environment changes.

The rankings do definitely place longevity as a very important factor. Probably more so than most people do today. With that being said, when you think about it, that is only fair. The object of the sport is to fight as long as you can and be good as long as you can. It is a little shame that the system penalises fighters for retiring at the right time, but i think any ranking system is going to have this problem.

There are some very surprising results, but when you consider that longevity is a main factor i think they stand up pretty good and are probably the most accurate and unbiased rankings i can think of. I think they stand up pretty well against their main oppostion (the boxrec all time rankngs).

 

1 1975 Jack Johnson
2 1600 Joe Louis
3 1525 Muhammed Ali
4 1375 Bob Fitzsimmons
5 1339 Evander Holyfield
6 1283.49 Wlad Klitchsko
7 1212 Floyd Patterson
8 1126.17 Larry Holmes
9 1063.6 George Foreman
10 1045 Alexander Povetkin
11 994 Jack Dempsey
12 992 Sonny Liston
13 945 John L Sullivan
14 834.38 Lennox Lewis
15 820 Jim Corbett
16 800.28 Mike Tyson
17 771 Tommy Burns
18 735 Peter Jackson
19 715 James Jeffries
20 710 Joe Fazier
21 665.2 Chris Byrd -
22 644.2 Trevor Berbick
23 637 Jack O Brien
24 630.7 Max Baer
25 617.3 Max Schmelling
26 615 Gus Ruhlin
27 607 Jake Kilrain
28 589.66 Oliver McCall
29 567 George Godfrey(Chocolate)
30 545 Jerry Quarry
31 531.4 James Toney
32 510.3 Ezzard Charles
33 510 Tom Sharkey
34 507 Zora Foley -
35 500 Jimmy Bivins
36 495 Ingemar Johansen
37 494.8 Jess Willard
38 478.319 Sam Langford
39 472 Ken Norton
40 470.84 Tim Witherspoon
41 470 Rocky Marciano -
42 441 Jimmy ellis
43 437 Peter Maher
44 423.7 Pinklin Thomas -
45 417 Joe Choynski
46 415 Paddy Slavin
47 394 Riddick Bowe
48 387.4 Eddie Machen
49 386.14 Jim Braddock
50 383 Anthony Joshua -
51 370.5 Michael Spinks
52 370.19 Sam McVey
53 368.99 Shannon Briggs
54 362.16 Carl Williams
55 358 Tommy Jackson -
56 351.16 Vitali Klitchsko
57 348.83 Michael Moorer
58 347.6 Gene Tunney
59 347 Joe Walcott
60 343.1 Fred Fulton
61 340 Charlie Mitchell
62 337.59 Hasim Rahman
63 333 Joe Walcott
64 332 Frank Moran
65 328 Joey Maxim
66 327 Joe Goddard
67 319.8 George Godfrey
68 315 John Ruiz
69 315 Tami Mauriello -
70 314.15 Jack Sharkey
71 313.5 Young Stibling
72 310 Marvin Hart
73 305 Lee Oma
74 301.5 Jim Coffey -
75 300 Bob Baker
76 298.8 Eddie Chambers
77 296 Primo Carnera
78 293 Tomasz Adamek
79 292 Harry Mathews
80 286.921 Harry Wills
81 285 Patsy Cardiff
82 280 Chris Henry
83 275 Lou Nova
84 272 Ed Martin
85 271.4 Renaldo Snipes
86 270.27 Tony Tucker -
87 270 Sam Peter
88 269.19 John Tate
89 264 Nino Valdes
90 263.17 Mike Weaver
91 260 Pat Killen
92 259 Tony Galento
93 257.011 Leon Spinks
94 255 Jack Burke
95 253.17 George Chuvalo
96 253 Nicolai Valuev
97 250.36 Carl Morris
98 250 Artur Spzilka
99 249 Don ****ell
100 242.6 Oscar Bonavena
101 240.2 Al Kaufman
102 238.8 Archie Moore
103 237.9 Frank Childs
104 235 Dominic McCaffrey
105 233 Rex Layne -
106 232.57 Gerrie Coetzee -
107 231.9 Jim Maloney
108 230 Charles Hadley
109 230 Charles Martin
110 229 Johnny Risko
111 225.7 Ruslan Chagaev
112 225.567 Jim Flynn
113 219.1 Earnie Shavers
114 219.05 Tommy Loughran
115 216.9 Jameel McCline
116 214.3 Henry Akinwande
117 213 Deontay Wilder
118 211 Ernie Terrell
119 209.35 Larry Donald
120 203 Phil Scott
121 202.3 Jimmy Young
122 200 Lee Savold
123 198.39 Greg page
124 198.193 Charles Kid McCoy
125 193.8 James Douglas
126 186.5 Harold Johnson
127 186.45 Frank Bruno
