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Monday, 20 April 2009 |
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Saturday, 18 April 2009 |
The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 4- No8 18th April , 2009
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Written by Rob Snell
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Wednesday, 18 February 2009 |
The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 4- No 4 18th Feb, 2009
www.boxingbiographies.com
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Digger Stanley
The Times 22 October 1912
BOXING.
THE BANTAM-WEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP.
The feature of the programme at the National Sporting Club last night was the 20-round contest for £400, the Bantam-Weight Championship of Great Britain, and the Lonsdale Championship Challenge Belt between Digger Stanley, of London, the holder of the Lonsdale Belt, and Alec Lafferty, Bantam-Weight Champion of Scotland.
The result was a victory on points for Stanley, who thus became the owner of his belt.
The Two Men
Much interest was felt in the meeting of these clever boxers. Stanley, though not yet 30 years old, is a veteran of the ring ; next to the incomparable Driscoll he ranks as the most finished of English boxers, and even the American critics admit that he is a master of ring-craft. He is not a very hard hitter,'but the " digs," which he employs to break down an opponent's resistance and have given him his by-name, are much more severe than a casual observer would think. Moreover, he is wonderfully clever in getting out of difficulties, has a fine defence, and possesses the armour of trained abdominal muscles which renders a pugilist impervious to body blows. His last Lonsdale belt contest with Ledoux, the fast and hard-hitting French champion proved that he had lost none of his cleverness and little, if any, of his pace. He has not Driscoll's brilliance of execution and absolute accuracy of judging distance and timing his man, but for all that he will always be remembered as an artist in his unostentatious way.
Lafferty had not previously appeared at the heady quarters of professional boxing and his form was unknown to most London followers of the game. But, though nearly ten years younger than his formidable antagonist, he has a long string of victories, both in Great Britain and in America, to his credit, and his possession of a punch was guaranteed by the frequency with which the letters K.O. appear in his record. With a reputation for speed and some cleverness he was certain, it was thought, to give the long-experienced and cautious belt; holder a good fight, and not a few of the spectators believed that he might win with a little luck.
THE FIGHT.
At the start they were laying 6 to 4 on Stanley, who was extremely cautions during the first four rounds. The first half of the contest was virtually a long clinching match, in which the veteran allowed his opponent to do all the hard work of disentanglement. The manoeuvring for the inside position, in which Stanley was almost always successful, was the only interesting. feature of the proceedings. There was not much in it on points ; what there was seemed to be Stanley's, thanks to his straight left. From the 11th round on Lafferty tried to rush the holder of the belt, but was always evaded, generally receiving a " dig " or two before the wrestling began. Twice Stanley delivered the forbidden kidney-blow, on each occasion looking apologetically at the referee.
As the contest went on the Scotsman's deficiencies as a boxer became obvious ; he made very little use of his right, signalled at times, and was very mechanical in his methods of attack. In the 15th round Stanley began to attack vigorously, and long before the end it was clear that nothing but a knock-out could prevent him from winning. He was much too wary to give his opponent a chance, and in the end had won by a great number of points.
Lafferty, who was very badly seconded, has much to learn. But he should become a first-rate man if ho finds a good teacher who will persuade him to stand correctly.
The Times 21 April 1914
DIGGER STANLEY v. CURLEY WALKER.
STANLEY DISQUALIFIED.
Curley Walker (Bermondsey) beat Digger Stanley (Fulham) for £500 and the Bantam-Weight championship :and Lonsdale Belt, Stanley being disqualified for holding in the 13th round.
Stanley fully deserved to lose the fight, for his Methods were open to question. all. through ; he was continually cautioned for holding, and a punch which was, distinctly low dropped Walker for a count of four in the second round. In the sixth round Stanley made more use of his elbow than is approved of by the authorities, and in the last few rounds he was fortunate, or, rather, clever in choosing his moments for holding when the referee could not see him.
Walker’s victory was very popular, for his boxing was much cleaner, and he used his left with good effect, particularly in the fifth and sixth rounds. Stanley changed his tactics in the ninth round, swinging right and left to the body continually .Walker weakened visibly, but had picked up again and was when his opponent was disqualified.
The chief interest in all Digger Stanley's contests now is to see how long; he continues to hold his own against opponents who are always . younger and generally not much more than half his age. Although there was only a difference of half a pound when the men Weighed in yesterday afternoon, they presented a great contrast when they finally got to work after the tedious preliminary business of bandaging which has become so fashionable nowadays. Stanley for all his 38 years .looked what he is — the seasoned fighter versed in every trick of the ring. While Walker seemed a mere boy beside him —a boy nevertheless with a punch .quite worthy of respect, as Stanley soon found Walker's advantage in age was most apparent in the quickness with which he recovered from the onslaught of his opponent. Had the contest gone the full length it is .probable that Walker's great recuperative powers would have gained him the victory.
'THE TIMES, SATURDAY 29 July 1911
BOXING.
ENGLISH CHAMPIONS.
Even in the last days of the old Prize Ring the Englishman was still unquestionably superior to all his rivals in the art of self-defence with nature's weapons only, success in which depended in that age of cold common sense almost as much on a man's wrestling ability as on his skill in fisticuffs. It is just possible that England's supremacy in the finest of personal pastimes might have lasted even to the present moment if wrestling had not been ruled out—to reappear in the form of clinching— under the new and mitigated code which was universally accepted -when a revival of interest in prize-fighting took place. Under the good old rules we might still possess the world's heavy-weight championship ; cross-buttocking permitted and the gloves laid by, we would cheerfully back Gunner Moir (who has been Hackenschmidt's wrestling partner) to beat even the artful and artistic Johnson, to say nothing of the " white man's hopes" that are appearing so plenteously on the other side of the Atlantic.
As things are, however, boxing is clearly a cosmopolitan profession and England to-day can hardly even claim to be prima inter pares in the production of first-rate professors of the science and art thereof. First of all the Irish-American threw his queer hat (with a dirty clay-pipe stuck in. the hat-band) . into the ring and so effectually demonstrated - his right to challenge the plain Englishman's supremacy that a Celtic name seemed for a decade and more the most necessary item in the ; modern boxer's equipment. Then the negro arrived, and so manfully has he played his part that to-day there are four copper coloured heavy-weights --Johnson, Jeannette, MacVea, and Sam Langford—each of whom is more than a match for the best white boxer living.
More recently, the American citizen of , European ancestry has proved himself a formidable glove-fighter. Among German-American boxers the most prominent are Attell, Wolgast, Harry Lewis, and Papke, each of whom claims the world's championship in his division. As yet the Oriental, who has shown himself such a strong and skilful wrestler, has not dropped his turban into the arena. But he may do so at any moment. And already almost every European country is producing competent pugilists ; France, for example, possesses in Moreau and Carpentier two absolutely first-rate boxers, and one hears of good men coming on in the Scandinavian countries and in Ger many, while several Italians have done well in the American ring. England taught America the game and America is teaching the rest of the world. It is a notable fact that Paris, where there is a real enthusiasm for boxing, will have nothing to do with English teachers of the art. There, and elsewhere on the Continent, they are thought to be the advocates of antiquated methods.
CONCERNING AMATEURS.
As far as amateur boxers are concerned, the supremacy of England is still unchallenged. Our amateurs are better than those of America or any other country, and there are a great many more of them. The easy victories recently gained by a team of English amateurs, when they met the champions of the United States and of France at New York and Paris, proved this, if proof were necessary. The team in question was not fully representative - it was entirely made up of men who distinguished themselves in the A. B. A. Championships, and it must be remembered that many of our very best amateurs hold aloof from the annual competitions at the Alexandra Palace because of late years the " shamateur " or professional in the making has been far too prominent there. There can be no doubt that these and other amateur competitions provide an excellent training for the boxer who intends to make the game his profession. In the customary three-round contests he learns to box at the greatest pace of which he is naturally capable, and the edge of his ability not taken off by a series of lengthier affairs when he is a growing lad. If all our professional champions had the amateur's pace and fire, as well as the experienced prize fighter's knowledge of defensive tactics and of the tricks of the trade, they would make a better show against the American experts.
To return to the original discussion, the arrival of the cosmopolitan prize-fighter has affected the situation in several ways. It is a true that the methods of the cosmopolitan boxer are often unsportsmanlike to a degree. With far too many of the American experts it is an axiom of ringcraft that nothing is illegal unless the law (in a " biled shirt," as they say) has cognizance thereof - they look on butting, the use of the elbows, hitting with the heel of the glove or with a bony wrist, throttling an opponent in clinches, etc., as perfectly justifiable provided the offence escapes the eye of the referee. Boxing is not, and never has been, a gentleman's diversion in America ; the professional boxer there, whose only patron is the crowd, has never associated with the leaders of Society (as the heroes of the old Prize Ring, , those glorified clodhoppers, did in England), be and has not been taught the elements of sportsmanship.
