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classic boxing bits and pieces scrapbook
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The former light-heavyweight champion who was paralytic drunk when he entered the ring with Jack Sharkey.
1928. Madison Square Garden, New York.
"In his last big fight he was matched with future heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey. Once again, the possibility of a crack at the heavyweight crown, and a big gate with Tunney, was in the balance. This time Delaney entered the ring flabby, bloated and listless. When the bell rang for the opening round he was unable to move. Apparently intoxicated to the point of virtual paralysis, Delaney stood staring at his corner as Sharkey came across the ring. Sharkey paused momentarily in disbelief, and then knocked Delaney to the canvas. The fight ended with Delaney on his hands and knees, crawling around the ring like a man looking for a lost button, while the referee counted him out. The emotional Sharkey, his mouth piece hanging halfway out of his mouth, clung to the top ring rope crying in joy, as the furious spectators cried fix." - Wikipedia.
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"They drew a pistol on us and took the belt back"
"Juan Zurita, he was past due for a defense so they named me as contender and gave me a shot at it. They threatened to take the title away from him.
Since I was a little kid, I had envisioned being lightweight champion. I dreamed about the lightweight title and I finally won it. So I guess when I won it that night I probably leaped about five feet in the air. I knocked him out in the second round. It was a combination, I'll never forget it, it was a right hand to the body and a left on his chin. He went down for the full count.
I was almost killed down there, too, for beating him. The Mexicans, we were almost killed. Then the Mexicans started throwing bricks and things. The cops, our bodyguards, two cops, looked around, they were gone. Connie McCarthy (my manager), he was knocked out with a brick to the head. His head was split open with that brick. That's when the Mexican came up, he said "Gimmie the belt!" I haven't seen the title belt since that night, since April 18th, 1945. I saw the belt for maybe five minutes. I haven't seen it since. Maybe it's down in Mexico City now. The fellow pulled a pistol out. He was going to kill all of us. So I said "Give the man the damn belt!" They took the belt back. They drew a pistol on us and took the belt back. We made it to the dressing room. They followed us to the airport the next morning." - Ike Williams.
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On his pro debut in 1910 future Australian sensation Les Darcy fought Guv'nor Balsa over a scheduled 10 rounds, the fight was scored a draw and it was decided by all parties to box one more round to decide a winner, which Darcy (aged 14) won on points.
This was the only time, to my knowledge, that a professional fight was won on points over 11 rounds.
(photo below shows Darcy at 15 when he worked as an apprentice blacksmith)
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"Marciano's gloved fists broke blood vessels and bones in LaStarza's arms and elbows. First the arms grew heavy, then they began to ache awfully, then they grew numb. As the relentless battle wore on, LaStarza found it harder and harder to raise his arms, much less jab with them or punch with them. His hands lowered, his defense dissipated, Marciano began to punish him about the head. LaStarza began to take a terrible beating." Bill Libby, "The Story of a Champion", 1971.
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Liston came back to his corner after round 2 against Valdes with a nearly closed right eye.
The cornermen were waiting for him with an ice-pack, and hurriedly applied it to the closing right eye in an effort to stop the swelling that was becoming more serious looking by the second.
As the bell sounded for Round 3, Sonny was slow getting out of his corner, and was met by an aggressive Valdes, who rushed at him from across the ring.
In a flash Nino fired a 3-punch volley followed by a stunning left hook that crashed off of Liston's exposed jaw.
Stunned and angered, Liston retaliated with a volley of solid punches that seemed to take everything out of the 34 year-old Nino's legs, as he rocked back on his heels.
Liston then crashed a big left hook on Ninos' jaw.
With a stunned Nino in front of him Sonny fired a solid combination that drove Nino into the ropes where he bounced off into a savage right cross that dropped Nino like a weight.
Valdes, with his right arm dangling over the lower rope strand, was on his knees until the count reached 7 then rolled onto the canvas to be counted out at 0:47 of the round.
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91,000 people turned up to watch Jack Dempsey vs Georges Carpentier fight for the heavyweight title in New Jersey in 1921......this is how people many turned up in Times Square, New York to listen to it via radio over loudspeakers...
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"He was the greatest fighter in the world," Holmes said at his postfight news conference. "He's one hell of an athlete, one hell of a man. Even trying to win a fourth title is one hell of an achievement. He had a two-year layoff and then tried to fight the baddest heavyweight in the world."
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winners and losers - iran barkley once spoke about how after his 1989 fight of the year split decision loss to roberto duran, duran went on to fight sugar ray leonard for a 10 million dollar payday, while he fought micheal nunn for what he said was 6,000 dollars.
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1966...former world champion sonny liston, was now living and boxing in sweden, and was preparing for a fight when a new sparring partner was brought in...none other than the lesser-known, lesser-talented younger brother of floyd patterson....ray patterson......ray never did that much as a boxer at world level....but that day, behind closed doors, the younger brother of the man who was beaten twice in one round in world heavyweight title fights by liston, did this...
