Nat Fleischer's Top 10 Heavyweights

True,it is surprising that Fleischer rated Johnson as no 1.However Fleischer's complete dismissal of Ali's
greatness does show his views were governed by other factors rather than prowess in the ring.

 

Which fighters specifically were they talking about?

 

Just goes to show..

 

There may be others CT, but the one i'm familiar with is from Ring 1968 (cover below), Jacobs claimed "pictures don't lie: modern boxers are fare superior to old timers" presents a view that, in all honesty, a lot of us have reached when we can be true to ourselves, in that we are often disappointed in some of these old time fighters after 'seeing' (rather than reading) the opinions of others. He acknowledges that these fighters were excellent...for their time but that modern boxers (late 1960s in this case) were generally far superior to those around 50 years before.

Nat's claims that doesn't represent a true vision of what he has "in his mind" about these fighters and blasts all the film footage; Jacobs answers that you can still tell techniques and that some of those early bouts were a mixture of a fight and a pie-eating contest.

Fleisher went berserk and stole all of Jim's fight films burned them in a ceremonial bonfire attended by all the Ring's staff, Henry Kissinger, Spiro Agnew, John Wayne and Lassie, chanting "Ruby Rob Yeay, Draft Dodger Nay".

File:68Mar.jpg - BoxRec

 

Boxing News did its own 'best ever' heavies around this time to (late 1971). The top few were:

Louis
Johnson
Marciano
Dempsey
Ali
Frazier.

It's fair to say it's gives more props to then 'modern' fighters than they ' Nats-led' Ring back then.

 

All of these bums would be beaten by my top ten.

1. "Fireman" Jim McCorkindale 2. "Hard Drinking" Matt Fitzherbert 3. Joe "Sugarcane Cutter" De Boisgilbert 4. "Randy Harry" 5. "Irish Onelegged" Pol O'Flaherty 6. "Blind in both eyes" McFadden 7. Francois "The Purple Pimpernell" Chevalier 8. "Crusty Edward" 9. Ernie "Tiny man with massive balls" Halfanshawe 10. Jeremia "Speeding tickets" Johnstone

 

"FLEISCHER BLASTS OLD FIGHT FILMS!"

-- His boxing skills may have been primitive, but Fleischer's clickbait titles would still be competitive today.

 

Let's see...Nat Fleischer's opinion....or yours...Gee...let me think about it!

 

Hmm..... I think I'll go for Moneymay1.Fleischer's ratings were dreadful.

 

I think Ali's incredibly brave performance against Smokin' Joe in '71 made him an ATG.Same goes for Smokin'Joe.

 

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that view. However, there is perhaps also a case for not having him take the place of anyone on an already established ATG listing, at that stage. After all, it was a loss for Ali.

Add to this that Ali went on to achieve hugely significant wins, including his redemption against Frazier, and I think it fair to say there is a marked gap between how he was perceived in early '71 and what people would come to think of him by late '75.

 

Obviously Fleischer had a different lens , one that altered quite a bit year to year, book to book .. while her met and spent a lot of time with the old timers I wonder how often he saw any of them fight live ? AS far as Ali off his list, you can't help but think it was motivated by the issues of the day because by the end of his 1960's title reign Ali was already being hailed as an all time great fighter at heavyweight by many .. he was not the popular icon but he was absolutely hailed as a great fighter so the source you go by is critical .. Ali -Frazier 1 was such an exceptional worldwide event as much because of two undefeated champs as what they both represented to a divided culture ..

 

Your memory of where this article came from might well be better than mine. Sixty year old memories are pretty shaky for old geezers like me. But it is all I have to rely on in some cases. There were a number of publications putting out yearbooks.

I do recall that exchange about Fitz and Corbett was in the article although Dundee was not. I think, involved in the article I read.

 

Fitz and Corbett. Jeffries and Ruhlin. And McGovern, Ketchell, Root, Dixon, Griffo. The turn of the century fighters on film.

If I recall the article correctly, when word got around there was a second showing with more boxing writers present. The consensus of this second group was that some of the old timers were badly overrated, but this did not entirely include Jack Johnson and Joe Gans.

 

Boston Tom McMustache would beat that lot with one side of his mustache shaved off … hell, he’d probably kill them with his bare hands if they even tried it.

And how can you leave out Iron Balls McGinty?