[1923] Firpo bout cancelled when opponent ko'd by welterweight in sparring

Strange but interesting fiasco where a Firpo fight fell through because a guy he spoke highly of and was scheduled to fight got knocked out by a welterweight in sparring. Firpo ended up fighting Italian Jack Herman (5-8) instead. This all went down a few months before Firpo fought Willard and Dempsey.


"Firpo's Scheduled Bout with White in Havana Halted” AP, May 30, 1923

Havana, May 29--“The boxing bout between Luis Angel Firpo, the South American heavyweight, and Joe White of New York, which had been arranged for next Sunday, has been called off.

This afternoon, during a sparring match with Estanislao Frias, a Cuban colored welterweight, White was twice knocked out by the lighter man with 12-ounce gloves.

[… The Cuban boxing Commission, three members of which were at the ringside, immediately convened and reached a decision disqualifying White as an unfit opponent for Firpo.”

[…]

New York, May 29 (A.P.)-- “Most comment here centered on the professional judgment of Firpo. White first came into print as a sparring partner of Firpo, when the Argentinian was training to meet Jack McAuliffe II of Detroit, for the Milk Fund bout. White lasted one day as a sparring partner.

Havana promoters who saw Firpo and White mix were so impressed, however, with the New Yorker that they signed him to meet Firpo. Immediately, White acquired training partners of his own and also a press agent who produced figures showing White had won 46 or 48 fights and has never been knocked out. He said it was an oversight that the figures were not in the records.

Firpo added to White’s prestige by saying that the man who was knocked out twice today, with 12-ounce gloves by a welterweight, was ‘one of the toughest men and hardest hitters I ever have met.’"

 

Surprised nobody's interviewed Bika about this.