Boxing's Fat Guys

[HomicideHenry]

"Two Ton" Tony Galento the New Jersey Nightstick was 5'9" and 233 pounds when he fought "The Brown Bomber" Joe Louis for the heavyweight title.

If one looks up different pictures of Galento, they'll see he wasn't as fat as he's usually made out to be. He was more bulky than anything else.

Something like Wilson Fisk "The Kingpin" from the MARVEL comics, he was deceptive in appearance. A real strong, rugged heavyweight despite his limitations skill-wise.

[HomicideHenry]

Interesting story about Tony Galento too, slapping around Jackie Gleason. Galento would fight anyone at anytime.



Also, I never knew Galento was supposed to fight John Henry Lewis at one point. That'd of been an interesting encounter for sure. For a man who was an amateur champion middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight plus a world title challenger it's amazing how a man with little skill got that far. Pure toughness.

[HomicideHenry]

Joe "The Boss" Hipp was a favorite in my household as a kid. The only Native American who got a world heavyweight title shot. Very entertaining guy. Seen him on TUESDAY NIGHT FIGHTS often.

[JohnMcMinn]

Since he's from my home state, I have to mention Claude Humphrey McBride:

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Humphrey_McBride

[HomicideHenry]

Since he's from my home state, I have to mention Claude Humphrey McBride:

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Humphrey_McBride

I wish that there was footage of the guy unfortunately I've never came across any. That'd of been interesting to have seen this guy in action.



It has to be noted McBride & Mathis, another "fat guy" in boxing history, duked it out for the Super Heavyweight title in 1972. McBride was 260 and Mathis was 280 for that fight.

[JohnMcMinn]

I wish that there was footage of the guy unfortunately I've never came across any. That'd of been interesting to have seen this guy in action.

I'll have to ask my dad if he knew him at all. McBride was a little before my dad's time but maybe he knows something about him. I'd love to see some footage of him too.

[Flump]

"Two Ton" Tony Galento the New Jersey Nightstick was 5'9" and 233 pounds when he fought "The Brown Bomber" Joe Louis for the heavyweight title.

If one looks up different pictures of Galento, they'll see he wasn't as fat as he's usually made out to be. He was more bulky than anything else.

Something like Wilson Fisk "The Kingpin" from the MARVEL comics, he was deceptive in appearance. A real strong, rugged heavyweight despite his limitations skill-wise.

Rugged guy for sure. Speaking of rug, that's a serious piece of roadkill on his head in that show.

[HomicideHenry]

Rugged guy for sure. Speaking of rug, that's a serious piece of roadkill on his head in that show.

That was pretty bad Marciano had a pretty bad wig too for the SUPER FIGHT with Ali in 1969. Italians and bad wigs seem to go hand in hand for some reason.

[gilgamesh]

I don't really what he looked like, but I always hear of Willie Meehan who has a decision victory over Dempsey was described as "Pudgy". So I'd guess he was at least a little fat.

Fat Heavies has been a bit regular in the last 20 years or so.

Obviously Butterbean, but then there's guys like Riddick Bowe who might show up in tip top shape for one bout, and then be 30 pounds overweight for his next, James Toney as a Heavyweight was pretty damn thick. Kownacki and Jarrell Miller are both fat guys now, and of course our new World Champ Andy Ruiz.

Normally fat guys are gonna be Heavyweights because you can't really be fat, and make weight anywhere else

The only time I saw a guy noticeably fat at one of the lower weight classes was Dingaan Thobela against Eric Lucas for a Super Middleweight title a long time ago. He looked like sh*t. You'll see guys that don't exactly look in peak shape, but they rarely look "fat" at anything other than Heavyweight.

[HomicideHenry]

Meehan with Dempsey. He went 2-1-2 against the Manassa Mauler. He originally was a FLYWEIGHT but ended up a pudgy heavyweight. He notoriously hated training, but, he was remarkably fast and tough for a guy who started out so small. I'm reminded of Don Cockell who was basically a big welterweight starting out ending up fighting for the heavyweight title. 1909-1926 was the length of Meehan's career.

[Bodyshot3]

Hatton always and somehow got himself in shape for the ring.....but the in-between times suggested that the Guinness and monster curry and kebab nights were not made-up and Ricky often wobbled more than a bit.

[scorpio83]

Look how huge and fat was Gabe Brown, who weighed more than 300lbs against Lewis Gilbert and the rematch with Saul Montana.

[nobleart1978]

Leroy Jones

[Onetimeonly]

Joe hipp

[JohnMcMinn]

I wish that there was footage of the guy unfortunately I've never came across any. That'd of been interesting to have seen this guy in action.

It has to be noted McBride & Mathis, another "fat guy" in boxing history, duked it out for the Super Heavyweight title in 1972. McBride was 260 and Mathis was 280 for that fight.

