School me on Eddie Machen

Machen was a very good, but not great six foot 200 pounder who used defense, fundamentals, solid footwork and counter punching to off set an average type of punch. He had some skills, but often wasn't aggressive enough to beat the much bigger or more powerful.

He did bother Liston some with his clean counters and Sonny got upset and went low in-purpose more than once.

Ingo jumped on hit and took him out in style. I always wanted to see Williams vs Machen. Not sure if its out there on film. Likely not. I think one of his corner man had a connection with Jack Johnson.

 

Didn't Machen fight Ernie "The Octopus" Terrell in a WBA Title fight?

 

I feel like I know this guy. Is it someone we know?

Good article by the way.

 

Yes he did. Ernie won. The WBA were obsessed with creating alternative champions even then.

 

Sonny Liston, Zora Foley and Eddie Machen all managed by bad men. And I think they all died quite close together in unusual circumstances within a very short time.

 

I'm curious about how Machen was managed by "bad men". I trained a bit in Sid Flaherty & Danny Rodriguez' (Machen's manager and trainer, respectively) gym while I was in high school in the early 80's. I never talked much with Sid, but I have fond memories of working with Danny. I haven't seen him in years and don't even know if he's still living. Were they really bad men who would have taken advantage of my young naivety if I'd had talent?

 

I meant the association with the IBC. The silent partners that all top fighters had to take on in order to progress in those times. Some very strange things happened with all three dying like that.

 

You are correct!

 

I remember reading about him in an issue of KO or World boxing in the early '80's. They reprinted an old article by the noted boxing writer Jimmy Cannon written back in the '60s or early '70s. Apparently, Machen ended up in a Mental Hospital.

The article stressed that Machen had not gotten many breaks - was a hard luck fighter. Apparently, he had a cutie, unorthodox fighter and he had trouble getting big fights when in his prime.

 

That was an extremely well written article. Nice read.

 

Not to take anything away from "The Greatest" but Angie wanted NO part of Machen prior to his winning the title opting instead for Doug Jones-Henry Cooper. A 62-63 Eddie may have countered and boxed the ears off of a young Cassius Clay. My $0.02
Note: no disparagement, many Champs prior to winning the Title were moved along cautiously.

 

A '62-'63 Machen didn't fight for 14 months because he was mentally ill and spent a long period in a psych ward. So I doubt he would've boxed the ears of Cassius Clay at that point.

By the time Machen restarted his career, Ali was preparing to fight Liston.

Also, Machen was unable to beat Folley, Liston, Johansson, Patterson, Terrell, Big Cat Williams, Mildenberger or Manuel Ramos. He was briefly the top contender in the late 50s, but he wasn't beating Ali/Clay. He couldn't even beat any of those other guys.