The wonder is that he is so often a sportsmanlike antagonist, a clean fighter, and a scorner of mean advantages like McFarland or Stanley Ketchel in his day, or Jeffries in his prime, or almost all the first-rate negro pugi lists. It is not the first-rate but the second-rate boxer who employs foul tactics ; and the writer, who has seen many championship con tests on both sides of the Atlantic in the last 20 years, cannot recall a single instance in which the issue was determined by the taking of unfair advantages.
As often as not the American fighter of complex ancestry is a species of freak, physically speaking, not so obviously, perhaps, as the living skeleton or the fat lady, but he belongs to the category of dime museum types. Papke and Wolgast have the round cast-iron German head which will stand any amount of hammering ; furthermore, they have the low, nervous organization of the extreme phlegmatic type, and can stand pain as well as a Red Indian, or even better. Both have a natural punch of amazing severity, and win their fights by addressing it to the place where it does the it most damage—in the case of an English a opponent to the stomach, which, perhaps be cause England has always been a land of good living, seems to be the weak point in the national physique. " Battling" Nelson, another boxer who was impervious to ordinary punishment, was a fish-like personage ; his heart beat more slowly than that of the average man, and even at the end of the hottest round his skin was icy-cold.
All the negro fighters are, of course, abnormal in. physique as compared with the average European ; their skulls are unusually thick, their chins are not pointed, and their nervous systems are not easily shocked. The more highly-organized Englishman is at a disadvantage when he meets these fighting machines of un-English flesh and blood in. the ring.
The more reason why he should not allow traditional ideas to prevent him from adapting his style to the solution of new and tough problems such as were unknown before the advent of the cosmopolitan glove-fighter and are still much misunderstood.
THE SHORTENED WEAPON.
As long as it is a question of out-fighting the traditional English style is good enough. The straight left is still the best device for keeping an opponent outside ; when an opening presents itself the direct hit reaches its mark more quickly, though with less force, than the vertical or horizontal haymaker " or swing, in which the fist is really bowled at the other man's head. But the cosmopolitan boxer with his cast-iron head, whose chin has been left behind 'in his family bush, cannot be kept out by hitting or breaking ground ; and, unless his English opponent is conversant with the modern science.of in-fighting, he will sooner or later be broken up and beaten by a series of body blows. In actual warfare the nation with the shorter weapon has almost always prevailed ; the short, thrusting sword of the Roman legionary, for example, was more than a match for the Macedonian pike or the Celtic claymore.
Even so in these latter days the boxer whose strategy it is to get inside and pound away at close quarters has the advantage, and deserves to have it. It is the half-arm hit, the severity of which can be much increased by wrist-play, that counts for most in the modern game ; and, what is more, that which lands on some useful part of the body is more damaging in the long rim than the abbreviated punch to the head.The English professional, whose chief idea is to work for the head at a respectful distance will be 'Knocked out—as Sullivan was by Papke and Moran by Wolgast — whenever he meets the cosmopolitan expert who dispenses with mere prettinesses.
Sooner or later he will have to take the count ; sooner rather than later if he has not the capacity of enduring a pounding in the stomach — a form of endurance that may be acquired by practice and by experience and by special exercises for strengthening the middle-storey muscles. The fact that the new style is uncouth and un- familiar to English eyes, long accustomed to the open and graceful methods of the academics, must not mislead us into believing that it is un- scientific or necessarily unfair.
Otherwise we fall into the foolishness of, say, the academic critics of Bertrand's system of fencing. Our champions are apt to forget that fighting is far and away the best preparation for fighting. They keep their form under a glass case, whereas the American champions are always taking part in six or ten round no-decision affairs, which add to their experience (which is the root of all ringcraft ) and keep the keen edge on their impressionistic artistry. In most parts of the United States it is illegal to name the winners of such contests — the moralists, who have shut the referee's mouth, hoped by so doing to lessen the severity of such affairs, but the very reverse has happened — and the only way in which a boxer can score a palpable win in defiance of the police regulations is by knocking out his opponent. Accordingly the no-decision meetings are full of hard, fast fighting, and those who engage in them learn this great lesson —never to lose the opportunity of a decisive advantage.
THE PRESENT POSITION
At the present moment we have half-a dozen champions of England, each of them the holder of the Lonsdale Belt in his division, who form as good a team as we have ever possessed in the last 20 years. They are Digger Stanley (bantam class). Jem Driscoll (feather weights), Matt Wells (light weights), Young Joseph (welter -weights), Jim Sullivan (middle weights), and Bombardier Wells (heavy weights). Of these six Driscoll is in a class by himself ; he prefers out-fighting, but is equally good at inside work, and it is impossible to put a finger on any weakness in his style, unless the possession of a temperament not absolutely imperturbable be accounted as such. Like Gans, called the " Old Master " in his day, he is a typo of the natural genius which practice has made perfect. Young Joseph is the weakest of the six ; he is a pretty boxer and a gentlemanly fighter, but is not very robust, and lacks the indispensable punch. Digger Stanley, who is an adept at inside work, is well worth his place in the team, though hardly as good as Bowker was in his prime. Matt Wells is not only a very fast and scientific boxer, hut also a sturdy fighter with a punch, and he has little or nothing to learn about in-fighting. He is to meet Wolgast in September, but will have some difficulty in making the weight ; one hopes for the best, while fearing the worst. It is in the middle-weight and heavy-weight divisions that cosmopolitan America's superiority is unquestionable. With more experience Sullivan could make a brave show against the best American middle-weights (there are better men coming on than Papke), but he is too high-strung and too susceptible to body-blows to win a world's championship.
As for Bombardier Wells, he is as fast and as clever at out-fighting as any heavy-weight living, and he has the power of wrist-play which adds sting to the straightforward English punch. But though his body satisfies Euclid's definition of a line, he may be said to wear his stomach on his sleeve in a manner of speaking, and it is very doubtful whether the modern science of physical culture, though it can work wonders, will perform for him the miracle of curing this ostentatious weakness- But, while he lasts, he will be able to give the best of the iron-jawed negroes and cosmopolitan fighting-machines a lively quarter of an hour, and when he comes to his full strength he will always have a chance of upsetting the odds. His amazing pace and piston-like left, -with its effortless punch, must now and again put the most formidable antagonist off his game (the outpaced fighter often goes to pieces for a time), and cause him to leave the opening for a decisive stroke—and we already know that Wells is too quick-witted to miss an opportunity. But it is a thousand pities that he has been matched against Johnson during his novitiate.
Champion of England though he be, Wells is merely a magnificent novice, a youth of 22 whose muscular system is unfinished, necessarily deficient in constitutional strength and stamina, and a tiro at the inside-work of which the negro, a fighter born and made, is among the greatest of living masters—as uncannily clever, indeed, as Gans or any other of the little men of his race. It will be 20 to 1 on Johnson ; it would be infinity to nothing but for the fact that the negro may not think it necessary to train seriously. If he goes into the ring with the fat which he has collected since the Reno affair, and Wells can keep out of danger for ten rounds (which would be a great achievement, all things considered), then the utterly unexpected might happen.
Stan Rowan
Stan began boxing with the Grafton Services Club & Caryl Gardens ABC. As an amateur he won Lancashire & Cheshire Junior Titles at two weights before winning the senior Flyweight Title at the age of seventeen. After turning professional in 1942 his first opponent was Eddie Douglas, whom he beat at the Liverpool Stadium in four rounds, 28 August 1942. Overall Stan had nine fights that year, winning seven and drawing two. He won another five bouts in 1943 before joining the Royal Air Force.
Before taking up his post in the RAF there was time for one more contest against Frank Kid Bonser of Nottingham at the Tower Circus, Blackpool, on 20 January 1946. Whether his mind was distracted by his call-up to the RAF we will never know, but Stan was knocked-out for the only time in his career in the eighth round.
Stan then left for wartime service in Rhodesia thus putting his career on hold for a couple of years. However, he got back to business in 1946 losing only one of six bouts beating Jacky Hughes, Mickey Jones, Tommy Madine, Norman Lewis and Mickey Colbert. Stan was now being talked about as a possible challenger for the British Title. The then champion Johnny King, who had held the title since 1932, was coming to the end of his career when he defended and lost his titles to Jackie Paterson at Belle Vue, Manchester on 10 February 1947 on a seventh round stoppage.
It seemed that the Scotsman’s first defence would be against either, Rowan, Doran, O’Sullivan or Peter Kane, the former World Flyweight Champion, who was retuning to the ring after a three-year absence. Kane came back in 1947 and following a few good wins he got a shot at the European Bantamweight Title held by Theo Medina. Kane subsequently beat Medina, on 19 September 1947, on points over fifteen rounds at Manchester.
