This guy was an interrsting fighter. He was one of the few fighters from 10s and 20s who came over to the states and went undefeated. What makes this nitable is that his stay was over an extended period of 2 yrs, not just a short tour, and he faced some good competition doing it. His best performance was his bout against a prime Tommy Gibbons which was declared a draw but most thought McCormick won. It was said that McCormick took the fight to Gibbons all the way and only by spoiling and holding did Gibbons minimize the action so much as to make some rounds close. McCormick stayed in the USA for another yr after the Gibbons but he got into trouble for kicking an old lady down a flight of stairs and headed back to England. His first fight in England was an ill advised bout against the much bigger Joe Beckett. The fight was an absolute knock down drag war with both fighters hitting the canvas but Beckett's size and strength overcame McCormicks terrier like tenacity and finally him down for a stoppage in the 11th. McCormick had been down several times by this point and had suffered tremendous punishment and two broken hands but never gave up trying to win. Despite taking so much punishment and suffering two broken hands McCormick kept chasing money fights and was back in the ring only two months later to face Ted Kid Lewis. It was a winnable fight for McCormick but not so soon after the Beckett. After the beatings he suffered against Lewis and Beckett McCormick could never gregain his old form. He spent the next several years alternating between boxing, working day jobs, and getting into trouble with the law before finally retiring. He was only 39 when he died of a heart attack.
Two broken hands in a fight? This sounds like the type of myth you usually scrutinise and poor scorn on. Have you looked into this claim yet? If it is true, it is certainly a huge effort to go 11 rounds with Beckett. What were the weight differentials?
Might be of Interest; "In many ways McCormick almost qualifies for a chapter himself in this book, as he was certainly good enough, was born of Irish parents- in India-, spent some time in Ireland, and boxed for the Irish light heavyweight title against Magill. However he was more of a middleweight/ light heavyweight than a heavyweight, never scaling over 175 pounds, only fought once in Ireland, and to include him would open the door to numerous other qualifying fighters. As stated, Noel Hugh was born in Sealkot, India to Irish parents on Christmas Day, 1899, as his Antrim born father Neal, was stationed in that country as a member of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, while his mother hailed from Waterford. He learned his early boxing at the Royal Hibernian Military School in the Phoenix Park when his father relocated to Dublin to work in the G.P.O. He joined the army in 1914 as a bandboy, hence the nickname and inspired by the great Jimmy Wilde who he met when in the British Army, he turned professional and in 1919 he won the British Light heavyweight title and a Londsdale belt by defeating the Canadian Harold Rolph in fifteen rounds at the National Sporting Club, Covent Garden. The mercurial "Boy" was then but four months over his nineteenth birthday. McCormick then took off to America where he remained undefeated in fifteen fights. Considering his age, still under twenty one for most of the fights and his weight, around 165 pounds against men as much as two stone heavier, this was some feat. But what made it so remarkable was the quality of the opposition. Willie Meehan, who had defeated new World champion Jack Dempsey and also Bob Roper to whom he ceded twenty six pounds and had recently defeated Frank Moran and would soon get verdicts over Bartley Madden and Bill Brennan, were two of his victims. So too were the aging veteran contenders Fireman Jim Flynn and Gunboat Smith but it was a drawn fight on February 11th 1920 that was the most astonishing accomplishment of his American foray. Tommy Gibbons, then claiming the American light heavyweight crown was his opponent, and like Noel he missed out on Irish birth by only a few years as his parents had other siblings born in Mayo before they hit the States. In a fight that could have been billed as a World or Irish title fight, the honours were even, Gibbons' skill offsetting McCormick's aggression. Back in Britain he secured a fight for the British heavyweight championship against Joe Beckett, even managing to floor him before succumbing to his opponents greater size and weight. Injuries to both hands didn’t help his cause. He also lost a catch-weight fight with middleweight champion, Ted Kid Lewis after sustaining a bad cut which necessitated the referee stopping the fight at the end of the fourteenth round. After taking a year out he returned to get a win on a foul over Irish American Wild Bert Kenny and then on to his clash with Magill."
"Irish Light Heavyweight Title Fight-in Liverpool! The "Irish Independent" carried a report of the Magill-McCormick clash. "In a 20-rounds contest for what was described as the Light Heavy-Weight Championship of Ireland, Dave Magill (Belfast) defeated Boy M'Cormick (Dublin) at the Liverpool Stadium last night. The latter's seconds threw the towel in at the close of the 10th round, after the Dublin man had been sent to the boards on numerous occasions. After the fourth round M'Gill did exactly as he liked with his man, and it was only the indomitable pluck of M'Cormick that kept the fight going for so long. In the early stages M'Gill was sent to the ropes by a lovely right, but he returned the compliment with several lefts to "the Boy's " face. Both men showed surprising speed. M'Cormick took a count, of 8 in the fourth round when M'Gill fell on him. M'Gill had his man down again for 8 in the seventh round, when only the bell saved M'C'ormick. M'Cormick showed he could take plenty of punishment, but it. did not come as a surprise when in the tenth round his seconds threw in the towel." Untimely Death of Boy McCormick. On February 25th 1925 Boy fought his only fight in Ireland when he stopped Jack Phoenix in the seventh round of a bout at the unlikely venue of the Mansion House. McCormick had another foray into America but this time lost to future light heavyweight champions Jimmy Slattery and Maxie Rosenbloom before also losing out on another British heavyweight challenge, this time to Phil Scott. After retirement he worked as a gym instructor and as a travelling salesman. In 1938 he won over £1,000 in damages in a libel action against various defendants for passages printed in a book and a newspaper that could be capable of defamatory meaning. These referred to an alleged knockout of McCormick by Jimmy Wilde, in sparring, that never happened. At the time of his untimely death of a heart attack at the age of thirty-nine he was the licensee of a hotel in Manchester called "The Crown".
TKO'd by Maxie Rosenbloom which isn't a good look. But seems to be a decent fighter when you dig deeper.
Why would I scrutinize two broken hands? Fighters get broken hands all the time and especially in that era with smaller gloves and more frequent fights. Besides I have the film of the fight and it was vicious i wouldnt doubt he broke his hands as hard as he was throwing and as often as he was landing on a guy who just kept coming and likely outweighed him by 15 or 20 pounds.
There was coverage on Boy McCormick in the San Francisco Chronicle ca. 1920. During the early part of 1920, there were some professional boxing shows with 10-round main events being staged on some U.S. military installations in California, thus skirting the California state law mandating that bouts could not be scheduled for more than four rounds. About that time, there was talk about staging a bout between McCormick and Harry Greb at a U.S. military installation called Mare Island, which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Staging professional boxing cards at such military installations didn't last long in California because the Federal Government finally agreed to prohibit them in the state, undoubtedly due to state and local political pressure. During 1925, California would start having professional bouts that were scheduled from four to twelve rounds with a state athletic commission in charge. - Chuck Johnston
