Top 5 Favorite Fighters from 1900-1960?

Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsey
Willie Pep
Georges Carpentier
Gene Tunney

- in random order

 

Any good books or documentaries on Burns? Outside of mentions in features on Johnson, I haven't heard much about him.

 

1. Archie Moore
2. Joe Louis
3. Ezzard Charles
4. Willie Pep
5. Sonny Liston

I can make 5 more lists like this on any given day... its hard.

 

How many philipinos were fighting back then?

 

Charley Burley (debut 1936)
Holman Williams (debut 1932)
Kid Gavilan (debut 1943)
Luis Rodriguez (debut 1956)
Ike Williams (debut 1940)

 

Only 2 exclusively that I know of.....this one was excellent: [ame]http://www.amazon.ca/Tommy-Burns-Canadas-Heavyweight-Champion/dp/1550286978[/ame]


I highly recommend it to any boxing fan....such a shame how the damage to Tommy's rep by the racist media was never erased.


""I will defend my title against all comers, none barred. By this I mean white, black, Mexican, Indian, or any other nationality. I propose to be the champion of the world not the white, or the Canadian or the American. If I am not the best man in the heavyweight division, I don't want the title."

In an era of pervasive racism, Tommy Burns had the courage to embrace bouts with African-Americans, including the great Jack Johnson. When Johnson won, the American South exploded with racial violence and Burns' reputation was widely smeared. But Burns was a terrific fighter who still holds many records after almost a century: he's the only World Heavyweight Champion to have defended his title twice in one night; his eight consecutive knockouts while champ have never been bettered; and at 5'7" he was the shortest titleholder in history.

Award-winning journalist Dan McCaffery at last tells Burns' astonishing story: his humble beginnings and hard-won success, as well as his personal tragedies and virtually unmourned death. Here is a heroic Canadian who beat the odds, defied world opinion, and came out swinging."

 

Tommy Burns an O.G. indeed.

 

deal

 

- good list above :deal

I would like to add Max Schmeling too - not for his boxing but for his empathy for other fighters and especially Joe Louis. Schmeling was more than semi-rich and helped his good friend Louis several times and paid for his funeral.

That is a good story about two rivals that were friends but was caught on two different sides of policy.