One night in 1950 Sugar Ray pranced out to listen to the referee's instructions before a 10-rounder with a tough middleweight named George (Sugar) Costner. Earlier in the week Costner had been popping off about how—when he won—he would be the Sugar. Now, as Robinson stood in the ring, wearing a blue satin robe and his face hooded in a towel, he peered at Costner. When the referee was finished, he said, "Listen, Costner, there's only one Sugar. And that's me. So let's touch the gloves now because this is your last round." Sugar Ray caught him with a left hook and a straight right hand and Costner was on his back. KO 1, it reads in the book. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fO3dIJqyW...PSOLF_dfQ0/s1600/1950_robinson_costner_02.jpg
On January 9th 1900 Terry McGovern, the former world bantamweight champion, became the first boxer to win a world title in the 20th century when he beat defending featherweight champion George Dixon, sending him to the canvas eight times. McGovern was also the last boxer to win a world title in the 19th century when he won the bantamweight title when he knocked out Pedlar Palmer in one round - the first queensberry rules bout to end inside one round.
Upon seeing Tommy Loughran at Mass, Da excitedly asked at the breakfast table, “Did you notice who received Holy Communion today? Tommy Loughran, Philadelphia’s best fighter, that’s who,” answering his own question before anyone else. “Paddy, do you know why he is the best fighter?” “No, Da.” “Because he thinks, that’s why. He uses his head,” Da said. “When he broke his right hand, years ago, he taught himself how to use his left hand. Now he can lead with either one. Furthermore at the end of every round, he maneuvers the other fighter into his corner. That way, Tommy just sits down while the other fellow has to walk across the ring. Eight or nine rounds of walk can tire a fighter out. That’s how Tommy beat Tony Marullo last Monday night. The exhausted Marullo could hardly stand on his feet at the end of the fight. I know because some fellows who saw the fight told me,” Da said. “He’s a model Catholic as well, did you see how proud he looked receiving Holy Communion? Whenever he intends to receive Holy Communion the next morning, Loughran refuses to take a drink of water following a fight. That’s a fact. He said so himself. Let that be a lesson on being a good Catholic.” “Why does he go to our church?’...Does he live around here?” “No, he owns in a big house in Chestnut Hill where the rich people live. When he comes to our church, he always receives Holy Communion from Father Smith. Do you know why? Because Father Smith’s the son of Tommy’s trainer, that’s why! I predict that some day, Tommy will be the heavyweight champion of the world.” Da proved to be partially right in his prediction. In October, Tommy Loughran defeated Mike McTigue to win the light heavyweight championship. However, there were some who disputed his claim to the title. Shortly after being crowned champion, Loughran came home to Philadelphia to defend his title against Pat McCarthy, a fight that Da attended. “Loughran’s a true champion,” Da proclaimed when he got home that night. “He always led with a series of left jabs, then followed up with a combination of lefts and rights. McCarthy had no skin on his face by the end of the eighth round because he got hit that often.” Da, along with the entire sporting world, eagerly awaited the return match between Dempsey and Tunney. The challenger, Jack Dempsey, planned to enter the ring in the best shape of his life after preparing for his opponent’s style by training with Philadelphia’s Tommy Loughran. Originally a Tunney supporter, Dempsey‘s association with Loughran gave Da second thoughts. He didn’t know who to root for, so he planned to settle in his easy chair and listen to the bout on the radio along with sixty million fight fans. “I intend to hear the fight Thursday night, and I don’t want to come home to a broken radio,” Da said, commanding his flock to take care of his prized possession. Successful in defending his Light Heavyweight title against Mickey Walker and Jim Braddock, Tommy faced a formidable opponent as he attempted to move up in class. Loughran believed that his sparring experience with Jack Dempsey prepared him for heavyweight opponents, but he soon learned otherwise. His first bout against Jack Sharkey ended in a knockout. Tommy was the one knocked out. He kept his heavier opponent off balance with left jabs; however, Sharkey hit Loughran with a solid right hand in the fourth round which stunned the Light Heavy Weight Champ. The referee declared Tommy out on his feet and awarded the bout to Sharkey. “He’ll be back, just you wait,” Da proclaimed whenever anyone asked him about Loughran’s ability to fight the “big boys.” Fighting once again became the dominant conversation in the O’Donnell household. This time it concerned a professional bout between Philadelphia’s Tommy Loughran and the Italian giant Primo Carnera. Da opposed the fight, not because of the size of the Italian, but because it was rumored that he had mob connections, and Da thought the fight might have been fixed. ............ I shuddered as I sat at ringside and watched the Alpine Mountain Man lumber across the ring to touch gloves with the polished boxer, Philadelphia-born Tommy Loughran. “There is no possible way the 184-pound Irishman could get near the Italian’s chin,” I said to myself and to anyone near me who would listen. Loughran fought a valiant fight, but he couldn’t lay a glove on any vital part of the 6 foot 5 inch, 270-pound monstrosity. To add to the insult, early in the fight Carnera stepped on Tommy’s foot and broke one of his toes, whether accidentally or on purpose. Tommy plastered his hair with a foul smelling additive to prevent the Italian giant from leaning on him during the clinches. He pushed his head under Carnera’s nose every time the Italian tried to wrestle rather than fight. I salute you, Tommy, for lasting the full 15 rounds. I never thought you would make it past the first. (Patrick O'Donnell / James Francis Smith)
