Me:
Harry Greb
Jack Johnson
Stanley Ketchel
Well I'm not gonna pick Sugar Ray Robinson because that'll be anyone's pick so I decided to make my answer more interesting.
My picks:
Harry Greb
Joe Louis
Archie Moore/Henry Armstrong(tied, sorry I decided to cheat a little. There are a ton of ATGs of the pre-1950s that I'd love to see to fight in today's era.)
Just because a group of boxers come from a very old era, doesn't mean they're all outdated for today's boxing. Even though there's no fight footages of Greb, judging by all the articles and stories of him, it sounds like he could be any of today's Middleweights with no problem. Henry Armstrong would beat any of today's fighters from 126, 130, 135, 140 and 147 with some power punchers like Maidana giving him a little bit of trouble for a few rounds but eventually comes back at him swarming and as for Mayweather and Pacquiao at this point, I think Armstrong would give Mayweather a hell of a fight that Mayweather's never received before and out-hustle him into a close SD. Pacquiao at this point is not the same one as we know him before his 3rd and 4th fight against Marquez so I'd say Armstrong beats him by UD or maybe a very late TKO stoppage, Now if this were a prime Manny Pacquiao at Lightweight and Light Welterweight, then that's another story. In a series of 3 fights at both 135 and 140, I'd say Armstrong beats him 2 out of 3 with Pacquiao beating him once by UD and the other two with Armstrong winning by close MD
Archie Moore could also beat any of today's Light Heavyweights with a motivated Chad Dawson(That's right, I said a motivated version of him) giving him trouble with his speed but eventually stops Dawson in the later rounds and with Adonis Stevenson troubling him with his power but eventually out-lands Stevenson's own power shots with more precision.
Joe Louis would absolutely beat today's lackluster Heavyweights with no problem with the Klitschko Brothers being the only real competition. However, I think if Louis were to fight Wladimir in a series of 3 fights, I think Wladimir would've at least beaten Louis once with a late TKO victory while the other 2 goes to Louis for both a TKO and KO victory. Louis would have a slightly more easier time with Vitali than with Wladimir because of his fighting style.
I don't think any of the fighters you listed would do especially well today, especially Greb. There isn't really any footage of him fighting and his attempt at shadow-boxing just looks outdated. There's more legend to Greb than reality. Maybe Johnson could though.
I think the fighters from the past that could do well today, PRE-1950 are:
Sugar Ray Robinson
Joe Louis
Jake LaMotta
I would like to bring back Sugar Ray Robinson, Harry Greb and Ezzard Charles. For the guy above who say that there is no footage of Harry Greb actual fighting. Well, he had 299 fights with 261 wins and a win over Gene Tunney and we all see Gene outbox Jack Dempsey so Harry is very legitimate. Joe Louis , Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano are also 3 of my favorite fighters but I didn't pick them because the heavyweight division is not the same. If they fight today, they would probably fight in the cruiserweight division but no one in the cruiserweight division is really good at this time. Right now I think the welterweight division with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Juan M. Marquez and Timothy Bradley is full of talents. The light heavyweight division has the talented Andre Ward. I think Sugar Ray Robinson is the greatest welterweight of all time, Harry Greb is the greatest middleweight of all time and Ezzard Charles is the best lightheavyweight of all time (he was better known as a heavyweight but if you look closely at his record, he was a better lightheavyweight with wins over the like of Gene Tunney, Archie Moore, Bob Foster...). Both Ezzard Charles and Harry Greb can take turn fighting Andre Ward and both of them will beat Ward in closely contests. Andre Ward is very talented but he lack tough oppositions, something that Charles and Greb had plenty of...that will be his downfall against these two legends. Sugar Ray Robinson will beat up on Timothy Bradley, Manny Pacquiao and J.M.M....Bradley barely survived Provodnikov, Ray Robinson is twice as aggressive as Ruslan Provodnikov, Bradley won't survive the later rounds. Juan Manuel Marquez could not deal with Tim Bradley speed, Ray Robinson is as fast as Timothy Bradley but can punch much harder, he will give J.M.M a beaten. Manny Pacquiao speed will make a good fight against Ray Robinson for the first half of the fight but when Manny is tired from the constant body attack from Ray and slow down just a little bit, Ray will test his chin and it won't pass. That will set up a match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Many people dislike Floyd for his antics but he is one of the fastest welterweight of all time. If this is a 12 rounds contest then he might outbox and edge out a close decision against Ray Robinson like Timothy Bradley did against J.M.M but if it's a 15 rounds then I give it to Ray Robinson. Ray will eventually caught up to him and hit him with a big left hook and TKO him in the 15 round like Julio Ceasar Chavez did against Meldrick Taylor (Thunder vs Lightning)...
Harry greb
Jimmy Wilde
Sam Langford
All of them would be world champions today.
jimmy wilde
gene tunney
ezzard charles
None tbh
And how do you think they would do?
Me:
Harry Greb
Jack Johnson
Stanley Ketchel
