The only fighter who really got the better of a series with Jack Dillon in his prime. This content is protected Thoughts?
Eddie McGoorty easily finished up as Wisconsin's representative in Rumsfeld's "Who was the greatest fighter from each of the 50 states?" thread a couple years back. (This was one of the most interesting and challenging research threads created during my time on ESB.) Scartissue mentioned and then dismissed Phil Zwick in favor of McGoorty as Wisconsin's representative. Nobody else was even considered for identification with that state here. (ESPN went with Ritchie Mitchell, and merely gave McGoorty honorable mention, along with Joey Sangor, Bob Moha, and Dave Maier.) http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72773&page=7 In the 1957 Ring Record Book and Boxing Encyclopedia, Nat Fleischer listed Eddie as his number ten all time middleweight. Robinson's ascension into middleweight history eventually caused him to be dropped out of that list, making McGoorty perhaps the final casualty of Fleischer's revisions. (In 1957, SRR was listed as the number five welterweight. Nat later replaced him in that number five WW slot with the Dixie Kid, making him the final beneficiary of these revisions.)
Very, but it was easy to get lost in the chaos of the post-Ketchel years with all those excellent fighters in the mix. Mike Gibbons, Harry Greb, Les Darcy, Billy Papke, Frank Klaus, Jack Dillon, Georges Carpentier, Jeff Smith, Jimmy Clabby, George Chip. Heck how could he NOT get overlooked with competition like that scrambling for the same limelight? He reminds me a bit of Teddy Yarosz, who in the post-Mickey Walker years had to compete with(either in the ring or for the spotlight out of it) Billy Conn, Freddie Steele, Ken Overlin, Lou Brouillard, Fred Apostoli, Gorilla Jones, Marcel Thil, Vince Dundee, Solly Krieger and a host of other top fighters.
Mcgoorty was a terrific fighter with one of the most feared left hooks in the history of the sport. He came from a fighting family around Eureka. His dad was a nationally famous wrestler and Eddie had been fighting and wrestling since very early childhood. The reason he is overlooked today is because he came up slightly short in a few fights that really mattered before going to Australia and losing twice to Darcy. The first fight was considered a staged fight that was a fairly open secret. The second fight McGoorty lost legitimately but many felt that his drinking and gambling were getting the better of him at that point. He then spent most of his time in Australia for the next several years living the life of a "sport" and this really contributed to his dissipation and downfall. When he came back to the United States he was never able to regain his once mighty form and found making the middleweight division nearly impossible. He fought in catch weight matches against LHWs and HWs but his best years were behind him.
Yarosz Beats Krieger on Points To Blast Foe's Hopes for Title; Masterly Defensive Boxing Wins for Former Middleweight Champion in Hippodrome Ten-Rounder, Foiling Brooklyn Fighter's Wild Punching-Yarosz Avoids Danger Sollys Punching Power Wasted Caplan Lodges Protest By JAMES P. DAWSON. New York Times (1923-Current file). Jan 14, 1937. p. 25 (1 page) Teddy Yarosz the polish panther Whatta fighter! http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dFsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CU0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1891,4598846&dq=yarosz&hl=en
