Tommy Burns fighting today...

Regarding the "same day weigh in" rule, it is important to not that there were a lot of ways round it (see the McGovern thread).

I don't think that every old timer would necisarily be a ble to drop a weight class today.

Having said that, I agree that 160lbs for Burns should be doable. So after he takes out Kelly Pavlik we can go after the winner of the super six. Then we will go after Dawson or Admek.

 

Burns is recorded as scaling 168lbs for both Jack Johnson and Jem Roche.
He actually had a longer reach than Johnson.

 

Noah is a very underrated fighter. I tend to buy the argument that he was in fact sick for the Johnson fight, though I don't see him winning regardless.

Today, he gets beat by every champ from Paq up to Vitali.

 

He was in negotiations to fight Tommy Ryan at a limit of 158lbs when he got the call from Hart.

I suspect that a future Pollack biography about Burns might turn up a few interesting snippets.

 

Burns was very clever and calculating, perhaps one of the most underated fighters of all. You dont beat O'Brien easily and hammer Flynn and a bunch of British/Irish champs and hang with Kelly, Schreck, and Twin Sullivan without class. Pelkey was a top contender when a semi-retired Burns handed him his ass. And Hart was a very solid performer. Here was a guy who would adapt to any era/any weight class-a true out-and-out athlete.

 

I think that this is the most interesting part of the post.

 

He floored Pelkey 3 times, was down once himself and forced the action. Reporters felt he won the ND affair and would have won a longer contest.

 

Burns all the way

 

And a great right hand puncher, accurate and powerful....

 

Was there ever any consideration of a Burns-Johnson rematch?

 

Johnson owned him so totally that i dont think so...not that i have ever heard of....

 

Burns was called a middleweight from the very beginning (as early as April 1902), a 150-pounder, weighing between 152 and 158 pounds during his first two years in the ring.

 

There was the contention made by some that Burns was an ill man for their bout, evidenced by his light weight of 168. I suspect Burns knew that even in his best shape he was no match for Johnson (though a few men of equal size gave Johnson all he could handle). But give him credit at least, he got in the ring with Johnson... finally.

 

Oh, and before somebody says he started two years earlier and could have been lw or ww during that time, I highly doubt it. Fred Thornton bout took place in Jan 1902 (1900 is clearly a dupe with same result), Billy Walsh in Feb (ditto for 1901), George Steele in March (same), Ed Sholtreau KO1 in April (not a W10).