Troubled me for a while this. One of the toughest for me to rate. For starters he looks very caveman like on film. Minimal regard for defence, lack of a jab. But he does have good punch variety and cuts the ring off well. His power and chin aren't in question for me. Technically speaking he can be out boxed punch for punch, the question for me is how often would he catch up to man and knock him out. Gibbons and Tiger school him, I've no real doubt about that. But guys like Steele, Apostoli, LaMotta, Nunney, McCallum, can he overcome those by forcing the action and out punching his man. Is it reasonable to have him in a top 15 h2h list?
No, Ketchel is very primitive both aesthetically and technically, I'd rate him h2h against fighters who fought from and around his era, not all time.
I agree that Ketchell does not look good on film, but we have to look at his results. Tommy Burns looks very good on film, yet he got better results vs the same opposition. O’Brien looks a lot better on film, het he demolished him. The conclusion seems inescapable, that he was a lot better than he looked.
There is limited footage of Ketchel. One he is fighting an ATG hwt champion. The other a great middleweight who held on for dear life in every round. Ketchel was rated an ATG for a reason. Can't dismiss decades upon decades of positive press.
I'm not questioning his power or his chin or his will to win. But he looks so basic on what we can see it's hard to not favour modern fighters just outboxing him over 12.
That's the point. The footage we have shows Ketchel at his worst not best. Apple is holding for dear life and the other is the ATG hwt champion. Ketchels power. Savagery, will to win and relentlessness gives him his all time greatness aka Marciano it was not all boxing basics with Ketchel.
Someone like Macklin I could imagine Ketchel beating. But someone like Murray? Have a hard time picturing that.
We have film of Ketchel in 2 fights if I remember right. Johnson and Papke 4. The Johnson fight was staged from what I have read so I don't count that fight at all. Papke was a slugger so it's hard to technically rate Ketchel. In that fight he showed a good chin and punch but not much else. I agree he looks crude in that fight and judging off of that alone I don't put him anywhere near my Middleweight top 10.
Fighting was different then. There was lots of grabbing, holding and clinching. How else do you go 20 rounds???
