Proceed. Packy McFarland Jimmy Wilde Sam Langford Mike Gibbons Freddie Welsh Benny Leonard Ted Kid Lewis Harry Greb Jack Johnson Jeff Smith I will revise this as necessary.
Welsh might have the single best result on the list. And two other guys on the list owned Dillon. Still, he had an impressive record. Good mention.
A loss to Willard, an undefeated heavyweight champion coming off a long lay off, Frank Moran and Fireman Sam hardly seems like top 10 material
No, it doesn't. Look at the retreads his rise to the title was built upon. Aside from Fulton, you have guys like Morris on losing streaks and so shot and/or disinterested the local papers doubted whether he would even show for the fight. He was strictly a compiler. Upon close examination, those names don't shine as brightly as they once had.
It's cool, I take comfort in the fact that people with a wider repertoire don't always remember everything they no, I'm not really in any place to judge. You might be able to make an argument, just not based on his resume, although in that sense I'd agree with you that Dempsey's isn't that much better if at all. Quality over quantity.
Mike Gibbons is clearly overrated, why did he refuse to go where fights were real, had judges, went 20 rounds and the money was far better ? yet stayed in America while Darcy was getting massive kudos downunder ????.... obviously he preferred to fight stupid 8 round No Decision rubbish to keep his reputation. Of course nobody ever digs deep here, they see WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE. Darcy beat Smith too but anyway.
Les Darcy was very unimpressed with Dillon and said he thought Dillon was a bum in private letters home, this was not for publicity to trump up a fight, no just his actual opinion, he said, "I can't believe that some people here (the US) actually think he would have a chance against me". But I don't think many of the fighters impressed him that he saw while in America, certainly not among middles or light heavies. Now freddie Welsh was one of the true greats of the era and I think lightweights are often a lot more talented than most of the big guys, I also list Welsh in my list although mine is a top 12.
Most fighters back then all fought their fair share of retreads, Greb, Gibbons, hell they all loved to pad up their records fighting bums in ND fights... Boxrec is not perfect but they are right to not allow ND results as official results. Wilde gets picked on because none of you know the standard of British boxing back then, I don't either.