This is the fight where legend has it that Pep won a round without throwing a punch. Was it fact or B.S. ? From boxrec "Pep "combined a punch with his much vaunted boxing ability to knock out Graves." Graves was floored 9 times. Pep was down twice in 6th. Graves broke left hand in round 2. Falsely reported for years as match where Pep won 3rd round without throwing a punch. This story was debunked in 2003. " http://boxrec.com/media/index.php?title=Fight:21027 What is your opinion? What would a boxer have to do to win a round in your opinion without throwing a punch? What would a boxer have to do to lose a round to an oppoent who dose not throw a punch?
http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Human:76 "Jackie Graves was once rated as high as the #2 Featherweight in the world behind Willie Pep in 1946. He later fought Pep in Minneapolis, in which he dropped his fellow Hall of Famer twice in the 6th round before succumbing to the non-stop assault of the champ in the 9th round--a fight in which Pep later stated that "Graves was the hardest puncher I ever faced". It was later said that this was the fight that Pep won the 3rd round without ever throwing a punch--something Graves himself denied his whole life. Graves was correct, as it was later disproved by well-known historian Jake Wegner in 2003, as Wegner showed evidence that both the Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers, as well as dozens of living eye-witnesses testified that Pep did indeed throw several punches in the historic 3rd round, making the long-standing "punchless 3rd round of Pep" nonthing more than a fable. "
does anyone know the amount of punches? I always figured this story was wrong but if he threw like 5-10 punches then it is still impressive.
B.S. I remember a few years back, someone over at boxrec debunking it with newspaper accounts of the fight, which described both men throwing punches in each and every round. Bribe the judges. Knock himself down.
I always gathered that Pep threw a few punches, but not many. And that he did infact show off his unbelievable evasion tactics on purpose and refrained from hitting Graves too much (for that round). The main account of it that I've read suggests Pep was feinting a lot and throwing punches to deliberately miss. Either way, Pep-Graves was a mesmerising performance by the then-champion.
Unless I'm mistaken I read that the round was actually something of a tear-up between the two. It seems the myth just came from the good ol' fashioned need some people have to tell a story.
Pep-Graves was a war although I do think that's it is possible he won a round by barely throwing any punches. It just didn't happen in this fight. On several films of his fights, he seems to do a pretty good job of completely nullifying his opponents while keeping up a very low workrate himself.
I always figured he musta threw atleast a few punches, It must have been a hell of a defensive performance for the myth to even start though.
I have a great book that I'll be reading later, it'll have all about this fight. I'll come on tomorrow and tell you what it says.
I never understood why Don Riley, one of the St Paul Pioneer press sports scribes at the time, made up this tale, one of which Willy seemed to back up. It was his fellow scribes written account in the paper that debunked this claim and he said both fighters threw constant punches in the third. Don was a much loved writer and he was too old for me to inquire on this matter by the time the info came out.
Bear in mind, Pep had well over 200 professional fights by the time all was said and done. Tough to keep all of them straight inside your mind, especially as the years pass. So, I'm not inclined to rule out the possibility that he may have won a round in one of his fights, simply by relying upon footwork and feinting to keep his foe at bay. But if that happened, it certain occurred against a lesser opponent than the highly ranked Graves.
Some say its fact, some say its fiction... all I can say is... nobody will ever know 100% for sure but if any man can, Willie Pep can.