What fighters do we hold a revisionist perception of?

Brilliant.

 

He would have loved a shot at it Frank, absolutely mate.

 

I see he’s already been discussed a lot but Ezzard Charles is the fighter I came here to mention. His rating among hardcore fans and historians has gone up more and more over the past 30 years or so.

This is not to say that Charles wasn’t highly rated during his career but of the four greatest fighters of the 1940s (Louis, Robinson, Pep and Charles) and of the three of them who turned pro at the beginning of that decade, Charles was considered the least of those fighters during the era they all fought.

There was a time not that long ago where Charles didn’t crack the top 20 all-time p4p on most lists but now he is considered not only top 10 p4p but in some cases, he’s considered no. 1! Admittedly, that high a ranking is still a minority opinion but nonetheless it’s a significant upgrade in appreciation.

None of this is meant as a knock on Charles - my own view is that he’s worthy of a top 10 p4p place - but it just goes to show how time can impact opinions on fighters.