Would you give any fighters pre 1920 a good chance at being champion today?

Bob Fitzsimmons at MW and LHW
Joe Gans at LW
Sam Langford at LHW and CW
Packey McFarland at LW
Harry Greb at MW

To name a few.

 

"Would you give any fighters pre 1920 a good chance at being champion today?"

They'd probably have the same chance as a snowball in hell.

 

Heat rises.

 

Langford made his career of choosing wrong guys.

 

Very, very, small minority, poss exceptions , Greb, Leonard, all the rest Nooooo.

 

Greb would thrash the MW comp today. Fitz would too. Gans vs Loma is a dream match, but Gans would school Teo real bad. Benny Leonard would beat Loma and Teo, I reckon McFarland would too. Young Griffo would probably make Warrington and Shakur look like ******s. Ramirez (140) is made to order for a version of Langford who hadn't discovered his power, but used his grappling and boxing skills.

It's actually pretty tough to gauge, since there's not too much footage but I'm fairly certain they'd do well enough. Heavyweights don't have a prayer though.

 

They would fare well at lower weights (LHW and CW). Except Jeffries who was way too big for that. He was talented enough to fare well after a few adjustements though.

 

According to Klompton's book and a few other sources, Greb was never a big puncher and he mostly relied on stamina to outlast and outpoint his opponents. But the fights nowadays are just 12 rounds and any pro boxer that trains well can handle that.
Both Canelo and a younger GGG beat the crap out of Greb.

Lomachenko wins with ease.

Good joke.

That's the only part where we agree.

 

Sam Langford would be favoured against, imo

Lomachenko and Dorticos and everyone in between.

 

Canelo and GGG beat Greb? Now theres a snowballs chance in hell

 

If a guy can fight at an inhuman pace for 15, he could up the scale even more and fight at an EVEN higher pace. He could literally throw for 3 minutes round. Canelo ain't got the stamina for that, and GGG hasn't got the ability to deal with that. Greb got past better jabs, and took shots from bigger punches.

And I never said he'd KO everyone, I'd said he'd thrash them. With workrate and speed.

Good joke.

Don't worry me like that.

 

Greb is the obvious candidate. 1919 Dempsey might pick up a belt at CW.

 

Benny Leonard is the only guy I could see being a champion today