What IF?... 
Have you ever wondered what would have happened in your life if that one kid who kept beating you at checkers had never been born? Would you have been the star athlete in your town instead of the perennial runner-up? Would you have received all the accolades? Who would the prettiest girl's be chasing after...you?
What would life have been like...if only...if only...
Now, at this point someone always says, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. True, but how do we know that Joe Louis WAS the best of his era?
WHAT IF...little Herman Block...who died at age five by being run over by a horse...would have been the best fighter who ever lived! IF...he had lived.
WHAT IF...Rocky Marciano's grandfather had fought & died in the Boer War at the end of the 19th century before he could father children. No Marciano...no legend. Many men died or were crippled in the great wars of our time. Who knows what feats of renown could have been accomplished....if events had unfolded differently!
Well...in this universe...all the true lineal Heavyweight Champions beyond Jess Willard will not appear. What will life be like without them? Who will rise to the top?
We often hear, when someone with tremendous potential dies at an early age or early in his career, "what if"...what would things be like if he HAD lived? In this boxing sim any real fighter who had his career shortened by death or injury will come alive. The road to glory is wide open! Which fighter will become...the new legendary heavyweight champion of all time?
We start at the end of WW I and the fight in Toledo, Ohio on July 4th, 1919 between Jack Dempsey and Jess Willard will not happen. Dempsey TKO'd Willard in 3 rounds to take the crown. Instead Willard fights a different contender...and so it starts in this boxing sim.
SOME NOTES
Using Title Bout Championship Boxing software to simulate the fights in this alternate universe, all the fighters will fight in their actual era. However, some changes have been made in the actual number of years they fought or when their boxing career started or ended. If a fighter's real career started at age 25 then we have started him earlier so that all fighters begin their career in their late teens to early 20's. All fighters with short careers [such as Sonny Banks who died in his mid-20's] will have their career extended [at random] to range from a minimum of 10 to a max of 20 years long.
And a great big thank you to all the great folks on the Title Bout Championship Boxing forum and the great website CornerWork for your boxer ratings and critiques. Your work is greatly appreciated, one and all!
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