The Best of the Rest: 175lbs Tier II Tournie - Round 1 - 8: Kid Norfolk UD15 Henry Maske

What i've done is i've lifted top tiers out of my top fifty at the poundage, fiddled it a little bit to minimise guys with no footage and used the remaining 32 names plus some subs to develop a seeded tournament to uncover "the best of the rest" at the poundage, with you, the denizens of the world's greatest boxing history forum, casting the deciding vote.

Pick your man! Write however many details you like or don't in a post below. But maybe try to post, to keep things moving a little bit. You have three days.

And let's be nice. No reason for disagreeing over total fantasies after all!

15 rounds, 1950s rules and ref. Ten points must. Weigh in is 18 hours before the fight.

I'll only vote if it's tied, then I'll decide the result.

Round of Thirty-Two Fight 8: Kid "William Ward" Norfolk vs Henry "Gentleman" Maske

KID NORFOLK (83-23-6; Newspaper Decisions 28-4)
Kid Norfolk (born William Ward) made some decent money in fights in New York in 1921 and just handed it off to a charity that seems to have supported Irish children who didn’t have enough to eat. Four months later he found himself in Pittsburgh ring with the legendary and deadly Harry Greb landing, in the third, a booming right hand that left Greb neatly (if momentarily) deposited on the canvas. Norfolk got the better of the first five rounds of their ten rounder before Greb, being Greb, found his way back, generally being seen as having beaten Kid.

Norfolk and Greb were the same type of man. It was inevitable that they would meet again and when they did in 1924, Norfolk displayed a different side of his character. William Ward gave money to hungry children. Kid Norfolk was one of the most violent and brutal fighters in ring history. He hit Greb low. In the third he butted, or charged him. It was, according to the Pittsburgh Post, “the toughest, roughest, ugliest fight” ever seen. In the fourth the two men butted, hit each other low, elbowed, held and hit their way to the bell for the sixth…and then continued to fight. The referee disqualified Greb, absurdly, awarding the victory to Norfolk although it is not one that is held in any real regard for the purposes of this list.

Fortunately, Norfolk put in work in the light-heavyweight division of the 1920s. As well as perhaps the toughest pressure style of a tough era, he smashed Tiger Flowers, who defeated Greb, dominated a series with an ageing Jeff Clarke, gave Battling Siki the beating of his life, thrashed Gunboat Smith in a similar fashion, remorselessly battered Billy Miske and dominated the Jamaica Kid. Norfolk was Dwight Muhammad Qawi in an era better suited to his inherent ferociousness.

HENRY MASKE (31-1)
There was a perception, I think, among the American fight fraternity in the 1990s that fighters who remained in Europe rather than set sail for the fight capital of the world were to be viewed with suspicion. Maske, though, won his critics on the other side of the Atlantic over despite having fought in USA just once, as a 7-0 prospect against a cruiserweight journeyman in a fight staged at a middling Hollywood hotel.

Returning home to his beloved Germany, never to leave Europe again for professional reasons, Maske earned respect with a thirty fight winning streak that eventually saw him named the best light-heavyweight on the planet by Ring magazine.

He likely first caught all but the sharpest of American eyes in March of 1993 by not just defeating but dominating the widely admired Ohioan, Charles Williams. It was a lesson in substance over style and in the deceptive appearance of Maske, who misled in all kinds of ways. There to be hit by eye, he actually had a superb judge of range, and the seemingly clear path to his jaw, a straight shot from wrist to chin, was actually littered with all kinds of sneaky, digging punches. Williams obliged Maske completely in driving himself on to these punches with an overly aggressive approach that the German ate up.

Lacking genuine fluidity on offence, Maske was an expert punch-picker even at 19-0 and was a prototype for Joe Calzaghe in the sense that he sacrificed in order to maintain punching opportunities. Where Calzaghe sacrificed balance, Maske sacrificed rhythm and certain gains his traditional technique may have brought him. It made Maske shifty, one big feint.

He deceived Iran Barkley when that old warhorse mad the trip, winning almost every round and jabbing the old man’s left eye shut with that southpaw jab, feeding him a steady diet of uppercuts when the American tried to rush, head down. Maske punished him sorely from that narrow-legged wide-armed stance in the ninth and Barkley refused to answer the bell for the tenth.

Perhaps a little lucky in taking an exquisitely close decision from Graciano Rocchigiani in May 1995, Maske provided his opponent with an immediate rematch and beat him clean, confirming his status as the best light-heavy on the planet.

 

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One hour to go, and the fight is in the balance. One vote can make a differece.

 

A come from behind victory for Kid Norfolk who took advantage of a fading Maske to rally in the twelfth and sweep the remaining rounds for a clear win on the cards, 9-6, 8-6-1, 8-7. Maske took control of the middle rounds after a shaky start and seemed to on firm control until a sequence of lazy jabs in the twelfth let Norfolk in for a lacerating attack which it seemed Maske might buckle under. More of the same in the thirteenth sealed Maske's fate as he was forced to run and hang on in the fourteenth and fifteenth.