Any film of Curtis “Hatchet man” Shepherd?

I'm sorry to put a damper on your search, but I have searched many fighters of his era on the internet, and fighters like Shepperd who were perhaps a tad lesser known (and in this case, perhaps discriminated against), especially in the late 40s and early 50s, it can be a pretty hopeless situation to find any film. I'm no expert, but I have exhausted all of the means available to most of us who have a rudimentary knowledge of video collecting, and in this case I would say it's pretty hopeless finding anything of Shepperd. I'm not saying that there's not film out there and that we shouldn't look for it, but I am assuming you went through a pretty basic search process to find this. Just as a side not, I didn't say that in a degrading way, it's just that most of us are not research geniuses, and those of us who are don't care to share the secrets.

 

It’s out there, but mostly in private collections. I’ve seen a lot of old boxing and wrestling footage over the last 30 years and even I’ve only seen three of his fights. I’ve seen Sheppard against Shkor, Sheppard against McPherson, and Sheppard against Bivins. The Sheppard-Shkor fight is at the Skirball Museum
in Los Angeles.

One of my substitute teachers from high school George Giambastiani a former heavyweight boxer himself worked as a sparring partner for Sheppard when Sheppard fought one of his buddies Johnny Haynes and was at the Sheppard-Shkor fight, since he and Shkor knew each other from when they both worked as sparring partners for Abe Simon years before.

According to Mr. Giambastiani Sheppard was a little on the crazy side both inside and outside the ring and used to carry his hatchet to the ring and would even brandish it in public and it didn’t help that Sheppard was already extremely intimidating looking without the hatchet.

He said Sheppard was the hardest puncher he ever sparred or worked with and Mr. Giambastiani worked an entire camp with Abe Simon for the first Louis fight, fought several exhibitions with Louis, and worked a camp with both Walcott and Farr. However, he also said Sheppard’s kryptonite was cute fighters that could neutralize his power.

 

Approximately when did you see these fights?

 

Most likely around 1999 or 2000 when I was still in high school. The Bivins and McPherson footage was personally owned by my teacher, who passed about 8 or 9 years ago. Knowing his family they most likely donated or sold the footage.

As for the Skirball Museum I haven’t been there in over 10 years and unfortunately the museum is closed due to Covid, but they might have even more footage of Sheppard, since admittedly I haven’t been through their entire fight collection, which is pretty vast.

 

It may seem a dead end, but it was interesting to heart anyway. Thanks.

 

Don’t suppose you noticed any Greb or Rosenbloom footage among the vastness did ya? Lol

 

I wish. I’ve seen a lot of fight footage and known plenty of collectors over the years with amazing collections, but never came across any Greb or Rosenbloom footage, but just because I haven’t seen any doesn’t mean the footage doesn’t exist.

Also, there is a possibility that the Skirball might have some Rosenbloom footage, since he was a Jewish fighter and a lot of Jewish people that inherit fight footage and don’t want it usually will donate (with stipulations) it to the Skirball, which is a major Jewish cultural museum in Los Angeles.

I’ve also never came across Jimmy Byrne or Al Gainer footage either, which is a bummer considering Jimmy Carter watched both as a kid and said they were excellent fighters.

 

He was wild and had a very high work rate. In my opinion he was very exciting to watch, but as much as I hate to say it he seemed one dimensional and over relied on his strength and power, so I can also see why he couldn’t get past guys like Walcott or Moore. He used his forearms and elbows a lot to set up his hooks, but mostly would focus on winding up his right, which in my opinion wasn’t that accurate, but it was powerful and made his opponent’s body lockup.

His punches had the effect that you see
Foreman give Cooper at 2:33, but Sheppard threw more punches and moved in with his head.

This content is protected

The Shkor fight was a really dirty like every Shkor fight, since Shkor was a very dirty fighter. Shkor would headlock you, lace your eyes, lowblow you, but he was most dangerous for his headbutts.
However, almost none of it was very effective against Sheppard, since Sheppard was just as dirty in the fight and I remember him making one of Shkor’s arms go numb from a punch that missed Shkor’s chin, but landed on his shoulder, which resulted in Shkor going defensive to survive.

The McPherson fight was brutal and somewhat onesided, since Sheppard landed some murderous blows on McPherson, who was pretty big at 6’3” 220-230 lbs and durable, but couldn’t handle Sheppard’s workrate or power, which kept making McPherson clinch.

The most competitive fight in my opinion was the Bivins fight, since I remember Sheppard shaking Bivins up in a few of the rounds with glancing blows, but for the most part Bivins was able to either duck under or lean away from most of Sheppard’s punches and counter him.

 

anyway you could contact the family and see what happen to the footage. Seems a shame that it could be possible that footage never gets restored or watched again.

 

Good lord lol I need to know more. I knew a little about him and always heard how hard he hit. But damn he needs a Netflix series or something

 

Am I reading he’s still alive? At 102? Amazing

 

I know the 'Search' well.

It can also be very frustrating, where (in my case), it is understood that at least 2 Fights were Filmed!