BoxRec

I like to make lists...sad!
Here is my take on the best of the roaring twenties, I would love your comments and criticisms!
Several points to note;
I am rating them on accomplishments in this decade only. Walcott would do great things, Godfrey had done fantastic stuff in the previous decades but none of that counts. I allow for a fighter to learn his trade, eg Galento, Farr and for a career to petter out, eg Godfrey, Sharkey, Risko, Gains etc.
I deal only with what happened in the ring, I'm sure Godfrey, Blunt, Trammell, 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 , 2010s and 2020's and 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 had similar records from about number 11 down to around 60. It was a different time, fighters fought very often, heavyweight and light heavyweight intermingled constantly and everybody won and lost regularly, except Louis!
1. Louis
2. Schmeling
3. Sharkey
4. Carnera
5. M.Baer
6. Loughran
7. Schaaf
8. Stribling
9. Hamas
10. Braddock
11. Pastor
12. Uzcudun
13. K.Levinsky
14. Walker
15. Mann
16. Ramage
17. Godoy
18. Nova
19. Farr
20. Lovell
21. Rosenbloom
22. Lewis
23. Lasky
24. Fox
25. Retzlaff
26. Neusel
27. Poreda
28. B.Baer
29. Burman
30. Risko
31. Galento
32. Toles
33. Griffith
34. Gains
35. Trammel
36. Blunt
37. O.Walker
38. Barlund
39. Adamick
40. Ettore
41. Reddish
42. Haynes
43. Massera
44. Knox
45. Paycheck
46. Winstone
47. Dudas
48. Strickland
49. Godfrey
50. Hankinson

thank you!

great list again! Lots of interesting names. Ernie Schaaf in particular always interested me. fight a lot of these guys, winning some and losing some before his tragic death. I would rate Baer ahead of Carnera. He was right there with Sharkey and Schmeling.
Steve Hamas is another guy who is a great shout. Played football Penn State before his boxing career and beat Schmeling.

Id have thought an Ambling Alp would have favoured Carnera! Yeah, I'd certainly have no problem with Baer over Primo. Certainly his wins over Schmeling and Carnera give him a strong argument, he had a few early hiccups and barr the Farr and Galento wins, he did little at the back end. Carnera, too had a few trip-ups early on and fell apart at the tail-end but i felt wins over Uzcudun, Loughran, Sharkey, Godfrey, Levinsky, Schaaf gives him a tiny edge over Max, who had that loss to Braddock on his resume but it really is a toss-up!

Yes great list again. Well done.
Do you think Jersey Joe could make it in the 30s?
He was active and beat a few good guys. Although he had trouble with Fox.
He definitely came on more in the 40s

Cant see Walcott making top 50, as you say Fox had his measure, every time he stepped up, he lost. Reddish was a good win and while Ray and Sheppard aged very well, at the time these wins meant nothing. Became a great fighter and if I live long enough, he will figure prominently in my '40's and '50's lists.

Another great list. Imo, K. Levinsky is rated way too high.

goose 5 wrote: ↑31 Dec 2025, 19:55 Another great list. Imo, K. Levinsky is rated way too high.

You might be right! I went for his wins, Loughran, Uzcudun, Winstone, Retzlaff, Griffiths, Sharkey and Hunt but he had a lot of losses too!

Great list. Len Harvey beat gains twice and drew with neusal. He was a lt heavy really but maybe deserves a top 50 place?

cfang wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 00:39 Great list. Len Harvey beat gains twice and drew with neusal. He was a lt heavy really but maybe deserves a top 50 place?

Len was on my long list, beat Jack Petersen too but I felt his resume at heavyweight was just too small, but a great fighter.

mattdonnellon wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 07:59

cfang wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 00:39 Great list. Len Harvey beat gains twice and drew with neusal. He was a lt heavy really but maybe deserves a top 50 place?

Len was on my long list, beat Jack Petersen too but I felt his resume at heavyweight was just too small, but a great fighter.

Thoughts on Bearcat wright making the list?
He has a win over Fox.
Not sure of others on his resume though. Some names I’m not familiar with

Expug wrote: ↑02 Jan 2026, 12:35 Thoughts on Bearcat wright making the list?
He has a win over Fox.
Not sure of others on his resume though. Some names I’m not familiar with

Bearcat did his best work earlier, I rated him in the 1920's Top 50. So many good 1930 contenders had one or two really good wins but also suffered a lot of losses as the competition was so even and fighters fought so often.