A great article on Joe Gans

Adam D · Jan 13, 2013

I recently read this article which I thought I would share about Joe Gans:

I am going through a bit of a Joe Gans obsession at the minute, Christmas bought me the biography of him by Colleen Aycock I have been waiting an age to read and on reading that it made me realise what a truly exceptional fighter Gans was. Do not want to talk through his career as I have done threads on this previously and it has been discussed on the many threads we have done trying to unpick who deserves to be top dog at lightweight but thought Id focus on his legendary fight with Battling Nelson as it demonstrates just how great Gans truly was and is also a fascinating insight into the obstacles put in front of black fighters back in the day, even ones as great as Gans undoubtedly was.

The fight took place in 1906 in the small Nevada mining town of Goldfield, as an up and coming mining town the local powerbrokers were keen to stage a large event to raise their towns profile and hopefully encourage investment in their various mining companies. One of these powerbrokers was local businessman Tex Rickard who was yet to make his mark in the sport, or indeed have any involvement with it. Rickard suggested a prizefight and overcame any objections by agreeing to put in $30,000 of his own money to meet the purse and finance the fight.

Rickards initial attempts to get Terry McGovern to take the fight came to nothing as he did not receive a response from McGoverns people. Gans on the other hand was only too happy to take the fight, despite having never lost the title in the ring Gans was struggling financially. When Gans had beaten Jimmy Britt on a foul a couple of years ago he had pretty much run out of opponents at light weight and was forced to mix with great welters such as Langford and Walcott just to earn a living. Because Britt had been having the better of their fight and because Gans had been operating mainly at welter Britts management began to claim the title for Jimmy. Such was the racist nature of the press at the time this piece of unbelievable chutzpah was not laughed out of court as it should have been but seems to have been accepted as fair, and is even to this day is reported as fact.

As Britt had subsequently lost to Battling Nelson many considered Nelson the champion so a fight between him and the true champion in Gans was a natural. Due to the lack of fights and opportunities he had delivered for Gans, Joe had spilt with his long term manager Al Herford so turned up in Nevada with basically no management. As the fight required him to post a $5000 guarantee Rickards business partner Larry Sullivan agreed to post the guarantee in return for being installed as Joes manager. He intended to make his money back by betting pretty much everything him and his friends on a Gans win. However as he was not the kind of guy who accepted failure or losing with much in the way of good grace he told Gans was he to lose the fight he would be killed before he was ever permitted to leave Goldfield.

As if this was not enough pressure Nelsons management was only too aware of Gans struggles on the scales and so decided the weigh in was a decent opportunity to load the dice in their favour. It was not uncommon at the time for fighters to weigh in at ringside (although it should be noted it was not part of boxings rules at the tine), but even this was not enough for Nelsons people who insisted that Gans weigh in at three times on the day of the fight including at ringside. Given Gans had not made 133 for two years and the fight was to be to the finish outdoors in Nevada this was one hell of an ask of the 30+ Gans. However to make matters even more ridiculous when Gans made the weight the first time Nelsons people insisted he should do so in his fighting kit, a request that was pretty much unprecedented and was not a requirement of the sport then any more than it is now. One would have to think had Gans been a different colour or been supported by proper management this request would have been treated with the contempt it deserved but alas not, Gans was indeed forced to make 133 in his kit. To give you some idea how tough Gans found this he shaved every hair from his body and even used thinner laces in his boxing boots to reduce every last gram of weight.
Click to expand...

Its continued here - http://v2journal.com/3/post/2013/01/the-day-joe-gans-proved-his-greatness.html

Manassa · Jan 13, 2013

Thanks :good

Theron · Jan 13, 2013

:good

Log in or Sign up

A great article on Joe Gans

Adam D Member Full Member

Manassa - banned

Theron Boxing Addict banned

Log in or Sign up

Forums

A great article on Joe Gans

Adam D Member Full Member

Manassa - banned

Theron Boxing Addict banned