While Frankie's list of top all-time heavyweights is certainly admirable, I have a list of my own. I only did the top 5, although it was tough to choose from so many worthy names out there. These can probably be interchanged as far as the order is concerned:
- Charley Retzlaff - Ended with a pretty respectable 61-8 record, 52 by KO. Started 20-0 before a DQ loss to Antonio de la Mata, a loss he later avenged with a 1st round KO. In 1936 he suffered a 1st round TKO to then undefeated phenom Joe Louis, but probably softened him up, because Louis went on to lose his very next fight (1st defeat) to Max Schmeling. Charley also had a real cool nickname, the "Duluth Dynamiter".
- Fireman Jim Flynn - Don't go by his record (46-41-18, with 38 wins by KO). Flynn recorded the first ever and only 1st round KO victory over Jack Dempsey. A loss avenged by Dempsey in the same fashion later, but Flynn still holds that distinction. He also fought notables like: Gunboat Smith, Battling Levinsky, Young Hector, Sargeant Jack Lynch, and Battling Butch. He lost by KO-3 to Sam Langford (166-26-37) in 1923, but avenged that loss in 1924 by only losing by points this time around.
- Leroy Haynes - Again don't go by the record (45-23-3, with 35 KO's). He had two TKO wins over Primo Carnera (TKO-3 and TKO-9) in 1936. No small feat considering Primo outweighed Haynes by 65 pounds in both their fights. Haynes would've had a better record, but stayed too long and went 2-11 in his last 13 fights.
- Joe "The Hammer" Askew - This native of Sydney, Australia retired undefeated with a record of 9-0 (5 KO's). He holds the distinction of defeating Samuel Panetu, a fighter weighing well over 500 pounds. He proceeded to then tear through 8 other opponents and cut a swath through the division between 1999 and 2001.
- Frank Finnegan - Speaking of heavyweights, Big Frank weighed in at around 465 pounds. Finnegan also retired undefeated, with a record of 3-0 (1 KO), all in 2001.
There's more deserving names out there... but I feel I should probably also come up with a top p4p list, although it probably won't be as good as Frankie's.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Bookmarks