Whatever happened to "Denver" Ed Martin ?

[Caractacus]

(born 1881)
He fought Jack Johnson and was a friend and sparring partner of his.
anyone here know when he died or the last recorded place he was at and what he eas doing at the time ?

[APerno]

No help on your question, sorry - here's Johnson offering Denver Ed a complement.

[Caractacus]

according to one source Denver Ed Martin moved to Seattle (Washington)
around 1913 and became a boxing instructor.
He seems to have relocated to Portland Oregon in 1921 were he trained fighters such as "Young"George Dixon.
and then maybe to Milwaukee ?

[Caractacus]

the former "Coloured Heavyweight Champion of the World"
It seems kind of strange that no one appears to have recorded what became of him after 1926 in the Pugent Sound area .
He was only 45 yrs old then.
Perhaps at some point when he retired from boxing and hadn't even been to Colorado years ,so he may have dropped the "Denver" part
from his name or became then possibly known as "Pugent" Ed Martin.
and/or just became known as plain ole "Ed Martin" and then seemingly just faded into "Bolivian" .
What do you think of that theory ?

[Caractacus]

I read somewhere that a short film was made at the Edison Studios located in Manhatten NYC in 1901,
" Ruhlin Boxing with Denver Ed Martin".
but its probably been lost to time.
( but you never know).

[Chuck1052]

During the middle 1930s, Denver Ed Martin was in poor health while residing in Oakland, California

- Chuck Johnston

[Caractacus]

wanna hear something funny ?
Something told me the other day that Denver Ed Martin may have passed away at age 53 which would have been in 1934-1935.
I wonder if he was trying to contact me from Beyond so that the Boxing world would finally recognize his passing ?

[APerno]

wanna hear something funny ?
Something told me the other day that Denver Ed Martin may have passed away at age 53 which would have been in 1934-1935.
I wonder if he was trying to contact me from Beyond so that the Boxing world would finally recognize his passing ?

No, absolutely not; remove this post immediately and never do this again. I thought you were suppose to be the well grounded conservative, now you sound like you want to fornicate Shirley MacClain.

But on a somewhat more serious side, I am trying to find something on him, but I am starting to believe this guy truly did fall off the end of the Earth; there's not even anyone posting a wrong date to work off of . . . someday one of us will stumble across it and we'll get it posted.

Nevertheless there ain't no dead guy talking to you; boy the fight game can't help but attract romantics.

[Caractacus]

During the middle 1930s, Denver Ed Martin was in poor health while residing in Oakland, California

- Chuck Johnston

What is your source for this info ?
Seems a bit odd that he would have been reported to be in "poor health" but not of his passing.
Maybe he had another first name and Ed was his middle name ?

[Caractacus]

Boxrec says that Denver Ed Martin started training Young George Dixon in Seattle in 1926.
What was the name and location of the boxing gym there ?

[Ambling Alp II]

Too bad he never fought Philadelphia Jack O'Brien.

[APerno]

Denver Ed Martin has a IMDb entry for a film called: "Ruhlin Boxing with 'Denver' Ed. Martin" (1901) - There is a plot synopsis taken from the Edison Catalog.

"Here we present Ruhlin in a lively bout with the dusky well known "Denver" Ed. Martin. The bout is very lively from start to finish and ends with a little piece of comedy by Ruhlin presenting Martin with a live chicken, which he receives in a joyful manner."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363961/plo ... _=tt_ov_pl

. . . an 1881 birth date claimed, no date of death.

[Caractacus]

actually there are no record(as far as I know) That Denver Ed Martin had ever been a sparring partner to Jack Johnson.
That was Denver Jack O'Keefe I was thinking of.He was the one who years later in 1944 said that Jack Johnson was praccticing
being knocked-down while sparring to make it look real for the upcoming Ketchel fight.

BTW The other day I was reading Jack Johnson's 1911 memoirs MY LIFE AND BATTLES.( originally published in France)
and he was real impressed with Denver Ed Martin and goes into detail of their first bout for "The Coloured Heavyweight Championship"
( pages 35-37)

However curiously I was also re-reading his 1927 autobiography,and in that one he just mentions the fight in passing.

[Caractacus]

Back in those days whenever people thought the end was looming on the horizon,they usually went back to the place of their birth,
because that is were their family members mostly still were back in those days.
Maybe Denver Ed Martin went there towards the end ?( to Denver Colorado).

[Kalan]

wanna hear something funny ?
Something told me the other day that Denver Ed Martin may have passed away at age 53 which would have been in 1934-1935.
I wonder if he was trying to contact me from Beyond so that the Boxing world would finally recognize his passing ?

It's a coincidence that you probably dreamed as you nodded off for a sec at your computer and thought was Martin trying to reach you.

