Jock McAvoy vs John Henry Lewis. 15 Rounds, World Light - Heavyweight Championship. Lewis wins a Points Decision. McAvoy, a middleweight great, held his own and it is clear by the weigh-in photos, that Mac is the much smaller man, Lewis having Height & Reach advantages. The thing about, as i know it, McAvoy couldn't get a shot at the World's Middleweight title, yet they afforded him a L-HW tilt... ok, fair enough, but rest assured NONE of the other Leading Middles were fighting John Henry Lewis. Not Steele, Not Risko, Not Apostoli, Not Krieger, Not Hostak, Not Garcia - NONE of them... it is certainly worth the Note & Career Considerations. Lewis "had little difficulty ... wagering a careful, systematic battle in which he left few openings for the fast-punching Englishman, Lewis fought his way home to victory in convincing style but his triumph was far from popular with the crowd. Most of the 15, 000, who paid $37, 712 to see the battle, were swayed by the brave showing made by the fighter from the little isle and vociferously booed the decision". (New York Times)
I was impressed by AJs improvement in the rematch with Usyk. He did quite a bit better, and I was expecting an easier win for Usyk thinking a TKO was likely.
Four pounds in weight 11/2in in height 2 1/2in in reach. Lewis was a great Light Heavyweight, McAvoy wasn't,nor,imo was a he really a great middle,he was an excellent, what we know call Supermiddle. Fine performance by Jock, but he was never going to beat Lewis. I believe McAvoy was only ranked at middle weight in1938, he challenged Lewis at Lhvy in 36,when he was ranked no 2,he was top ten ranked for the rest of the decade but,unfortunately Lewis was still the Champion. If McAvoy wanted to go after the middleweight crown,why didnt he fight the 160 pound contenders to press his claim? A win over partially recognized Risko wasn't enough to push his claims,Risko was basically a , mob managed cheese champ. Did Apostoli,Krieger,Richards,Yarosz,Overlin,Hostak ,all refuse to fight Jock? Did McAvoy try to get fights with them?
Winstone v Saldivar. Charnley v Brown. Rudkin v Rose. Rudkin v Harada. Jones v McCrory. Farr v Louis.
I think JHL, might have been more than 1.5 inches taller, he certainly looks much taller at the weigh-in I agree he wasn't beating JHL, but that wasn't the point of the post. it was to emphasis the fact that it was a great performance for a Middleweight, a MW that wasn't getting a Pop at the Middleweight title, yet his same MW contemporaries that were getting MW shots, never had to fight No John Henry's. yes, it was an excellent performance for a British fighter, re the Thread Topic.
Frank Bruno vs Tim Witherspoon and Tyson I. Frank boxed well against and up Witherspoon in the early rounds before getting tired and finally caught. In the 1st Tyson fight he did well to get up from an early knockdown to very briefly shake Iron Mike with a hook. From the 2nd onwards he took a sustain beating but displayed guts and heart to hang in there until the 5th. It´s a shame that people only remember the return fight where he seemed to given up before the fight.
Dave (Boy) Green against Carlos Palomino Terry Downes against Willie Pastrano Ernie Roderick against Henry Armstrong
Roderick, if I remember rightly was 1 of Only 4 men who took Hank the distance during Henry's 3 World Title reign... Roderick was a beautiful Boxer and a match against Fritzie Zivic was surely a Boxing History miss. an Excellent fighter and performance.