The Greats...

It's nice that you're enthusiastic about such an interesting figure, but who else would you name from your list, who was outfought, in his prime by a fighter like Mick Macintyre? Or Rudy Unholz? Also, if BN is one of the greatest fighter to have ever breathed, where is Ad Wolgast, who conclusively proved himself a superior fighter? Where is Jimmy Britt, who put a beating on him and dominated their series 2-1-1? What are these numerous losses telling us about Nelson do you think?

 

When you're throwing your list together be wary of the man who lets others in. Is it really likely that Britt, Wolgast and Nelson all breathed the same thin air? It is not. What is more likely is that fighters like Wolgast and Britt are signalling you, clearly, that Nelson doesn't belong.

So do the other two dozen or so fighters who defeated him.

But one of the following things is true: Wolgast, Nelson and Britt all belong in the top 30 ATGs or none of them do.

 

Here are the fighters Kid Lavigne lost to at lightweight: Kid Erne during his comeback; Jimmy Britt; Elbows McFadden (McFadden btw has a clearly better than Nelson himself);Jack Daly (world title challenger); Charlie McKeever (his one and only embarrassment.).

Battling Nelson: professional loser Mike Riley; professional loser Joe Percente; Eddie Santry (this may have been at FW and Santry was pretty good); professional loser Mike Walsh; a journeyman named Charles Berry. Twice; Eddie Stearns, who nobody knows anything about because he just didn't have a notable professional career and is rumoured to have KO'd Nelson 18 months before his first title shot; Rudy Unholz.

You get the point.

And i'm not listing here the losses to the top fighters - but he lost to every single one of them with no exceptions.

He also lost to the good guys he fought with alarming regularity.

In short, in all phases of his career, he suffered numerous losses to fighters who Lavigne routinely pasted.

 

No, not at all.

That's the point; BN's consistentcy was atrocious. Not bad. Not ok. It was atrocious - OR, he wasn't as good as you think. One of those things are true.

All information from a fighter's career provides perspective. It's all knowledge. Here's what BN's career record tells me:

He wasn't as good as Jimmy Britt.
He wasn't as good as Wolgast.
He wasn't great over shorter distances.
He wasn't good enough to beat Abe Attell.
He could be beaten by journeyman, it happened quite a bit.

This information pegs him, is indicative of a certain level or standard. That standard certainly isn't top 25 ATGd, nor does it rank him above Kid Lavigne.