Tommy Loughran: Poetry in Motion By Mike Casey Some fighters, the truly great fighters, transcend the boundaries of time and technique. They render academic the arguments of those who would tell us that you can draw a definitive timeline between the great and the not-so-great fighters in boxing hist...

The story has always been that Fleischer rated Louis second to Johnson - but bumped Joe down to number six after peer pressure from his fellow old-timers. It is also pretty well known that when Nat had a foreign trip coming up - say to Argentina - an Argentinian fighter would suddenly be placed in T...

Good grief, why do you guys continue to pay homage to this Granberry character?

I know exactly who he is. Everyone 'in the know' knows who he is.

And if he should march off to another site under another gutless pseudonym, I will still know who he is.

Forget about him - get a life.

Mike Casey

The Seminal Master: Why Jack Johnson Would Be King Today By Mike Casey For some considerable time I have wanted to write a technical appraisal of the magnificent and timeless Jack Johnson. I have refrained from doing so because Jack, the great Lil’ Arthur as he was known, comes with so much historic...

And thank you, Martin, for permitting me to quote your excellent bio on Locche.

Best wishes,

Mike

Heavenly Art: The Wonder Of Nicolino Locche By Mike Casey Some time back, when the secretive lair was finally penetrated and the crown jewels sparkled in the sudden sunlight, I realised with a sense of wonder that every great thing ever said about Nicolino Locche was true. There he was, moving casua...

Gene Tunney: The King Of Cool By Mike Casey It might surprise some of our readers to know that this Jack Dempsey supporter has never harboured a degree of resentment against Gene Tunney. Not that one has to be a Dempsey acolyte to bristle at the sound of Gene’s name. Tunney was a man apart in more w...

Greatest At 175lbs? Jack Delaney, Said Benny Leonard By Mike Casey The great Benny Leonard, still considered by many to be the supreme lightweight of all time maintained that the finest light-heavyweight he ever saw was the Canadian-born master from Bridgeport, Connecticut, known as ‘Bright Eyes’: J...

Blood, Guts And Greatness: The Incredible Kid Lavigne By Mike Casey Somewhat reassuringly, perhaps the favourite indulgences of fight fans haven’t changed radically down through the centuries. From day one, our curious and enduring breed has adored the ritual of engaging in endless and inconclusive ...

Brooklyn’s Finest: Terrible Terry McGovern *This article by Mike Casey originally appeared on the Cyber Boxing Zone Here’s a mischievous old story about the featherweight championship fight between Terry McGovern and Aurelio Herrera in 1901, and I will give you the flip side of the coin when you rea...

The Old School Guys: Priceless Training Lessons Of Yore * This article by Mike Casey originally appeared on the Cyber Boxing Zone They don’t make ‘em like that anymore. How many times have we heard that age-old adage? Every boxing son of every boxing father has probably heaved a heavy sigh whenever ...

CARLOS MONZON: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST By Mike Casey * This article originally appeared on Boxing Scene The ‘It’ factor, it is often said, can never be truly defined. We simply know that some people have it and others don’t. Identifying and appreciating its components is another matter and can ...

THE RIGHT STUFF: JEFFRIES AND SHARKEY AT CONEY ISLAND By Mike Casey * This article originally appeared in Boxing Scene Some years ago Tom Wolfe wrote a wonderful book called The Right Stuff, in which he celebrated the special qualities of the pioneering aviators of the space age. Men such as Chuck Y...

HERKIMER HURRICANE: GOLDEN LIGHTWEIGHT GREAT LOU AMBERS By Mike Casey The nickname was always something of a misnomer. It implied that its owner was a relentless, devil-may-care slugger with scant regard for the finer points of boxing. But Lou Ambers, the bustling, fair-haired Herkimer Hurricane fro...

SLAYING GIANTS: CHILLING LESSONS FROM JOLTING JOE LOUIS By Mike Casey Like the little boy who keeps banging his head against the wall because it feels so good when he stops, I guess I will continue to preach about punching technique and its many intricacies until the day I die. I imagine too that I ...

FEARLESS: WHEN OWEN MORAN THRILLED AMERICA The face stares out of the picture taken long ago, like that of an old gunfighter. The eyes are the most striking feature, baleful and quietly menacing as Owen Moran seems to challenge the camera to penetrate the shield of his tough countenance and guess hi...

NEVER GIVE AN INCH: ROBBIE AND BASILIO AT YANKEE STADIUM By Mike Casey Winners are expected to be gracious and Carmen Basilio bit his tongue behind an impish smile. With a patch over his left eye and eight stitches sewn into his tough old brow, Basilio looked like a mischievous pirate as he spoke to...

God bless, KO - I hope you're well.

A good and refreshing post by Irish Rufus. Please, let us get over this size obsession we have now. It is only a factor among the unique breed that is the heavyweight fighter when the bigger man possesses an equal or near equal amount of natural talent and power. Few possessed Dempsey's natural tale...

SAM LANGFORD: PAPA JACK’S OMINOUS SHADOW By Mike Casey What was it really like to have Sam Langford coming at you? On March 17, 1910, at the Jeffries Arena in Vernon, California, Fireman Jim Flynn got the answer to that question in painful, brain-scrambling fashion. So hard and true was Langford’s k...

CARLOS ORTIZ: A.K.A. CHARLEY O'BRIEN By Mike Casey It was a landslide. There was no room for complaints, no opportunity to lambast the referee and judges for being blind, incompetent or downright crooked. The scorecards had been announced and they were enough to make even a worldly old pro wince wit...

THE ART OF THE BIG PUNCH: NO DOUBTING MAGNIFICENT MARCIANO By Mike Casey Rocky Marciano, warts and all, was one of the most thrilling and courageous fighters in boxing history. That much I would hope we can all agree on. When writing about Marciano these days, I always feel like a man tip-toeing thr...

A LAW UNTO HIMSELF: BANGING ‘EM GOOD WITH FRITZIE ZIVIC By Mike Casey You have to understand that Fritzie Zivic was always a polite and decent fellow in the ring who never forgot his manners. A dirty fighter? Not Fritzie. That was just the misguided impression of others. Within the tenuous framework...

Scientist, the big official sites like MLB, NFL, ESPN etc won't let you copy stuff - not even pics. They smother them in copyrights. You Tube is pretty anarchic - it seems that anyone with a home movie can post something there. But I've heard of some of the boxing clips being withdrawn from the site...

SWEET SCIENTIST: I talked to George in London in 2000 and he couldn't praise Quarry enough. George added that he wanted no part of Jerry in '73, but I was never quite sure if that was Foreman's famous modesty talking! BOX BUZZ: Jerry's fight with Shavers is at http://www.youtube.com, as are many oth...