BoxRec

I've always suspected Mike O'Dowd was an underrated middleweight champion.

For starters, he reportedly decisively whupped a peak Harry Greb - and note I said peak Greb, in other words while he still had two eyes. By accounts he stood in toe-to-toe with Greb and landed the cleaner, harder punchers throughout. Although it was officially a no-decision fight, accounts agree that O'Dowd was clearly the better man, which makes it one of the very, very, very few times Greb was ever outfought at this stage of his career. Not only did this fight temporarily halt Greb's rise to the MW title (O'Dowd was the champ at the time) and force him to look elsewhere for titles, but very curiously, I notice that Greb never fought him again. It's rare that Greb never fought an opponent more than once, particularly one that got the better of him the first time.

But there's more than just an unofficial "win" over Greb. Although he seldom defended his title, he enjoyed an impressive run of fights in which he fought several of the other top men of his day, like Mike Gibbons, Jack Britton, and Ted Kid Lewis several times each, and got the better of them as well.

And for what it's worth, he also KO'd champion Al McCoy and finally ended his infamous title reign. You might ask, why should beating arguably the worst MW champions in history be considered "special"? Well, McCoy made his living being a sponge for punches, getting beat up in almost every single fight he had - but no one could take his title, because he only signed to fight in no-decision fights and only had to be on his feet at the end to retain his title. That left him with a virtual stranglehold on the title that seemed impossible to break. Finally, O'Dowd ended his reign of, er, "error." That alone should be enough to make him a HOFer in my book!

O'Dowd lost his title on what was considered by some a disputed decision against Johnny Wilson. He was only ever stopped once in his entire career, and then in his final fight vs. Jock Malone - when, if memory serves me correctly, he was suffering from some sort of back injury or muscle illness.


Anyway, I was always interested in seeing footage of O'Dowd in action, and was very pleased when I happened to come across this the other day, for the very first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRK_wir1GQw

This is footage of O'Dowd in one of his several fights with Mike Gibbons. O'Dowd is credited with winning a newspaper decision in this one. However, my excitement quickly turned to unease, on account of I'm not sure who's who. :( I think O'Dowd is the one in the lighter colored, longer trunks, who is the aggressor, but I'm not sure.

Here is a picture of O'Dowd:



Thoughts?

Mike Odowd did not whip a peak Harry Greb. The newspaper reports were split as two who won that fight. In addition to this Greb, who had not yet reached his peak (IMO) spent all night trying to make the 158 pound limit in a turkish bath, as a result he overshot the mark and actually weighed in at 155 which is lowest he would weigh from that time forward.

Newspapers were also split as to who won the decision in the ODowd-Gibbons championship fight.

ODowd never again faced Greb because his asking price was too high (meaning he had priced himself out of a fight with Greb).

All of that being said ODowd is definately overrated and one of my favorite champs. He was a gutsy, tough little champ who probably could have made the welterweight limit but chose to fight the bigger guys because it was more comfortable to him. Despite fighting these larger guys he was almost always the one making the fight and pressing the action. Just a badass little man in general and if youve ever seen his KO of McCoy, which is also on film, he PLANTS McCoy on the canvas!!!

O'Dowd had a six month stint as a soldier during WWI.
He saw heavy action in the trenches in France and - from I what I've been told - had lost a step when he returned to the ring.
Most put it down to the appalling living condistions that he had to live under during his time there.
Actually, very few men who fought in the trenches were ever the same again.