Terry McGovern was like a flaming meteor who was considered the greatest featherweight ever til he ran into the hands of Young Corbett who sprung an upset by koing McGovern in 11 rounds in 1901. Young Corbett repeated his ko by flattening Terry again. Corbett just had McGovern's number...
I was always abit confused at Nat Fleisher keeping Terry as his all time number one bantam considering his two ko defeats at the hands of Young Corbett. I assumed Nat considered Terry past his best at that point.
It was crazy in those days for the White fight he was 122/124, for the Gans fight he was 124, both Gans and White had wt on him. He really was a heavy superbantamwt. 122pdr it seems. Gans weighed 133. The weight was different in different reports. What seems to be the case is that McGovern was not a full FW, and was fighting guys bigger then him. I believe he was institutionalize a few times.
Yes Terry McGovern was institutionalized after acting erratic at the end of his career. He died in 1918 and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetary in Bklyn NY., about 10 minutes away from where I resided many years ago...Terry McGovern reminds me of Mike Tyson, both who were unbeatable but had a very short prime...Such is life...
Watch McGovern - Gans, that will give you an idea of what kind of beast was McGovern. Watch the fight, judge for yourself, before the yay-hoos come on here saying that Gans threw the fight. He caught Gans cold that's all there was to it. McGovern weighed 124- Gans 133
Dempsey, I'm one of the few who isn't sure whether the first big right from Terry hurt Joe or not but the result being real or not hinges on it, the other punches pretty much missed their mark with Gans falling untouched. Nat Fleisher was huge on Terry and considered him the greatest bantam of all time but for the result of this fight said; "Terry was good but he wasn't that good."
Look closely but if you cant see it that's alright, that is the only available clip of McGovern. Look at a few shots before he went down. Anyway you get the idea, he was a swarmer
June 5, 1900 was Tuesday, not Thursday. The bout was held on Tuesday, June 12, 1900. White weighed 128 1/2. McGovern didn't move the beam set at 128 pounds, different local newspapers guessing his weight as 121, 122, 124, or 128 pounds. The 1st round wasn't ended by knockdown, McGovern helped White to his feet (and was cautioned not to do that again by the referee) and they fought some more before the bell rang. One newspaper reported White went down without being hit, to avoid a blow.
