Here's a piece I wrote a year or so ago for Boxing Digest magazine. If it seems a bit "clipped" in places it was due to editing and space considerations for the mag. Enjoy: http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/blog/?p=6684#more-6684
For some reason when you hit the link it skips a couple paragraphs and takes you to a pic. Just scroll up a bit for the missing paragraphs.
Surf-Bat, i want to thank you for this article on the tough and long forgotten Ever Hammer...Since I was a youngster reading "Leonard The Magnificent ", by Nat Fleischer, in which he praised the tough Ever Hammer,and his bouts with the great Benny Leonard, I knew next to nothing about Ever Hammer.. Now Thanks toi your article and your included photo of Hammer,I realize Hammers career went beyond his fights with Benny Leonard...Ever was some tough guy, yessir...And it reinforces my opinion that Benny Leonard, seven years the lightweight champion, reigning over the greatest array of lightweights in history, was our greatest 135 pound title holder...Thanks again..b.b.
Hammer was a streaky fighter. But when he was on he was one of the better contenders that the lightweight division has seen. You don't give Benny Leonard and Johnny Dundee their toughest fights and beat Freddie Welsh, Ad Wolgast, Richie Mitchell, Charley White and Joe Welling unless you know how to handle yourself with the mitts. But the fight that really surprised me during the research phase was the "draw" vs. Dave Shade. It was only a four rounder but Ever really stuck it to Shade, who was on quite a roll at the time. Hammer's career was bookended by two "wildcats". He exploded into the spotlight with a win over a Ad Wolgast (the "Michigan Wildcat") and exited the spotlight with a loss to Ace Hudkins (the "Nebraska Wildcat"). There's something kinda poetic about that :hat Glad you enjoyed
The bout was held at Kansas City, not in St. Louis. Where did you take the description of the bout, btw? Kansas City Star, as usual, had "observations" rather than description. Non-local newspaper reported Leonard giving Hammer a boxing lesson in most of the rounds, with 3rd round even, and rounds 2 and 7 for Hammer where he had some success at infighting.
Hello Sergei. This article is two years old, so I will have to put on my miner's cap and do some excavating in my subterranean garage to find all my research. Can't do that for the time being, but when I manage to find the time to get in there I'll let you know. Like you I tend to rely on primary, next-day sources. I don't like to shirk responsibility, but as far as the St. Louis mistake is concerned I'm thinking that that one is on Boxing Digest. I'm pretty meticulous in my research and cannot see such a glaring mistake getting under my radar (they made a similar mistake with my Jeff Smith piece). Thanks for pointing it out. Rather horrifying, actually!
No worries. Was just curious. I suspect that the description is from either Leonard's mouth or from someone he shared that story with. I recall some other stories told by Leonard that tended to be exaggerations or pure fiction.
