gunboat smith.....

He was the second best fighter after only Jack Johnson, for a while. Nothing accidental. I'd have him beating Wills when Gunboat was still near peak (before the Willard bout).

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "one shot wonder". Smith was a very good boxer, and has wins over good to excellent opposition like Frank Moran, Billy Wells, Pete Everett, Jim Flynn, Young Peter Jackson, Arthur Pelkey, Battling Levinsky, Sam Langford, Charlie Weinert, and Jess Willard. He fought often, and fought many of the greats from his era from both the heavyweight and light-heavyweight divisions, losing to the likes of Sam Langford, Jack Dempsey, Harry Greb, Billy Miske, Harry Wills and Kid Norfolk. He was one of the best fighters of his era.

 

He beat Langford and drew with Norfolk in Buffalo.

 

Gunboat packed a whallop. He claims that he knocked Johnson out of the ring when he was a sparring partner before the Ketchel fight (which he claims was a sham). Dempsey also credits him for hitting him the hardest he was ever hit.

Bombardier Wells needed a set-up before fighting Jack Johnson and so he fought Gunboat. Gunboat was offended at that -and at Corbett telling the press that Smith would be like a lamb being led to the slaughter... he swore that he would "break that limey's neck" -20 to 1 or no.

Gunboat's recollection is classic. He claims that at fight time there was one lonely fan clapping at his introduction but when Wells shows up, he thought "the building fell in" due to the Englishman's reception. Wells wasn't considered much. He had stagefright and was vulnerable in the early rounds. Smith blasted him out in 2.

Smith also did well against Willard. Outweighed by 40 pounds, Gunboat hit him with his best shot early and only managed to "wiggle his hair a little bit." Smith's gloves were loaded and it still made no difference. Meanwhile he got some ribs broken and decided to box and move. At one point, Smith said that Willard yelled "come on and fight you big bum" and Gunboat thought to himself: "Big bum? I'm hiding behind his goddamn leg!"

 

Gunboat Smith was known as a hard puncher and good fighter. His interview in "In this Corner" is very entertaining.

By the way, Stonehands reminded me of something. Has anyone read the book on Duran called "Hands of Stone"?

 

Yep.

 

Would you recommend it?

 

Yep.

Although I have to say when it comes to boxing biographies, my favorites of the recent crop are "Tunney" and "Unforgivable Blackness" -both out in paperback.

 

Gunboat Smith was the real " white hope ". He even defeated a prime Sam Langford. Johnson should have fought him for the title, but realized the risk was too great.

Smith did in fact TKO Johnson in a sparring match to the point where Johnson was down and out / dazed, and his manager had to stop the event.

 

HERE WE GO AGAIN!
Johnson was NOT tkod,he was NOT knocked DOWN ,he was PUT THROUGH THE ROPES DURING A SPARRING SESSION.Johsnon's manager did not have to stop anything,as a matter of fact he wasnt even there.Several posters on this thread have read Smiths own account of what happened in Heller' s"In This Corner",I suggest you do the same and stop propagating this bull**** Mendoza,Ive told you often enough the truth of it.At first you tried to say it was a no dec fight and that Johnson was knocked down and out ,I corrected that ,then you diluted it to an exhibition bout,with the same result.You are perfectly entitled to hate Jack Johnson ,and you certainly do ,as can be seen by your posts ,but you do him and yourself no justice by continually putting your biased spin on events. This happened in 1909 when Smith was a sparring partner for Johnson during his training for the Ketchel fight,at that time Smith had 5 fights ,the only name on his record was Young Peter Jackson,Smith's best years 1913 and 14 saw him beat Langford [1913],but he lost the "White Title ",to Carpentier in London and was kod by Langford in 2 rounds , hardly a tough proposition for Johnson.

 

Johnson practicaly fell overhimself trying to make a fight with Gunboat Smith after Smith beat Langford, and Smith wanted none of it.

I think he saw it as a window of oportunity to legitimately sidestep Langford.

 

Agreed. It (and others in the book) shows just how tough those old timers had to be to survive back then.

Gunboats Smiths interview is pure gold. An amazing glimpse of those days from an amazing character.

On fighting Willard:

"With Willard, after I threw my best punch at him his hair wiggled a little bit. Thats all. I said 'Holy Jesus, that was my best punch. No detours, right from the floor, right on his chin.' I says 'Wait a minute, I'll have to try that again.' I tried it again. Nothing happened. And he hit me with a right hand uppercut, by God, he cracked a couple of ribs in me."

"So in the 10th round I hit him with one of my right hands, but it was on the ear. Tore his ear right off. That hushed him up for the rest of the fight. The blood was running down and oh, God."

On training with Johnson:

Jack Johnson told me when he was fighting Ketchel - in those days he was almost human, you could talk with him - he says "I'll quit before I take a beating."

On fighting Langford:

"Then I came back to Boston and I took on Sam Langford. I beat him that time, but I was never no good after it. Every time that Langford hit me, by God, he'd break the shoelaces. I got the decision. I was tickled to death to get the hell out of there."

On refereeing Schmelling vs Sharkey:

"He was the heaviest, shortest puncher I ever saw, Max Schmelling. He could hit like a *******."

In this Corner - Forty World Champions Tell Their Story by Peter Heller is a great boxing book, and also a glimpse at the sociology of America over generations.

"The most remarkable book about boxing I have ever read, because it is about so much else - poverty, lack of ecucation, crime, hunger, racial hatred and rough humour during the making of America" - Sunday Times

 

It's a great read -the best in boxing.

And Lew Jenkins may just be the best read of them all!