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This painting depicts the occasion when Jimmy Wilde outpointed Joe Lynch of America after a battle over 15 rounds. At the end, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) stepped into the ring and congratulated the tiny Welshman on his victory. This was the first time Royalty officially entered the ring and thereby had given their official patronage to boxing, a sport which had been illegal in the days of bare knuckle fighting and was still looking for acceptance.
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The history of boxing turned a page in June 1948 when Rocco Marchegiano appeared in Al Weill's office. Weill telephoned Charley Goldman and told him to set up a sparring session so they could gauge Rocco's potential. Later that day, Marchegiano stepped into the ring at a CYO gym on 17th Street in Manhattan with a heavyweight from Florida named Wade Chancey.
Marchegiano didn't look like a professional fighter. He was short for a heavyweight; five feet ten inches tall. His hands were huge, but he had stubby arms that would make it difficult for him to develop an effective jab.
A. J. Liebling later likened what Weill and Goldman saw 'to the understander in the nine-man pyramid of a troupe of Arab acrobats. He has big calves,' Liebling wrote. 'Forearms, wrists, and a neck so thick that it minimizes the span of his shoulders. He is neither tall nor heavy for a heavyweight, but gives the impression of bigness when you are close to him. His face, like his body, is craggy. Big jaw, big nose askew from punching, high cheekbones; and almost always when he is outside the ring, a pleasant asymetrical grin.'
Marchegiano was also two months shy of his twenty-fifth birthday; old for a novice fighter.
'Al and I often looked over green kids who thought they could become fighters,' Goldman reminisced years later. 'I'll eat my derby hat if I ever saw anyone cruder than Rocky. He was so awkward that we stood there and laughed. He didn't stand right. He didn't throw a punch right. He didn't block right. He didn't do anything right. Then he hit Chancey with a roundhouse right which nearly put a hole in the guy's head, and I told Weill that maybe I could do something with him.'
'Charley Goldman,' Michael Silver later wrote, 'found a block of marble and sculpted it into The Pieta.'
Marchegiano entered the ring as a professional for the second time on July 12, 1948. The site was Providence, Rhode Island; twenty-five miles from Brockton. The opponent was Harry Belzarian. Marciano won on a first-round knockout. His purse was forty dollars.
Years later, Belzarian recalled, 'The first time he knocked me down, he broke my tooth. Then he knocked me down again. Then I don't remember anything.'
Soon after, at Weill's suggestion, Marchegiano changed his name to Rocky Marciano. But Weill wasn't sold yet on his new fighter. He was using him to test other prospects.
On August 23, 1948, in his fifth professional fight, Marciano fought a 15-0-1 heavyweight named Eddie Ross. Rocky was the 'opponent' that night. Prior to fighting Ross, Marciano had traveled from Brockton to New York to train occasionally with Goldman, but the trainer hadn't attended his fights.
Marciano knocked Ross out at 1:03 of the first round. Seven days later, when Marciano fought Jimmy Weeks in Providence, Goldman was in his corner.
Marciano fought eleven times during the last six months of 1948, scoring eight first-round knockouts and two in the second stanza. One opponent made it into the third round.
Rather than work with the fighter at Stillman's Gym (which was a hub of boxing commerce in New York), Goldman continued to sculpt his creation at the CYO gym on 17th Street.
Marciano had poor balance, minimal defense, and little understanding of how to throw a jab or hook. Goldman taught him how to stand properly for balance and maximum leverage on his punches. Turning Marciano's lack of height into an advantage, he taught him to fight from a crouch, which made him harder to hit and forced opponents to lower their hands to hit him. He taught him the rudiments of defense and schooled him to go to the body.
'You got to realize,' Goldman said later, 'when I took him over, he didn t know what a body punch was. In the first ten fights I handled him, he didn't throw a single one. Some of those early fights when he didn't know how to fight; he won them all, but I was afraid he'd get killed.'
But Marciano had a great equalizer; his right hand. Goldman gave him just enough moves and enough of a jab to get inside and use it.
'I got a guy who s short, stoop-shouldered, and balding with two left feet,' the trainer said. 'They all look better than he does as far as the moves are concerned. But they don t look so good on the canvas. God, how he can punch.'
(By Thomas Hauser)
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Dec. 4, 1961
The first clean punch Liston landed was a crisp left hook that caught the aggressive Westphal coming in. He didn't stagger long. Sonny caught him with a huge right to the chin. Albert spun like a pole-axed bull into a full face-plant, layout position. Referee Zack Clayton could have counted 100. At 10, Westphal rolled over slowly and lay staring at the ceiling through unseeing eyes. Liston emerged from a neutral corner to admire his glove work. He just gazed impassively at the timbered German.
(by Bill Conlin)
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"I was at home watching 'Kojak' on tv when the phone rang.
"Chuck! Chuck!"
She was all excited.
"Mom, what is it? I told you to never call me during 'Kojak'"
"Did you see the paper? Did you see that news ??"
"No, I didn't Mom...What's in it ?"
"Go out and get it"
"Mom, tell me what's in it. I'm not just going to run out."
