Don’t forget the Jim Carrey film: - The Number 23. And Jim was also 45 yo when he made that film. Do the math. Taking the number 23, 3 -2 = 1. Taking the number 45, 5 - 4 = 1. I kid you not! And..45-23 = 22. Now add the answer “1” from above and what do you get?
Also Flynn’s hitting the big time in 1935 with Captain Blood, coincided with Baer’s year as champion. Flynn had a brief spell as an amateur boxer in Australia, In 1941, starring as Custer in ….Boots On, Flynn, was knocked out with one punch by great athlete Jim Thorpe, working as an extra in an off-camera fracas. It’s amazing Flynn lasted as long as Max. Evidently he was very ill in 1938, enlarged heart, malaria, spots on lungs, TB, exacerbated by drinking, frequently collapsing on the set of Robin Hood. Max lasted 5 months longer than Errol, he had refereed a fight involving Alonzo Johnson shortly before he was stricken, (from memory).
Great info, thanks. Hadn’t heard about the Thorpe dust up before. Yeah, Errol tried to enlist but was knocked back as his body was already a mess. Max Baer Snr was such a big guy - he, bro Buddy and Joe Louis were introduced prior to the Liston vs Bethea fight - all shaking both fighters hands. It wasn’t too long before Max’s passing. There was some big dudes back in Louis’ day which might’ve led to the false impression of Louis being smaller than he was - even an older Joe scratched up well alongside Muhammad Ali who was considered the new up sized HW of the day. Braddock, at 6’2” - 6’2 1/2” was also a reasonably sized guy himself, dwarfing the likes of Patterson and Frazier.
The only memory I have of one of my PE teachers is He would bang my 4th grade teacher Miss Ortega during lunch time.
Jersey Joe Walcott being involved in two odd-looking 1st round KOs in heavyweight championship history, once as a fighter and once as a referee.
That’s an excellent lateral thinking one. There’s also the well known one of Walcott stopping both the father and son pair of Phil and Harold Johnson in exactly the same round as well as in the same city, Philadelphia, 14 years apart.
Flynn played Corbett in 1942. 3 years later in a Sullivan biopic, ex boxer, Rory Calhoun (not the 50’s middle) portrayed Corbett. In a 1957 western Utah Blaine, Calhoun squared off on a dusty street with none other than a 48 year old burly, Max Baer.
Two of Mike Tyson’s biggest career moments has fallen on dates on the calendar that are forever associated with fwo momentous events in recent human history. November 22nd 1963, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and it is an event so shocking that it has been said that almost everyone that was alive at that time still remembers where they were and what they were doing on the day that JFK was killed. 23 years later to the day, November 22nd 1986, Mike Tyson makes history by knocking out Trevor Berbick and becomes the youngest heavyweight champion ever and on the road to become one of the biggest names in boxing history. February 11th 1990, The seemingly unbeatable Tyson in his 10th defence of his title is beaten by Buster Douglas in arguably the biggest upset in boxing history, making headlines news worldwide. However on this same momentous day, it has to share the headlines with the release of Nelson Mandela who is released from prison in South Africa after serving 28 years.
Ray Robinson not wanting to fight Jimmy Doyle because he dreamed he would kill him, being talked into fighting Doyle and then killing him in the ring.
Famous eerie photo of a beam of light apparently shining on Luther McCarty as he lay dying after his fight vs Arthur Pelkey: - https://twitter.com/BoxingHistory/status/898365176725950465