Meanwhile Stan was doing his chances of a title fight no harm. He knocked-out Joe Curran in the tenth round at the Liverpool Stadium, on 14 August 1947 in a North Central Bantamweight Eliminator. Just four weeks later, 8 September 1947, he flattened Paterson, in a non-title fight, in two rounds at the Harringay Arena. The following year he then met and beat Bunty Doran in an official eliminator at the Liverpool Stadium, on 18 March 1948, coming off the canvas to win on points. Another victory, just two months later, 31 May 1948, against former amateur boxing champion Danny O’Sullivan, now meant that Rowan would meet Peter Kane in a final eliminator for the right to take on Paterson for the British title.
Before taking on Kane Stan gave himself a boost by beating Theo Medina, at the Olympia on 6 July 1948, but then had a setback losing to another Frenchman Georges Mousse on a badly cut eye in the eight round at the Liverpool Stadium on 9 September 1948.
Kane and Rowan eventually met in a final eliminator at Belle Vue on 19 November 1948, and despite putting up a great performance in what turned out to be his last fight, Kane was clearly out-pointed over twelve rounds. The way was now clear for Rowan to take on Paterson for the British and Commonwealth (British Empire) Titles.
Rowan’s fight with Paterson attracted so much interest on Merseyside that Johnny Best secured a home draw for it with a bid of £2000. The bout took place on 24 March, before a crowd of 17,000 at Anfield, which incidentally was the last time boxing took place at Liverpool’s FC Anfield ground. Rowan boxed superbly throughout the contest, so good was Rowan’s display that Paterson only had one good round the sixth. In the seventh Rowan continued where had left off in the fifth eventually dropping Paterson for a count of nine in the eleventh, before going on to gain a convincing points win. Rowan became Liverpool’s first Bantamweight Champion.
Because of weight difficulties Stan was unable to cash in on his Titles. After losing his Empire Title to Vic Toweel in South Africa, on 12 November 1949, he moved up to featherweight and after two bouts he quit the ring for two years. He made his comeback in 1952 but, due to a series of bad cuts and problems in making the featherweight limit, he only had a further six contests. His last contest was against Peter Keenan on 18 March 1953 at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, which he lost over ten rounds. Stan had, in fact, his hand raised as the winner but the referee realised he was standing in Keenan’s corner and rectified his decision.
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Written by Rob Snell
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Monday, 09 February 2009 |
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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter Volume 4- No 3 9th Feb, 2009 www.boxingbiographies.com If you wish to receive future newsletters ( which includes the images ) please email the message “NEWS LETTER”
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The newsletter is also available as a word doc on request As always the full versions of these articles are on the website I NEED YOUR HELP
I am looking for any footage of his fights and would be most grateful for any help people can provide. I would also appreciate any other information on him
Missouri State Amateur Champion
Name: Art Swiden
Career Record: click
Alias: The Pittsburgh Phantom
Nationality: US American
Birthplace: McKeesport, PA, USA
Hometown: New Kensington, Pennsylvania, USA
Born: 1928-02-11
Died: 2004-08-23
Age at Death: 76
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 6′ 1″
I had the pleasure of being contacted by Shawn a few weeks ago and at my request she has very kindly written the following account. I find it a fascinating story of the man, about whom very little is actually known. My sincere thanks go to Shawn for this quite extraordinary insight into the life of “The Pittsburgh Phantom”.
By, Ms. Shawn M. Cohen
To Love a Boxer
What would you do if you found out that someone you knew and loved 32 years ago in 1976, when you were only 20 years old, and he was 48, someone who had had an impressive career as a professional Heavyweight Boxer from 1946 to 1960, fighting people like Joe Louis, Zora Folley, and Buddy Turman, but you never heard of those people because boxing was as far away from you as China, what would you do if you fell in love with this man never the less, and he with you…?
And what would you do if that man, that tall (6’1”) dark, swarthy and handsome man, who still looked young, vibrant and sexy at 48, charmed the likes of you, a young, somewhat naïve girl who was just working her way to pay for college as a waitress in a Jazz Night club, in Pittsburgh, Pa. and he was actually the manager: AKA Your Boss? That his artillery of charm was not his boxing career for you, although it truly defined him, and all who knew and loved him. Customers and staff alike hung off his every word as he talked about (always because he was endlessly asked!) his “glory days” in the Ring and always referred to him as, “Champ”? Moreover, as you walked by with your surf and turf for your customers, and their Martini’s (“ shaken not stirred”, “olive not twist”) Dizzy Gillespie, or Chuck Mangione or Harold Betters was blowing their horn on stage, and over Dizzy’s chubby blowing cheeks ,(or Chuck’s or Harold’s or George Benson’s guitar or whom ever was that evening’s booked attraction) you’d catch a word from that ex heavyweight now seated at the bar, puffing intermittedly on his long, stogie cigar, recalling in his deep but funny, short, staccato voice some of those more noteworthy brave battles in the ring, but they all happened before you were born?
This starring role belonged to Art Swiden, aka, “The Pittsburgh Phantom” and I, his ingénue. Art’s charming and very realistic imitations of Clark Gable (“Now see here, Scarlett!”) and Bogey, (“Here’s looking at you, Kid!”) were enough, but he always launched them like love bombs while starring at me from across the bar; enough charm to disarm any woman, anywhere.
Our feelings grew in spite of every reason not to be involved. For one, he was going through a very messy and nasty divorce, and secondly, he was 4 years younger than both my parents, which it turned out, he happened to know…but we didn’t discover that until they both decided to come into the bar we worked in for my 21st birthday! That was funny, and it still makes me laugh today, 31 years later, when I think about me coaching Art to meet my parents. Who, as it happens, were also going through a nasty divorce too but decided to call a “truce” for the momentous occasion of my 21st. Art could be as sketchy and as nervous as a racehorse waiting at the post, and he became exactly this when I announced, “Oh, by the way Art, my parents will be in tonight, let me introduce you to them.”
“What! Your Parents!” he shouted in alarm. If you can imagine he fought Joe Louis in an exhibition but was afraid to meet my parents, this gives you some indication of the man I loved, and who always made me laugh. “Ok,” he said, calming down but still nervously pacing the upstairs restaurant floor back and forth, “What are their names?” he shot me a sideways glance, not really wanting to do this. Then I told him….I saw the always-tanned color of his skin run out of his face, and his mouth gap wide open as the words, “Oh my God, I know your parents!”
My mother was a professional dancer, who worked in another Pittsburgh nightclub, 25 years before that but now long gone, and she danced with her dance troupe there. My father was a regular customer, and Art was the main bartender and bouncer in between his fights as a professional boxer. The club was called, “The Copa”, and the time they met was in the early 1950’s. There we were, it was so complicated back in 1976, ‘77, and ‘78
He got over meeting my parents with his usual aplomb, offering free drinks and ran off to run the restaurant, all the while, teasing me when he could about it all. Nothing stopped his love for me, until we decided to go away together for good. There are reasons people love each other that sometimes out weigh any logic. My girlfriends liked Art but thought he was too old for me and although handsome, a bit, “punch drunk”. He would say the “punch drunk” thing was “all an act!” and it was, for when we were alone, he was always smart, articulate, funny as hell and tender.
I was supporting my mother as my parents were divorcing, and my younger brother, who Art also gave a job to in the restaurant, as a dish washer, because he was still in high school. Art was generous like that. He would give you the shirt off his back if you asked him. He didn’t care about money, in the sense of making a lot, but he did care about people, in spite of his outbursts when he would fly over the bar, all 6’1” of him, like a gazelle, if a bar customer got too drunk and was starting trouble. He’d grab the culprit from the back of the shirt, with his enormous boxer hands, and throw the, “bum out on his ass!” This would all happen in about 2 seconds flat. Now remember, Art was 48, 49, and 50 years old when I witnessed him doing this. He had the energy of a panther when he leaped over that bar, and the heart of a lion, protecting his pride, which was us, all the customers and bar and restaurant staff. He was a hell of a man. His friends were many, and a lot were famous themselves. Billy Conn came into the bar a few times back then, and he and Art were good pals. I remember when Art wanted to introduce me to him, as he always wanted me to meet his friends, infamous or just plane famous. I was so young, so I didn’t know most of them or why they were famous, but Art would laugh about it and explain it to me. Many years later, after Art’s death when I met up with our regular bandleader, Harold Betters, he told me a great story about Billy Conn. Harold saw him in the club, quietly having a drink at the bar, while he was playing his trombone up on stage. He got a break and went over to meet the famous Mr. Conn. Art had just walked away after talking to Billy. “Mr. Conn, is it true what they say about Art, was he really that good in the ring?” Harold who worked with Art in the club for years, and loved him like a brother wanted to know. Billy took a sip of his whiskey and replied, “You don’t see me messing around here now, do ya!?”
