BoxRec

I like to make lists...sad!
Here is my take on the best of the roaring twenties,
Several points to note;
I am rating them on accomplishments in the decade only. Schmeling would do great things, Langford had done fantastic stuff in the previous decades but none of that counts. I allow for a fighter to learn his trade, eg Godfrey, Sharkey and for a career to petter out, eg Wills, Carpentier, Fulton, etc.
I deal only with what happened in the ring, I'm sure Godfrey, Wright, and co. wore cuffs at times.
I'm also sure I've missed some worthy fighters and I would love to get opinions and criticism from my peers!
A final comment, I have done similar exercises for the 1880s, 1900s, 2000s and 2010s and a lot of the problems were the same, top ten usually pretty clear, top 25 or so, good quality and the rest a bit arbitrary, number 50 would be of the same standard as, say, number thirty, what was unique to this decade was the amount of fighters that won and lost to other members of the list from the top ten down, I mean so hard to rate Heeney, Risko, Maloney, Uzcuden, Weinert and so on, they all had great wins and surprising losses.
1-10
Tunney
Dempsey
Sharkey
Wills
Stribling
Godfrey
Greb
Gibbons
Miske
Loughran
11-20
Uzcuden
Risko
Weinert
Firpo
Maloney
Heeney
Delaney
VonPorat
Hunt
Carpentier
21-30
Brennan
Griffith
Madden
F.Johnson
Gains
Gorman
Schmeling
Scott
Renault
McTigue
31-40
Berlenbach
Langford
Schaaf
Fulton
Carnera
Cook
Willard
Norfolk
Tate
Campolo
41-50
Munn
Christener
Rojas
Persson
Lawson
Wright
Hansen
Petersen
Mays
Charles

Nice list

Yes. Terrific work there.
Would Jack Dillon fit somewhere?
I know most of his big wins were prior to the 20s
Not sure of some of the weights on his opponents but, they called him “ the giant killer”

This is pretty cool!
always hard to do Decades lists because some guys were only in the beginning or the end of the decade. But is fun to look at all of these names. I kept looking for some overlooked and didn't come up with anyone.
also makes you think of guys you have not thought much about in a while.

Yeah, Dillon was gone by the 20's but he was a great fighter, for sure, and greatly underrated, so too Battling Levinsky, who went through the 1920s and perhaps deserved a rating at the lower end.

Yeah, Dillon was gone by the 20's

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑21 Dec 2025, 14:36
This is pretty cool!
always hard to do Decades lists because some guys were only in the beginning or the end of the decade. But is fun to look at all of these names. I kept looking for some overlooked and didn't come up with anyone.
also makes you think of guys you have not thought much about in a while.

but he was a great fighter, for sure, and greatly underrated, so too Battling Levinsky, who went through the 1920s and perhaps deserved a rating at the lower end.

Risko always interested me. fought a ton of fights and lost frequently. Yet he had a lot of good wins.

Who is Charles? Obviously it's not Ezzard.

Pierre, a useful Belgian heavyweight.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑22 Dec 2025, 21:14 Risko always interested me. fought a ton of fights and lost frequently. Yet he had a lot of good wins.

Who is Charles? Obviously it's not Ezzard.

Yeah Risko seems like he was a very solid contender at this time. Steadily in the mix for a good few years there, and his name shows up in almost everyone's record.

Ambling Alp II wrote: ↑22 Dec 2025, 21:14 Risko always interested me. fought a ton of fights and lost frequently. Yet he had a lot of good wins.

Who is Charles? Obviously it's not Ezzard.

Obviously since he was born in 1921

Grebs HW records blows away Godfreys and Striblings

Monte Munn was being trained by Jack Johnson.
What other fighters did Jack Johnson train or help train
back in the 1920's. ?(after getting out of Leavenworth)

klompton wrote: ↑24 Dec 2025, 21:32 Grebs HW records blows away Godfreys and Striblings

I don't agree, Stribling beat Rojas, Gorman, Risko, Cook, Von Porat, Hunt, Carnera etc.
Greb beat Madden, Renault, Norfolk and Rojas...
Godfrey was a bit up and down but defeated Thompson, renault, Fulton, Gains, Maloney, Uzcudun and Gorman.
I only have Harry so high because of his wins over the likes of Gibbons, Miske, Loughran and Norfolk who went on to fight effectively against heavies.

Jack Renault was considered top tier until he hooked up with Jack Dempsey's camp and went Hollywood. He spent more time with the hard partying movie crowd than the fight mob and it likely cost him a more lucrative ring career. Doc Kearns hired him on as a sparring partner for Dempsey because at the time he saw the young boxer as a potential threat.

maybe I missed it, but I didn't not see Jack Johnson (aka the Galveston Giant )name up there.
he was set to fight Harry Wills shortly after he was released from Leavenworth in July 1921
(The New York Boxing commission however would not him a license because he was over 37 yrs of age)
Nevertheless Jack Johnson had fought some contenders during the 1920's.

https://books.google.com/books?id=JismA ... pg=PA11&dq

Caractacus wrote: ↑27 Dec 2025, 15:36 maybe I missed it, but I didn't not see Jack Johnson (aka the Galveston Giant )name up there.
he was set to fight Harry Wills shortly after he was released from Leavenworth in July 1921
(The New York Boxing commission however would not him a license because he was over 37 yrs of age)
Nevertheless Jack Johnson had fought some contenders during the 1920's.

https://books.google.com/books?id=JismA ... pg=PA11&dq

Fair comment but I felt his losses to Lawson and Wright went against him while a few of his "wins" were dubious, A 50/50 call for a place at the bottom end, IMO.

2 comments: great list, very impressive work. It's mind boggling that Greb is a top ten heavy on top of being a great 160 and 175 pounder.Where do you rank Greb, pound for pound, all-time ?

goose 5 wrote: ↑29 Dec 2025, 19:46 2 comments: great list, very impressive work. It's mind boggling that Greb is a top ten heavy on top of being a great 160 and 175 pounder.Where do you rank Greb, pound for pound, all-time ?

Thanks! I think Greb is top 10 for sure, top 5 for me, up there with Langford, Fitz, Robinson and perhaps Usyk.

You have Usyk over Muhammad Ali ? Very interesting

Please we have a really good thread here. Let's not get off track here.

Another interesting guy listed here Miske. He might be the least talked about Hall of Famer. fought several guys listed here. As Matt mentioned earlier, there are so many guys here who seemed to be up and down. I think there are a few things going on here. One, there are a lot of guys who are roughly even. Two, they were willing to fight each other. Three, a lot of these guys had losses early in their career against good opponents. four, some fought too long and have some losses at the end of their careers. The result is that you get a ton of guys who don't have pretty numbers but gave fans a lot to watch.