Remember the 8 man heavyweight tournament in '68 to find the successor for Ali? Well, I was amazed to discover there was actually a tournament conducted by the NYSAC back in '25 in the lightweight division after Benny Leonard abdicated and this very ambitious tourney consisted of 16 participants. In retrospect and in comparison, the '68 tourney was very well run. Not so the '25 tourney. It was very disjointed from the beginning. To begin, some of the top players at the time withdrew from the tournament. Johnny Dundee was suspended due to running out on a contract to fight Fred Bretonnel in France, but Sammy Mandell, Sid Terris and Sid Barbarian withdrew due to the monies offered and because of the small arenas they would have to fight in in the first round (size correlates to the size of the gate). In '68 there was TV monies and all the first rounders got $50,000 apiece, which was nice. I also say disjointed because some fighters mysteriously dropped out before a fight and others after winning their first round encounter, which was really strange. Then, in the quarter finals, 5 new faces were admitted to the tournament. It was never really explained on the bit of research I did, but all in all, after the tourney produced the next champ, Jimmy Goodrich, all the press were unimpressed. And they were right. Jimmy lost his title in his first defense and is never remembered by being the winner of a 16 man tournament But I was still amazed after reading so much on the sport over the years that this flew under my radar. I wonder if it was an embarrassment to the press corps and just never talked about. Incidentally, on the eve of the tournament, the matches were: George KO Chaney v Tommy O'Brien (O'Brien wins and never proceeds with the tournament) Eddie Wagner v Jimmy Goodrich Joe Benjamin v Jack Silver (Benjamin wins and never proceeds) Clyde Jeackle v George Kid Lee Joe Dundee v Charlie O'Connell Benny Valgar v Alex Hart Solly Seaman v Archie Walker (Walker doesn't participate) Jack Bernstein v Basil Galiano (Bernstein doesn't participate) In the quarter finals the NYSAC allows Sammy Mandell into the tournament and they spoke of an international feel by admitting Cirilin Olano of Cuba, Clonie Tait of Canada, Stan Loayza of Chile and Tommy White of Mexico (White was American but somehow won the Mexican title). So you see, very disjointed. Anybody have some other info on this because I have holes everywhere in this research.
There was a hilarious tournament to find a British challenger to Sullivan. A stupid number entered, and a load didn't turn up, but think it was over 20 who took part. It was done over 2 days under amateur rules, 3 3min rounds, with an extra 2min round in the case of draws. A bunch of smaller boxers turned up and dominated it, with the final being between the two lightest participants. Mitchell won, but it took a few more fights in the UK before they took him over as he beat the other canidates. He was seen as too small when he came to the US, and it was only after KOing Mike Cleary he was taken more seriously. So the tournament was mpre successfull than it seemed
I think in the pre-TV days where any of these tournaments may have taken place, unless there was a lucrative financial inducement, these fighters were just going to do their own thing. Such as if they are in NY in the middle of a tournament that is paying poorly and someone on the west coast offers them a fat paycheck, they're going to fly the coop. It was the TV monies that made the '68 tournament worthwhile for all participants to stay involved. I also remember a tournament from the late '70s called the World Television Championships that was putting on some really good fights like Vito Antuofermo-Cyclone Hart and Marvin Johnson-Tom Bethea and Yaqui Lopez-Lonnie Bennett. But it was poorly run and folded. But thinking outside the box here. Can you imagine a 16 man tourney constructed after Duran left lightweight or when Leonard retired at welter with the detached retina. Man, with TV involved that would've been something.
