[Cap]

I've been researching and updating the ring record of Chicago's Frank Childs the "heavyweight" of the 1890s & early 20th century and I've been reconsidering his position amongst pugilists of that era as it would affect his ratings in Title Bout.

Born in Texas, Childs at some point moved to Los Angeles and began boxing professionally. After some success there and one bad call that soured him on the local fight scene, he eventually moved to Chicago and soon became a popular attraction, despite a couple of rough outings, for the clubs and promoters. Childs beat Bob Armstrong and Klondike Haynes and drew with Charley Strong before going on the road and losing to highly-rated George Byers. [Childs fought almost 15 rounds with one good eye] That loss marked a turning point for Childs as he went on a long unbeaten streak beating good/decent black fighters and drawing with white fighters of similar or less stature into 1902.

At this time he was fighting at between 165 and 170 pounds and relied on quickness and toughness and some power to take on the bigger guys in the heavyweight division (which at the time was anyone over 154-158.). His best win at this time was likely a 17th round stoppage of the same George Byers who had whipped him before.

Late in February of 1902 he ran into rangy Denver Ed Martin and was clearly outpointed over six rounds, although he was starting to get stronger as the fight progressed. Childs was considered a slow starter who really needed a longer distance to reach his peak. The fight brought him national attention and his quality of opposition increased.

He beat Joe Walcott with relative ease, but ran into a tartar with a young Jack Johnson the Galveston Giant and was stopped. In his second meeting with veteran Joe Choynski, who had stopped him in 3 rounds nine years previously, he managed to last six rounds but lost the decision. From that point the record shows no fights in 1903 and three wins and two losses the following year, the losses to Jack Johnson and Denver Ed Martin.

Frank Childs was a tough guy with some defensive skills and power for his size who made the most of what he had. Unfortunately, when he stepped up in class he didn't fare so well, especially in short bouts.

Anyway, as for TB, I've got Childs in my AU and I've re-evaluated his ratings a couple of times over the years. At his best he should beat guys like George Byers who was really a middleweight, Klondike Haynes, Fred Russell, and Bob Armstrong (big guys with little movement) and lose to guys with good defensive skills and larger guys who could out-box him.

That's my evaluation of him. I leave it up to those craftier than me to actually create a proper TB Rating of him.

Cap

P.S. Right now I'd rate these five guys [in their primes] like this:
1. Denver Ed Martin
2. Hank Griffin
3. Frank Childs
4. Bob Armstrong
5. Klondike Haynes

P.S. These guys are really tricky to rank. Childs may have had the most pure talent but was much smaller than the others. Still he managed to whip Armstrong who was considerably taller not once but three times. In his prime, Martin seemed to find a way to win most times, fighting "tall", making it difficult for shorter fighters to reach his chin.