It seems today the only American boxers are of African, Mexican, Puerto Rican and some Italians. But what happens to the Irish?
I found this on another site. This is their list of the top ten Irish-American fighters of all time. Some might dispute the Irish-Americaness of one or two of them but it's a pretty amazing top ten by any standards. In no order John Sullivan Jim Corbett Bob Fitzsimmons (this one's a bit of a reach lol) Philadelphia Jack OBrien Terry McGovern Jack Dempsey (1914-1927) Gene Tunney Tommy Loughran Mickey Walker Billy Conn Interesting how it stacks up against the top ten Italian-American boxers of all time (from the Ring magazine taken from Bert Sugar's 100 Greatest Boxers of All Time book) 1. Willie Pep 2. Tony Canzoneri 3. Rocky Marciano 4. Jake La Motta 5. Johnny Dundee 6. Billy Petrolle 7. Carmen Basilio 8. Rocky Graziano 9. Lou Ambers 10. Joey Maxim And a top ten of the greatest Jewish-American boxers of all time from another site. 1. Benny Leonard 2. Barny Ross 3. Abe Attel 4. Maxie Rosenbloom 5. Battling Levinsky 6. Joe Choynski 7. Lew Tendler 8. Jackie Fields 9. Al McCoy 10. Max Baer (Jewish father - although, interestingly, Jake La Motta's mother was Jewish but he doesn't make their list).
Ali's the first pic that shows up when you do a search for Irish American boxers into Google. Mickey Rourke's the seventh. lol https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=irish+american+boxers
The Son of God himself. :deal ...though he only recently with his career spiraling into obsolescence and relegated to a big old badonkadonk of a joke, seems to be learning the credo of his people - that in the end the world breaks their hearts.
Donovan George is listed as an Irish-American boxer. 'And as he attempts to keep his streak going, George expressed a certain pride in the fact that the bout takes place on St. Patricks Day, meaning that the crowd could be made up of partisan Irish fans. George shared his thoughts on the fight in this Q&A with RingTV.com. RingTV.com: Can you talk about your heritage? Donovan George: My mothers 100 percent Irish, her parents were both born in Ireland. We were brought up, like, really Irish. But as I got older and turned 18, I was able to choose my own religion and I actually converted to become Greek orthodox. I just felt that that was more appropriate for me. Now I go to Greek church. So I got the best of both worlds. I went to a Catholic school, and after 18 years, I decided to become Greek orthdox. I became orthodox to get married to my orthodox fiance. RingTV.com: What does the phrase, Get your Irish up? mean to you? DG: It means that you put your head down, you throw, and you throw, and you dont stop until you bleed. They just throw and they just throw. Thats how I fight, and I try to get a little smarter. I dont want to get hit with every punch, but I know that Im going to get hit. Im going to bleed. This is my style, and I come to fight.' Irish or Greek? :think Go Hellas! is the slogan of the twenty-six-year-old Donovan George, Don Da Bomb George for his fans, who is about to make Greece proud with his iron fists. The legendary Madison Square Garden in New York is going to be flooded by Hellenic flags and supporting slogans for Greece. The Greek-American Donovan George is vying for a ticket to the world title fight in the super middleweight division Donovan is honoring his Greek-Cypriot origins and seems determined to dedicate this fight and his potential victory to Greece. Every time he refers to the to the coming fight he seems rather certain to be victorious and express great optimism for his success. The rising star of American boxing will fight against the worlds No. 5, Edwin Rodriguez from St. Dominique, a strong boxer who has not been defeated during his professional career. The winner of the fight that will take place on the 17th of March in New York will then have the chance to claim the world title in the super middleweight division. Donovan George hopes that he can send a message to people in Greece in the midst of the financial crisis with his potential victory; that is, to fight harder to rise victorious.