Top 12 boxers of the 1910's Decade

[McGoorty]

The Top Dozen Boxers of the decade 1910 -1919

SAM LANGFORD
JIMMY WILDE
LES DARCY
JACK BRITTON
TED KID LEWIS
MIKE GIBBONS
JOE JEANETTE
JACK JOHNSON
PACKEY McFARLAND
FREDDIE WELSH
BENNY LEONARD
PETE “KID” HERMAN

Others I considered were Battling Levinsky, Jeff Smith, Lew tendler (better after 1919), Johnny Kilbane. Others missed out because they were better pre decade like Abe Attell or because I already had too many in one division... like Jeff Smith who was great but not as good as Darcy who is the best middleweight of the decade according to most of the contemporaries but some said the thought Gibbons was best.. either way I have two middleweights plus langford who at a time was also a middleweight and Jeff has no hope of beating him.... I also considered Frank Klaus and Carpentier but I think Carpentier hit peak after 1919 and Klaus was a bit too inactive for my liking but a great fighter nonetheless..... I also usually have fighters in either one decade or another but Benny Leonard is no ordinary fighter, in fact it is possible he is the greatest boxer of all time.... possible I said. Jack Johnson is also one I would also have in the previous decade because of the same reasons for Leonard... Lew Tendler... well he will just have to get into my Raring Twenties top Dozen won't he.................. So who is the greatest fighter of this particular decade ? ... McFarland probably, despite never having a title he should have and he is a phenom... so too is Les Darcy, if he had not died age 21 in 1917 he seriously could have become anything between seriously abnormally great to the greatest of all time. Darcy had every attribute and skill needed from impregnable chin and awesome strength to great speed in hand and foot and a cool temperament but unfortunately he died but despite that he is undeniably deserving of his spot.... In the end the best of the decade is in my opinion either McFarland or Langford as Leonard is yet to peak in this decade.

[McGoorty]

None are listed in numerical order, at this level they are all simply, GREAT.

[RED REP]

Ermmmmm HARRY GREB!

45-0 in 1919 boxing more rounds in one year than Pacquiao or Mayweather in their 20 year careers lmao. 15-0 against Champions, past Champions or Hall of Fame opponents!

THE GREATEST of all time.

[ShoulderRoll]

I would say Jimmy Wilde is the greatest fighter of the decade. And I dont think Joe Jeanette belongs, he should be replaced by Jack Demspey.

[McGoorty]

Ermmmmm HARRY GREB!

45-0 in 1919 boxing more rounds in one year than Pacquiao or Mayweather in their 20 year careers lmao. 15-0 against Champions, past Champions or Hall of Fame opponents!

THE GREATEST of all time.

You think Greb was better this decade than in the 20's ???.... he was a great fighter but I doubt he is the best of all time, that is rather revisionist, it is rare in his time that anyone called him the greatest, I agree that 1919 was a good year for him, his first in his prime but does one year make a decade ?. I respect your opinion, I myself do not just look at resume, I look at what was written about fighters, like what do former champions think like those who saw the previous generations of greats. Jack Johnson said Joe Walcott would have spotted Greb over 15 pounds and like 7 inches in height and reach yet he would knock Greb out in 4. In cases like this you can't say to Jack Johnson "oh but Harry's resume" when Jack has seen a lot of Greb. If it was just Jack I may dismiss that stuff but there seems almost a universal agreement back then, mind you no one was saying greb wasn't good. Anyway I wanted to have Mike Gibbons in there as at least until 1919 he was regarded as better than greb and Darcy was regarded in total awe and did not have the luck to live into a second decade. Greb is in my 1920's list, I have not forgotten him at all.

[McGoorty]

Ermmmmm HARRY GREB!

45-0 in 1919 boxing more rounds in one year than Pacquiao or Mayweather in their 20 year careers lmao. 15-0 against Champions, past Champions or Hall of Fame opponents!