Art was more special than just a boxer. Art had a heart of gold, and if there were medals, Olympic size ones, for a man with a beautiful heart, it would have Art Swiden’s name on it.
I know this is a boxing site, and for all those who love the stats, here are Art’s: www.boxrec.com. (Put in Art Swiden in the search box). I can’t tell you all the hooks, uppercuts, and combinations Art did in each fight, but I do know the New York Times called him, “a Master Boxer”, and more quotes, like, “the cleverest stylist in the business.” And that’s when fighters like Rocky Marciano were his contemporaries. That he had bad management and saw almost no money in those 1950’s fights, and the dirty calls from refs and so forth are all part of his boxing history. That he was a kid, who came from nothing, lost both his parents by the time he was 12. He tried to get into the marines, while World War II was raging, at 14 years old, and was sent home when they found out his real age, shows what kind of courage he had. That he tried out for the Golden Gloves at 19 years old, with the bit of boxing he learned in the Marines, the short time he was there, and then won in Missouri, shows you what kind of determination he had to ,as he often put in Marlon Brando’s voice, “to be a contender, not just another bum”.
When it all came down to it, I knew his young daughter needed him more as a father, and I needed to help my mother. I also knew although Art was still willing against all the problems and odds but I really wanted to go back to college in California, where I had been when I was called back home to help my mother, who hadn’t worked since being a dancer and marrying my father. My father left her no money, so it was up to me to help her. Our lives were not our own. Upset, frustrated and sad, we both cried but we both knew we each had a place somewhere else, not together, not then. It was the right decision at the time, but it was not easy, nor without tremendous emotional pain. As my best girlfriend said to me at the time, “I have never seen a man look at a woman the way Art looks at you.” Even with this great gift of love, I could not compete with a child who needed him more. My father had left and my mother had nothing, I just couldn’t do it to a young child. Art agreed, very reluctantly, and we parted.
I ran into Art a year later, 1979. He told me straight up, “I still love you”, and begged me to come back to him and I said the same, “I still love you, too, Art.” But I was mourning the loss of someone in my life I knew before Art. Although I was back in college studying psychology, and loving it, I was emotionally very vulnerable because of the premature death of someone else. There were so many reasons but I also knew he was back with his family, and I said that this was right and as it should be. Never did I know how hard those words would affect me later.
Did we ever see each other again? Yes, in 1994. However, as Art would say, “that’s a story for another time”. I can hear him say that as I write this, and so, what happened in the end…?
I had a dream about Art in September 2005, a long time resident of London, England now, working here, raising my own young daughter on my own. The dream was so real and charming and made me laugh as I woke up, that I just had to Google him and see if anything was up. Something I never did before, but there it was, first the loss of his voice box from cancer in 1999. Poor Art, he so loved to put on actor’s voices, and tell funny stories, but at least he was alive…until I scrolled down to see his obituary; August 23, 2004 at age 76. I felt the life rush out of me and the tears well in my eyes…”Art, beautiful Art, no!” I said it aloud, and began to cry and wail like a baby. “Baby” that was what Art always called me, so full of affection, and softly. For the weeks that followed, and through the tears of grief, I realized I had not been in touch with anyone who knew Art for all those years. In a frantic search to talk to one of his few friends who had known about us, and there were only a few, as we both held this secret for all these years, finally a reply off a boxing website. One of the many that I had clumsily put out my plea. Luckily, fate or Art from the Great Beyond, made his friend find this site and he emailed me. It was from his old best friend, Bob. Bob said to me when we talked on the phone, “I thought I would hear from you, Shawn. You know Art loved you all his life, he never stopped loving you. When he spoke about you, his eyes lit up, and he always spoke so highly of you. I was sure I would hear from you, and now here you are.” We talked for 3 hours, all about Art and all the missing years.
Now, here I am, 3 years later, writing and still researching and searching for information about Art’s boxing career because I am writing a book about this wonderful, funny, handsome man. A boxer, yes, and a hell of a boxer, who never got the big money, or the kudos he deserved. That the boxing world should not forget about him, because he was absolutely “Unforgettable”…in every way. (Art loved his music, and he used to sing this to me…little joke between us, now I sent it out to you all about him.)
One day, you might read it. I’m calling it, “The Pittsburgh Phantom and Me”.
I have found over 600 newspaper articles on his fights, the highs and the lows, the glory and the grit which is great but If anyone out there has any video tape, cine films or DVDs of Art’s fights, I would love to see them. I am sure Art would want me to. Somehow, like Svengali, I feel him looking over my shoulder, helping me to write this biography/memoir and I can just hear him laughing, telling me “don’t forget this story or that” or “make me look like a Champ, Kid!” Boxers are people, too, with hearts not just for the ring, but also for the people they love in their lives, and I am very blessed indeed to have been one of them.
Art Swiden will always be the Champion of my heart.
TOM ALLEN'S LIFE STORY – taken from article published in 1937
AFTER licking Posh Price in 41 rounds, and George Iles in 17 rounds, Allen -was matched with Joe Goss for £100 a "side. They met on March 5, 1867. Altogether they fought 34 rounds, and owing ,to interference, the 34 rounds were contested in three different rings. At last, after they had battled fiercely for one hour and forty-two minutes, the bout was finally declared a draw.
This was Allen's last battle in England, for shortly afterwards he sailed for the U.S.A., where, on July 21, 1867, he duly arrived in New York.
Joe Goss got the needle at Tom's running out of a return battle, and being determined to get Allen's scalp he followed that worthy to the States. Directly he reached the land of the almighty dollar he challenged Allen to a return bout. Allen accepted immediately, and a match was made for 5,000 dollars a side and the championship of the world. Nobody knew what right they had to battle for such a pretentious title, but nobody cared, so they satisfied their vanity.
The battle took place in Cincinatti on September 7. After several rounds, during which neither had asserted superiority, Allen hit Goss when that. worthy was on the ground, and was promptly disqualified on an appeal.
In Cincinatti a little later Tom_, got into a bit of trouble with the authorities. He had made all arrangements for a battle with a fellow whose name we didn't catch. The authorities didn't care for Tom's way of making money, so they arrested him and kept him in goal until he gave bonds for his good behaviour. In other words, he had to keep the peace in that State for twelve months.
Tom Has to Behave
After Allen's run-in with the authorities, in which he had been made to give bonds for his good behaviour in that State, Tom, not caring for this turn in his affairs, migrated to another State, where they were not so particular about his keeping the peace.
So one month after his giving bond in Cincinatti, he was meeting Mike McGoole, for £200 a side, in St. Louis, which is quite another State. Right here Tom met some of those celebrated American sports, for Which America has ever been famous. Nine rounds had been fought, occupying some thirteen minutes (unlucky number, as you will note), when some of these American sports started an argument around the ring, the ropes were cut, and the ring broken up by these gentlemen. Some of these drew pistols and bravely fired at Allen, putting one bullet through his right and another in his gongha, the latter necessitating his standing at meals for a few days.
The referee therefore decided that as Allen had not played fair, McGoole was the winner. Allen, however, thought that he was not getting the square deal which the U.SA. has always been noted for giving strangers in those days, and instituted proceedings for the recovery of his dough, and got it.
Knives and Pistols Again
Soon after he met Charley Gallagher once more. This time, however, Tom meant -business, for he was knocking the stuffing out of Charlie when once more those sporting Americans broke the ring up, and Tom fled for his life to escape the knives and pistols of the said sports.
A couple of months later he made another match with his old pal, Mike McGoole, for £200 a side, but the match was finally abandoned, owing to their not agreeing upon a stakeholder. They had to be particular in them there days.
Jim Mace arrived in America shortly after this, and Allen was promptly on his trail. They finally signed articles for £500 a side and the world's title. The battle took place in New Orleans on May
10, 1870.
In the battle. with Mace, Tom had the misfortune to injure .his right shoulder when he rushed Jem, and, getting a grip, throw him awkwardly, and in the fall sustained the injury. Allen, however, never had a chance with the clever Mace, and had he had a_ dozen arms he could not have licked the incomparable Mace.
Shortly after, Tom's arm was well; he was again on the warpath, and challenged the world. A party named James C. Gallagher accepted Tom's challenge with the proviso that Allen should lay £200 to £100. Allen was willing, so a match was made on those conditions.
Tom Retires, But
On November 5, 1870, they met near St. Louis, when Allen punched the stuffing out of Gallagher in sixteen rounds, occupying 23 minutes. After this contest Tom publicly stated that he was finished with the ring and would retire.
