Jimmy McLarnin

[The Hammer]

I see Jimmy McLarnin is ranked #1 welterweight of all time by BoxRec. There's a statue of him a few kilometers from where I live.

I don't know much about boxing history, although I follow current boxing closely.

Why is McLarnin ranked so highly? (not only by BoxRec, but by many who are knowledgeable about boxing history)

[BattlingNelson]

I think he defeated about 15 HOF'ers. I cant remember if that's the record, but its close.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I will be in the minority on this, but i feel McLarin, Ross, etc from that era are overrated..

They had great fights between them, and are great fighters, but i dont rank them as high as other welters like hearns, SRL, SRR, etc

I just feel with the Mob influence, the match making in that era was very protecting, and if you werent connected you werent getting a shot,,,,,,

Kinda like today were you have to be either GBP or TR to land major fights,,, If your GGG, or gamboa, you can be locked out of big fights no matter the skill level,, I think that happened alot in that era, especially when you consider how long it took guys like armstrong and robinson to land title shots..

[IronDanHamza]

Because his resume is absolutely incredible.

[The Hammer]

I think he defeated about 15 HOF'ers. I cant remember if that's the record, but its close.

Amazing. I never realized it was even close to that many.

[IronDanHamza]

Amazing. I never realized it was even close to that many.

It's actually 12. (13 if you include his win over HOF Ref Ruby Goldestein) Also one of them was a DQ win over Bud Taylor.

Still, it's extremely impressive.

Barney Ross
Tony Canzoneri
Billy Petrolle
Lou Ambers
Pancho Villa
Fidel Labarba
Kid Kaplan
Jackie Fields
Sammy Mandell
Young Corbett 3
Benny Leonard
Bud Taylor

They're the HOF'ers that he beat.

Not all of those are good wins but many of them are.

Benny Leonard is pretty much worthless, nothing more than a name.

Labarba very green, as was Jackie Fields.

A few passed their primes but still very capable and top level fighters such as Villa, Mandell and a few others.

Then there's Barney Ross, Tony Canzoneri and Lou Ambers that are absolutely outstanding wins. Ross and Canzoneri especially, just ATG calibur stuff.

McLarnin has one of the best resumes of all time. He often makes it into my Top 10 ATG list. Top 15 minimum, IMO.

His resume for example is much better than Willie Pep's IMO yet Pep is always ranked ahead of him.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

It's actually 12. (13 if you include his win over HOF Ref Ruby Goldestein) Also one of them was a DQ win over Bud Taylor.

Still, it's extremely impressive.

Barney Ross
Tony Canzoneri
Billy Petrolle
Lou Ambers
Pancho Villa
Fidel Labarba
Kid Kaplan
Jackie Fields
Sammy Mandell
Young Corbett 3
Benny Leonard
Bud Taylor

They're the HOF'ers that he beat.

Not all of those are good wins but many of them are.

Benny Leonard is pretty much worthless, nothing more than a name.

Labarba very green, as was Jackie Fields.

A few passed their primes but still very capable and top level fighters such as Villa, Mandell and a few others.

Then there's Barney Ross, Tony Canzoneri and Lou Ambers that are absolutely outstanding wins. Ross and Canzoneri especially, just ATG calibur stuff.

McLarnin has one of the best resumes of all time. He often makes it into my Top 10 ATG list. Top 15 minimum, IMO.

His resume for example is much better than Willie Pep's IMO yet Pep is always ranked ahead of him.

While I don't rank him as highly as you,, I do agree that his resume is better than pep's. H2h is a toss up, maybe pep- but in terms of resume mcclarin has the better one

[Bolo Punch]

I see Jimmy McLarnin is ranked #1 welterweight of all time by BoxRec. There's a statue of him a few kilometers from where I live.

I don't know much about boxing history, although I follow current boxing closely.

Why is McLarnin ranked so highly? (not only by BoxRec, but by many who are knowledgeable about boxing history)

Where do you live, mate? I'm assuming it's somewhere in Canada? I live about 30 minutes from his birthplace and have always wondered if there was some sort of memorial or statue to mark his life, but I've yet to come across anything. I dare say his services to the sport have been overlooked, and then some.

As IronDan said, he defeated 12 Hall of Fame fighters in his career, spanning from Flyweight to Welterweight. I think I'm right in saying that he holds the second most HoF names on a resume behind only Harry Greb, who has 13. People talk about Manny Pacquiao being one of the top 50 in the history of the sport, well McLarnin done what Pacquiao did, only Jimmy beat Hall of Famers throughout his rise in weight. An incredible fighter.

[billeau2]

I don't know the criteria one needs to get a statue up but there is a statue of the "Livermore Lareper" aka Max Baer in Livermore California, a park also is named after Max.

[The Hammer]

Where do you live, mate? I'm assuming it's somewhere in Canada?

I live in a Vancouver suburb.