Terry McGovern, the original prototype of Mike Tyson.

When Terry McGovern fought Pedlar Palmer for the bantemweight title Palmer was regarded by many as the best technical boxer in the world. While McGovern was instaled as a 5 4 favourite nobody dreamed that he would win but early blow out.

No world champion had ever been beaten in the first round at this point, and Palmer was something of a defensive specialist. It was like Mike Tysons first round demolition of Michael Spinks except that nobody had seen anything like it before.

Oh and he was 19 years old at this point.

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Having helped himself to the bantemweight and featherweight titles Terry put a beating on lightweight champion Frank Erne himself a defensive master. By rights he should have been crowned as light heavyweight champion and the first fighter to hold titles in three weight classes at the same time.

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By the time McGovern defended his title agains Young Corbett he was deemed to be unbeatable and was widley talked of as the greatest fighter that ever lived. The talk was not of whether Corbett could win but how many rounds he would last.

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And yes McGoverns fan base was every bit as loyal and single minded as Tyson's

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McGovern found himself up against an oponent who not only had his number stylisticaly but also mentaly as well. He lost his title and with his aura of invincibility shatered he would never regain his fearsome form.

It is imposible to under rate the importance of McGoverns contribution to modern boxing technique.

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A terifying creature indeed.

I think people here have verry much overlooked McGoverns historical importance as a pioneer of technique.

 

Young Corbett was McGoverns Evander Hollyfield. The man who had his number inside and outside the ring.

McGovern never recovered from the loss of his title suffering poor mental health later in life and ultimately being institutionalized.

 

People on this forum are a little to quick to describe certain fighters as pioneers of boxing technique. If you see Gene Tunney or Jack Dempsey do something on film then it is dollars to dounuts that they copied it off sombody else who you do not have film of.

In McGoverns case people on the ground at the time were saying that he represented something new and had turned a corner. There is a verry solid case for calling him a pioneer of boxing methods.

 

McGovern was no brawler

He was the first fighter to apply scientific principles to acheiving a quick knockout. The exact prototype for, Jack Dillon, Jack Dempsey, Mike Tyson.

Even fighters like Joe Louis to a certain extent.