BoxRec

Many talk about the ring deaths that occur in our sport, but seldom the suicides, often after years out of the ring and in debt, no longer famous, someone takes the ultimate dive. How many has there been?

-Randy Turpin

-Mike Hunter

-Eddie Machen

-Zora Folley

Who else? I know Johnny Saxton tried to kill himself but lived through the ordeal.

HomicideHenry wrote:Many talk about the ring deaths that occur in our sport, but seldom the suicides, often after years out of the ring and in debt, no longer famous, someone takes the ultimate dive. How many has there been?

-Randy Turpin

-Mike Hunter

-Eddie Machen

-Zora Folley

Who else? I know Johnny Saxton tried to kill himself but lived through the ordeal.

Suicides?

Folley died in a swimming pool accident.

Machen might have jumped out of the window but no one knows.

Mike Hunter was shot by the cops.

well excuse my ignorance then...that just leaves Pika and Turpin then, with Saxton being a suicide survivor...who else?

HomicideHenry wrote:well excuse my ignorance then...that just leaves Pika and Turpin then, with Saxton being a suicide survivor...who else?

Freddie Mills - although some people had their doubts about that.

There was an old time bareknuckle fighter, I think his name was Yankee Sullivan, who slit his writs while in a jail cell.

Billy Papke went on a murder-suicide rampage. I may be wrong, but I believe Kid McCoy did as well.

Well eh.... have fun with it:

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Category:Suicides

:( damn I didnt realize alot of great fighters killed themselves...

I would say thanks for the contribution wouter, but this actually made me sad

Hasn't Johnny Tapia tried several times with pills or something of that nature?

German heavy Reiner Hartman committed suicide. Jose Manuel Urtain "fell" out of a window and many believe it was suicide.

Collins2000 wrote:That bloke from On The Buses who played Reg Varney's sidekick topped himself. (What a pile of shite that program was).

Bob Grant who played Jack. I never heard anything about him being a boxer.

Douglass Valliant -former lightweight contender who fought Carlos Ortiz- hung himself at Sewell Park in Miami years ago after years of substance abuse and a broken marriage.

I guess we'll never really know what happened to Sonny Liston.

Brute wrote:

Collins2000 wrote:That bloke from On The Buses who played Reg Varney's sidekick topped himself. (What a pile of shite that program was).

Bob Grant who played Jack. I never heard anything about him being a boxer.

If he was, he must have had a good defence...... he had a beak on him like the bow of the Queen Mary

warnambool wrote:

Brute wrote:

Collins2000 wrote:That bloke from On The Buses who played Reg Varney's sidekick topped himself. (What a pile of shite that program was).

Bob Grant who played Jack. I never heard anything about him being a boxer.

If he was, he must have had a good defence...... he had a beak on him like the bow of the Queen Mary

I think most of his bouts were in Canada in the 1970's on the well known 'secret circuit'.

I once overheard a lady on a bus saying to someone something like "Bob and Mo had another punch up last night".

To me (and BRR) this is irrefutable evidence that Bob Grant and Muhammad Ali fought at least twice.

Seriously, have you ever seen the bloke?
How could he be mistaken for a boxer?

warnambool wrote:Seriously, have you ever seen the bloke?
How could he be mistaken for a boxer?

Don't let the scrawny body and the huge hooter fool you, mate.

Bob was a legenday brawler on the cobbles too.

My2Sense wrote:

HomicideHenry wrote:well excuse my ignorance then...that just leaves Pika and Turpin then, with Saxton being a suicide survivor...who else?

Freddie Mills - although some people had their doubts about that.

There was an old time bareknuckle fighter, I think his name was Yankee Sullivan, who slit his writs while in a jail cell.

Billy Papke went on a murder-suicide rampage. I may be wrong, but I believe Kid McCoy did as well.

Billy Papke shot and killed his wife before turning the weapon on himself, but Kid McCoy didn't take anyone with him. McCoy died from an overdose of sleeping pills. He had been convicted of manslaughter 16 years earlier, killing his live-in lover.

Yankee Sullivan's death is controversial. He had been arrested by the San Francisco Vigilance Movement, and died of slit wrists in his SF jail cell. But the circumstances of his death are unclear, and it is very possible that he was murdered by the Vigilance Movement or a rival. The year was 1856. (The San Francisco Vigilance Movement was formed during the Gold Rush period in 1856 - there was an earlier organization formed in 1851. Its purpose was to rein in rampant crime and government corruption in San Francisco. After retiring from prizefighting and moving to California, Sullivan allegedly had become the henchman or leader of a SF criminal organization, and was targeted by the Movement.)

Speaking of Kid McCoy, my parents had a 78 rpm record with a song re. a fight between Kid and a Tiger Wills. The chorus went "C`mon Kid, c`mon Kid, just hit him with a left and a right.
C`mon Kid, c`mon Kid,how were they to know it was the Kid`s last fight."
Was there any such bout?
I know nothing of McCoy, the song was early 1950`s I think, and got me wondering was there some fact in it :??

Rickey Womack. The kid could have been huge as well. An outrageous talent.

wouter wrote:Well eh.... have fun with it:

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Category:Suicides

Holy cow, I didn't realize Jock McAvoy committed suicide. Anyone else have any details on that?

TheGoods wrote:Rickey Womack. The kid could have been huge as well. An outrageous talent.

Can you add to that?
Do you mean Womack was "Tiger Wills" ?

bob grant was never a boxer. the only bell he answered to was the one on the 53 from high street to the cemetery gates.
now blakey, i reckon he had a few fights as a young fella..."aaargh, i hate you butler! get that bus ahhhtt."

seriously though, that is a sad sad list of boxing suicides.

Collins2000 wrote:
I think most of his bouts were in Canada in the 1970's on the well known 'secret circuit'.

I once overheard a lady on a bus saying to someone something like "Bob and Mo had another punch up last night".

To me (and BRR) this is irrefutable evidence that Bob Grant and Muhammad Ali fought at least twice.

My2Sense wrote:

wouter wrote:Well eh.... have fun with it:

http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Category:Suicides

Holy cow, I didn't realize Jock McAvoy committed suicide. Anyone else have any details on that?

He was unlucky enough to be stricken with polio in 1951 and was a wheelchair job for his last 12 years, don`t know exact details of his death.

warnambool wrote:Seriously, have you ever seen the bloke?
How could he be mistaken for a boxer?

He would have had a hell of a job holding a mouth guard with those choppers, and his schnoz would have been a great target.

I had this boxing book by Phil Berger many years ago that had a chapter on Rickey Womack. Interesting reading. The guy had some serious talent (he beat Holyfield twice before the '84 olympics) but simply couldn't keep out of trouble outside the ring. According to Manny Steward he went out of his way to keep Ricky focused but alas no luck