The First Ever 1920s Heavy Ring Rankings

[QueensburyRules]

The First Ever 1920s Heavy Rankings

Discuss-

[cfang]

George godfrey ranked 8th, 6th, 9th, 3rd and 2nd. In the top ten for 5/6 years and not a sniff of a shot.

[QueensburyRules]

- -Nat tales Tex Rickard into doing those early a Ring ratings that caught on like wildfire.

That he had Wills #1 tells me he was planning a Dempsey fight save for Jack walking out on Tex and Doc for Hollywood where he could keep all the $$$ he made and got rich with his beautiful wife.

[joeandthebums]

George godfrey ranked 8th, 6th, 9th, 3rd and 2nd. In the top ten for 5/6 years and not a sniff of a shot.

Top contender but never any serious talk of him contesting the vacant title as Sharkey (who was public #1 for shot) had beaten him previous, he'd lost to other contenders and he was black - Louis would be the next black man fight for title.

[joeandthebums]

- -Nat tales Tex Rickard into doing those early a Ring ratings that caught on like wildfire.

That he had Wills #1 tells me he was planning a Dempsey fight save for Jack walking out on Tex and Doc for Hollywood where he could keep all the $$$ he made and got rich with his beautiful wife.

Rickard was known to be adverse to holding a mixed race fight for the title after the fallout he suffered from the Johnson-Jeffries fight.

[QueensburyRules]

Rickard was known to be adverse to holding a mixed race fight for the title after the fallout he suffered from the Johnson-Jeffries fight.

- -True enough, but literally the state politics changed around this period that offered a window of opportunity.

When Tex finally enticed the restless Dempsey, he offered Wills what would later become an eliminator against Tunney for a crack at Dempsey.

Wills refused , instead fighting Sharkey for good money as a tune up for an eventual Dempsey fight only to be exposed as too old now. Ironically he and Jack retired betrothed together as unfulfilled in what would've been a superfight.

[Blue54]

Good to see Harry Wills get some respect. I would have thought Langford would have been ranked around this time but I guess not.

[Ben Bolt]

The First Ever 1920s Heavy Rankings

… and everything went smoothly for years and years to come, until that mysterious a** hole (no one seems to know about his after-the-scandal-life) John Ort turned the boxing world into turmoil.

"As a result of The Ring's loss of credibility, the television networks had no choice but to rely on the ratings of the WBA and WBC, thus increasing the power and influence of the sanctioning bodies."

(A bit off the subject, I know. Though, I am curious, where did John Ort go?)

[Ben Bolt]

"The Ring would clean house after the scandal, but no one associated with the fraudulent tournament was ever prosecuted." (boxrec)

After Mr. Ring ****zine Nat Fleisher passed away, his son-in-law Nat Loubet took over as The Ring editor.
What I’ve learned, Loubet wasn’t particularly interested in boxing, and he let John Ort keep his job.
When Bert Sugar succeeded Loubet as Ring editor in 1979, one of his first actions was to fire Ort.

The interesting thing about this John Ort is, that his actions let WBC and WBA into the parlor. If it hadn’t been for him, pro-boxing would probably had kept its history of lineal champions, and we had never seen the creations of IBF or WBO.

One crooked figure changed boxing and turned it in another direction. And that’s why it’s a mystery, John Ort is such an anonymous guy when the sport’s modern history is written.

[QueensburyRules]

… and everything went smoothly for years and years to come, until that mysterious a** hole (no one seems to know about his after-the-scandal-life) John Ort turned the boxing world into turmoil.

"As a result of The Ring's loss of credibility, the television networks had no choice but to rely on the ratings of the WBA and WBC, thus increasing the power and influence of the sanctioning bodies."

(A bit off the subject, I know. Though, I am curious, where did John Ort go?)

- -Nobody ever prosecuted the mastermind, DKing.

Ort just an useful oaf within Ring. Nat was no choirboy having been part of the under the table brown envelope media the mob feted in the 40s.

Since boxing was illegal from its inception, naturally it was going to attract a crime ridden element to this day.

And the reason Sam wasn't in the first ring rankings was that he was about 3/4s blind. Joe Jeannette was also near his end if not retired.