- Well, maybe more than a few of those fights not so great, but none greater than Fitz/Corbett, arguably the best title fight of all time, the perfect prototype to Frazier/Ali in style and personality overlaps, except Fitz really did know how to put it all away in this first filmed blockbuster that went international.
Btw, that's the best cleaned up clip of the KO punch I can recall, thanks.
However, Destiny made a call 5 years before that fight, March 17, 1892 when Luther McCarty was born in Podunk, Nebraska to an Indian father and Irish mother. Young Lute or Luck as he became to be known, was a snake handler for his fathers medicine man show selling snake oil elixirs for various medicinal purposes that were doubtless cut with plenty of firewater and laudanum.
Turned pro at 18 and in his 2nd fight fought black contender Jeff Clark. Then a torrid eight month stretch where he fought future Johnson challenger and conqueror, Jess Willard, Johnson challenger Al Kaufman who had gone the 10 round distance against Johnson, yet blasted out of the ring by Luck in the second round. Then it was Fireman Flynn who was fresh off his title challenge to Johnson, knocking him out in between knocking out the White Heavy Champion, Al Palzer for his belt and then beating Flynn again. Then he whipped Frank Moran a year before he challenged Jack Johnson. and Luck hadn’t even turned 21 yet, 6-4, 80 " reach, 205 rock hard lbs and still growing.
All lined up with a written agreement to fight Jack Johnson who had not yet fled the US after his Mann Act conviction. He was 21 and all the rage in the eastern press who reigned big in boxing in those days with more money than he could count. Alas, the fates chose the unlikely Great White Hope Arthur Pelkey to do him in, Luck dropping dead in the middle of the first round of a absolutely nothing fight. Speculation is that he took a fall off his horse and hit his head or fractured a cervical vertebre while poking around in the Rockies during an off period from training. A truly great fighter for his time taken tragically and poor Arthur was financially devastated by having to defend himself on murder charges and became no more than an exchamp used as a punching bag for up and comers. Guess that makes Luck a 124 years old now, but he'll always be 21 for those of us who remember fighters like that.
