How good is the Alabama Kid?
How good is the Alabama Kid?
I would please like to know how good is former middleweight and light heavyweight of the 1930s and 40s the Alabama Kid? He has an impressive 103 wins by knockouts and why he fought in Australia for 10 ten years during the war?
re
Alabama Kid was a very good southpaw boxer/puncher. He fought in pretty much all divisions, but he excelled at middleweight, which arguably was the division he fought best in. I’ve done a lot of research on his career, but there are still several bouts that have yet to be accounted for and still many which need to be verified by newspapers. From the research that I have done his weight range has went from 114 pounds up to 186, but the bout that he weighed in at 114 pounds, which is the second recorded bout that I have for him, also stated that he had won 17 of his last 19 bouts, so it is very probable that he started at, or below the 112 pound flyweight limit.
His best punch was a short left hook, which he threw very well and with serious power. Although he did have heavy hands Kid was not the vicious one-punch type of knockout artist along the lines of a Bob Satterfield, but instead gradually beat an opponent down with combinations. Ohio had a slew of top quality welterweight and middleweights during Kid’s years and aside from Gorilla Jones, Kid was among the best. He never dodged anyone to my knowledge and fought a lot of the top middleweights of the 1930s.
He was a top ranked fighter, but as far as him becoming a champion…it was doubtful during his time…not because he was not good enough, but instead due to the better talent that he faced and would have had to face during the time. He opened up a pool hall in Ohio and was training fighters in the early 1950s, but so far I have not been able to find a lot of information about his life after boxing.
As I said, there are still many of his bouts to be found and recorded and in the end, whenever we have searched through all the Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and other relevant newspapers of his day I would bet that Alabama Kid will be second only to “Tiger” Jack Fox in total career knockouts…I have him with 114 right now, but there are still anywhere from 25 up to 100+ bouts that have yet to be recorded.
His best punch was a short left hook, which he threw very well and with serious power. Although he did have heavy hands Kid was not the vicious one-punch type of knockout artist along the lines of a Bob Satterfield, but instead gradually beat an opponent down with combinations. Ohio had a slew of top quality welterweight and middleweights during Kid’s years and aside from Gorilla Jones, Kid was among the best. He never dodged anyone to my knowledge and fought a lot of the top middleweights of the 1930s.
He was a top ranked fighter, but as far as him becoming a champion…it was doubtful during his time…not because he was not good enough, but instead due to the better talent that he faced and would have had to face during the time. He opened up a pool hall in Ohio and was training fighters in the early 1950s, but so far I have not been able to find a lot of information about his life after boxing.
As I said, there are still many of his bouts to be found and recorded and in the end, whenever we have searched through all the Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and other relevant newspapers of his day I would bet that Alabama Kid will be second only to “Tiger” Jack Fox in total career knockouts…I have him with 114 right now, but there are still anywhere from 25 up to 100+ bouts that have yet to be recorded.
re
He enjoyed the country of Australia, plus I am pretty certain that he had some children with an Australian woman, I don't recall if he brought them back to the USA, or not. He was very successful in Australia and it helped to prolong his career probably a few extra years than had he stayed in the States.