You want to hear something funny??? ... A few nights before the Foreman-Ali fight I had a dream.. It was a very clear dream of Ali landing a right hand and Foreman stumbling around with his footing for a few steps as Ali watched him, before going down for the count exactly like it happened.

But in my dream it was the 9th round... I'm sure as Hell glad it wasn't the 8th round in my dream because I would have been spooked out... When the fight happened it almost scared the shitt out of me -- because Foreman started fading at about the right time -- when he went down in the 8th I was greatly relieved... It was just another thing of many things that I dream that never actually happen in real life.. You dream a million things and you can dream any damned thing -- and if it coincidentally came true exactly like your dream you'd be spooked right out of your gourd.

[Caractacus]

seriously, this thread was started almost 4 years ago.
has any new information turned up concerning what may have became of Denver Ed Martin after circa 1935 in Denver ?
He originally had quite a following who attended his fights wherever he went so he wasn't exactly an obscure fighter.
(Jack Johnson was impressed with him too).

[Caractacus]

During the middle 1930s, Denver Ed Martin was in poor health while residing in Oakland, California

- Chuck Johnston

according to one source
The life expectancy for an African-American male in the USA in 1935 was 51.1 years.
Denver Ed Martin would have been 54 years old in 1935.

[Caractacus]

just in case Denver Ed Martin (for some reason) did go back to Denver Colorado from Oakland California during the 1930's.
there is a good chance he may have been living (at some point)in the Five Points-Whittier Neighborhood area (North-East Denver)
known as "The Harlem of the West"
perhaps renting a room at the Glenarm YMCA ?
( if anyone knew of Denver Ed Martin stay there and fate in Denver(if he did return there anyway) it would have probably been LeRoy Smith)
check out this article

https://history.denverlibrary.org/five- ... od-history

[Chuck1052]

just in case Denver Ed Martin (for some reason) did go back to Denver Colorado from Oakland California during the 1930's.
there is a good chance he may have been living (at some point)in the Five Points-Whittier Neighborhood area (North-East Denver)
known as "The Harlem of the West"
perhaps renting a room at the Glenarm YMCA ?
( if anyone knew of Denver Ed Martin stay there and fate in Denver(if he did return there anyway) it would have probably been LeRoy Smith)
check out this article

https://history.denverlibrary.org/five- ... od-history

I could not find an obituary or anything in the California death records in regards to Denver Ed Martin. It does appear that Denver Ed had at least one sibling who lived Denver as an adult. I think that I found Denver Ed's World War I draft registration card in digital form. There is a possibility that Denver Ed passed away in Denver if he still had family there. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of online newspaper archives for Colorado.

- Chuck Johnston

[Caractacus]

I wonder if either Oakland or Denver had a newspaper just for the African-American populations back in the 1930's ?
The man was "The Coloured Heavyweight Champion" and aso fought Jack Johnson (twice)
surely someone would have noticed his passing and reported it somewhere,
even during the height of The Great Depression.
BTW would'nt have come to the attention of Nat Fleisher editor of THE RING magazine ?
did that magazine report the passing of former Boxers the news colums back in the 1930's ?

[Caractacus]

been trying to find some info on the Gymnasiums in Oakland in late Nineteenth/early 20th Century
where Denver Ed Martin may have trained possibly.
ex-Boxers usually laiked to hang around gyms even long after retirement.
There was one gym known as The Acme Athletic Club that opened in 1881
(originally in a barn on 14th street and Harrison)
then in 1883 it moved to 113th and Clay St/14th street and Broadway in Oakland.
( in a large 3 story building)
it closed around 1904 and I think became a Dance Hall then became a gym again.
The boxing instructor there was Jack Kitchen who had been the state amateur light-heavyweight champion
and once did boxing exhibitions with "Gentleman" Jim J. Corbett.

[Caractacus]

who were some of the other Boxers who fought out of Oakland around the same time that Denver Ed Martin did ?
That could be a clue because a lot of fighters back then and their managers use to hang out at the same saloon or resturant
not too far and usually across the street from either a gymnasium or Coliseum.

[Caractacus]

I did read somewhere that Denver Ed Martin had been part of the boxing stable of
Billy Madden (the former manager of John L. Sullivan and Charlie Mitchell)
and had been a sparring partner to Gus Ruhlin (also part of Maddens stable)and was in Ruhlin's corner
when he fought Jim J. Jeffries in November 1901.
Gus Ruhlin had trained at the "Six Mile House" ( about one mile west-northwest of Scotts Flat)near San Francisco when he fought Jeffries.
( where Pater Jackson. John L. Sullivan.Jim J. Corbett,Joe Choynski,Jack Johnson,J oe Gans
all had once trained under Henry "Pop" Blanken)

[Caractacus]

Nobody knew what happened to Gus Ruhlin either until 2013
when someone was able to locate his cremated remains in a urn.
( he had died in 1912)

[Caractacus]

any new information surface lately on this subject ?