The under rated resume of Jack Sharky

Technically Sharkey was a sound fighter. He had genuine two handed power. Some of his wins were quite outstanding. it seems he only took big fights too. There's none of the barnstorming mismatches that pad everey other champions early record. He must have been seen as a talent from the beginning.

Although much is made of his temperament but I don't see that it cost him too many bouts. He reacted angrily at times like when Carnera took a knee and when Phil Scott and Schmeling claimed fouls against him but in comparison to say Golota, Brian London Or that German guy called muller I don't think he was that unstable during action. No more than anyone else.

 

Very true...great posting

 

Great post J.

Does anyone know why Sharkey was fighting ranked guys so early on?

 

Sharkey is underrated. I think two reasons one he has lot of losses on his ledger and 2 the way he lost his title and to who it was.

Godfrey and Wills a month apart when most avoided both guys then the Delaney KO later on.
Good fighter gave Dempsey all he could handle

 

Several points which were made above

1--inexperienced-----but he fought in the Navy. How much experience did he gain there? Hard to say. He was a relatively mature 22 when he turned pro. Interestingly, Jim Maloney was just as inexperienced as a pro fighter when he fought and defeated Sharkey in their first fight.

2--fought often-----but so did most of his opponents. Compare him with his rival, Jim Maloney. Maloney also started in 1924 and fought to 1933. Sharkey fought from 1924 to 1936. Maloney had 72 fights. Sharkey 55.

3--fought a lot of top men-----okay.

4--Lost a lot-----given as a reason he is underrated. But this is a rather important consideration. Again comparing him to his rival Maloney. Maloney won 52 of 72. Sharkey 38 of 55. My calculator comes up with Maloney having a slightly better winning percentage. No getting around that Sharkey lost fights a really top man shouldn't have lost. The KO defeat to Romero-Rojas for example.

5--punching power-----13 KO's in 55 fights puts him way down the list of heavyweight champions for punching power. A lot of ordinary contenders were probably more dangerous punchers.

What about his big wins. Champions. Schmeling? Problem here is most thought he lost. Carnera? He did what Maloney and Gains also did in his first fight with Primo. In the second he flopped. Wills? Could be his most impressive win, but it is worth noting that Uzcudun beat Wills more impressively in his next fight. Godfrey? Hard to ever judge what this really means. Did George wear the cuffs? Was it all that Sharkey had to do was last to get the win from his hometown officials? Delaney? I read years ago Delaney was actually drunk for this fight. Still, there is no doubt Sharkey fought and beat a lot of contenders.

I think Sharkey has a "glass is half full and half empty" resume. Too many wins over name fighters to dismiss, but also wins on questionable decisions (Schmeling & Renault), and DQ's when he was losing badly (2nd Maloney fight), plus a rapid decline into mediocrity--the KO loss to Carnera and the one-sided decision loss to Levinsky in 1933. One can make a case for him being underrated, but equally as overrated.

 

Even-handed post.
On his best night Sharkey may have given Tunney hell, the problem is Sharkey could only draw with Heeney and lost to Risko thereby giving the Marine a softer option for a farewell defence with the plodding Heeney.

 

Sharkey's excuse for losing to Rojas was that he had just got married.It didn't seem to affect Louis against Max Baer.

 

He also lost to him! Actually they did, Steve Hamas stopped Loughran in2 rds!.

 

I've read that the Godfrey bout was on the level.

I guess it's all depends where you choose to Rank Sharkey if he's overrated or underrated. Most people that saw him attest that he had fantastic skills.

Godfrey, Wills, Loughran, Stribling, Primo, Delaney,

Even if you remove the Schmeling win which most sources said was flat out robbery, Jack has solid resume.

Throw in A good fight in a losing effort to Dempsey.

I think he detoriated fast after the second Schmeling fight. He didn't look sharp in that bout either.

He took on the top two leading African American contenders, two men widely avoided and defeated them both less than a month apart.

He stopped Loughran the Phantom of Philly. Hard to do.

Delaney if he wasn't drunk, another impressive win.

Good wins mixed with some bad losses. To me he looks good on film in most cases