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Fleming’s Picks for the Five Greatest Canadian Fighters Of All Time

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C FlagBy Travis “Novel” Fleming (Who else would it be by?)

Being a proud Canadian, I have witnessed numerous disappointments since I became a hardcore boxing fan in the mid 1990’s. Various hopes have turned out to be not quite as good as I had predicted, from former super bantamweight champion Steve Molitor, 34-3, 12 KO’s, to former super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, 31-2, 14 KO’s, to former heavyweight championship challenger Donovan “Razor” Ruddock, 40-5-1, 30 KO’s. It is not uncommon to overrate, and get behind, fighters representing your home country in hopes that they bring boxing pride to your nation, and I have been guilty of doing this on several occasions.

In recent years, many Canadian fighters have impressively worked their way up the ladder only to fall short at the highest level, but it wasn’t always this way. The early years of modern boxing saw many Canadians achieve success at the elite level, and when ringsidereport.com’s CEO/Publisher “Bad” Brad Berkwitt suggested I do an article on the best Canadian fighters ever, I jumped at the opportunity to shed some light on my country’s rich history in the sweet science. Below are my picks for the five greatest Canadian fighters of all time.

5. Arturo Gatti, 40-9, 31 KO’s. Active from 1991-2007.

What can be said about the human highlight reel that hasn’t already been said? Gatti’s claim to fame is being perhaps the most exciting fighter in history. The man could box, but chose to go to war in vicious give and take battles that cemented his legacy, and garnered him higher viewership ratings than most of the much more talented fighters of his era. His incredible ability to survive a horrible beating only to the the tides and come out on top is almost unparalleled. He is the definition of warrior. From his famous brutal trilogy with Mickey Ward, to his all out come from behind war with Gabriel Ruelas, he has been involved in three separate fights that received fight of the year honors by Ring Magazine. Gatti was a two division world champion holding titles at both super featherweight and junior welterweight. Coming up short at the elite level against the likes of Floyd Mayweather, JR., Oscar De La Hoya, and Ivan Robinson, Gatti, none the less, was nothing short of a real life action hero to fans around the world. In his own words “there will never be another Arturo Gatti again.”

4. Tommy Burns, 46-4-8, 34 KO’s. Active from 1900-1920.

Tommy Burns, the smallest heavyweight champion in history, is most famously known for being the first heavyweight champion to break the color barrier when he allowed the great Jack Johnson his long deserved title shot back in 1908. Burns was heavily victimized by a smear campaign orchestrated by the racist media of the day, and has never been fully vindicated and represented as the great fighter he truly was. He broke down the barriers to give any man a chance, famously declaring “I will defend my title against all comers, none barred. By this I mean white, black, Mexican, Indian, or any other nationality. I propose to be the champion of the world, not the white, or the Canadian, or the American. If I am not the best man in the heavyweight division, I don’t want the title.” To this day, Burns is still the only heavyweight in history to defend his title with eight consecutive knockouts, usually as the underdog, and always as the smaller man. He racked up an outstanding eleven title defenses, thirteen if you count the time he faced two men consecutively, beating both by early knockouts in the same night in bouts that were advertised by newspapers as title fights, but ones that many historians refuse to acknowledge as legitimate defenses since they were against inexperienced pugs.

Even without the two in one night adding to his record, Burns’ eleven title defenses was the record number of heavyweight championship defenses for over 35 years until the greatest heavyweight in history, Joe Louis, surpassed it and went on to hold the record until this very day, over 60 years later. Burns was the first man to travel the globe defending his title against all the best heavyweights in every country that boxing was legal. He set the record for the fastest knockout in heavyweight championship history against a bigger man in Bill Squires who was favored to take his title. He is the smallest heavyweight champion in history, a record that is all but guaranteed to last forever as heavyweights continue to grow bigger and bigger through the generations. He revolutionized boxing training, becoming one of the first fitness freaks of the sport, and pioneered training techniques that are still in place today.

Showing one of the best chins in the history of boxing, he fought from lightweight all the way up to heavyweight, and only lost four times, suffering just one knockout, which was in his very last fight as an old man who was inactive, making it an irrelevant statistic. Had he chosen to fight boxers his own size, he likely would have gone down as one of the greatest middleweights ever but he chose to chase the spoils that come with being a heavyweight champion, and succeeded in doing so despite his diminutive stature.

