I think Ketchel had a huge punch, but he may have become over-rated as a puncher recently. He was certainly no Fitzsimmons.
Ketchel knocked down Johnson, and ko'd OBrien, the lightheavy champ at time. His loss to papke, which he avenged, was due to sucker punch Papke hit him with during handshake at start of fight.
here is article, Ketchel was out of it in first, hung in till ko in 11th. Beat Papke in 3 rematches. http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=6923,6567429&dq=papke+vs+ketchel&hl=en
O'Brien and Ketchel weighed the same. The sucker punch story is a myth. It never happened. "Sailed into" means he just ignored the handshake and started fighting (perfectly legal). He didn't land a meaningful or damaging blow until over a minute of fighting had elapsed, plenty of time for Ketchel to get over the surprise of his handshake being ignored. He won because he was the better man that day.
Yes & No It was a "legal" cheap shot during the customary handshake. It was the custom but not the rule to shake hands during the opening bell. That's why Papke wasn't disqualified and no one made a fuss about it afterwards. But it really doesn't matter if the "Sucker Punch" happened or not because Stan beat Papke like a dog two months later and regained the title.
Ketchel sucker punched Papke in their first fight. Papke announced before the fight that he wasn't going to shake hands with Ketchel at that point in the fight because of this. Papke missed with his first punch. The "sucker punch" is a myth. Didn't happen.
Below is a link to the fight report ,from Senya's excellent site. http://senya13.blogspot.com/2011/05/1910-05-17-stanley-ketchel-w-ko3-porky.html
There is absolutely no primary source evidence even remotely indicating any "cheap shot". Papke hit Ketchel with the damaging blow in about 1 min, 20 seconds of fighting. This is noted by several primary sources and even non-primary sources.
Who says it "never" happened. Did Stanley say it never happened himself or did his camp say so? Which source confirms beyond a reasonable doubt that flats out say it never ever happened?? Just a question is all. BTW...I thought you didn't except non-primary sources and only first hand source. Because I got plenty stuff what you'd consider non-primary sources that says the opposite.
Damn, look at the size of Ketchel's forearms on your avatar...Not for nothing did the oldtimers rave about Ketchel...