Undersized HW's ranking

Out of my list:
Rocky Marciano
Floyd Patterson
Max Schmeling
Ezzard Charles
John L. Sullivan
Bob Fitzsimmons
Sam Langford
Jack Dempsey
Jim Corbett
Jack Sharkey
Archie Moore
Ingo Johannson
Gene Tunny
Jimmy Bivins
Harold Johnson
James Braddock
Tommy Burns
Marvin Hart

 

Don't forget that those fights were scored by the rounds system. A knockdown only gave a fighter an advantage if the fight was scored a draw. Otherwise it only won you the round.

 

That's what the controversy is mainly about though. Admittedly had the fight been scored by a points system then it would have been very difficult for Patterson to win.

The Quarry and Ellis fights were good efforts by Patterson but he was far less active than he had been in his younger days.

 

There needs to be a distinction between small HWs who fought small Hws and small HWs who fought huge HWs

 

There should be absolutely no presumption agianst a smaller heavyweight, when assesing standing relative to his peers.

If his ring acomplishments outstrip those of more visualy impresive heavyweights, then he should be given a higher ranking.

Bob Fitzsimmons is a good example of a smaller heavyweight who is not given the ranking that his ring acomplishments warant due to his smaller stature. Mickey Walker is another.

 

I would suggest that Sullivan and Sharkey should be struck offf the list, as they were both natural 200 pounders. Perhaps Johansen also.

 

IMO that´s not right and any historian would back me up on that. When you want to understand an era you have to use the values, o here scoring system, of its time and not one of some time in the future.

I wasn´t sure about them but gave them the benefit of the doubt.

 

After looking at what Chris Byrd did, purely by changing what he ate and running instead of weightlifting, i have my doubts whether any of the above listed fighters would actually come in at under 200lbs with todays modernised views on training. Maybe Tommy Burns, but i could see him as tyson styled fighter. Fitz and Dempsey maybe. I really think it is the change in training focus that plays a bigger role in the increase in weights. Likewise, while i could be wrong, but i am not 100 percent sure that this larger weight is helping fighters. In fact, it is very strange that in nearly every heavyweight fight, the lighter a fighter weights the better he performs. Why is it then, that fighters seem to have so much trouble controlling their weight.

 

What about fights like Johnson Hart, which was just picked by the fighter that was the most agressive? At other times, if a fighter was on their back at the final bell, they would be scorred the winner. Wlad - Peter could have been scored a win for Peter. All you can do is look at the rules of the fight at the time, and go by the official decision, or at least the decision which is fair under the scoring of the time.