"On the back page....the whole back page!!...it says 'Ali to defend against Wepner in Cleveland March 24.' "
So I put my clothes on and ran up to the Embassy Theater at Forty-seventh and Broadway. The kid had four papers left. They sold them in front of Theaters in them days. I said "Give me those four papers". I turned over and sure enough..."
(Chuck Wepner)
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29 Aug 1960
A fight between spectators, officials and boxers ended the European Heavyweight title fight between holder Dick Richardson and former European Champion Brian London, at Porthcawl, Wales. Trouble started when referee Andrew Smyth stopped the match after the eighth round due to London's badly cut left eye. He awarded the fight to Richardson, whereupon London dashed across the ring and attacked his victor.
Richardson's trainer was knocked to the floor by London, spectators swarmed into the ring and the battle began. It took 20 policemen to control the two rivals and their supporters.
(Source - REUTERS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCr519cSQvw0 -
"I watched Beau Jack climb down from the ring apron and move in a
half-trot across the floor, shoulders swaying with his rolling gait,
right leg dipping to accommodate old pain. I approached him. ''You
fought in battle royals, didn't you?'' I asked.
''Yes, sir,'' he said, eyeing me.
''How did it feel?''
''They should still have them,'' he said. ''They'd be a lot of fun
for people who ain't seen them. But they can't. Guys ain't tough
enough anymore.''
''I'd like to write a story about you,'' I said.
''All right, sir,'' he said quietly. A maroon cap hid most of his
balding head with its white stubble of hair, and a T-shirt with the
words FORWARD MOTION covered his still-muscular chest. ''They think
they can tire me out,'' he said, as if he had been one of the men in
the ring. ''They can't. I can outlast them all. They try to kill me,
and I be relaxin'. I know how to breathe and how to throw punches.
You're not in condition, you're gonna get your brains scattered to
the wrong part of your head. Can't never quit in a ring. All that
crap about defense -- take it and put it up your butt.
Conditioning.'' He threw a combination at a heavy bag and walked over
to two women lying on tables, doing leg lifts. ''Everybody gets sick
when they first come here,'' he warned one. ''It'll go away. Tomorrow
I'm gonna murder you.''
His tone turned gentle now, as if he were an old man telling his
assembled grandchildren a story before bed. I moved closer to hear.
''You know, if you didn't get your ticket before Friday when I
fought,'' he said, ''forget about it. They was none left. I had 2,000
ladies came to see me. They'd yell, 'Uh- oh, here comes that tiger
again.' And anyplace I go now I hear people say these same words: 'We
been watchin' and we been lookin', tryin' to find another Beau Jack,
but we ain't never seen another one. How did you keep throwing
punches from one end of the bell to the other, Beau Jack?'
''Well, you have to love people to do that. They kept screamin'
'Beau Jack, Beau Jack,' '' -- his fists began to punch the air --
''so I loved 'em and had $ to fight harder and harder and harder.
Didn't want no people talkin' about me like I was a dog. I had to do
good for my guests. I love every human being God put on this earth.
We're here for one reason -- to attract each other. I fought that
way, for love.''
Pools of dusk had begun to form in the corners of the gym; in ones
and twos the boxers toweled their sweat, called goodbye to Beau Jack
and departed. ''That bone tried to jump up and get away, but I chased
it down and caught it, and I ain't even got no teeth, that's how good
that chicken was you cooked for me,'' he said to one of the two women
he was conditioning. ''You comin' back to work out tomorrow, aren't
you?''
When she was gone, I asked if I could accompany him home. I wanted
to meet his wife and the 15 children that people said he had
fathered. ''No need for that,'' he said. ''We disbanded. Sometimes
it's best to just disband yourself.''
''Who do you live with?''
''Nobody. Myself.''
''Where?''
''One-room place, few blocks from here. Don't need nothin' else.''
I asked what he did alone at night.
''I play blackjack against a dead man's hand,'' he said. ''When I
win, I put the cards on my side. He wins, I put 'em on his side.
Funny, 99 times out of a hundred, the dead man wins.''
Carefully he reached under a desk in his shabby corner cubicle,
pulled out his boxing plaques and awards, and tucked them into a
black bag. He placed it on his shoulder, locked up the gym and headed
home. A block away, he paused. At the night air, he threw a pair of
punches."
(by Gary Smith - Sports Illustrated)
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Oct 28, 1920.
"Harry Greb, light-heavyweight of Pittsburgh, won the newspaper decision over Mickey Shannon of Newark N.J. in their ten round bout here Thursday night. Greb scored a knockdown in the ninth round, but Shannon recovered and was able to stay the limit." (Decatur Daily Review) The Pittsburgh Post reported that Greb went in and simply traded blows with the heavier Shannon, making little effort at defense. Shannon held his own in the first round and clearly won the second. Greb handed out a lot of punishment in the next four rounds. Shannon rallied in the 7th, but Greb fought back and cut his eye. Greb socked Shannon all over the ring in the last three rounds, flooring him for a 3-count in the 9th. Shannon was badly marked at the end.
And these are the gloves that Greb wore...
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