ATG BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNIE: Round 1, Fight 5 - PETE HERMAN UD15 BUD TAYLOR

These two only missed one another by maybe four years.

Pete “Kid” Herman (seeded 5) was The Don of the second deepest bantamweight division in history, the boss of the best division in boxing in that era, atop a pile of fighters so deep and wide that even Ruben Olivares or Eder Jofre would have had their hands full.

Even Herman, who ruled in two spells, first between 1917 and 1920 and then briefly once more in 1921, couldn’t sit atop such a pile unmolested, and he seems to have come off worse in a trilogy with Frankie Burns, for example. But his superb body punching and a skill at infighting which may have been near-unparalleled at the poundage, worked concurrently to help him negotiate one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the sport’s history with great success. Kid Williams came off worse. So did the great champion Johnny Coulon as did Herman’s polar opposite in style, Joe Lynch, who was edged out in the course of an epic five-fight series.

After learning a last lesson from the deadly lightweight Lew Tendler in 1916, Herman was ready for the title, prizing it from the grasp of no less a figure than Kid Williams and holding it until Joe Lynch separated him from it in 1920. Herman was well beaten in that fight, seemingly nervous and struggling for the majority of the rounds to find a way in, so his victory in their 1921 rematch is perhaps my favorite Herman performance. Lynch won one round according to the Morning Oregonian, a great bantamweight totally and utterly outclassed by one of genius.

There is competition for the slot of best Pete Herman performance, however. The seventeenth round knockout of the immortal Jimmy Wilde? His almost unbelievable three round dispatch of the wonderful Johnny Coulon? His title winning victory Kid Williams?

Few careers can boast such treasure.

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Bud Taylor was never the lineal champion at bantamweight, but he did prove himself the inherent superior of two of the major kings of that period in Charley Goldstein and Charley Phil *********.

Taylor crushed an admittedly pre-prime ********* in 1923, two years before he came to the title, but his superiority over Abe Goldstein was much more marked. Taylor defeated him three times between 1925 and 1927, each time by points, and on the first two occasions having a decided advantage. Taylor was better than Goldstein and better than *********.

So no lineal title, but there was a strap, the vacant NBA strap, and to obtain it, Taylor had to overcome no lesser a personage than Tony Canzoneri. Canzoneri, one of the very best ever to box, did not achieve excellence at bantamweight in the same way he did further up the scale and Taylor was the reason. The two met for the vacant NBA title in March of 1927; Taylor dominated – Canzoneri did what Canzoneri almost always did and pulled off a spectacular rally in the tenth and final round to rescue a draw. Between that contest and their June rematch, Taylor found time to make four separate engagements, keeping up his breakneck schedule, remarkable even for the time, despite title honors looming. Goldstein and the ranked Young Nationalista were included among his victims.

He appeared the fresher man in the rematch, however. Taylor had won spells of their first fight with pressure and in the second he was relentless; this was Taylor distilled. An aggressive juggernaut who surrounded foes with leather and bad intentions.

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Another coinflip; another testimony to the depth of the division. Who will win under the following rules?

15 round fight.
1950s referee.
8oz boxing gloves.

Cast your vote and explain yourself in a post below! You have 3 days.

 

Very, very difficult this. Herman's results versus ultra-elite pressure fighting swarmers is mixed. Very mixed. He's awesome, but it's probably the only style he's legitimately vulnerable to. That said...is Taylor as good as Kid Williams? Probably not quite - at his best, yes, I think that Taylor would probably get out-hit here, not across the board, and he might have some scary moments, but probably enough to scrape across the line here. Still, bad bad scare for Herman in the first round this IMO.

 

Thirty minutes to close.

 

Herman cleanly outboxes Bud Taylor in an absolutely excellent fight dominated by Herman who nevertheless never felt entirely safe under the kind attentions of Taylor.

Herman, something of a dark horse for the tournament such is the quality of pugilist on display, proceeds to the quarter finals.