This is Rummy's Corner.
Good evening boxing fans and welcome to Part
2 of the Boxing Survey Series.
This open Survey was conducted at BoxingForum24.com
and 24 volunteers participated.
Each participant provided me with a Top 15
list for each of the traditional 8 weight
classes, and this time we will be exploring
the Bantamweight division.
I did not personally participate in the Survey,
as I did not want my opinions to influence
the final outcome.
This is the scoring system.
It's very straightforward.
100 points for a 1st place vote, 80 points
for a 2nd place vote, and so on, with the
15th place votes being awarded 1 point.
So everyone who participated was responsible
for allocating a total of 453 points.
And with 24 participants, the most points
any one boxer can accumulate in a given weight
class is 2,400.
So let's jump right in and take a quick look
at the Top 10 Bantamweight scores.
#10 is Kid Williams.
290 points for him, which was 95 more points
than the 10th place tally in the Flyweight
Survey.
Williams appeared on 18 of 24 lists, which
is a very respectable number.
#9 is Lionel Rose.
329 points for Rose, and 17 out of 24, which
is actually 1 list fewer than Williams, but
Rose tended to be rated a little higher on
the whole.
#8 is Terry McGovern.
523 points for McGovern, and he appeared on
15 out of 24.
So that average of 21.8, that's a pretty high
average for someone who missed getting a mention
by 9 participants in the survey.
#7 is Pete Herman.
He received 618 points in the scoring system
and appeared on 22 out of 24 lists.
So a large majority believe Herman belongs
in this discussion.
#6 is Panama Al Brown.
Panama Al had 743 points, and he is the first
Bantamweight revealed who appeared on all
24 lists.
To reiterate a point I made last time, with
so many differing opinions, when you get 24
people to agree on something, that is significant.
#5 is Fighting Harada.
With 755 points, Harada just barely edged
it out over Brown by a dozen points.
21 out of 24 lists for Harada.
#4 is Carlos Zarate.
910 points for Zarate, 23 out of 24 found
a place for him in the Top 15, and Zarate
also received one 1st Place Vote.
#3 is Manuel Ortiz.
A healthy 1,355 points marks Ortiz as the
first Bantamweight reveal in the 1,000+ points
club, and Ortiz also got a perfect 24 out
of 24 mentions.
He is in exclusive company.
#2 is Ruben Olivares.
He, too, is in that exclusive group to do
both.
A perfect 24 out of 24, and a staggering total
of 1,670 points.
Olivares also received four 1st Place Votes.
To date, that is the most first place votes
any boxer has received who hasn't finished
in 1st place.
And #1 is Eder Jofre.
Jofre pretty much ran away with this thing,
not unlike Jimmy Wilde ran away with it in
the Flyweight Survey.
A powerhouse 2,235 points for Jofre, a perfect
24 out of 24, and 18 out of 24 participants
rated Eder Jofre as the greatest Bantamweight
of all time.
So this is the entire Top 30 statistical breakdown
for the Bantamweight Survey.
If we keep our attention mainly focused around
the Top 15 on the left side - I think this
is pretty good.
Nothing jumps out to me that I'd strongly
object to here.
I think the Top 3 is pretty much a lock that
I'd agree with.
Jofre, Olivares, and Ortiz - I definitely
believe that represents the proper Top 3.
I think the order is maybe open to some debate,
but Jofre is the guy you usually see at the
top of Bantamweight lists, and that proved
true in the Survey.
But the fact that Olivares got 4 mentions
as the best - if 1 out of 6 views him as the
best, I think that's a significant enough
dissenting voice that it definitely deserves
some attention.
I also personally like Zarate at #4.
I would definitely rate him behind the three
guys ahead of him, and I know a lot of people
would have him lower.
But in this Survey even if you take away the
100 points Zarate received from the 1st Place
Vote he got, he still had enough points that
he outscored Harada and Brown.
But that entire range from #4 through #12
- I definitely think it's a very good stretch
of awesome Bantamweights, where there is certainly
a lot of room for debate switching some of
these names around.
Then the bottom portions of the Top 15, I
think you can maybe make a case for some of
those guys on the right hand side, and again,
I think the order becomes a matter of debate.
If you look at #13, Nonito Donaire.
I'm not surprised that Donaire finished in
the Top 15, but I am a little surprised about
how he got there.
If you told me beforehand Nonito would land
inside the Top 15, I would have probably imagined
he appeared on a number of lists, but he actually
only appeared on 2 of them.
And right now, Donaire is the only boxer who
received a 1st Place Vote that did not finish
in the Top 10 of that division.
And overall, I think this is a pretty damn
fine list of Bantamweights!
And just like the case with Flyweight, I think
this list is far better than these results
here from the Ring Magazine experiment I did
a few years back.
That older experiment - there is no question
whatsoever, that this list here on the Survey
is better.
I think most would agree.
So in total there were 43 boxers mentioned
in the Bantamweight Survey, 3 boxers who are
members of the 1,000+ points club, and 4 members
of the 24 of 24 club.
Eder Jofre had the high score and the most
1st Place Votes.
So right now, Eder Jofre has the high score
to beat with 2,235.
Very similar to the numbers Jimmy Wilde received
in the Flyweight Survey.
But Wilde still has the most 1st Place Votes
to date.
That's it for this one.
Next up will be Featherweights, which I hope
to have out soon.
Once again, thank you to the 24 participants
who took the time and effort to create and
submit their survey lists.
Without them this survey would not exist.
Please share your thoughts on the Bantamweight
results in the comment section.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed,
and have a wonderful night!
This is Rummy's Corner.
