TOMMY BURNS vs. MICKEY WALKER

[GorDoom]

This is a tough one! Two smaller fighters, basically two middles who blew up to about 170 max toward the end of their careers with good victories over heavyweights & light heavyweights.

Who wins ... & forget about the Johnson fight, Burns was a great fighter & a true all-timer just like Walker.

GorDoom

[kikibalt]

[Roberto Aqui]

Tough to pick from. From what I see in Walker is a tough guy always moving forward at a measured pace waiting to land some punishment.

Burns has the clever footwork and packs a pretty good punch and an unorthodox style. If he tries to muscle around Walker like he did Johnson, I see that working to Walker's advantage.

I see Burns 100% able to beat Walker at their best. As we move to less than their best, then I would favor Walker overall because I suspect for one shot he hit harder and was a bit stronger. So in the end, overall I would give an edge to Burns. Obviously this should go the distance.

[Hagler04]

I go with Burns, as Tommy was a true light HW while Walker was a welterweight who grew into a super middle. Skill-wise I see Burns as being the slightly trickier customer, but it's hard to say.

[Mr E]

I'd bet on Walker. IMO, he'd get right inside that looping overhand right Burns threw and just rip away with short hooks and elbows.

[PeteLeo]

Walker was a little more polished, even though he could look like a Wild West gunslinger. Without giving away feet of height and reach and twenty-five or thirty pounds, I'd have to pick Mickey. Tommy would never have gotten a "draw" (should've been a win) with Sharkey. PeteLeo.

[Mr E]

I don't know, Pete-- most of the accounts I read suggest that the draw might have been a bit sentimental on Walker's behalf -- i.e., that Sharkey really deserved the duke.

I've often wondered, though-- Walker was famously connected and both he and Sharkey had several 'questionable' fights in an era when questionable fights were all too common. Has anyone besides me speculated that Sharkey's unusual passivity that night might have been, shall we say, prearranged?

[peter murphy]

burns was a great boxer and puncher ,i see make outboxing walker winning on pts

[don1234]

I go with Burns, as Tommy was a true light HW

You're dead on, H. Tommy's poor showing at MW was due to weight drain. It fooled Hart into thinking Burns was a quick and easy fill-in defense.