Pre_Ring Magazine Year-end heavyweight ratings 1882-1922

The only other ones you could go back to 1882 with would be Middleweight, Lightweight and maybe Featherweight.

Early Featherweight was so Ill defined I'm not sure you could get any sensible rankings.

 

Terrific job on a lot of hard work here !

 

Slavin lost to Armstrong by 10th round KO in November 1895.

 

That's interesting. I've had a quick look and am also struggling to find a contemporary source. According to "The World Colored Heavyweight Championship, 1876-1937" by Mark Allen Baker:

"On November 5 1895, Slavin tackled Bob Armstrong inside the Union Park Athletic Club in Hoboken, New Jersey. At the opening bell, Slavin, true to form, rushed Armstrong and began trading punches. Anticipating the strategy, Armstrong locked in with his left jab and delivered at will. By the tenth round, Slavin had slowed, and Armstrong capitalized by knocking him out. The loss couldn't have happened at a worse time for Slavin, as his team was negotiating a lucrative battle with Peter Maher, formerly the Irish Champion and claiming the championship of America. Wisely, Slavin persuaded the predominantly White press to focus their attention elsewhere until after a rematch."

So according to Mr Baker, this fight was not reported at the time due to a cover up by Slavin. I'm not sure of the source of his information, but both Boxrec and Cyber Boxing Zone list the fight, so presumably they have seen a reliable source?

Obviously I will defer to your knowledge on the negotiations with Maher and how this may have influenced the press coverage.

 

No corroborative information ever arose on Jeffries vs Childs I guess?

 

This is a great thread. I am rereading Adam's book on Fitzsimmons and coming to appreciate Jim Hall all the more.

 

Boxrec has gotten records from old fighters from Mechanics Delight Cards before.

I wouldn't be the only time they've gotten fights from not the best source.

I think the fight between Bob Fitzsimmons and Lew Joslin (the leadville blacksmith) almost certainly didn't happen either. IIRC he was in New York when it was supposed to have happened.

 

My current theory is that it was a confused report of his fight with Hank Griffin, which Jeffries said happened much earlier than boxrec lists.

 

A bit off topic but I think relevant to the topic.

I came across on article in a 1890's San Francisco paper about a women's reform group organizing boycotts of newspapers which covered and reported on boxing matches. This would have been part of the progressive movement, with boxing lumped with prostitution, gambling, and booze as social evils which had to be eradicated.

This being the case, it is not surprising if this or that newspaper limited its coverage of boxing bouts.

 

I wonder also about box rec. For example, knocking out Louis-Toles from the records the guys who were there kept, but adding Louis-Davis which every contemporary record keeper considered an exhibition. A 3 or 4 round scheduled championship fight is ridiculous. Another example is lumping the fights of someone named Savoldi into the record of Lee Savold. I wonder how they know that the preliminary fighter Savoldi was the same person as Savold.