I asked my dad about McBride, turns out he saw him fight several times. Here's what he had to say about him: He was a tough guy who could "take a lickin' and keep on tickin'." He fought some guys my dad knew were hard punchers and he could take a punch and come back for more. My dad saw him get knocked out a few times, but he would step into the ring with anyone they'd put in front of him. He really didn't have much boxing ability, just toughness, but he came to fight and was always entertaining. He was more of a novelty act/carnival sideshow than anything who was really meant to draw crowds to the fights. It worked and the fans always came back for more. My dad said he'd have to look at his record to see if he remembers anything about specific fights (he doesn't use a computer or smartphone so he can't look), but I'm meeting up with him next week and I'll show him. If he has any additional information I'll report back.

[HomicideHenry]

I asked my dad about McBride, turns out he saw him fight several times. Here's what he had to say about him: He was a tough guy who could "take a lickin' and keep on tickin'." He fought some guys my dad knew were hard punchers and he could take a punch and come back for more. My dad saw him get knocked out a few times, but he would step into the ring with anyone they'd put in front of him. He really didn't have much boxing ability, just toughness, but he came to fight and was always entertaining. He was more of a novelty act/carnival sideshow than anything who was really meant to draw crowds to the fights. It worked and the fans always came back for more. My dad said he'd have to look at his record to see if he remembers anything about specific fights (he doesn't use a computer or smartphone so he can't look), but I'm meeting up with him next week and I'll show him. If he has any additional information I'll report back.

That's great thank you!

[Caractacus]

Jim J. Jeffries weighed around 300 lbs before he went into training to fight Jack Johnson.
prior to that he was a big fat guy who had to drop a lot of weight and that made him weak.should have just harkend the call and taken the fight at 275 lbs.I think he would have done a lot better

[Caractacus]

William Fisk aka "The Kingpin" I remember him ! back when I still use to read comics in the late 1960's and 1970's.
Those people at Marvel Comics were movie fans no doubt inspired by characters in movies.
I wonder if the Kingpin had been inspired by anyone ?
( years later I wondered if "The Rhino" ( who was my favourite Spiderman villan back then) may have inspired by Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown ?)

[Caractacus]

Or maybe William Fisk had been an original Brooklyn "Fordham Baldie " ?

[HomicideHenry]

Jim J. Jeffries weighed around 300 lbs before he went into training to fight Jack Johnson.
prior to that he was a big fat guy who had to drop a lot of weight and that made him weak.should have just harkend the call and taken the fight at 275 lbs.I think he would have done a lot better

I think even in his prime Jeffries wildly fluctuated in weight. Against Jack Munroe I think he was something like 280 pounds--- then again he only prepared for the big tests, not knock overs.

[HomicideHenry]

And Fisk was based on Maltese Falcon actor Sidney Greenstreet.

[JohnMcMinn]

That's great thank you!

I still plan on having my dad take a look at his record later this week, but I will add this about McBride:

His three-time opponent Pete Knight was a light-heavyweight who weighed in at 168 for one of their fights; Don Masterson was primarily a middleweight or a similarly undersized light heavyweight; McBride himself weighed upwards of 300 pounds. His KO ratio was definitely inflated by whupping up on much smaller guys.

[Caractacus]

Sydney Greenstreet with this man's voice and manner.



But Sydney Greenstreet !)played a realyl Badasss villian ( at age 70 !)in FLAMINGO ROAD(1949)

[HomicideHenry]

I still plan on having my dad take a look at his record later this week, but I will add this about McBride:

His three-time opponent Pete Knight was a light-heavyweight who weighed in at 168 for one of their fights; Don Masterson was primarily a middleweight or a similarly undersized light heavyweight; McBride himself weighed upwards of 300 pounds. His KO ratio was definitely inflated by whupping up on much smaller guys.

Oklahoma truly was the Wild West of boxing at one point. Alotta "open-weight" bouts, and many fights off the record. The O'Grady family was Oklahoma boxing for many, many years. It's difficult to imagine today a single family running a monopoly over a whole sport in a state, but it was quite exciting times before the federal ID was made law.

[JohnMcMinn]

Oklahoma truly was the Wild West of boxing at one point. Alotta "open-weight" bouts, and many fights off the record. The O'Grady family was Oklahoma boxing for many, many years. It's difficult to imagine today a single family running a monopoly over a whole sport in a state, but it was quite exciting times before the federal ID was made law.

My dad had 11 fights in Oklahoma City for O'Grady in 1977-1978, but my grandfather and his partner also staged their own shows in Miami, Quapaw, and Bartlesville, OK. When I meet up with my dad, I'll ask him if he has any stories he wants to share about boxing for O'Grady.