Inspired by the post-1940 thread. Who would you put, I guess starting with the decade boxing began being filmed; the 1890s.
As with the last thread, skill is subjective and means different things to different people. The most accomplished, imo, based on bouts contested in each respective decade only: 90's - Fitzsimmons 00's - Gans 10's - Greb 20's - Greb 30's - Armstrong 40's - SRR
1890s - no idea cause the footage is dreadful. Corbett maybe. Peter Jackson based on written accounts but who knows? 1900's - Joe Gans. Although the available footage isn't great, Gans does look like a marvel on film. 1910's - Sam Langford OR Jack Dempsey. I say its a tie. Langford was an amazing boxer-puncher who successfully beat much bigger men. He looks quite refined on film. Dempsey created a unique style that may have become more common in subsequent decades but was uncommon at the time. The bobbing and weaving to slip inside, the terrific combinations, etc. He pioneered the style that Mike Tyson later refined. 1920's - Benny Leonard or Gene Tunney. 1930's - Joe Louis 1940's - SRR I say Louis was so technically good. His combination punching is still the best in history which itself is a tremendous skill. His jab and counter punching were outstanding. His subtle pressure, ability to parry punches, working the head and body equally well. Its very hard to do it from the 1900-1930 era because so much footage isn't available and a lot of the available footage is not great in quality. But this is the best i can come up with based on the decent films available.
George Dixon is the most skilled fighter pre 1900 i would guess. But yeah it is all guesses. The exciting part about this is that up until gans retired, the most skilled fighter in the world was probably the most skilled fighter there had ever been.
