Some info from Stonehands has got me interested in him, there isnt much out there on him and his career. However, I did find this interesting bit on him in a magazine article: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3b8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false People wondered what happened to him after his career ended. It also says he was rated number 2 for the MW championship, which I did not know before.
Lytell has been on my list of fighters to write about for a few years. But like you said, info on him is hard to come by(it doesn't help that there was an actor with the same name performing then. Thus every time you type in the name in an archive search you get a zillion "Bert Lytell"s that you have to sift through!). I have a small file of articles pertaining to him. Interesting career
--They shoulda said that he was ranked by The Ring as high as #2 as a MW and a LHW -and was #1 as a MW for more than a few months. I'm estimating that my Bert Lytell series will be done during the fall of this year.
You're right Surf, hardly anything on him at all, a shame seeing as he is one of the very good fighters of the era. I'd be interested in what his style is, we know Burley was a RJJ type fighter, Williams was a pure boxer maybe the best pure boxer ever, CK was a stick and move guy. I wonder what style Lytell had or who he was similar to. Stonehands, Look foward to more info on him, his career and life. Do you know if there any film of him around?
I don't know if there is any film of him around, but I have a ton of fight reports and can tell you that he was a very busy fighter, a swarmer with a great chin and a defense that was surprisingly good. Early in his career, he was called a black Harry Greb. Comparisons to Tiger Flowers, whose style was close to Greb's, abounded about Lytell's style. Williams was a boxer-puncher early on, before his right hand gave out on him and he was forced to box more to protect his injured hand(s). Cocoa Kid could be a slickster, but he was also very busy and unorthodox -his jab was among the best ever.
Very intersting, I just noticed a lot of southpaws seem to have a 'busy style'. Describing him as a black Harry Greb is interesting though, very curious about this fighter, looking foward to the research you give on him for sure.