The Mike McGoole whom Allen had fought was quite some baby. He stood 6ft. 3in, and weighed 17st., so Torn was at a slight disadvantage, being 5 inches shorter and nearly 5st. lighter. In spite of all the Irishman's advantages, Allen simply cut him to ribbons; until, at the finish, when Allen was set upon by the " boys," Mike was a bleeding lump of battered humanity when carried away from the scene of battle.
In spite of the terrific beating Mike had taken the referee had awarded him the decision ; but, as stated above, Tom had sued for the return of his stakes, and had got them.
Three years after stating he had finished with the ring, Tom, like all of 'em, made another match with his old opponent Mike McGoole. Evidently Mike's sporting pals were not on hand this time, for Mike got. another terrific hiding.
After stopping everything that Torn sent him he was polished off in nine rounds, the nine rounds occupying 20 minutes.
Once' more Tom retired; and once more he came back., this time to meet Ben Hogan of Pittsburg. They were to have met at 'St. Louis, but while they were selecting the ground for the battle they were arrested. The Illinois authorities also arrested several of the more prominent of those who had interest in the battle. These , were all required to give bonds for their future good behaviour. This being done, .all, were liberated. Shortly afterwards Hogan and Tom fought at a place called Pacific City.
Foul Causes Trouble
Three fierce rounds were fought, when, during the third round, Allen is reported to have struck his opponent 'a foul blow. That being a good excuse for trouble, .the boys started it, and they immediately. got busy. Knives and pistols were drawn, the ropes cut, and once more Allen did his hundred in less than evens, and then some!
Tom’s next battle was with Joe Goss once again. They fought first in Kent county, where seven rounds were fiercely contested. The police came on the scene and the battlers and their followers had to take it on the run. The ring was then fixed in Boone County, where fourteen more rounds were fought. Tom took the lead here throughout. the battle. He' was punishing Goss severely when the cry of " Militia ! " was raised, and again the contestants got oh the move.
Unfortunately for Allen, Goss's party had got busy, and report says that the referee was got at. A few seconds after they started again , Goss got the decision on a foul. What the foul blow was nobody seemed to know.
A few days later Goss was arrested, but Allen kept under cover, and shortly after was smuggled aboard a boat bound for England. It was then that the match with Charlie Davis was made. Allen evidently returned to the States later, for we read that he died in St. Louis.
King of the Toughs
Here in St. Louis, Tom Allen reigned as a king among the toughs of that city. Tom kept a big whiskey store, which was frequented by all the toughest citizens of the city of St. Louis. It was here that he was visited by an English sport who was on a visit to that city. An American friend took him there. Said he: " Tom Allen's always glad to see a fellow countryman, so come along."
There was a little difficulty at first in even getting inside until they had satisfied the custodian of the door that they were, the right sort. Then they were ushered into a large hall with white- washed walls.
Pictures of all kinds of sports and sportsmen decorated the walls. Seated in a huge chair at the 'end of the hall was Tom Allen, with a prize bulldog squatting each side of him. The hall was crowded with miners and toughs of all sorts and liquor flowed freely. A sixteen-feet ring occupied the centre, and at the suggestion of one of the visitors a couple of boys were put into the ring. The purse was put up by the English visitor. and the two boys put up a rattling scrap over nine rounds, when one put the other down for the full ten seconds.
After the scrap followed a sing-song. tale telling, etc., and it -was six a.m. before the visitors sought their hotel after a lively night's sport.
Tom Allen's word WAS law among those roughs, and woe 'betide any that upset him. He had a hundred trusties. all ready at any and every moment to do " King's " bidding. Tom died at the age of 65, the cause of death being given as "general debility."
Thus they lived and died in those " Them there good old days."
HELP WANTED
George Reynolds
Does anyone have any info on George Reynolds, originally from Cardiff, who held the Welsh lightweight title from 1937 to 1938. I believe he was based at Wolverhampton for at least some of his career.
I would particularly like to know when he was born and when and where he died, also when he moved from Cardiff. Any others details, both biographical and regarding his fight record, would be much appreciated.
http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?hu ... &cat=boxer
I would also appreciate any information on
Cassius Clay Scott
http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=22901&cat=boxer
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Written by Rob Snell
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Monday, 19 January 2009 |
The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 4- No 2 19th Jan, 2009
www.boxingbiographies.com
If you wish to receive future newsletters ( which includes the images ) please email the message “NEWS LETTER”
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The newsletter is also available as a word doc on request
As always the full versions of these articles are on the website
I NEED YOUR HELP
I am looking for any footage of his fights and would be most grateful for any help people can provide. I would also appreciate any other information on him
Missouri State Amateur Champion
Name: Art Swiden
Career Record: click
Alias: The Pittsburgh Phantom
Nationality: US American
Birthplace: McKeesport, PA, USA
Hometown: New Kensington, Pennsylvania, USA
Born: 1928-02-11
Died: 2004-08-23
Age at Death: 76
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 6′ 1″Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Written by Rob Snell
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Wednesday, 10 December 2008 |
Some Email requests from our readers which you may be able to help with
I wonder if you could help me in my quest.
I am researching my grandfather Ralph Auker a decorated WW1 soldier. He was also a Boxer during his war years and after. The info I require is he won the divisional brigade and regiment welterweight championship in Brussels in 1919? His opponent was a Lewis Reamaker apparently the Belgian Champ at that time. But I cannot find any information about this gentleman.
I am in the process of looking through war records to see if they can shed some light.
Anything at all would be a bonus
Many thanks for your time
My grandad was a boxer in the 50's and 60's under the name Teddy Gardner from Croydon. His brother was also a boxer known as Pat Stribling. Pat was a Heavyweight between 1947 and 1951. I am trying to find any photos of him for my grandad as he doesnt have any of his brother boxing. If you have a photo or know where I can get one please let me know. Any help would be more than welcome.
boxer: Pat Stribling
Global ID 24208
sex male
birth date 1926-01-26
death date 1992-03-28
division heavyweight
nationality United Kingdom
alias William Gardner
residence Croydon, London, United Kingdom
won 24 (KO 8) + lost 17 (KO 9) + drawn 3 = 44
rounds boxed 266 : KO% 18.18
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Written by Rob Snell
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Tuesday, 16 September 2008 |
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CAN YOU HELP I am trying to obtain any information on Ted ( Henry ) Saunders who was a sparring partner for Tommy Farr. I understand Reg Gutteridge has mentioned him in one of his books and in many newspaper articles.  Any help you can provide is much appreciated Rob Snell
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The Welterweights It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the welterweight division began to be recognized. The original limit was around 10 stone (1401b) and was raised to 1421b, before settling at today's 1471b limit in 1910. Paddy Duffy, an Irish-American bare-knuckle champion, won recognition as the division's first title holder under Queensberry Rules when he knocked out England's William McMillan, at Fort Foote in Vancouver, Canada, on 30 October 1888. Unfortunately Duffy died of tuberculosis in 1890, leaving two main claimants to his crown, Mysterious Billy Smith and Tommy Ryan, both outstanding boxers. Ryan beat Smith in 1894 to become the undisputed champion, but around 1895 he found he could no longer make 1421b, although he continued to claim the title until giving it up in 1898. Smith, who had fought a No Contest with Ryan three years earlier, gained universal recognition in 1898 when he outpointed Joe Walcott over 20 rounds. The title changed hands on a regular basis after Smith had lost it, until Walcott finally managed to stamp his authority on the division and reign for nearly five years. He did lose to Dixie Kid in 1904, but Kid left for England without taking up the title, and Walcott continued to be regarded as champion until 1906. Walcott lost his title to Billy 'Honey' Mellody and after him there were a number of claimants, including some who were recognized in only Europe or Australia. Harry Lewis, who had beaten Mellody, was accepted as champion in 1910 and defended in Paris and London, where he raised the limit to the English norm of 1471b. However, it was not until 1916 that the division finally settled down with its next outstanding champion, Jack Britton. JACK THE LAD...AND THE KID Britton claimed the title in 1915, lost it later that year to Ted Kid' Lewis, and was then universally recognized after a 20-round points win over Lewis in 1916. Britton, whose real name was William J. Breslin, and Lewis, who was christened Gershon Mendeloff, were all-time greats who between them held the title for over six years. Lewis fought for over 20 years and won a record nine titles from feather to middleweight at world, European, British and British Empire level. He also challenged for the world light-heavyweight title. Britton eventually lost the title