Really, we should talk more about this guy. His record is full of well known names and I would say his resume is quite good :deal Tell me what you think about Frank Erne, Classic ?? :bbb This content is protected
Frank Erne is a name from a distant past..Erne was born in Switzerland took up boxing as a youngster, was unbeaten for a few years, beating the likes of george Dixon, Jack Skelly, held his own with the ORIGINAL "will of the Wisp", Young Griffo, beat LWs Kid Lavigne, Elbows McFadden, WW Dal Hawkins etc, and in 1900 won the LW title from the immortal Joe Gans by stoppage in 12 rds...Erne after Gans won back his title by KO went downhill fast, but at his best before 1900 would hold his own with about most any LW in history...And remember Vic, Frank Erne was Switzerland's greatest fighter...:hi:
I'm just finishing up a biographical book about my cousin, George "Kid" Lavigne, the first world lightweight champion under Marquess of Queensberry Rules (you heard that correctly, it wasn't Jack McAuliffe as so many of the record books claim). Here is an excerpt from the book on Frank Erne, who indeed was a good fighter of the time but would find the smaller "Terrible Terry" McGovern a bit too much for him. " This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Are you a distant cousin of Kid Lavigne C ? As tough a fighter who ever lived...Any lightweight that could beat the great Welter powerhouse Joe Walcott has to be one of out toughest and greatest lightweight fighters ever...And Lavigne won the Walcott bout in the 12th round with one of his ears severed and hanging by a thread...They don't make them like Kid Lavigne any more...No sir !
I have him 33rd. good victories over gans, levigne and elbows but his record at the weight isn't terribly deep and he lost a few times in his prime. spent a couple of years as number 1 though. I'd probably call him great but not ATG.
Dont know much about him other than he was another victim of the underrated Terrible Terry McGovern who stopped him in three.
He knocked McGovern down in the 1st round, and he probably had the better of the 2nd round. 'Outclassed' seems too hard of word to be used in this situation, in my opinion.
This content is protected Frank Erne is a fighter you rightly say does not get a lot of press by many people nowadays but was a 1 or 2 weight champion depending on which branch of boxing history you follow. He beat George Dixon for Featherweight title but the ref stated while he gave Erne the nod, Dixon didn't deserve to lose his title & still claimed it afterward (see link below) NY Sun Article (1st column) including RBR of Erne beating Dixon for Title - http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1896-11-28/ed-1/seq-9.pdf Here's a contemporary piece from SF Call in 1902 just after Erne had been beat by Jimmy Britt where Frank gives his thoughts on his career & boxing - http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1902-12-14/ed-1/seq-27/ The boxing biographies website has 2 pages - the first is a RBR of his stoppage of Gans & the second is an excellent article written by Charlie White (old time ref) in 1911 as part of a lengthy series. - http://boxingbiographies.com/bio/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=177&Itemid=27 An Article from NY Sun January 1940. The link is a pdf file & once opened the article is the first column entitled Setting The Pace by Frank Graham is a career summary/interview with Frank. - http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper ...=C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Fulton_New_form.html&.pdf Senya's write ups of 3 fights 1895-12-05 George Dixon D-PTS10 Frank Erne (New York, NY, USA) - http://senya13.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/1895-12-05-george-dixon-d-pts10-frank.html 1897-02-20 Frank Erne L-UD20 Martin Flaherty [New York Athletic Club, New York, NY, USA] - http://senya13.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/1897-02-20-frank-erne-l-ud20-martin.html 1899-03-03 Frank Erne W-KO7 Dal Hawkins [Woodward's Pavilion, San Francisco, CA, USA] - http://senya13.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/1899-03-03-frank-erne-w-ko7-dal-hawkins.html
