What made Ketchel the 4th best middleweight of all time?

[warp1432]

So I'm not one of those "Modern would kill old fighters from the past!!", but Kethcel seems to be really highly regarded. Today is my first time seeing him and I'm really not that impressed. I'm mean, I've been impressed with some older fighters from that era like Jim Jefferies, but what makes him be able to beat from fighters of today or a couple years earlier (since Middleweight is terrible right now)?

I'm not saying Ketchel was horrible, he looks decent, just not the 4th best middleweight of all time like generally regarded. I'm not really familiar with his resume anyway besides the fact he lost to Jack Johnson, so can fill me in on why he's so great? What skill am I not seeing here?

[cotto16]

in that fight ketchel broke his hand, so you can not see the best of him. He was a all time great

[andrewcuff]

in that fight ketchel broke his hand, so you can not see the best of him. He was a all time great

What about him made him so great? I don't know much about Ketchel.

[S.G.]

i'm in the boat of not knowing much about Ketchel too

but i hear he had absolutely devastating power and was near unbeatable for a while until he moved up a ridiculous amount of weight classes (by today's standards)

[andrewcuff]

i'm in the boat of not knowing much about Ketchel too

but i hear he had absolutely devastating power and was near unbeatable for a while until he moved up a ridiculous amount of weight classes (by today's standards)

That's all I know about him really, the moving up in weight.

[TheGreatA]

I'm going to be lazy and only post an article.

http://coxscorner.tripod.com/ketchel.html

I think he has a good resume. I don't think he is one of the best boxers I've ever seen on film but he was evidently a very strong and durable fighter with one of the best KO records ever, especially considering the era he fought in (48 KO's out of 53 wins).

Remember that it's a 20 round fight and not one of Ketchel's best performances by most accounts (even though he won). I wish they had filmed the third Ketchel-Papke fight instead.

Ketchel went back to California for a fourth meeting with Billy Papke. This fight was a bitter disappointment. The Chronicle reported, “They fought like old women...Ketchel seemed absolutely lost, with no punch and with no accuracy.” The fight was lackadaisical by both parties. It was a sloppy fight although Ketchel claimed he broke his hand in an early hand. It went to a 20 round decision with the referee declaring Ketchel the winner but the newspapers said a draw would have been a fairer verdict. It is highly unfortunate, this being perhaps Ketchel's worst performance, that this fight is one of only two surviving films available of Stanley Ketchel, the other being the Johnson fiasco.

[StarshipTrooper]

Probably the hardest punching Middleweight ever. Died young so he most likely never reached his full potential.

Poet

[MarkScott]

the fact that he beat Philadelphia JAck Obrien and decked Jack Johnson.

http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Gans-Biography-American-Champion/dp/0786439947/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237747719&sr=1-1

[warp1432]

Didn't Jack admit to throwing like half his fights? Was this true at all?

[Khmelnytsky]

like most of what came out of johnson's mouth it's bull****, i remember reading an article of a historian (Mike casey maybe?) talking about him viewing the full fight for the first time and how johnson was going all out from round one

johnson just had to try to save face since a 5'8 158lb middleweigh dropped him