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 Queen Elizabeth. 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 new 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 the first installment of the new Boxing Junkie feature, we connected heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder to the first heavyweight champ of the modern era, John L. Sullivan.
Now, in third installment, it’s the turn of lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who faces Wilder in a rematch on Feb. 22. We link “The Gypsy King” to the first U.K.-born heavyweight champion, Bob Fitzsimmons, who won the heavyweight title in 1897 and last fought in 1914.
And it took us only 12 steps, which isn’t bad given the century-plus between the fighters’ careers.
Check it out:
Bob Fitzsimmons fought …
Jack Johnson, who 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 …
Ray Mercer, who fought …
Wladimir Klitschko, who fought …
Tyson Fury
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!
Degrees of separation: Connecting John L. Sullivan to Deontay Wilder