BoxRec

And now, we are in the Roaring Twenties! The era of The Golden Age of Sports in America was defined by legendary personalities like the great baseball slugger Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees. He was The face of the 1920s! He slugged 60 home runs in 1927. A record at the time. He lifted the Yankee dynasty ever since, helping the team winning 3 world series championships and 5 AL pennants. It was the beginning of the Yankees rule in baseball. A larger than life figure, he drew massive crowds wherever he and the team went in the U.S. The Live Ball Era was in full swing with this baseball giant.

One of the greatest highlights of the decade, was the first trans-Atlantic flight made by American Charles Lindbergh.

The great Jack Dempsey, the Heavyweight Champion of the World from little Manassa, Colorado was the main boxing great attraction, but not the best fighter. His multi-million dollar fight with the great Georges Carpentier of France was the first fight in boxing history broadcast on live radio in 1921. His other fight with Luis Angel Firpo of Argentina was a savage slugsfest of September 14, 1923 featuring many knockdowns. It was probably judged by many, as the fight of the decade. His controversial rematch with the great Gene Tunney in 1927 was the famous "Long Count Fight" still talked in today's world. Dempsey was the world's most famous boxer.

Bill Tilden ruled in the world of tennis and Bobby Jones in golf.

And The Ring Magazine was founded in 1922. Perhaps the world's greatest boxing monthly journal. Also, in 1922, "The Bible of Boxing" named the Fighter of the Year and Fight of the Year Awards. It was an entertaining and educative boxing magazine of its kind, very popular in the 20th century.

But probably the biggest news of the decade happened in 1929 when it was the start of The Great Depression in the U.S.

Below, I have compiled the ten finest boxers of the decade has produced. Some of them I felt bad and guilty for leaving them out of the list. Like any other era, the 1920s had plenty of great scrappers that put their health on the line for pay. Here are the best of the 1920s:

1. Harry Greb
2. Benny Leonard
3. Gene Tunney
4. Tommy Loughran
5. Mickey Walker
6. Tiger Flowers
7. Jimmy McLarnin
8. Fidel LaBarba
9. Jack Dempsey
10. Johnny Dundee

Honorary Mention:
Pancho Villa: Way long before the great Filipino Manny Pacquiao thrilled his country men making the boxing headlines in the 2000s and this decade, a little dynamo flyweight did the same in the '20s. His name: Francisco Guilledo known in the boxing world as Pancho Villa. He became the first Pinoy and Asian Far East boxer to win a world title. He whupped the great flyweight king Jimmy Wilde of Wales for the title, brutalizing him in 7 rounds in 1923. Made 4 title defenses and didn't lose the belt. He was 60-5-4 (24ND), with 20KOs. An excellent record for any boxer. Among his greatest victims he defeated Abe Goldstein (W15), Johnny Buff (WKO11), Mike Ballerino (W20), Benny Schwartz (W15) and Bud Taylor (W12 in second match).

Georges Carpenter: It hurt me to displace this great Frenchman from the best of the decade. An underrated boxer that was champion in all levels of competition in different weight classes. He beat the great Ted "Kid" Lewis of England, but the great Gene Tunney gave him a boxing lesson and lost the light-heavyweight crown to an underdog named Battling Siki of Senegal. He was also duped and thrashed in 4 rounds by the great Jack Dempsey for the heavyweight championship in the first live radio broadcast in boxing history.

Harry Wills: By action of circumstance, this black heavyweight contender suffered the color line. Negotiations for a crack of the world heavyweight championship held by Dempsey did not happened. Which it was a great shame. Wills couldn't achieve greatness. He was the victim of the times. Maybe the great Jack Johnson messed it up for him the decade before. Maybe promoter Tex Rickard didn't want this. He probably didn't want to be embarrassed again. The Black Panther was too dangerous to be true. He beat the great Sam Langford so many times that we even lost count. One of the most ducked and avoided boxers ever.

What, no mention of Red Grange?
(btw, the Yankees actually won 6 pennants in the 1920s)
No major problems that I can think of with the Top 10. McLarnin might be a reach for this decade; he had a lot of fights in the 1920s but most of his big wins were in the 1930s.
You could make a decent case for Young Stribling, Paul Berlanbach and Jack Delaney.

Ambling Alp II wrote:What, no mention of Red Grange?
(btw, the Yankees actually won 6 pennants in the 1920s)
No major problems that I can think of with the Top 10. McLarnin might be a reach for this decade; he had a lot of fights in the 1920s but most of his big wins were in the 1930s.
You could make a decent case for Young Stribling, Paul Berlanbach and Jack Delaney.

You're right. The NY Yankees won 6 AL pennants in the 20s decade....I forgot the pennant in '26. They won the AL pennants in 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927 and 1928.

Jack Delaney was a terrific Canadian boxer. Too bad he didn't made the 1920s decade cut in my view.