The Old Timers....who are your favorites?

[Master]

The great Harry greb...and with one eye blind!
Shame theres no fight footage of him

Didn't he die trying to get a nose job.

[amat]

The great Harry greb...and with one eye blind!
Shame theres no fight footage of him

Didn't he die trying to get a nose job.

Lol yes but nose job sounds so superficial. It was just a simple septoplasty that went wrong.

[donnydarkoIRL]

I have a real interest in Georges Carpentier, probably most well known for his fight with the great Jack Dempsey, but a very good champion in his own right.



He was more a forties fighter but I think Willie Pep is our sports No.1.

[TitoFan]

I know this won't sound too "boxing fan-ish", but I think had I been around for the pre-1930's crowd, I probably wouldn't have been too big a fan of boxing. I realize sports evolutionize in general.... boxing, football, basketball, etc. But I'm just not a fan of the straight forward, plodding, style that used to be the norm in those days. There were great champions to be sure, but they were among fighters of the same style, same movements. Take a time machine, and send back a great boxer-puncher from the 60's or later... and the guy would be an undefeated beast. I could be wrong and I'm not dissing the fighters from that era. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Then again, I think the same way about other sports as well.

[El Kabong]

I know this won't sound too "boxing fan-ish", but I think had I been around for the pre-1930's crowd, I probably wouldn't have been too big a fan of boxing. I realize sports evolutionize in general.... boxing, football, basketball, etc. But I'm just not a fan of the straight forward, plodding, style that used to be the norm in those days. There were great champions to be sure, but they were among fighters of the same style, same movements. Take a time machine, and send back a great boxer-puncher from the 60's or later... and the guy would be an undefeated beast. I could be wrong and I'm not dissing the fighters from that era. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Then again, I think the same way about other sports as well.

You're generalizing to a shocking extent, not everyone was a straight forward brawler as you suggest ESPECIALLY in the 1920's-1930's there were great and I mean GREAT pure boxers in those eras.

Benny Leonard
Gene Tunney
Barney Ross
Kid Chocolate
Tony Canzoneri

There were plenty of slick boxers and defensive specialists in the old times, defense and counter punching didn't JUST come around in the 1960's.

[Master]

Benny Leonard was slick as a cat. I got that reading the Ring article I remember.

[amat]

The rules of the sport were just different back then Tito, most fights in most states had to end by knockout or be declared a draw. Go on boxrec and look at some oldtime records and you'll see a lot of 'Newspaper Decisions', those were official draws but newspapermen had rendered verdicts but titles couldn't be won on a newspaper decision. So guys were much more apt to go for the KO even if others did have slick styles like some mentioned. Few guys though were sucessful as very pure boxers, some were though. Philadelphia Jack Obrien was but he had a whole sophisticated character outside the ring to bring interest to his fighting style. He touted himself as a refined gentleman type and boxed like one too.

[El Kabong]

Benny Leonard was slick as a cat. I got that reading the Ring article I remember.

I think all of the fighters trained by Ray Arcel were very solid on defense



He died in the ring but not fighting, refereeing...quite odd




Here's some Philadelphia Jack for you