in 1922 to Mickey Walker, another excellent champion who reigned for over three years before losing it in turn to Pete Latzo. Like many other great welterweights, Walker went on to achieve even greater fame as a middleweight. The welterweight title changed hands frequently in the late 1920’s and early 1930s, until the first round knockout of Young Corbett by Jimmy McLarnin in May 1933. McLarnin an Irishman who grew up in Vancouver, los his crown to Barney Ross in a three-match series that heralded a golden period for the division which was to last for the next 40 years. BERYL THE BREADWINNER Ross was born Beryl Rosofsky on 23 December 1909 in New York and brought up in an Orthodox Jewish family that was firmly opposed to fighting. They wanted him to be a Hebrew teacher, but Ross discovered his talent for boxing in the usual boyhood street brawls in Chicago and became a Golden Gloves champion. The death of his father, who had run a grocer's shop and was shot by gunmen in a hold-up, left Ross as the family breadwinner, and he convinced his mother he could earn more as a professional boxer. In 1933 he won the light and light-welterweight titles from Tony Canzoneri, but was forced to give up the lightweight title, because of weight problems, just before he took the welterweight title. This denied him the chance of holding three world titles simultaneously. Ross was not a great puncher, with only 22 of his 72 wins coming inside the distance, but he built a superb record on fast, all-action punching which gave opponents no rest. He relinquished his light-welterweight title, remaining welterweight champion until being beaten by Henry Armstrong in 1938. He was decorated for bravery while serving in the Marines in the Second World War, but became addicted to the morphine he took to ease the pain of his wounds. He later overcame this, wrote his autobiography – which was made into a film – and campaigned against drugs until his death in 1967. `HOMICIDE HANK' Henry Armstrong was a phenomenon: a fighter with such a slow pulse rate that he was able to box at a ferocious pace for 15 rounds. Born Henry Jackson in Columbus, Mississippi on 12 December 1912, he achieved what Ross was unable to do, and became the only man to hold three world championships simultaneously, winning the featherweight crown in 1937 and adding the welter and lightweight belts a year later. Armstrong defended his welterweight title 20 times before it was taken from him in 1940 by Fritzie Zivic. After retiring in 1945, Armstrong overcame alcoholism and became a Baptist minister. founding the Henry Armstrong Youth Foundation. In his latter years, however, he suffered from numerous ailments. He died in 1988. Fritzie Zivic, who took Armstrong's title, was the youngest of five boxing brothers from Pittsburgh and was, by general consent, one of the dirtiest boxers ever. He just beat Armstrong in their first match, but stopped him in a Madison Square Garden return. However, he lost the title on his next defence, to Freddie 'Red' Cochrane. Zivic fought until 1949, having 233 bouts of which his 64 defeats is the most by a world champion. Zivic won 159 contests. The title was held in abeyance during the war while Cochrane served in the US Navy, and then he lost it on his first defence to Marty Servo, who was forced to give up his career through injury. Sugar Ray Robinson then held the title from December 1946 to February 1951, but relinquished it on winning the middleweight crown. Robinson is undoubtedly one of the best-ever welterweights, but he achieved even more fame among the middleweights. BEGINNING OF THE BOLO Kid Gavilan was the next champion to be recognized by all the authorities. Born Gerardo Gonzalez, in Camaguey, Cuba, on 6 January 1926, Gavilan worked on a sugar plantation. When he became a pro boxer he perfected the `bolo' punch, a looping uppercut delivered with the same action he employed with a machete to cut down the canes on the plantation. Gavilan lost twice to Robinson, but having won the title he proved a good champion, though a split decision in his favour against Billy Graham was thought to be Mob influenced. There were also rumours that when Gavilan finally lost the crown by a unanimous decision in 1954 to Johnny Saxton he would have needed a knockout to win. The fight was staged in Philadelphia, home of Saxton’s manager, the Mobster Blinky Palermo. Gavilan was never given another title shot, but he carried on for another four years. Half of his 30 losses came during this period, but in his whole 143 fight career he was never beaten inside the distance. Saxton lost his first defence to Tony De Marco, who in turn lost first time to Carmen Basilio. Basilio was born 2 April 1927 in Canasota, New York repeated the win, then lost to Johnny Saxton. Although a unanimous decision the majority of reporters thought Basilio had won it. Basilio stopped Saxton in the return, then beat him again in a rubber match. Basilio also outpointed Sugar Ray Robinson for the middleweight title and relinquished the welterweight title as Robinson had done. Unlike Robinson however Basilio did not have a long career as middleweight champion. He lost a decision to Robinson in the return, and failed to regain the title in three further attempts. Virgil Akins, Don Jordan and Benny Kid Paret were all good champions before the outstanding Emile Griffith took over with a 13th round knockout of Paret. Griffith was to reign for five years with two slight interruptions. He was outpointed by Paret in 1961 but regained the crown six months later in tragic circumstances. Paret taunted Griffith about his manhood at the weigh-in. then nearly won the fight in the sixth round, when Griffith was saved by the bell. However, Griffith had Paret in trouble on the ropes in the 12th and, as he lay between the top two ropes. Griffith pummelled him with uppercuts and hooks. Paret collapsed and was taken to hospital with brain damage. He died 10 days later. Griffith put the tragedy behind him and continued with his career. He dropped a decision to Luis Rodriguez in 1963. but won the title back less than three months later. In April 1966 Griffith emulated Robinson and Basilio in winning the middleweight title by beating Dick Tiger and relinquishing the welterweight crown. He had a good career as a middleweight before losing his title to Nino Benvenuti. In a long career between 1958 and 1977, Griffith had 112 bouts. winning 85, drawing two and losing 24. with one No Contest. Curtis Cokes had a run of nearly three years when he won the vacant welterweight crown, defending five times before the next great, Jose Napoles, stopped him in 1969. A superb stylist. Napoles was known as Mantequilla', the Spanish for butter, because he was such a smooth mover and reigned for nearly seven years. Born in Oriente. Cuba. on 13 April 1940, Napoles was a brilliant amateur who turned pro in 1958 and is the fifth boxer in Video Action. In 1962, with 17 wins and one loss under his belt. Napoles left Cuba when Fidel Castro banned professional boxing, and based himself in Mexico City. The defeat of Cokes was the first of 18 world title fights, including one challenge for the middleweight crown, when he was knocked out by Carlos Monzon. SPLIT DIVISION There had been the first signs of a split in the welterweight division in 1972, when the New York authorities stripped Napoles for not giving Billy Backus a rubber match. New York recognized Hedgemon Lewis until Napoles beat him to unify the crown again, but in 1975 Napoles decided to relinquish the WBA title voluntarily. The WBC produced good champions in Carlos Palimino, Wilfred Benitez and Sugar Ray Leonard and the WBA belt was also held by a number of fine boxers, such as Angel Espada, Pipino Cuevas and Thomas Hearns. In 1981 the champions of the two authorities met to unify the division again, and Leonard proved to be just the stronger in the later stages and stopped Hearns. Leonard was one of the most charismatic of modern boxers and won versions of world titles at four other weights, as did Hearns. He lost and regained the welterweight title in two memorable battles with Roberto Duran before beating Hearns. Leonard's greatest victory after this was to beat Marvin Hagler for the WBC middleweight title in 1987. CURRY FOLLOWS SUGAR Leonard's retirement as undisputed and undefeated welterweight champion in 1982 split the division again. The WBA had an excellent champion in Don Curry, who for two or three years was regarded as the best pound-for pound boxer in the world. Meanwhile the WBC had a good champion in Milton McCrory. Curry knocked out McCrory in the second round in 1985 to unify the division and he looked set for a long reign. However, in only his second defence, his image was comprehensively shattered by Britain’s Honeygham, who stopped him in the sixth round in 1986. Honeygham, a 6-1 underdog, backed himself to win $25,000 and became one of a handful of British boxers who took world titles from Americans on their own soil. Name: Paddy Duffy
Career Record: click
Nationality: US American
Birthplace: Boston, MA, USA
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Born: 1864-11-12
Died: 1890-07-19
Age at Death: 25
Height: 5′ 7″ Paddy Duffy Considered the first welterweight champion, Paddy Duffy, like John L. Sullivan, was an Irish-American from Boston. His first fight, at age nineteen, was a knock-out victory over Skin Doherty in 1884. Duffy won his first four bouts before fighting three draws with Paddy Sullivan. After one loss in a bout with Jack C. McGee, Duffy never lost again. He fought in Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia in 1886 and 1887 before returning to Boston, where he entered a four-fight series with Jack McGinty. Their first two fights ended in draws. Duffy won a six-round decision in the third fight and solidified his reputation by knocking out McGinty in the ninth round of the fourth fight. At this point, Duffy sported a record of 21-1-11, which earned him the right to face William McMillan, the English welterweight champ. Fighting at Fort Foote in Vancouver, Canada, Duffy knocked McMillan out in seventeen rounds to claim the world title. In Duffy’s next fight, he faced Tom Meadows, the Australian champion, in San Francisco. At the time, the welterweight division had an upper weight limit of 142 pounds. Duffy tipped the scales for this bout at 140 while Meadows came in at 143. The two battled for 45 rounds before Duffy won on a foul. Duffy never fought again and died in 1890 at the age of 25. Name: Ruben Olivares
