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LW Recap
Back to the historical perspective, looking at the LW division.
Here's the lineal history for the division's World Champs:
Jack McAuliffe 1888-97
Joe Gans 1897, 1898-1905
Frank Erne 1897-98
George Lavigne 1898
Jack Blackburn 1905-08, 1911-12, 1913-14, 1914-15
Jem Driscoll 1908-09, 1910-11, 1914
Battling Nelson 1909-10
Young Erne 1911
Freddie Welsh 1912-13
Willie Ritchie 1913, 1915-
Now, this list was accurate as of the start of the "current" year, 1916, but I can let the cat out of the bag a bit and say that 1916 saw Benny Leonard emerge as the 11th WBA champion in the history of the division. McAuliffe and Gans both had long runs, and it seems like Leonard may be set for a similar long run as Champ (right now he is still unbeaten, the only unbeaten WBA champ in some time). Blackburn and Driscoll have held the belt on multiple occasions, indicating they may have been the best of a very fine group of LWs in the time period between Gans and Leonard. (Gans, of course, went on to capture the WW title as well.)
All-Time Records
Most Bouts
Jewey Cooke 91
Frank Erne, Joe Gans 76
Battling Nelson 75
George Lavigne 74
Active: Young Erne 68 Blackburn 65 Driscoll 63 Kid Black 62
Most Wins
Jewey Cooke 65
Joe Gans 62
Battling Nelson 58
Jack McAuliffe 57
Jack Blackburn 56
Active: Blackburn 56 Driscoll 54 Young Erne 41 Kid Black 34
Most KO Wins
Jack McAuliffe 49
Joe Gans 36
George Lavigne 34
Frank Erne, Jem Driscoll 30
Active: Driscoll 30 Knockout Brown, Matty Baldwin 21 Blackburn, Hyland 19
Consecutive Wins
Jack McAuliffe 45
Benny Leonard 25
Joe Gans 22
Lockport Jimmy Duffy 18
Charley White 17
Active: Leonard 25 Duffy 18 White 17 de Ponthieu, Herb McCoy 16
Consecutive KOs
Jack McAuliffe 21
Joe Gans 15
Jem Driscoll 12
Frank Erne, George Lavigne 9
Active: Driscoll 12 Rocky Kansas, Matty Baldwin 8
Coming up, "Champs or Chumps" for the LW division ...
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