THE GREATEST of all time.

also there are far too many ND fights and most of those are meaningless, if you take them out you dont have so many fights... now if all fights Greb had to have in 1919 were 20 and 15 rounders with judges there is virtually no way he fights that many... more like 20 fights which is still a lot. I am not taking away from the fact he swapped punches for 49 fights but so many are short fights and all he has to do is stay standing, the opponents too usually just want to have a hard spar in these circumstances.

[McGoorty]

I would say Jimmy Wilde is the greatest fighter of the decade. And I dont think Joe Jeanette belongs, he should be replaced by Jack Demspey.

I may agree with you on Wilde but who are these guys he fought ?.... would love to hear from a real expert in British boxing history here on this one... I do not hold the opinion that just because nearly every fight he has was against non Americans that he was fighting inferior opposition, many of these guys I suspect are every bit as good as the Americans but I am still guessing. Glad to see a Wilde supporter. Jack Dempsey ahead of Jeanette over the entire decade ? you are putting a single fight ahead of many many great fights Jeanette was involved in, I think Joe is vastly underrated these days and I think also that he is a huge chance of beating Dempsey. I rate Jeanette higher than Harry Wills.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I would say Jimmy Wilde is the greatest fighter of the decade. And I dont think Joe Jeanette belongs, he should be replaced by Jack Demspey.

I may agree with you on Wilde but who are these guys he fought ?.... would love to hear from a real expert in British boxing history here on this one... I do not hold the opinion that just because nearly every fight he has was against non Americans that he was fighting inferior opposition, many of these guys I suspect are every bit as good as the Americans but I am still guessing. Glad to see a Wilde supporter. Jack Dempsey ahead of Jeanette over the entire decade ? you are putting a single fight ahead of many many great fights Jeanette was involved in, I think Joe is vastly underrated these days and I think also that he is a huge chance of beating Dempsey. I rate Jeanette higher than Harry Wills.

Wilde was a good little slugger, but highly highly doubt he was the best fighter of the decade..

[ShoulderRoll]

Jack Dempsey ahead of Jeanette over the entire decade ? you are putting a single fight ahead of many many great fights Jeanette was involved in, I think Joe is vastly underrated these days and I think also that he is a huge chance of beating Dempsey. I rate Jeanette higher than Harry Wills.

A single fight? He had cleared out most of the top heavyweight contenders of his day by the time he beat Willard. And he did it by knocking nearly all of them out.

Wilde was a good little slugger, but highly highly doubt he was the best fighter of the decade..

He could punch, yes. But he was also highly skilled and very elusive. His defense didn't consist of running either, instead he carried his hands low and depended on small efficient movements of his body and feet to make punches barely miss him. So his sense of distance and timing had to be superb. They called him the Ghost With a Hammer in His Hand for a reason.

Out of the 140 or so fights in his career (he surely had more that weren't counted from his days in the boxing booths) he only had 3 losses: 2 of them came after 1920 and the other one happened when he was sick.

I don't know enough about the British scene at the time to say how good his competition was. But Gene Tunney said he was the greatest fighter he ever saw and that alone speaks volumes.

[McGoorty]

A single fight? He had cleared out most of the top heavyweight contenders of his day by the time he beat Willard. And he did it by knocking nearly all of them out.




He could punch, yes. But he was also highly skilled and very elusive. His defense didn't consist of running either, instead he carried his hands low and depended on small efficient movements of his body and feet to make punches barely miss him. So his sense of distance and timing had to be superb. They called him the Ghost With a Hammer in His Hand for a reason.

Out of the 140 or so fights in his career (he surely had more that weren't counted from his days in the boxing booths) he only had 3 losses: 2 of them came after 1920 and the other one happened when he was sick.

I don't know enough about the British scene at the time to say how good his competition was. But Gene Tunney said he was the greatest fighter he ever saw and that alone speaks volumes.

Well there you go then, I take great notice of what the big names say about fighters and Tunney also said he knew for a fact that Darcy was one of the greatest fighters ever so he knew what he was on about.