George Siler refereed 212 bouts, among the boxers he officiated for were such legends of the ring as : Fitzsimmons Hart Maher Creedon Ruhlin Jeffries Griffo Attell Lavigne McCoy Walcott Gardner Nelson Gans Root Ryan Choynski Dixon Sharkey O 'Brien Dixon Childs Did any referee act as the third man for so many famous old time fighters? Two men Siler never refereed are, Peter Jackson and Jack Johnson. Siler died in June 1908,6 months before Johnson fought Tommy Burns for the title. Here is his complete record as referee. http://boxrec.com/en/referee/401553
Great link from you ^ compadre. :"Jim and Bob (Corbett & Fitz) will go down in ring history as the most notable event of its kind. It was termed the "Fight of the Century," and the whole civilized world was interested. The newspapers of the United States spent more money in printing accounts of the contest and matters pertaining to it than was expended on a score of previous championship battles. In that contest culminated the most heroic and sensational efforts ever made in match-making. For three years the principals had been bitter enemies. They had been matched to fight at Dallas, Tex., in 1895; driven out of the state, etc." FYI: The fight COULD have be fought at the Sportatorium...a facility so old, dingy, and smelling of stale beer from wrestling matches & and low grade pro boxing, it could have qualified as the Venue back then if it had existed. LOL ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Sportatorium
Yes, he did. Inside facts of Pugilism. A very good book. In the book, much to the poster's McVey dismay Siler clearly states that Peter Jackson was better than Jack Johnson by long odds and hits harder. I also pointed out to our resident punching bag ( McVey ) that Siler was the 3rd man in the ring with Jack Johnson at least once in a battle Royal fight, where official records were seldom kept.
No, you pointed out that Siler refereed both Jackson and Johnson several times and I know and can prove he did not! Siler never saw Johnson after 1907,and he died before Johnson won the title so he never saw the prime version of Johnson . So Siler never saw Johnson against Taylor , Burns,O Brien,Ketchel,Moran,Jeffries,Kaufman,Ross,Johnson,Flynn2 or any of his later fights,that's 32 of his known78 bouts we know for sure he didn't see. Let me put a question to you. Q . If a boxing writer said that Jack Dempsey was better than Joe Louis, but he had only seen Louis' fights up to the end of 1937 , and none of his championship fights or what came after.Would you think he was qualified to give an accurate assessment of Louis's abilities versus Dempsey's? Because that is what you are hanging your hat on at the moment! We don't know how many of his early fights he saw. Indeed we don't know how many of Peter Jackson's he saw! What we do know is Siler never refereed either Johnson or Jackson so your claim that he did is patently false. Siler in the book referred to,[ a link to which I have posted] takes the credit for discovering Johnson ,saying he was a coming champion. If I had any problems with Siler's book I would not have provided a link for it would I ? Try and use a little sense! This link gives Johnson's own account of how Siler discovered him. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=SCE0ypLQHGcC&dat=19290422&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
