YOUNG STRIBLING

Rory McCloskey · Post by **Rory McCloskey** » 16 Jul 2005, 14:45

(222-14) 127 ko's sounds good to me right?...but how come you never hear of young stribling in top 10 countdowns, even top 25 countdowns??

tagjohnson · Post by **tagjohnson** » 16 Jul 2005, 15:04

Fully fifty of Stribilings fights were against fighters making their pro debut (including his next to last fight). If you look up his record you will find that an even greater number of opponents had only very few fights (by which I mean less than ten) and/or had losing records. When half of your fights are against such a poor quality of opposition it will count against you. That is not to say Young didn't beat quality opponents incluing Maxie Rosenbloom and Tommy Loughran. In addition he was never ko'd, losing only once by tko to Max Schemling. Good fighter with a good punch and chin? Absolutely. All time great? Open for debate.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 16 Jul 2005, 15:14

- NB this record may be incomplete/inaccurate and/or the boxer may still be active -

For example, yesterday I was reading all about a hot young prospect from 1944 called Bill Brailsford, 7 fights unbeaten with 4 knockouts. Go and look up his record on boxrec.

barry · Post by **barry** » 16 Jul 2005, 22:47

Like Manos states, many, many records are very incomplete, very few if any of the oppoents Stribling faced were 0-0-0. He was a very solid light heavyweight and a very good heavyweight, but there was always someone that was just a little better, but had he not got killed when he did, he would have probably held the heavyweight title for a brief period, just like Sharkey, Schmeling, Carnera, Baer and Braddock did. Damon Runyon called him "King of the Canebrakes" because he travelled all over the country fighting the top guy of many tank-towns, a lot of whom were not top fighters, but he did face pretty much all of the best light heavyweights and heavyweights of his day and won mostly. I've got a biography for Stribling, which is a pretty decent read and I have done a lot of newspaper research on him. All-time great...not really, but he was one of the better fighters of the 20s and early 30s.

Rory McCloskey · Post by **Rory McCloskey** » 16 Jul 2005, 22:51

alright thanks for the input

Marciano Frazier · Post by **Marciano Frazier** » 17 Jul 2005, 17:15

tagjohnson wrote:Fully fifty of Stribilings fights were against fighters making their pro debut (including his next to last fight). If you look up his record you will find that an even greater number of opponents had only very few fights (by which I mean less than ten) and/or had losing records. When half of your fights are against such a poor quality of opposition it will count against you. That is not to say Young didn't beat quality opponents incluing Maxie Rosenbloom and Tommy Loughran. In addition he was never ko'd, losing only once by tko to Max Schemling. Good fighter with a good punch and chin? Absolutely. All time great? Open for debate.

Boxrec really poisons people's mind sometimes. Most of those guys were NOT pro debuters. Records from pre-1930 are just very incomplete.

I think Stribling is a very overlooked and underrated fighter. He was one of the best light heavyweights and heavyweights never to win the title, and in fact he was announced as champion over Mike McTigue, although the referee bizarrely changed his mind and made it a draw. Stribling beat numerous top fighters and champions over a huge period of time and was the all-time knockout king for many years before Archie Moore finally broke his record.

Stribling was definitely a great fighter in my mind, and the only reason he is not better recognized is his failure to win the championship, which was purely a result of bad luck and circumstance, and not a lack of ability.

dnahar32 · Post by **dnahar32** » 17 Jul 2005, 18:05

MarcianoFrazier, let me shed some light on that McTigue-Stribling fight.

It was not scheduled to be a title fight, as McTigue signed a 10-round ND fight contract against Stribling. But the Georgia officials changed their minds and made it an official decision fight so the title would be on the line. McTigue claimed he had a bum shoulder and tried to back out, but according to some sources the GA officials put a gun to his head and told him he had to fight. The consensus scoring of the fight was 6-2-2 for Stribling. But the referee Ertle, and sole judge, ruled it a draw.

I don't consider this a title fight, and if McTigue was forced into fighting with a bum shoulder, that would dilute the achievement as well. No fights scheduled for 10 rounds were used to grant titles in the LH division at the time.

Chuck1052 · Post by **Chuck1052** » 17 Jul 2005, 19:09

In my opinion, Young Stribling was not a great fighter, but he
was an outstanding one. He was one of the top light-heavies
of the middle 1920s, but Gene Tunney and Tommy Loughran
were better. Yes, Stribling did well against Loughran, but
the latter was a great fighter who had alot of success while
facing just about every top fighter of his day.

Strib was a good all-around athlete, who also was a very
good basketball player in the opinion of a top basketball
coach, Joe Lapchick.

Yes, Strib faced alot of inferior opponents, but he also
faced his share of top fighters.

- Chuck Johnston

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 17 Jul 2005, 19:36

One thing that shows me that he must have been pretty good defensively is his face, after all those 200-plus bouts. Even photos of him before he died show a face that does not appear "battered." He must have known how to avoid getting hit--which is half the science of boxing.

YOUNG STRIBLING

YOUNG STRIBLING

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Young Stribling