Barney Ross career set - all on Youtube; very rare footage

First, here's Ross' second fight with the great Tony Canzoneri.

Canzoneri held the lightweight and jr. welter titles at the time of their first fight. Ross had worked his way into top contender status by beating former featherweight champ Battling Battalino and highly rated contender Billy Petrolle (both HOFers). Ross took the titles from Canzoneri on what was considered very close, hotly disputed decision. The fight had taken place in Chicago, Ross' hometown, and Canzoneri and others complained that he had been given a hometown decision. Ross not only agreed to give Canzoneri an immediate rematch, but also agreed to do it in Canzoneri's hometown of New York, to give Canzoneri every benefit of the doubt (think Azumah Nelson in his rematch with Fenech). This time, Ross was better adjusted to Canzoneri's style, and he used his jab and footwork to shut him down and avoided being suckered into inside exchanges. Although the decision was officially split, most observers felt that Ross should've won a UD.

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Shortly after settling matters with Canzoneri, Ross fought a non-title rematch with Billy Petrolle. Petrolle was past his peak at this time, but as always was still considered a dangerous contender. Like their first fight, it was a thrilling fast paced battle, but once again Ross had the upper hand on him throughout and won a clear decision.

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After defending his jr. welter title several times, Ross then went after the welter title, held by the great Jimmy McLarnin. McLarnin had won the title in his previous fight with a shocking first round KO of HOFer Young Corbett III. Many people felt that Ross was taking on too tall an order in this fight. However, he shocked both McLarnin and the critics by bullying and smothering the bigger man all over the ring and battling his way to a close upset decision win. Although it was officially a split decision, most reports seem to indicate that Ross had a close but clear edge.

(Ignore the commentator when he says this is their third fight, he's mistaken.)

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The two fought a rematch, and this time McLarnin got off to a much better start, and was able to hold that lead to win a very close, somewhat disputed split decision and take back his title. McLarnin had put on a fantastic display of counterpunching over the early rounds, but Ross rallied furiously over the last few rounds and punished him badly.

Here in the rubber match, Ross avoided getting suckered into McLarnin's kind of fight, and he used his jab and footwork to keep the fight on the outside. McLarnin made the fight very close throughout, but Ross was able to stay just a step ahead of him most of the way. McLarnin rallied in the last couple of rounds, but Ross managed to hold on and regain the title on a UD - the only UD of their series. Opinions on the decision were split - many of the crowd favored McLarnin, but most sportswriters thought Ross was a fair winner.

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Notice that Jack Dempsey is the referee. As was a strange habit of his, Dempsey scored at least half the rounds even. :huh



After another string of welter title defenses, Ross put his title on the line against the dangerous top contender Ceferino Garcia. The fight was part of promoter Mike Jacob's famous "Carnival of Champions" card, and turned out to be the highlight of the night. Garcia had previously given Ross hell in two non-title wars, and he was renowned as a fearsome puncher. Fighting through the pain of a broken left hand, Ross used all of his skill and class to stay a step ahead of Garcia and win a grueling, hard-fought decision. This win came at great cost though, as Ross absorbed some heavy body punishment which, possibly, may be responsible for ruining him. Meanwhile, Garcia would remain the top welter contender for another year or so, then win the middleweight title with a crushing KO of HOFer Fred Apostoli. Garcia was probably one of the best welters never to win the title.

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Of course, as we all know, Ross finally met his match in the form of Henry Armstrong, who shockingly came all the way up from featherweight to clobber the reigning welter king. Ross tried all he could with Armstrong, but Armstrong was unfazed by whatever he did and simply stormed through him in each and every round for 15 rounds. It must've been the longest 15 rounds Ross ever experienced.

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Of course, that drew a very sudden and very sad close to Ross' great career. However, he had little to be embarrassed of, as it would turn out Armstrong was one of the utmost greatest fighters in history as well. On top of that, Ross' gallant showing here ensured that his distinction of having never been KO'd or stopped would remain until his retirement.