Jack O'Halloran 'The Man, The Myth, The Giant'

[HomicideHenry]

I think that was all hurrah on Liston's part, it didn't stop Liston in 1970 from chopping up 6'5" Chuck Wepner. O'Halloran wasn't much bigger than Chuck. However, he was quite the character and the boxing media did eat up press on O'Halloran for a while.

[Brutu]

Here is a link to the best interview Ive seen with him on the web so far.

http://jeffcramer.blogspot.com/2011/09/ ... -jack.html

[matko]

There was a topic about him recently in this very forum worth searching and reading through

[HomicideHenry]

HH,

Funny you should mention Chuck Wepner, as they were trying to set up Jack to fight Chuck at
Madison Square Garden in late-September 1968.

But a funny thing happened, as Jack was upset {L Dec 8} by Jersey City's - Charlie 'The Emperor' Harris in
Scranton, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1968.

That was Jack's first loss, and dropped him to 15-1-1. The rumblings then followed, that
'Jack the Giant' couldn't fight.

Too big, too muscle-bound, and too stiff.

There are alot of factors why size and prodigous strength doesn't cross over into combat sports. When you are so tall, you often find yourself leaning down when you punch down at smaller men, leaving your jaw exposed. Since you also so 'leggy' it's quite easy to get off balance as well. But when you are an overly muscular man as well, like Primo Carnera, you have no fluidity in your punches and little velocity to get that extra snap to the blows. Having never seen film on O'Halloran, I can about estimate he was as mobile as a skyscraper and was more the leaner/pusher type, and what wins he had were mostly against third and second string opponents.

[HomicideHenry]

Did he beat Doyle? I know Ali used Doyle as a sparring partner leading up to his fight with Bugner.

[Flump]

My friend Tony Barrett sparred with Jack before his bout with Tony Doyle out in Las Vegas (May 1969)

His remarks were, 'he was strong, but slower than molasses in winter' and his punches had 'no power'.

A 'Gym Manufactured Boxer', as they thought his size would carry him through the tough bouts.

Only seen O'Halloran against Foreman as far as I remember, and in several movies. He kind of reminded me of a more co-ordinated Mike 'The Giant' White.

[dempseyfire]

Looking at O'Halloran vs Foreman and the short clip vs Lyle, he had pretty god handspeed/snap on his punches . . .definitely better than a Jack White/Tye Fields/Chuck Wepner type big man.