Can anyone tell me more about Len Harvey, who challenged John Henry Lewis for the light-heavy title? I've read that Harvey was doing very well until he injured his right hand in the 3rd round, and then lost on points. He had a rivalry with Jock McAvoy, who also challenged and lost to Lewis. Fascinating fighter was Harvey...turned pro aged 12 (I have a photo of him at home during this period) and was the official matchmaker for his fight with John Henry Lewis. Can you imagine that? His career lasted for over 20 years, but I'm confused as to the number of fights he actually had. Historian Harry Mullan claims Harvey had over 400 fights, but boxrec have far fewer than that. Is the boxrec record incomplete? http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=17630&cat=boxer&pageID=1 Can anyone add a few stories or facts about Harvey?
Boxrec.com´s recordlist is not very good in this case. It states that Len fought 3 minute rounds in all his fights. That is not true, he fought 2 minute rounds up until mid 1924. Two minute rounds was very popular in England at that time. (The same mistake is in the record of Fredie Mills). It is believed that Harvey had maybee up to 100 unrecorded fights in his early days before moving to London. Unfortunatly very little footage exists of this fine boxer. A very good book was written by Gilbert Odd. "Len Harvey - Prince of boxers" Woller