Career Record: click
Alias: El Púas
Nationality: Mexican
Birthplace: Mexico City, DF, Mexico
Hometown: Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Born: 1947-01-14
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5′ 5½″
Trainer: Cuyo Hernandez Ruben Olivares Ruben Olivares was born on 14 January1947in an area of Mexico City called Colonia Bondojo, a tough district where street fighting was commonplace. His father, Salomon Olivares, and mother, Esperanza Avila, had 12 children, but only six survived – Felipe, Emma, Margarita, Raul, Ruben and David. While Ruben was still a toddler, his father left to work on a construction site in Oregon. When he eventually returned to Mexico City, having mastered the building business, he invested his earnings in some land on which he built houses. 'He's not rich, but I wouldn't call him poor', Olivares said of him in later life. Father and son would eventually form a partnership building apartments. It did not take the young Olivares long to find that his talents were fistic rather than academic and, consequently, he took 10 years to finish elementary school due to losing so much time through suspensions for fighting. The headmaster told him: 'Better go home and come back at the end of the courses – we'll give you the diploma anyway. Just keep yourself far away from here.' DUMB DECISION Olivares took up boxing at 15. with his fathers approval while still at junior high school. Football had previously been his first love – he captained a local side called Santander – but his interest in boxing was sparked by his friendship with two local fighters who were regular performers at the famous Arena Coliseo, in Mexico City. `We didn't have a TV set at home,' said Olivares. 'So I remember paying a lady 25 centavos to allow me to watch one of my friends, Dumbo Perez, fight Chucho Hernandez. Dumbo was winning until Hernandez knocked him out with a left hook in the last round, and that decided me on becoming a pro fighter.' The following day, Olivares went to the Jordan Gym in downtown Mexico City, where the trainer was Manuel `Chilero' Carillo, an old man with vast experience of the game. 'He was a shy, bashful boy', recalled Carillo, who told Olivares that if he took the business seriously he could become Golden Gloves champion. Six months later, he would fulfill that prophecy. After early losses to Fernando Blanco, in the final of the Olympic trials, and Octavio Tamoso' Gomez, Olivares pestered his newly-recruited manager Arturo Hernandez to let him turn pro. Hernandez was suitably cautious. 'Go pro now and they'll make chopped meat of you,' he warned the youngster. 'It's tough, and you're not ready yet. Maybe in a year. Olivares was therefore forced to spend a further 10 months in the amateurs, during which time he fulfilled Carillo's prediction, winning the Golden Gloves title after sustaining a broken jaw in the semi-final, against Rafael Resindez. It was the only knockdown Olivares suffered in his amateur career. 'I was beating him easy until he caught me with a right to the chin,' Olivares remembered. 'It was the second round, and I knew immediately the jaw was broken. I didn't tell my corner until after the fight, and Hernandez took me to a dentist before the final to have a special gumshield made. The dentist warned me: "Whatever you do, don't open your mouth once the fight starts." I won the title on a second-round knockout.' That painfully-won success meant that it was time to turn pro, which Olivares did with a first-round knockout of Isidro Sotelo, at Gomez Palacio, in January 1965. The shrewd Hernandez, recognizing the special relationship between fighter and trainer, hired Carillo to look after the youngster and the team stayed together throughout the glory years, even though Olivares's relationship with Hernandez was often strained. The flyweight with the heavyweight punch was an instant sensation, ripping through 23 knockouts before being taken the distance for the first time, by Felipe Gonzalez, a hard man of whom Olivares said: 'I must have hit him a thousand times, but he wouldn't go down. He restored his reputation in his next fight, a fourth-round knockout of local rival Julio Guerrero, who had also been making a name for himself as a knockout artist. Unusually for the left-hooking Olivares, the winning blow this time was a right to the body which left Guerrero gasping for breath on the canvas. By now, weight was becoming a problem for the growing 20-year-old, and a move up to bantamweight was inevitable. GOOD NAMES In July 1967, German Bastidas fought back from two knockdowns to earn a 10-round draw to spoil Olivares's one hundred per cent record. However, six months later, Bastidas was knocked out in a rematch as the fierce-hitting Mexican continued his drive towards a title shot. His list of victims included an amateur conqueror, Octavio Gomez, the ex-flyweight king Salvatore Burruni of Italy, and Jose Medel, one of a generation of great Mexican bantams. It wasn't all plain sailing, however, as Olivares had to come off the floor to win against both Ernie De La Cruz and Takao Sakurai, the 1964 Olympic champion. `OLIVARES WAS THE BEST FIGHTER I EVER FOUGHT. HE WAS A COMPLETE FIGHTER, VERY SMART FEATHER AND SUPER-FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION ALEXIS ARGUELLO Olivares was already a comparatively wealthy young man who boasted of owning two houses, four vacant lots, two trucks, two cars and a furniture workshop'. But he knew the real money would come with the world title, then in the keeping of Australia's Lionel Rose, a pipe-smoking Aborigine who had taken the crown from the great Fighting Harada of Japan. Rose had been a fine champion who was always willing to travel to risk his title, retaining it in Japan and Los Angeles, and beating off the challenge of Britain's Alan Rudkin in Melbourne. He put his title on the line against Olivares, at the Inglewood Forum. Los Angeles, in August 1969, but the Mexican proved too strong and won easily in five rounds, as featured in Video Action. GRATEFUL CHAMPION Immediately after the contest. Olivares belied his aggressive ring image with the class and sensitive way in which he treated the beaten champion. Hugging the loser in the dressing room afterwards. he told him: 'You gave me the chance, and I will never forget that. If you want another fight you can have it: it would be a pleasure to go into the ring again with a gentleman like you. My home in Mexico City is yours. Come whenever you want – you will always be my special guest.' Olivares later told the press: 'I want to say that Lionel was a great champion. He had guts and he didn't quit, even when he was hurt. He shook me a couple of times but I knew I could take his punch and keep coming. I just overpowered him. He's the best boxer I ever met. Lucky for me he doesn't punch very hard, otherwise I would have been in trouble. The new bantamweight champion's first challenger was Alan Rudkin, a Liverpudlian who had fought well in losing 15-rounders for the title against Fighting Harada and Rose, each time on the champion's home ground. The match was made by Los Angeles promoter George Parnassus, who signed contracts with the English camp when Rudkin was boxing a routine non-title fight in Shoreditch Town Hall, London's most famous small-hall boxing venue. The British challenger would earn around £8,000, pushed to £12,000 with ancillary rights, which was good money for a bantamweight contender at the time. The fight took place at the Forum, in December 1969,and Rudkin was butchered in five minutes 30 seconds in front of a crowd of 15,000, paying $175,000. There were also television links to Britain, Mexico and Australia – where both men were respected for their battles with Rose. A left hook dropped the challenger after two minutes, and, although he counter-attacked gamely, the fight was effectively over from that point. He missed with a wild left early in the second and Olivares used his own left to bring the second knockdown. The Englishman got up quickly to take the mandatory eight. and was then led to his corner to have his gumshield rinsed before being waved back into action. When a precise right and two hooks put him down for a third time, referee John Thomas had seen enough. LONG STAY Olivares had certainly looked the part against Rudkin and most observers agreed that the little Mexican had the ability to be champion for a long time. 'He's the greatest, there's nobody to compare with him', Rudkin acknowledged after their fight. 'I tried boxing him, but that was no good. He feints and picks punches. Every time he hits, he numbs. I didn't even feel the punches that put me on the floor, and those are the ones that really hurt.' With Rudkin out of the way, Olivares was now set for an even stiffer test, against Jesus Castillo, in April 1970 The showdown between Olivares and his Mexican rival Jesus `Chucho' Castillo was a huge attraction. Castillo's points defeat by Lionel Rose in his previous title bid, in December 1968, had set off a chair-throwing riot which wrecked the Inglewood Forum, but promoter George Parnassus decided to risk staging the fight there again. The gamble paid off, with 18,762 fans paying a Californian record of $281,840 which, with closed circuit TV revenue, boosted the overall take to $458,240. After a quiet start, the fight burst into life in the third round when Castillo clipped the champion with a perfect right-hand counter which caught him coming in and dropped him to his knees momentarily. Olivares was up before referee George Latka could start a count, but the damage had been done. Castillo stayed on top for the next few rounds until Olivares forced his way back in the seventh and then pinned the challenger against the ropes for most of the eighth round. Castillo rallied again, but the edge was with Olivares and he controlled the final third of an action-packed fight to run out a clear points winner with scores of 10-5, 9-4-2 and 7-6-2. 'Sure, I'll give him another chance', Olivares said. 