H&G All-Time Index public fighter card
Sam McVea
Heavyweight · United States
Sam McVea ranks #808 in the H&G All-Time Index at Heavyweight, with a 72.31 All-Time Index score and a 74-14-10 professional record. His career span on this page is 1902-1921.
- All-time rank
- #808
- H&G All-Time Index
- 72.310-100 ranking index. This is the number that orders the list.
- Career record
- 74-14-10Professional wins, losses and draws.
- Active years
- 1902-1921
- Data Confidence
- HighDeep career evidence and a tighter peak-rating band in this release. Close ranks still need boxing judgement.
Career story
How Sam McVea's rating rose and fell year by year, with his peak marked.
Yearly peak-form Elo rating points. This curve is separate from the 0-100 ranking index.
Show the year-by-year numbers
| Year | Peak-form Elo rating |
|---|---|
| 1902 | 1,548 |
| 1903 | 1,560 |
| 1904 | 1,568 |
| 1906 | 1,611 |
| 1907 | 1,638 |
| 1908 | 1,669 |
| 1909 | 1,690 |
| 1910 | 1,703 |
| 1911 | 1,710 |
| 1912 | 1,704 |
| 1913 | 1,710 |
| 1914 | 1,720 |
| 1915 | 1,718 |
| 1916 | 1,672 |
| 1917 | 1,656 |
| 1918 | 1,638 |
| 1920 | 1,596 |
| 1921 | 1,594 |
Why this ranking
Sam McVea ranks #808 with a 72.31 score on the 60-100 H&G All-Time Index. His standout win in our data is over Harry Wills in 1915, who reached a 1,892 Peak-form Elo, one of the stronger opponents on his record. In 3 cases a result was later reversed, including Joe Jennette, whom he beat once but lost to in a later fight. Holding the score back, sustained head-to-head rating level sits below the field of ranked fighters in this release. Peak-form Elo is 1,720 (±155), separate from the 60-100 career Index.
What lifts or lowers this ranking
Bars show each weighted signal's relative size. Gold lifts the placement; grey holds it back.
How much the record is helped by wins over contemporaneous title-level opponents.
Same-era separation left after the shared peak and sustained rating signal is removed.
How much repeat elite-year presence supports the all-time case.
A narrow signal for lineal, explicit undisputed or major multi-belt class control in this release data; it is not a full title history.
How much major title evidence supports the rating.
Collapsed signal from peak rating, sustained rating and same-era separation.
Recognition
Ranked on the record, not the colour line
Sam McVea was barred from the world heavyweight title by champion Jack Johnson and the heavyweight colour bar of his era. A two-reign World Colored Heavyweight Champion who twice beat both Sam Langford and Harry Wills, he is ranked here on those results alone, with no credit for the segregated title and no bonus for the championship he was refused. His placement understates him, as the colour line that denied him the title also left his career under-recorded.
Compare and explore
Put Sam McVea next to any other ranked fighter, or open the tools built on the same rating data.
Top fights
The highest-ranked fighters Sam McVea actually faced, biggest names first. Each one opens the head-to-head tool with the pair filled in.
- Jack Johnson#57 · Index 88 · 1903, 1904
- Harry Wills#120 · Index 83 · 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920
- Sam Langford#146 · Index 82 · 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1920
- Joe Jennette#173 · Index 81 · 1907, 1909, 1915
Ranked-vs-ranked bouts from the pinned fight archive, ordered by opponent ranking. An objective record of who they shared a ring with.
Great rivals he never fought
Ranked fighters who shared a recognised division and whose competitive careers overlapped, with no bout between them on record. Each name opens the head-to-head tool with the pair filled in.
- Jack Dempsey#33 · Heavyweight · 8 overlapping years (1914-1921)
- Gene Tunney#44 · Heavyweight · 7 overlapping years (1915-1921)
- Philadelphia Jack O'Brien#61 · Heavyweight · 7 overlapping years (1906-1912)
- Tommy Gibbons#94 · Heavyweight · 9 overlapping years (1913-1921)
- Jack Dillon#101 · Heavyweight · 7 overlapping years (1915-1921)
- Billy Miske#229 · Heavyweight · 9 overlapping years (1913-1921)
Show 2 more
- Georges Carpentier#507 · Heavyweight · 13 overlapping years (1909-1921)
- Fred Fulton#772 · Heavyweight · 8 overlapping years (1914-1921)
Shared recognised division, overlapping competitive years, no recorded bout between them. A measured pattern only.
About this rating
Rankings: H&G All-Time Index v2.0.0. Reflects fights up to , the most recent on record. The ratings are fixed to that point, so fights after it are not yet included.
The rating itself is built from the 76 bouts we hold full data for from 1906 to 1921, which is why this count differs from the professional record above.
For the data-minded
Peak-form Elo rating: 1,720 (peak dated 1914-12-01). This best-point rating sits on its own scale and is not directly comparable with the 0-100 index.
The peak estimate carries an uncertainty band of about ±155 Elo, so read close comparisons with care.