Samuel Edgar Langford, known as the Boston Tar Baby, Boston Terror and Boston Bonecrusher, was a Canadian boxing standout of the early part of the 20th century. Called the "Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows", by ESPN, Langford is considered by many boxing historians to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. Originally from Weymouth Falls, a small community in Nova Scotia, he was known as "The Boston Bonecrusher", "The Boston Terror", and his most famous nickname, "The Boston Tar Baby". Langford stood 5 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1.69 m) and weighed 185 lb (84 kg) in his prime. He fought from lightweight to heavyweight and defeated many world champions and legends of the time in each weight class. Considered a devastating puncher even at heavyweight, Langford was rated No. 2 by The Ring on their list of "100 greatest punchers of all time". One boxing historian described Langford as "experienced as a heavyweight James Toney with the punching power of Mike Tyson".
Joe Gans was an American professional boxer. Gans was rated the greatest lightweight boxer of all-time by boxing historian and Ring Magazine founder, Nat Fleischer. Known as the "Old Master", he became the first African-American world boxing champion of the 20th century, reigning continuously as world lightweight champion from 1902–1908, defending the title 15 times versus 13 boxers. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
Joe Walcott, also known as Barbados Joe Walcott to distinguish him from the more contemporary American boxer known by the same name, was a Bajan professional boxer who reigned as the World Welterweight Champion from 1901 to 1906, becoming the first black man ever to capture the title. He was elected to The Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1955 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
Johnny Dundee was an American featherweight and the first world junior lightweight champion boxer who fought from 1910 until 1932. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1957 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame class of 1991.
Jeremiah "Joe" Jeannette was an American boxer, considered one of the best heavyweight boxers of the early 20th century. Because he was African-American, he was not given a shot at the world heavyweight title, though he did win the World Colored Heavyweight Championship on two occasions.
Al McCoy,, born Alexander Rudolph, was a boxing World Middleweight Champion from 1914 to 1917. He had a total of 157 bouts. Of those determined officially, he won 44 with 27 by knockout, and had 6 losses, and 6 draws. Around 107 of his fights were no decision bouts.
George Chip was a Lithuanian-American boxer who was the World Middleweight Champion from 1913 to 1914 in an era of great middleweights. Chip came to be known as a heavy puncher with an impressive knockout ratio. He was the father of Major general William C. Chip, USMC.
Harry Lewis, was an American boxer, generally credited with holding the Welterweight Championship of the World from April 1908 to March 1911. He defeated "Young Joseph", the reigning Welterweight Champion of England in London on June 27, 1910, but was not credited with the British Welterweight championship as the fight was sanctioned as a World, and not English title. Boxing writer Nat Fleischer rated Lewis the sixth-greatest welterweight of all time. He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, and into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008.
Oscar Matthew "Battling" Nelson, was a Danish-born American professional boxer who held the World Lightweight championship. He was also nicknamed "the Durable Dane".
Charles Henry "Jack" Blackburn was an American boxer and boxing trainer. Fighting in the first half of his career as a lightweight and later a welterweight, he was known for an exceptional defense and fought many men above his weight class, including six bouts with the great Sam Langford. He fought Joe Gans three times in no-decision bouts, defeating him once according to newspaper accounts and made good showings against Harry Lewis, Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, and Harry Greb. He found most of his fame training 1937 World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis, but also had a significant role in training 1926 Lightweight Champion Sammy Mandell. He helped to train World Bantamweight Champion Bud Taylor and World Light-Heavyweight Champion John Henry Lewis as well.
Albert Griffiths, better known as Young Griffo, was a World Featherweight boxing champion from 1890 to 1892, and according to many sources, one of the first boxing world champions in any class. Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer rated Griffo as the eighth greatest featherweight of all time. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1954, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.
Fred Dyer born Frederick William O'Dwyer, was a Welsh boxing champion, boxing manager and baritone singer. Trained by vocal teacher Clara Novello Davies, Dyer was famed for singing to audiences after he had fought in a contest and was nicknamed 'The Singing Boxer'.
The World Colored Middleweight Championship was a title awarded to black boxers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the only recognized middleweight championship available to blacks prior to Tiger Flowers winning the world middleweight boxing championship by defeating Harry Greb on 26 November 1926.
Larry Estridge was a middleweight boxer and the last holder of the World Colored Middleweight Championship. The 5'7" middleweight fought out of New York City from 1922 to 1929, racking up a career record of 53 wins against 23 losses and two draws from 1922 to 1929.
Panama Joe Gans was a black boxer who held the World Colored Middleweight Championship for four years, shortly before it was discontinued. Born Cyril Quinton Jr. on November 14, 1896 in Barbados, British West Indies and raised in the Panama Canal Zone, the 5'7" Quinton originally fought out of Panama and then New York City. He took his ringname from boxing great Joe Gans, the first black American fighter to win a world boxing title. He found his greatest fame fighting as a middleweight at between 147 and 160 lbs, but in his early career he took the Panamanian Lightweight Title and contended for the Panamanian Welterweight Title at weights roughly between 130 and 147 pounds.
Eddie Palmer was an African American boxer who held the World Colored Welterweight and World Colored Middleweight titles. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1892, the 5'9" Palmer fought at a weight of between 142 and 156 lbs. out of Philadelphia and New Orleans between 1910 and 1925. He moved to Philadelphia in August 1911 and fought out of the City of Brotherly Love for two years.
Mike "Twin" Sullivan was an American boxer credited with taking the Welterweight Championship of the World on April 23, 1907 when he soundly defeated William "Honey" Mellody in Los Angeles in a twenty-round bout. He vacated the title in the late fall of 1908, when he could not make weight.
Frank Erne was a Swiss-born American boxer widely credited with taking the World Featherweight Championship on November 27, 1896, from George Dixon in New York City, as well as the World Lightweight Championship from George "Kid" Lavigne on July 3, 1899, in Buffalo, New York. Late in his career he would contend for the World Welterweight Title against Rube Ferns. Erne was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the class of 2020.
Mike Glover was an American boxer who briefly held the World Welterweight Championship in June 1915. His claim to the title was subsequently recognized by the World Boxing Association.
Eddie Connolly was a Canadian-born boxer who took the World Welterweight Championship in a twenty-five round points decision on June 5, 1900, against reigning champion Matty Matthews at the Seaside Athletic Club in Brooklyn, New York. Earlier in his career, he took both the Canadian Featherweight Title, and the British Empire World Lightweight Title. He was exceptional to have fought for titles in three weight divisions, and to have fought in both lightweight and welterweight divisions for World Championships. His primary and best known manager was Billy Roche, who also managed champion "Mysterious" Billy Smith. He was also managed by Abe Pollack and by Eddie Kelly during his fights in England.
