Six degrees of separation is a theory that everyone in the world is separated by no more than six social connections.
In other words, you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows King Charles. Or so the concept goes.
We’re borrowing the six degrees concept – well, sort of loosely – to connect fighters from the past to their more contemporary counterparts in our occasional feature, “Degrees of Separation.”
Example: Let’s connect Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Super easy; we did it in two steps. Senior fought Grover Wiley, who fought Junior.
In this installment of the Boxing Junkie feature, we wanted to include Errol Spence Jr., who will face Terence Crawford for the undisputed welterweight championship on pay-per-view July 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
We decided to try to link Spence with fellow Texan and boxing legend Jack Johnson. Spence is from the Dallas area, Johnson from Galveston.
We were successful but it took some work. After all, Spence fights at 147 pounds while Johnson held the heavyweight championship. Plus, Johnson, who died in 1946, last fought in 1931, 92 years ago.
That’s why it took 16 steps, which is more than usual for “Degrees of Separation.”
Check out the path we took, which took us through some of the greatest to ever lace ’em up:
Jack Johnson fought …
Jess Willard, who fought …
Jack Dempsey, who fought …
Jack Sharkey, who fought …
Joe Louis, who fought …
Rocky Marciano, who fought …
Archie Moore, who fought …
Muhammad Ali, who fought …
Larry Holmes, who fought …
Evander Holyfield, who fought …
John Ruiz, who fought …
Roy Jones Jr., who fought …
Felix Trinidad, who fought …
Oscar De La Hoya, who fought …
Manny Pacquiao, who fought …
Chris Algieri, who fought …
Errol Spence Jr.
Could you do it in fewer steps? Let us know via Twitter or Facebook. Or you can contact me on Twitter. And please follow us!
Read more:
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