Who's the first guy to achieve "greatness" in each division?

So i'm looking for the man who set the bar for greatness division by division.

I'll give it a go and see if anyone disagrees.

Hw: sullivan
Cw: holyfield
Lhw: fitz
Smw: jones
Mw: dempsey
Lmw: hearns
Ww: barbados
Lww: locche
Lw: mccauliffe
Sfw: arguello
Fw: dixon
Sbw: gomez
Bw: mcgovern
Sflw: watanabe
Flw: wilde
Lflw: chang
Stw: lopez

Thoughts?

 

I'm not sure Fitzsimmons achieved greatness at light-heavy. Fighting as a lhw was a minor thing towards the end of his career, I think. And that title had little prestige until sometime later. I think.

Jack McAuliffe came before Gans.

Roy Jones Jr. was great at super-middle.

Heavyweight there might be someone before John L. , like Jem Mace.

 

Who at lhw then?
Greb?

I'm not well versed on mcauliffe.

I don't think jones was great at smw. Nor was mace at hw.

 

Possibly Greb at lhw, possibly Jack Dillon.

I absolutely believe Jones was great at super-middle.
His win over Toney was world-shaking, it stood above the division - and the division was strong at the time.

 

luf you've been making some great threads lately. keep it up!

and imo jones was absolutely great at 168. i can see the argument against it based on resume, longevity, etc.

however in the end he's by far the greatest/most talented fighter in the divisions history

 

BW - Dixon, perhaps
SFlW - Jiro Watanabe?

 

Featherweight should either be Abe Attell or Terry McGovern.

 

Fine! Jones it is at smw.

Dixon at fw

Mcgovern at bw

Watanabe at sflw

 

jem mace was a jobber jabroni.

the first great heavyweight was broughton, figg didn't have enough documentation on his career.

 

No, Roy Jones Junior was a great fighter at SMW. He did not achive greatness at SMW! He used it as a stop over, on his way to LHW.

 

I don't know, you know.

He really set the standard for consistency in the division.

 

I'd argue that he lacks a resume there sir. He may have the greatest win in the history of the division with Toney, but it seems silly to give this honour to a man who wasn't in the division very long.

 

Well sir i'd contend that achieving such a great victory in a new division is achieving greatness.

Like hearns over duran at lmw.

 

How about Philadelphia Jack O'Brien for Light Heavyweight?

 

I considered him, but i'm not convinced he actually did that much at the weight.

He was embarrassed by burns and he lost to langford and ketchel I believe.

Can't recall from top of my head which indicates to me he wasn't great.