'I'll give anybody a chance. I'm a fighting champion.' THRILLING SERIES He kept his word and the pair met again at the Forum in October. It was another blockbuster for promoter Parnassus, with 16,007 paying a gross $215,902. The fight was not quite as thrilling as the first, with the champion massively handicapped by a horrible cut over the left eye which appeared in the first round. He claimed he'd been butted, but Castillo denied the allegation and said an overhand right had done the damage. Either way, the wound was too bad to allow Olivares to complete the full 15 rounds. Referee Dick Young gave him every chance to salvage the fight before, acting on the advice of the ringside doctor, he called a halt after two minutes 27 seconds of the 14th. Olivares's title was gone, and with it his proud unbeaten record. It was his first loss in 61 fights, of which he had won 56 inside the distance. Naturally, there had to be a third and deciding fight, and this took place at the Forum in April 1971. It was not quite edge-of-the-seat entertainment, but the crowd of 18,141 still got full value for their money as Olivares dominated for long periods. He was nailed by a long left hook in the sixth which dumped him on the seat of his pants, but, once referee John Thomas had completed the mandatory eight count, Olivares made sure that Castillo couldn't get close enough to follow up. Olivares opened a cut on the champion's right eye and his footwork made Castillo miss repeatedly. There was no dispute about the outcome, Olivares winning by wide margins of 9-4-2, 12-3 and 10-3-2. The fight drew a gate of $254,155, meaning that the three-fight series had grossed over a million dollars, a remarkable tribute to the popularity of the two Mexicans. Olivares's next defence saw him go over old ground when he stopped Kazuyoshi Kanazawa, in 14 rounds, at the Forum, in October 1971. Olivares had stopped the Japanese fighter in two rounds in 1969, but Kanazawa had improved enormously in the interim and this time gave the champion all he could handle. Twice, in the eighth and again in the 13th, he had the Mexican tottering on the edge of a knockdown, but somehow Olivares kept going and, in the 14th, summoned one last effort which finally broke the challenger. Kanazawa was down three times for an automatic stoppage after two minutes of the round, and both winner and loser finished exhausted. Olivares sustained damage around the left eye, which later required corrective surgery. WEIGHT PROBLEMS A long rest might have been sensible after such a gruelling contest, but instead Olivares was back in the ring in December, defending against Mexican rival Jesus Pimentel, a tough contender who was unbeaten in his previous 15 fights. A fierce attack in the sixth sent the challenger through the ropes and onto the ring apron and Pimentel took steady punishment thereafter. At the end of the 11th round Pimentel's manager, Harry Kabakoff, waved his fighter to the corner and said to Olivares: 'Ruben, you're the winner.' Pimentel, a 31-year-old veteran of 85 pro fights (78 wins), immediately announced his retirement. `Five years ago he'd have beaten Olivares, but now it's too late', said Kabakoff. The fight is featured in Video Action. It was an open secret that the champion was struggling to make the bantamweight limit by this time, and the chances were that even if he had been successful in his defence against compatriot Rafael Herrera, in Mexico City, in March 1972, he would have relinquished the crown and moved up to featherweight. As it turned out, Herrera saved Olivares the decision, snatching the title on an eighth-round knockout which stunned the boxing world. Herrera won easily, outboxing the sluggish champion in the first six rounds and cutting him on the right cheek before despatching him with a clinical right to the jaw after 85 seconds of the eighth round. It was a measure of his superiority that not one of the three officials gave Olivares a single round: the cards showed 70-65, 70-66 and 70-67 at the finish. Curiously, Herrera was in tears in the dressing room afterwards while Olivares laughed and joked with the press, presumably relieved that he would never again have to endure the rigours of boiling down to 1181b. CHACON SHOCK Olivares took a five-month break from the ring before returning to outscore world-class Chilean featherweight Godfrey Stevens. He then lost a 10-round rematch to Herrera, who had himself moved up a division after being dethroned by Enrique Pinder. It appeared that Olivares was having trouble settling in the new division, and the power which had carried him to so many bantamweight victories was not so evident against the heavier men. He began 1973 with an easy win over Walter Seeley, of New York, and then found himself cast as the 'test piece' for Bobby Chacon, the explosive Californian who had replaced him as the darling of the crowds at the Inglewood Forum. Chacon had won all 19 of his fights, 17 by knockout, but the step up came too quickly for him and Olivares gave him a boxing lesson, stopping him in nine rounds to win the vacant North American Boxing Federation title. The victory put Olivares in line for a featherweight world title shot, but he neglected his training and was surprisingly stopped in five rounds by Art Hafey, a rugged Canadian, in his next outing. With his career on the line, Olivares got himself into shape for the rematch and won a hard-fought split decision which gave him a shot at the vacant WBA version of the world title, against Zensuke Utagawa, of Japan, at the Forum, in July 1974. It proved an easy night's work for the Mexican, who floored Utagawa three times for a seventh-round knockout.after a couple of non-title wins, Olivares risked his belt against the power-punching Alexis Arguello. Relations with manager Arturo Hernandez were sour, which may have been why Hernandez told reporters before the fight that Olivares seemed to lack the desire he once had. The match, like all Olivares's appearances, was a big draw and a crowd of 14,313 at the Forum paid $186,000 to see him build a wide points lead...until Arguello found the punch to knock him out after 30 seconds of the 13th round. `He hurt me in the eighth, ninth and 10th rounds,' the new champion acknowledged. 'I thought I was going down. I knew I was behind on points and had to knock him out to win. LAST GREAT SHOW The irrepressible Olivares bounced back immediately, taking the WBC crown from Bobby Chacon, at the Forum in June 1975. The champion had a run of seven straight knockouts behind him and his confidence was high, but he was wiped out in two rounds as Olivares gave the last truly devastating performance of his career. Three months later, he was an ex-champ again after David Kotey, a lanky puncher from Ghana, outpointed him over 15 rounds. In his next outing he was knocked out in seven rounds by future WBC champ Danny Lopez, and that was effectively the end of him as a serious performer. He fought on for a few more years and his victims included future WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Ramirez, but the defeats accumulated. He had one last shot at glory when Eusebio Pedroza gave him a crack at the WBA title, in Houston, in July 1979, but he was stopped in 12 rounds. RUBEN'S PRODIGY After losing to Margarito Marquez in 1981, Olivares announced his retirement, but he returned to the ring in 1986 and again in 1988 for a pair of four-rounders which were little more than exhibitions. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991, and continues to take an interest in the game. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Written by Rob Snell
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Friday, 22 August 2008 |
Here is the full reference card for this book..
http://www.trafford.com/07-2554
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The Irish Champion Peter Maher: The untold story of Ireland's only World Heavyweight Champion and the records of the men he fought.
by Matt Donnellon
361 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #07-2554; ISBN 1-4251-5689-4; US$29.28, C$29.28, EUR20.00, £15.12
The Irish Champion Peter Maher: The untold story of Ireland's only World Heavyweight Champion and the records of the men he fought.
About the Book
Peter Maher, a Galway born, and Dublin reared fighter, laid a strong claim on sport’s greatest prize, The Heavyweight Championship of the world, in the 1890’s. For over ten years he was a top contender and his popularity was such that he was arguably the most famous sportsman in America at the turn of the Twentieth century. This popularity stemmed from his prodigious punching power, good looks and affable, good-natured and easy-going manner.
He mixed with everybody from Presidents like Teddy Roosevelt and William McKinley to Wild West icons Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and Judge Roy Bean and a multitude in between. Yet today he is virtually unknown except to the anoraks of the boxing world. This book attempts to address this situation. It traces his career from the amateur days in Dublin, deals with all his big fights in the United States and the famous contest for the World Title against Bob Fitzsimmons in Mexico. It charts his downward spiral until his death in 1940 in Baltimore. The book also contains a records section where the career records of some forty of his opponents are published, some for the first time and most at least revised with corrections and additions. The book also contains many photographs from the period and attempts by the use of contemporaneous newspaper reports to accurately portray the man and his times.
About the Author
Matt Donnellon was born in 1957, lives in Ireland and is employed a storemanager in the motor trade. He is married to Mary Steede, from Kilbannon, the birthplace of Peter Maher, and they have six children. The three girls are Grainne, Niamh and Tara while the boys, Shane, Niall and Brian all were boxers and all three were Connaught (West Ireland) champions.
Matt is an Irish Amature Boxing Association (IABA) judge and also coach with his local Kilmaine Boxing Club, County Mayo. He is also a long time member of the International Boxing Research Organization, IBRO.
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