This is a photograph of the $30,000 gold coin purse (all in coins) that was offered to the winner of the Joe Gans vs. Battling Nelson fight on September 3, 1906. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U1Ujgwmyv...ttling+Nelson+fight+on+September+3,+1906..JPG
REFEREE ALMOST ACCUSED OF MURDER On 5 October 1982, Belfast’s Hugh Russell and Davy Larmour clashed at the Ulster Hall for the Irish bantamweight title. The fight, which was also a final eliminator for the British title, was a truly bloody affair that went the full fifteen rounds. Russell was awarded the narrowest of decisions by referee Mike Jacobs in a ring that resembled a butchers apron. On returning to London, Jacobs left his white shirt in to be dry-cleaned. However, when he returned to collect it he was handed an official letter from the girl in the shop asking him to report to the local police station. Once there, Jacobs was taken into a room and asked by CID how his shirt had come to be covered in so much blood? A simple explanation that he had refereed a boxing match in Belfast duly resolved the matter with the police. It seemed that the owner of the dry-cleaners had become suspicious when he was handed in the shirt and phoned police as he was convinced that Jacobs had been involved in a bloody murder. (Eamonn Magill) http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HDruaVgcUd4/VQlasJ6JEhI/AAAAAAAACFQ/9Whp3YcRkWo/s1600/davyrussell.jpg
"It my first fight with Greb. I had taken a frightful beating. Awful. But the next morning my then-manager Doc Bagley said 'You certainly gave me a hard time last night, kid. Working on those cuts. It was rough.' While Bagley talked to me, the doctor was sewing up my eyebrows with a big needle. It felt as if he were pulling my eye***** out. 'Yes,' I told Bagley, 'you had it rough.' But in my mind I said, 'I'm going to get rid of this fellow.' (Gene Tunney)
“They ran him like a dog and then rubbed him down with witch-hazel. They fed him meat, which he loved and was ‘given to as much as possible.’ Then they took turns fighting him and by nine he was in bed and asleep. When he reached the required poundage, everything stopped, he rested, suddenly and preternaturally still, patiently awaiting the removal of the invisible chain.” (Matt McGrain on Terry McGovern)
Counted out on the 13th day of the month...in the 13th round...at 13 minutes past the hour. Tommy Farr said it was the best fight he had ever seen. .......................... October 1937. At Shawfield Park (Glasgow, Scotland), capacity packed with 40,000 and thousands more unable to get in, it was vintage boxing, the likes of which a man would see, if he was lucky that was, only once in a lifetime. It was Peter Kane at his greatest - unbeaten in 42 professional fights - and Benny Lynch at his pinnacle - and the best man won. Peter Kane was a youngster of nineteen and had been a pro since he was sixteen - although he had been fighting long before that as a youth in the booths around the market towns of the North of England. Some scoffed at the idea of such a young fellow taking on the likes of Lynch. Nevertheless, Kane was unbeaten. The English were convinced he was their answer to Benny Lynch. Tommy Farr said it was the best fight of any weight he had ever seen. Elky Clark, former British flyweight champion, rated it the greatest flyweight match of boxing history. And Victor McLaglen, the former heavyweight boxer turned sucessful actor, picked him up in his arms to announce to everyone that he was holding the Jack Dempsey of the small men. “Oh boy, what a fight,” he said. In his commissioned report of the fight he enthused even more... "It’s the most exciting fight of its weight I have ever seen and although Kane was the aggressor until about the ninth round, Lynch seemed to have his measure all the time. . . . You would notice that Kane’s punches had little effect on your boy who seemed as fresh as paint after the fight. Indeed, I was surprised when I met him in Mr Russell Moreland’s office afterwards to see how little bruised he was. How Kane weathered the twelfth round I don’t know. Lynch had him at his mercy . . . it wasn’t a knock out in the accepted sense. Kane was too weak to get up in the thirteenth . . . the gamest loser I have ever seen. And what a clean, fair fight it was. If you can promise me another fight as thrilling and sporting as this one then, boy, I’m certainly coming back to Scotland." No one ever offered that promise. And there never was another fight like that night at Shawfield Park, although other Scots were to win world titles. It was the fight men were to speak about for the rest of their lives. It was the fight the fifty-bob fighters, the men who knew and suffered their industry, said they never thought they would see the likes of, for they never thought two men could fight like that. Some of them had seen Jimmy Wilde. But no one had ever produced what they said was the ultimate in the sporting science called pugilism that Benny Lynch produced that night. (by John Burrowes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2iaIqLVTIA .
