[jofre]

Chris,

Its difficult to rate fighters we haven't seen. So basically we have to look at their level of competition and rate them on how they fared against other rated Fighters. The more difficult factor is downgrading their skill ratings to reflect real life scenarios.

For example, take Ted Whitfield of Amherst, MA, former world rated welter mid 60s.

Ted Whitfield was a gifted boxer-puncher in the Ray Robinson mold. He possessed better than average power, a hard left jab, fast hands and legs and threw dazzling combinations. Ring Magazine New England Correspondent Don Hamill considered Whitfield the best New England prospect he had seen since Willie Pep.
Ted started boxing in his native Buffalo, NY. He won two golden gloves titles before entering the U.S. Army. While in the service with the 101st Airborne Division he won the All-Army 118 lb title in 1962 and the All-Service 126 lb title in 1963.
Upon his discharge from the Army in 1964, he settled in Massachusetts and captured the Western Massachusetts Golden Gloves Title in the featherweight class and went on to take the New England championship in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Ted turned professional in October 1964 and over the next year and a half went undefeated in 23 fights, winning 14 by knockout.
During that stretch he captured the New England Welterweight Title and fought his way into a number 3 world ranking in the welterweight division with victories over Gaspar Ortega and Charley Scott.
During his unbeaten run it was rumored that Ted was hard to handle and lacked dedication. The rumors turned out to be true as a less than prepared Whitfield lost two consecutive fights in an eleven day span to the ordinary Leroy Roberts and fringe contender Pete Toro.
Three months later a less than confident Whitfield met welterweight champion Curtis Cokes in Dallas in a non title fight and was knocked out in the third round.
Ted stayed out of the ring for three months and returned only to drop back to back decisions to Mike Cruz in Worcester, MA and Marcel Cerdan, Jr. in Paris, France. Six months later Ted won a split decision over journeyman Dave Dittmar in Walpole and retired shortly after.
Who knows what heights Ted would have achieved if he hadn’t squandred his god-given talents.
I personally saw him in action from his dazzling display in winning the New England Golden Glove title in Lowell and his seven professional fights in Boston. Until his career started to unravel, he was the best New England prospect I had the pleasure of watching until Marvelous Marvin Hagler.