Joe Gans VS Terry McGovern: What can you tell me? Opinions?

Yeh

I'm starting to think, it was another piece of Gans footage I watched and not Dixon that impressed me. As watching it back it aint that impressive.

Burns looks good on film IMO

 

The camera, in that Dixon video, is clearly the center of attention.


This tells me it was not a real competitive bout, just something for the cameras

 

Hey guys! Just a FYI - ON THIS TOPIC - NEXT WEEK on January 15th - on Al Bernstein's Boxing Hangouts on YouTube, you can join us with our Special Guest, boxing author and historian, Colleen Ay**** as we go back to the Beginning with our first Boxing History Hangout. "Joe Gans and the Lightweights of Early Gloved Boxing" This is a excellent chance to learn about the beginning of gloved boxing and hear the REAL stories about the first black boxing champion, Joe Gans, The BIG FIX Fight of 1900, (that almost ended boxing in Chicago), the first GREAT Fight AND the amazing lightweight fighters kicking off the new Century.

If you are not familiar with Colleen Ay**** - you are in for a treat. She is AMAZING! "The Mother of Boxing History" is guaranteed to add something new to your boxing IQ. Her passion for the sport is only topped by her knowledge. Come join us - ask questions! We will be giving away a few dedicated, signed books from BOTH Al and Colleen to few lucky viewers... Hope to see you there! Just search for Al's Boxing Hangouts

 

Tell the "mother of boxing history" that Gans was NOT the first black champion, he wasnt even the first African American champion. That honor belongs to George Dixon who was a champion before Gans even turned pro. Canadians might be a bit put out to learn that Ay**** has excised their homeland from America.

 

Fair few errors in her Gans book if I remember correctly.

 

Gans wasn't even the first black champion of the 20th century. Joe Walcott beat him to it.

 

Nat Fleisher who rated Terry as the best bantam he had ever seen said this about his ko over Gan's, "Terry was good, but he wasn't that good."

 

*Colleen Aypenisell.

 

We all know about the "Three Colored Aces" since 1938 when Nat Fleischer wrote about them. Nothing new there. Canadians have always claimed George Dixon because he was born and began boxing in Halifax before he moved to Boston. Barbados Joe was considered from West Indies. Joe Gans was the first black champion born on American soil.

 

Her other book - "The First Black Boxing Champions." Covers all that as well. Looking forward to hear more from her on Wednesday. Appreciate any questions you want me to ask - or join us on Wednesday!

 

No, Canada is part of America as is Barbados. The United States and America are two seperate things. Gans was neither the first black champion nor the first black American champion. He was the first black champion born in the United States but I guess that doesnt have as nice a ring to it and sounds a bit condescending IMO. It didnt take Nat Fleischer, who Ay**** oddly bashed in her book despite Fleischer being a big advocate for Gans, to illustrate those points.

 

The entire Western Hemisphere is America if one wants to be technical about it. After all, the Western Hemisphere is divided into two parts, North America and South America. It may be that one should refer to Joe Gans as the first U.S.-born black world champion.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Just watched the fight,steve lott uploaded a nice video recently,Looks legit to me a atg performace from Terry Mcgovern who goes at gans like a maniac,he's catching Gans repeatedly+hard before the 1st Knockdown.Terrific bit of film

 

LOL. I love how periodically people pop up and want so bad to believe McGovern actually knocked out Gans. They say "he was landing hard shots" blah blah blah. Look at what Gans was doing. The guy was very durable and a master at the judgement of distance. Against McGovern he is basically stationary, not firing back, then look at the few punches Gans does throw. They arent the lazer like straight, accurate punches he was known for and we can see in his other films, they were overhand softball variety punches that your grandma could dodge. He does nothing and even then he goes down from punches by McGovern that dont even land. And this is telling because watch how many times Gans makes McGovern loop that telegraphed left hook around his neck without incident. He clearly knew what he was doing in there and still had enough sense to mitigate McGoverns charges but then goes down from the same missed punch that had looped around the back of his neck harmlessly a dozen times already. Sorry McGovern fans, it was staged and badly at that. After the first obviously fake knockdown Gans gets up and in quick succession makes the same punch loop around the back of his neck twice again. The same punch that had obviously missed but supposedly dropped him just seconds earlier. Nevermind that Gans took the punches of much bigger, stronger, harder hitting fighters. But Terry McGovern moving up in weight gave him this much trouble? Uhhh, no.

 

One thing few consider is this was a catch weigh fight. Gans had to come down to 133 pounds. In many cases the fighter coming down in weight for catch weight losses.

If the " fix " was in, why not let the fight happen at 135? It would make Gans a stronger betting favorite, which is what you want in a " fix "

If the fix was in, why go down six times? Some of those shots from McGovern were hard and landed flush. I have gone over the film in detail a few times here.

Gans was hurt from the first knockdown and didn't recover. Sometimes fighters just don't have it. Style wise I think the match up was tough for Gans. He was a boxer-puncher type facing a swarmer type with a reputation for ending things early.

Was Gans really that tough? He once quit in a key fight from a cut.