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

I aint no McGovern fanatic or have his posters on my wall or a member of the kkk.I read the Fleischer book years ago that's all.Big Bobby Chacon fan tho i thought the 2nd Olivares fight was suspicious until i read that Chacon was partying hard in the lead up,was Gans?

20-25 seconds before Gans,s awkward lookin fall i see McGovern is landing to the head,body+to Gans,s *****,a accumulation of punches maybe?
If McGovern was a featherfisted fighter taking out Gans early id be very concerned.
Why take all that punishment

 

I dont think Gans did take a lot of punishment. He took a lot more punishment from the bigger, stronger Nelson over 42 rounds, continuing to fight after vomiting in his corner 2 or 3 seperate times in the hot Nevada sun. Gans took the punches of Langford, Nelson, and Walcott. No bantamweight is blitzing him. And that completely ignores all of the facts outside of the ring on the ground at the time and the admissions of the people involved. Like they said, McGovern was good but he wasnt that good.

 

Anyone know if the Ring Detective done a article on this fight?

 

McGovern was a fast starter and was a very good puncher, Gan's was a long distance fighter, who probably got caught cold, it happens. I've watched the fight in slo-mo and saw McGovern was landing bombs and rocking Gan's. Everybody seems to focus on the first KD from a left that missed. Watch instead the bombs was landing before that.
Gans needed rounds to warm up while McGovern was ready from the first bell.

 

You are an idiot. The weight limit for LW in that era was 133.

 

Yeah that was a weird claim.I'm no historian but even I knew that was BS .I was up for buying that book until I spotted that on the flyer.I'll buy Clay's book soon.

I think Gans went for a swim against McGovern .

 

Nm

 

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.

Gans fought many of his fight that year at 135 pounds.

The lightweight division has been around since 1886. When was the limit changed from 133 to 135?

Here's what I found on the web.

Lightweight (131-135 lbs; 59.5 – 61.4 kg; 9 stone, 5 pounds – 9 stone, 9 pounds): First originated as any fighter whose weight was less than 160 pounds by Jack Broughton (in 1738); under London Prize Ring, weight class ranged from (130-150); next established by the ABA as 10 stone (in 1889); modified by the NSC (in 1909) as 9 stone, 9 pounds or 135 lbs. First English Champion John Moneghan (in 1850).

There was something in the contract that said Gans agreed to make 133 at 7 pm Hence, McGovern wanted to be sure he was not above a certain weight.

The rest of my comments you did not address, and I think I know why.

 

According to William Gildea's The longest fight(great book),Gans agreed to terms he would have to ko McGovern to claim the winners purse,whereas McGovern would be declared the winner by simply finishing on his feet.Gans considered the arrangement fair enough because McGovern had never fought backing up and would be in reach of a ko punch.

Gans also failed by a pound and a quarter to make the 133lb limit stipulated in the contract at seven o'clock on the evening of the fight.

 

No he doesn't look awesome and the ring is so small, the type of ring they used to use for purely cinematic reasons, it is not so much boxing as a donnybrook but I do think this is basically what Dixon looked like for real, now I can sorta see why Young Griffo managed to avoid a lot of punishment from George keeping in mind all their fights were draws.

 

Well Les Darcy looks impressive in his films, so does Packey McFarland and Mike Gibbons and so do Nelson and Wolgast, this is far from prime Dixon too, he was fighting Griffo at least a whole decade before this... real pity no footage of a real Griffo fight, in his prime the man was a genius. Yes Tommy Burns was impressive, for the life of me I could never understand why his loss against Johnson affected his reputation, I mean how is it possible a guy his size could stand a chance against Johnson the giant.

 

The first black champion should have been Peter Jackson I reckon, Sullivan dodged him and I think maybe intimidated by him, from what I have read Jackson was brilliant and a fiery customer, the first training session he had with that famous trainer Larry Foley, Jackson got stroppy and they ended up having a true fist fight. He did own the so called "coloured" title though............ Also there seems to be controversy in the Tom Molineaux 1st fight with Cribb, it appears he had won the fight then once Cribb had recovered they were forced to continue... This wasn't yet a world title but indeed the winner has to be the best fighter on the planet at the time.

 

Apparently Foley got the better of the young inexperienced Jackson, enough for Jackson to respect Foley enough to continue training with Foley but these two pugilists never liked each other, indeed they faced off in the ring later in a real bout I believe.

 

McGovern! What a fighter!