Rocky Marciano was retired at the time - this must have been '64 or '65 so he'd been retired seven or eight years - and Rocky and I had been friends for a while and we were in a favourite hotel of ours in Miami. Rocky said to me, 'I want to get back in shape. I want to fight this guy Cassius Clay.' Well, Rocky was nearly 40 years old, but he didn't like Clay, I think he really didn't understand where he was coming from. Rocky was this very patriotic and humble guy in many ways, and Clay at that time was the opposite. So he's saying, 'I'm going to get back in shape. I'm going to take him on.' And I said, 'Rocky, don't do that. You retired the undefeated champion of the world. You never lost a fight. You're going to have a beautiful life now, you never have to fight again.' Rocky said, 'Well, I don't like this guy. He breaks all the rules and he is just unethical.' I talked to Rocky for an hour. I said, 'Don't you dare try to get back in shape for this guy. Can you imagine losing after winning all those fights and retiring with an unbeaten record? You'd have to whip yourself into some shape to beat this kid. This kid is great.' And I meant that, because I thought and still think Ali was wonderful, both in and out of the ring. 'Get the hell outta here,' Rocky said, 'I can beat this kid.' And he told me how strong he still was, because Rocky was an immensely strong fighter - he didn't have a lot of finesse, but my goodness this guy was strong and could punch. So again I said, 'You're doing the wrong thing. You have a great life. You have free time to spend with your family and lots of endorsements. Forget the whole thing.' So I leave the room and I go out for a while, and when I get back Rocky isn't there. So I go up to the exercise solarium which they had on the roof to look for him, and they had this sandbag which was fastened to the wall, which was kinda like a heavy punch bag. Anyway it wasn't there anymore, the bolts had come loose and the sandbag was about ten feet away on the floor, and there was dust on the floor and everything. Two of Rocky's friends were up there and I said, "What the hell happened? Where is Rocky?' They both shrugged and said, 'I don't know. He came up here real mad about an hour ago and punched that thing and broke the wall.' I guess Rocky was mad because he knew he could never fight Clay. Which was perhaps as well, at that time, because I loved 'The Rock' but I think he didn't need it and I'm not sure he would have won that fight. (by Tony Bennett - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Bennett ) (via Matt Hamilton) This content is protected
i must say, i'm a little skeptical about what bennett says there ^^ ....as it was around the time when marciano was calling for a ban on boxing and preaching about the harm it does.
