I just read somewhere that Jack Johnson was knocked out by Jess Williard in the 26th round or soemthing like that during the 1910s. Given that he was like the 5th or 6th champ, how many rounds were in "modern boxing" ie marquess of queensberry rules and when was it reduced to 15.
I don't know when the first 15 round fights were or when they went down to 15. My guess is 1920 or so. Just a guess. I do know the last 15 round fight was McGirt vs. Howard in 1987 or 1988. I taped that fight. Can you imagine the way they had it near the turn of the century with a fight going as long as it takes for a knockout. The early rounds could all be feeling out rounds. In the same thinking, if you made all professional fights 2 round fights, you might get some exciting fights.
Johnson/Willard was the last major 45 rounder. After that a mixture of 20, 15 and 10 rounders occurred. Louis fought in the last 20 rounder; the Dempsey/Tunney bouts were the last major 10 rounders. After that all major 'world title' bouts were 15 rounders until the WBC starting to bring in 12 rounders in the early/mid 80s.
45 rounds, jesus christ wtf did the audience do for all that time. Imagine the guy who went to the pisser when the knockout came in the 44th round.
I believe the longest 'Queensberry Rules' bout was a 110 rounder in the latw 19th Century. In the early 20th Century Battling Nelson lost versions of the Lightweight crown to Joe Gans in 42 rounds and Ad Walgast in 40 rounds.
April 4, 1909 -- Joe Jeanette and Sam McVea go 49 rounds in France. They also faced one another for 20 rounds, just 2 months before.
Yes, it was a matchup between Andy Bowen and Texas Jack Burke of Galveston, Texas. :happy The fight lasted over 7 hours. $2,500 purse. Andy Bowen also has 43, 48, and 85 round bouts under his belt. Texas Jack Burke's second pro fight went 43 rounds before Burke secured the knockout victory.
There were no toilets as we know them back then. People peed on reptiles who were periodically cleansed; hence the euphemism "I'm going to drain the lizard."
the last 15 rounder was 1997 btw....just saying.. http://boxrec.com/title_search.php?title=WBB&division=Middleweight&SUBMIT=Go
