Papke was perhaps the 2nd best man in the middle weight division for a while from 1908-1912 with wins over Ketchel ( TKO ) and Carpentier ( TKO ). He can be seen on film vs Ketchel. Theres also a rare training video on Papke that I have not seen. Are there any other video clips on him? He was a puncher, and very durable, only being stopped one in 53 fights by Ketchel. But how was his skill level? Was his stamina poor? Who can tell me more about his DQ loss to Klaus and D. Smith?
Can you be a bit more descriptive of him in the ring? Why was he a sick *** What did he do to lose via DQ? Oh, he sucker punched Ketchel. Protect yourself at all times
He didn't sucker punch Ketchel. A myth, or vastly overstated at the very least. He would occasionally allow inferior foes to hit him, I think. Not wisdom but hey. HE was just violent. Very very violent. And of course, he later shot his wife. And then himself. In the heart. Four times.
I own the rare training footage of Papke. He was training for Marcel Moreau in France. Papke is one of my favorite fighters and if Ketchel was best MW in the division during that time Papke was just a hair behind him. They basically could have split four fights (their 4th fight was very close with many feeling Papke won it). Papke's achilles heel was training. He hated the training grind and would let himself get out of shape. When he was in shape the guy could box, punch, fight inside and outside, and was durable as well.
Thanks. I suspected that his conditioning was his problem. He has many KO's, and too many decision losses. Looking at his resume, he could have been even more durable than Ketchel. What's the deal on the DQ losses? Was he ahead in either fight?
Against Smith Papke was supposedly recovering from pneumonia or some other illness. He was furious when he was DQd and refused to believe that he was beaten fair and square. He had Smith badly hurt in the second and on the verge of KO when the bell saved Smith. Papke may have shot his bolt in that round because Smith lead afterwards with Papke competetive and always dangerous. Some reports say Smith ran too much. In the tenth with Smith tiring Papke landed a body blow that caused Smith to go down and the referee began counting Smith out. The crowd started complaining and said Smith had been fouled. The referee then, pandering to the crowd, called two physicians into the ring and had Smith examined. The physicians claimed Smith was fouled and the referee awarded the fight to Smith. They fought a rematch a few months later and Papke knocked Smith out. Once again Smith boxed well with Papke always dangerous and landing the harder blows. Even so Papke was at a point now where he wasnt training like he used to and was having a difficult time taking off weight. That only got worse and he often refused to weigh in for fights that he had agreed to come in at a certain poundage knowing he was overweight. Against Klaus he was getting fairly punished and fouled either in an attempt to win in any way possible or to avoid the embarrassment of a KO loss because he was badly beaten when the fight was stopped with both eyes nearly closed and taking heavy punishment. I wouldnt say that Papke was a foul fighter, more of a brutal fighter, particularly later when he couldnt rely on his conditioning and skill as much due to his lack of training. He became less a boxer and more of a streetfighter. He was a guy who really rose and faded fast. He turned pro in 1906, less than two years later was considered one of the top two or three fighters in the division, and was basically washed up by 1911 at the age of only 25.
Papke genuinely disliked Ketchel, thought he was poser, and was always very motivated to fight him. Papke strikes me as having a mentality similar to Marvin Haglers where he would work up an intense hatred of a guy in order to fight him. This was never more evident than his fights with Ketchel. I have some scrapbook clippings and letters of Papke's which reference Ketchel and even in private it was clear he hated the guy.