128 186.3 Robert Helenius
129 186.2 Herbie Hide
130 184 Elmer Ray
131 180 Tommy Farr
132 177 William Miller
133 177 Mike Cleary
134 177 Jack Root
135 174 George Gardner
136 173.878 Gunboat Smith
137 170 Thabiso Mchunu
138 170 Adam Kownacki
139 170 Lee Q Murray
140 165 Mike Schreck
141 162.74 Orlin Norris
142 161.26 James Smith
143 159.85 Adilson Rodrigues -
144 159.69 Michael Dokes
145 157 Eddie Blunt
146 155 Paddy Ryan
147 152 Tyson Fury
148 151.7 Dennis Lebedev
149 151 Roberto Roberti
150 150 Pete Everett
151 149 Stanley Ketchell
152 148 Tiger Flowers
153 147.15 Henry Cooper
154 145 Jim Hall
155 145 Thad Spencer
156 144.6 Battling Levinskey
157 143.49 Harry Greb
158 142.07 Everett Martin -
159 142 Joe Lannon
160 141 Bernardo Mercado -
161 141 Larry Gains
162 141 Karl Mildenberg
163 140.4 Bill Lang
164 139 Jefferson Davis
165 135 Greg Logan
166 135 Leotis Martin
167 132.6 Ron Lyle
168 131.6 Dan Flynn
169 130.7 Jack Renault
170 130 Viacheslav Glaszkov
171 130 Bob Stallings
172 128 Ernie Terrell - W Garcia
173 126 Bob Cleroux
174 126 Charle Weinert
175 125 David Bey
176 125 Joe McAuliffe
177 124.19 Harry Texas Tate
178 123.91 Siarhei Liakovich -
179 121 Ted Jamieson
180 120 Shaun George
181 120 Joe Baksi
182 119 Red Burman
183 117 Jack Sullivan
184 116 Bob Roper
185 115.8 Maxie Rosenbloom
186 114.265 Alfredo Evangelista
187 113.299 DaVarall Williamson
188 112.7 Joe Bugner -
189 112.4 Tony Tubbs -
190 111.05 Brian Nielson
191 110.93 Tony Ross
192 110 Smith (Denver Ed?)
193 110 Al Ettore
194 109.7 Ossie Occasio
195 109 Bob Pastor
196 109 Roland La Starza
197 105 Melio Bettina
198 104.698 Eric Molina
199 104 Wayne Bethea -
200 102.3 Corrie Sanders
201 102.16 Mike De John
202 102 Bob Satterfield
203 100 Charlie Retzlaff
204 100 John Dwyer
205 100 Roberto Delfino
206 99.8 Ernie Schaaf
207 99.4 Jack Dillon
209 97 Joe Kahut
210 95.36 Sedrick Fields -
211 95 John Henry Lewis
212 93 Ilunga Mkabu
213 92.74 Maurice Harris
214 91.72 Donovan Ruddock
215 90.357 Dominic Breazeale
216 90.19 Sandy Ferguson
217 90 Luther McCarthy
218 90 Bill Farnan
219 89.6 Roger Rischer -
220 89.16 King Levinskey
221 89 Jimmy Slade
222 89 Alejandro Lavarante -
223 88.46 Monte Barrett -
224 88.046 Colin Bell
225 88 Earl Walls
226 87.9 Marvin Frazier
227 87.6 Joe Alexander -
228 87 Freddie Beshore -
229 87 Tommy Harrison
230 87 Brian London -
231 86.98 Barbados Joe Walcott
232 86.9 Lou Bogash
233 86 Buddy Walker
234 85.5 Randall Cobb -
235 85 Andy Ruiz Jr
236 85 C C Smith
237 84 Art Lasky
238 83.4 Leo Houck
239 83 Tuffy Griffiths
240 82.17 David Haye
241 82 Earnie Schaaf
242 82 Jack Ashton
243 79 Victorio Campolo
244 79 Jack Delaney
245 78.4 Dave Smith – L Clabby, McGoorty W Clabby
246 78 Bob Olin
247 77.4 Lucas Browne
248 76 Charlie Norkus
249 75.7 Stanley Poreda
250 75.6 Young Bob fitzsimmons

 

It is quite ironic that the racial politics that fought to wipe him out. Actually resulted in him improving his legacy. Massively under this system.

It is funny, i can remeber reading some old time all time top 10s. one in particular, it might have been nat fleisher was done before alis second reign and it had jack johnson, Joe Louis and Bob Fitzsimmons as top3. I can also remember Burns and Paterson being rated by some old timers. I remember thinking how ridiculous it was, but this system shows it cant be too far wrong when longevity is a key factor. these ratings are not perfect but they cannot be too far wrong. the top 10 of each decade was usually pretty close to being correct.