3. Jimmy McLarnin, 55-11-3, 21 KO’s. Active from 1923-1936.

It was a difficult choice between McLarnin and Dixon for the number two spot as arguments can be made for either of these incredible all time great fighters. McLarnin is regarded as one of the greatest welterweights of all time, a division that is among the deepest and most talent rich in the history of boxing. McLarnin began as a featherweight where he notched victories over legendary flyweight champion Pancho Villa, widely considered to be the greatest flyweight of all time, as well as Villa’s successor Fidel LaBarba, another great and future hall of famer. He eventually moved up to welterweight and became a two time world champion while beating a who’s who of the days’ greatest fighters including all time greats and hall of famers such as Barney Ross, Benny Leonard, Tony Canzoneri, Lou Ambers, Young Corbett ll, Billy Petrolle, Al Singer, and Sammy Mandell. Early in his career, he was known as a devastating power puncher but he was plagued with hand injuries and in his later years adopted a more scientific approach that still saw him beating all time great fighters, proving his adaptability. Ring magazine ranked McLarnin as the fifth greatest welterweight of all time, while boxrec.com ranks him as the third greatest. Respectable publications that have made lists of the greatest pound for pound fighters of all time typically have McLarnin ranked between 15-25.

2. George Dixon, 67-29-50, 36 KO’s. Active from 1886-1906.

George Dixon was the first black man in history to hold a world title in boxing. He was the champion of the bantamweights and later moved up to become a two time champion of the featherweights. Boxing historian Nat Fleischer, among others, ranked Dixon as the greatest bantamweight of all time. He was a two handed fighter that would befuddle opponents with his blazing handspeed and superb defense. Realistically, Dixon might have actually engaged in over 800 bouts, such was the poor record keeping of the time. Dixon was ahead of his time with his scientific approach to the craft and is credited for developing shadowboxing as a method of training. Known to never duck a challenge, Dixon shared the ring with all of the best bantamweights and featherweights of his time.

1. Sam Langford, 179-30-39, 128 KO’s. Active from 1902-1926.

Sam Langford is widely recognized as one of the greatest fighters to ever live. Beginning his career at lightweight, he fought in every division all the way up heavyweight, beating the best fighters of his day, and unbelievably carrying his power all the way up, where he regularly knocked out top heavyweights that towered over him. Langford was rated the third hardest puncher of all time by Ring Magazine, and has been rated as anywhere from four to ten on the list of greatest heavyweights of all time by numerous historians and reputable publications. All this from a man who could have been a career welterweight had he not been good, and powerful, enough to beat the biggest and best fighters of his day. Langford beat one of the greatest lightweights of all time in Joe Gans, deserved to beat one of the greatest welterweights of all time in Barbados Joe Walcott, beat the greatest middleweight of his day in Stanley Ketchel, beat one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time in Philadelphia Jack Obrien, and he also beat a who’s who of great colored heavyweights of his day like Harry Wills, Sam McVee and Joe Jeanette, all three of which Langford fought over 14 times each! Langford was only 5’7″ and weighed around 165lbs for the majority of his heavyweight career.

The general consensus among fight experts is that Langford would have definitely been a heavyweight champion had he not been denied a world title shot for being a black man in a racist era. To put into perspective what Langford did, picture Julio Cesar Chavez moving all the way up to heavyweight after his first win over Roger Mayweather and notching knockout victories over Razor Ruddock, Frank Bruno and Tommy Morrison. In reality what Langford accomplished is even greater than this modern day comparison, versus even better heavyweights and, for good measure, Langford also beat great lightweights, welterweights, middleweights and light heavyweights on the way up. If the color line wasn’t drawn back then and Langford had any luck, he would have been the most incredible multi weight champion of all time. As an aging fighter with vision loss, he campaigned for a shot at Jack Dempsey’s world heavyweight championship. Dempsey later admitted he was scared of Langford and said that Langford would have flattened him had they fought.

Honorable mentions:
Jean Pascal, 29-3-1, 17 KO’s
George Chuvalo 73-18-2, 64 KO’s

As you can see, Canada has produced some excellent fighters that played a major role in the early modern era of pugilism. All five of these men are members of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. Any suggestions, changes etc… are welcome in the Facebook comment section below.

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