The story of the first meeting between heavyweight champion Max Baer and, unknown to him at the time, Joe Louis. "Say, kid, if i'm keeping you up, let's both go to sleep." - Everybody laughed, except Joe... This content is protected
sorry i have to link..i'd post the image of the article directly here if i could... Jackie 'Kid' Berg wins "hammer and tongs battle" as Madison Square Garden "rocks with mad cheering.....as mad as anything the Garden ever heard"... http://classicboxingsociety.blogspot.ie/2015/04/jackie-kid-berg-wins-hammer-and-tongs.html
on a week off work and revisiting this thread ............... When I started earning big purses I promised to hang up the gloves just as soon as I saved a million dollars. I haven't changed from that plan, except that I want a crack at the title before quitting. If I do get the crown, I want to defend it once. After that I'll have my million, and I'll quit the ring, raise a family, and live like any-body else. Right now I'm paying off my first $200,000 worth of annuities, have an apartment building in Chicago, and another $500,000 in sight this summer. I never saw Max Schmeling in action, but the movies of his knockout over Young Stribling in Cleveland in 1931 left a lingering impression of a great fighter. I was just a kid then, getting my baptism with gloves at the Detroit A. A., and hadn't been in any real bouts. But I was warming up to the game mighty fast, and saved my pennies to see the Schmeling-Stribling film when it arrived at my neighborhood show. Then I sat with my mouth open and marveled at the way Schmeling slipped under Stribling's piston jabs and countered with short jolts to the body, gradually raised his fire to the chin, and scored a knockout in the fifteenth round. At that time I got the idea Stribling might have done better by drawing away from the German's fists and stepping in with counters. Now I know just how I'm going to fight Schmeling. I'll let him come winging into me, pull away from his gloves by doing my "backward shuffle," and then step in with counters. If he rushes too fast and furious, I'll grab his arms and spin him before opening up. I know the "tip" that I'm weak against rushers has spread like a scandal in an old maids' home. That's partly because Adolph Wiater, a mediocre heavyweight, gave me the toughest shock of my career by pushing me back off balance and churning windmill arms. At the time I fought Wiater, which was my first ten-round shindig, I hadn't learned to shuffle in reverse. Blackburn taught me a system of boxing on balance, as I explained in Liberty last November. At first he showed me how to shuffle forward into an opponent and keep my feet always in position for leverage so I could punch without waste motion. My right foot always is slightly behind the left — not too far, but enough to keep me from falling forward off balance when I strike. Blackburn had me watch a shot putter heave the iron marble at a track meet. "Push your right cross off the right foot something like that," Jack said. "At the same time hold that right toe against the floor for an anchor to keep from falling into a clinch as you punch. Imagine that toe's a stake holding down the corner of a circus tent." So I learned to shuffle into an opponent, and quick knockouts resulted. Then Wiater came along, hurtling headfirst into me, and I was fuddled for a couple of rounds, but never in distress. Blackburn immediately taught me the backward shuffle. I simply moved the same way in reverse gear. I discovered I was at my best when a foe came charging into me, because primarily I'm a counterpuncher. In my first clash with Lee Ramage I shuffled ahead for seven rounds before catching up with the retreating Ramage in the eighth. Then, in our return match, Lee decided to wage a charging fight and take a chance on outslugging me. This time I shuffled out of his range, made him miss, and stepped in with counters that iced Lee in the second round. Maybe Schmeling will switch from his usual style and wait for me to lead; but I don't think so. The German has forced the fighting in all his bouts and would be foolish to change at this time. Blackburn says Max drops his left hand when he shoots the right. The first time he drops his left, there'll be a race of right hands, and I think mine will ring the button. I know the Teuton has a cast-iron jaw. I never expect to hit another man as often with hard punches as I hit Baer before melting his chin, but I expect Schmeling to swing at me plenty. And I expect to get tagged by a few. I am prepared to take as well as dish out the leather poison this trip. Schmeling is the big hurdle in my path to the championship match. If I can whip him decisively, I expect to leap right into a title shot as the next stop, although we might take on a warm-up bout in midsummer. I feel that I've got a mission to fulfill for my race — to win the title and then prove that a colored man can wear the crown and still act like a gentleman. Joe Louis - June, 1936
The Chicago Times-Herald, Mar 24, 1900 reported Baltimore man's eye dislodged from its socket by a head on collision. ... Joe Gans was considered as the finest lightweight in the world before he finally got a shot against lightweight champion Frank Erne, who was also considered to be among the best fighters of any weight class at that time. They met on March 23, 1900 in New York. One modern writer mistakenly said Gans was winning easily when he suffered a cut over his eye and abruptly quit and it buttressed the claims of those who said the fix was in. Not so. According to researcher Arne Steinberg Gans eye was actually protruding from his eye socket! A vicious head butt had left Gans eye hanging on his face. The Chicago Times-Herald, Mar 24, reported Baltimore man's eye dislodged from its socket by a head on collision. The San Francisco Chronicle Mar 24, 1900, confirmed that, Gans eye was started from its socket. This was also reported by the Boston Globe. With such a horrendous injury Gans had no choice but to quit as one blow to his eye in that exposed position would have left him permanently blind. It took Gans two years to secure a rematch, in which time he scored 22 knockouts in 32 bouts, including some 6 round no decision contests. When Joe Gans got his second shot at champion Frank Erne, on May 12, 1902, he wasted no time in gaining the title by scoring a quick knockout. Gans spent a lot of time preparing for Ernes favorite feint and jab maneuver. Gans proved to be a master at solving an opponents style when he countered an intended Erne left with a perfectly timed right that sent Erne crashing to the canvas. Gans won the championship with a sensational first round knockout at 1:40 of the round. By Monte D. Cox