How would you have this list? You can include both gloved and bare knuckle, or do two separate lists if you’d prefer. To qualify as a 19th century fighter, they need to have at least 5 pro fights take place in the 1800’s (not just be born in the 1800’s).
Jack Dempsey, Jack Mcauliffe, John L, Peter Jackson, Joe Walcott, Tommy Ryan, Fitz, Kid McCoy, Terry McGovern, Joe Gans.Others off the top of my head, Dixon, Corbett, Jeffries, Choynski, Griffo, Maher, Erne, Charlie Mitchell, Jimmy Barry
Good list. I would include Jack Johnson too (BoxRec shows him only having 4 fights in the 19th century but Cyber Boxing Zone lists several additional fights in the late 1890s, putting him well over the 5 fight criteria I included for inclusion to this list).
It's really hard to assess the bareknuckle ones, especially of the lower weights. It'd take a lot of work to really get a good understanding of all the lower weight bareknuckle fighters, far more than I have done. Jack Johnson may have fought in the 1800's, but he didn't do anything then to be worth considering. Dutch Sam, Jack Randall, Tom Sayers, Jem Mace, Nat Langham would be some of those worth considering, no clue about how to rank them.
If I had to make a list just for gloved fighters, I guess it'd look something like this Bob Fitzsimmons George Dixon Tommy Ryan Young Griffo Kid McCoy Jimmy Barry Kid Lavigne Terry McGovern Jack McAuliffe Jack Dempsey I think Joe Gans only really came into his own 1900. McGovern is also a lot lower because a lot of his wins were after 1900
