Who was the Hardest Hitting Heavyweight Champ Before Dempsey?

Just because you are not familiar with Sullivan's opponents, does not mean that they wee not decent.

 

I'd go with Bob.

 

Bareknuckle, gloves, pillows, or wraps only. Sullivan was done at this time. Matching him up with Fitzsimmons harsh.

 

I know that he never held the title, but here are some observations from people who found themselves on the business end of Sam Langford's punches:

“I fought most of the heavyweights, including Dempsey and Johnson, but Sam could stretch a guy colder than any of them. When Langford hit me it felt like somebody had slugged me with a baseball bat. It was like taking ether. You just went to sleep.”

“If you ask me, Il say that the hardest hitter I ever went up against was Sam Langford”

Fireman Flynn

“How that baby could hit. Nobody else could hit like that. Well, maybe Joe Louis could but Sam only weighed 160lbs. Joe Louis was about 195.”

Jack Blackburn

 

I'm familiar with a lot of them. The common theme was smaller, older, with some spotty records.

Sullivan himself said the game had changed so decent in 1880 wasn't decent by 1900.

 

I think that you are very familiar with their Boxrec records, but not much else.

Every time I bring primary sources to the table, to flesh them out a bit more, you just go back to Boxrec!

 

Fitz used electrical tape instead of gauze, which can make a fist as hard as rock. Did he doctor the gloves? When Jeffries asked to see the gloves after the fight, Fitz threw them into a crowd. A fact. Why did Fitz throw them?

I have read stuff that Fitzsimmons handlers acknowledged he did something to the gloves and Fitzsimmons himself never denied it.

 

Oh come now, ever time you come out with a Sullivan fight of the week, the guy is very small, old, or something else.

If Sullivan's best win is Mitchell ( I think it is ) and he drew with him once and was floored by a very light hitting middle weight in the match he won, how good could he be?

The Sullivan excuses are numeropus. He was hurt, drunk, ect... his prime was very short and he did not face the best while he was active. Jackson, Slavin, or Goddard would have been the best heavyweight he meet.

He most certainly avoided Jackson and Slavin. Corbett easily defeated him at age 32.

 

As is true of Jeffries opponents on paper.

I could play devils advocate, and say that at least Sullivan didn't go life and death with his small/old/something else opponents.

He dominated them all, even when he was drinking himself into a coma!