BoxRec

I've been doing some newspaper research again this past week, reading over late 1910s/early 1920s stuff. I found many incidents of boxing that we do not see anymore today.

One example was when some guy stepped into an Everett, Washington ring in 1916 during an intermission between bouts and said words to the effect of: "Hello. My name is Lawrence Hall. I am the bantamweight champion of Nebraska. I hereby challenge any bantam in the West." Whereupon some fan stood up and said there was $1,000 waiting for him in Seattle if he could beat local-boy Joe Farrell.

Another example I read about this week was when a boxer had a bout in the Los Angeles area in 1923, then drove all night through heavy rain to San Francisco to fight the next night.

We just don't see stuff like this anymore, do we? Anyone have any more examples of stuff we don't see anymore in boxing? (It doesn't have to be as old as the examples I gave.)

One thing that we don't see anymore, and I think this is a positive, is guys getting knocked out back-to-back nights or twice in the same week. I've seen that two many times in old time records.

I've heard from a couple of sources that Battling Levinsky fought three fights in three different cities in one day, but I can't find any confirmation of this.Anybody else have anything on this one?

That's B.S. fabrigated by his manager "Dumb" Dan Morgan

tegenm


THANKS!!! Now that rings a bell.Haven't thought about DumbDan in a long time. Right. no doubt b.s. But...Dan was a fun and colorful character and definitely a part of that wonderful era when boxer's record was pretty much what his manager said, and a few reporters repeated while imbibing a few with them.

It is interesting to read old newspapers. (I have always been a fan/student of history; that's why I don't mind researching old newspapers to locate here-to-fore undocumented bouts.) I've found that during the early 1900s, when people celebrated Armistice Day and Fourth of July and Labor Day in America, for example, boxing bouts were usually included as part of the festivities. Here's an example for Everett, WA, USA, Labor Day, Sept. 4, 1916, which included an afternoon fight card:

"During intermissions the fans were regaled by band music and the reading of telegrams from the big fight centers by Charley Manning." Joe St. Peter took some movies of the bouts. EVERETT DAILY HERALD.

And, per the Doc Snell-Bert Lang Nov. 11, 1922 record:
"Part of the Armistice Day Celebration, beginning with an afternoon of high school football between Cashmere and Leavenworth, an evening of boxing, followed by dancing at night."

Not so any more.

How can you read these old newspapers? I would like to do some research on a few different guys from a few different time periods. Is there a site on the net that allows you access to these new papers?

I am a 20-minute drive away from both the Everett Public Library (where I research both the EVERETT DAILY HERALD and the EVERETT (MORNING) TRIBUNE) and the University of Washington's Suzzallo Library, which has four-plus lifetimes of newspaper microfilm from throughout the world - some dating from the 1700s. Yes, there is on-line newspaper material available - some free, some by paid subscription. For example, some local libraries subscribe to ProQuest, which patrons can access via the Internet. ProQuest offers the historical New York Times (circa 1850s to the present) online, if your library subscribes to it. There are other services available, as well. Do a Google.com search, and you'll find them.

Thanks a bundle

Probably the most famous fight on a holiday was the Johnson-Jeffries fight on July 4 on 1910, but there are many , many others.If you can get hold of an old RING RECORD BOOK you'll find four pages of them, and in small print. Half a page is devoted to Chrismas Day alone, but just about every holdiay except Easter is represented. Other July 4th biggies are Dempsey vs.Jess Willard in 1919 and his fight with Tom Gibbons in 1923 which bankrupted Shelby Montana. If Thanksgiving and Christmas seem odd ones for a prize fight, remember that these took place when the seven day work week was the norm and fight crowds were almost totally male.
They were moslty big name fighters too...Ketchell (for the middleweight crown on Thanksgiving in 1908) Maxie Rosenbloom,Lew Tendler are just a few. And Joe Louis made his pro debut with a kayo over Jack Kracken on July 4 ,1934. If there are specific holidays you'd like to know about. conmtact me and I'll help as much as time permits.

I have an article, but not sure which paper it's from but is about March 1933.
"Tommy Paul went to Mexico to fight Baby Arzimendi. After hitting the Baby with everthing but the bucket, the Baby was awarded the decision.The bout was held on Mexico's Independence Day, but unlike the USA, the shooting starts in the evening. The bout was held in the afternoon and all the Mexican boys had their shooting irons with them, so Patsey Newman, Paul's trainer, thought it best to accept decision w/o protest. The payoff was in mexican coppers, as big as silver dollars. They carried the bundle of coppers under each arm as every greaser eyed them as they left the arena. On the way to the hotel they wern't sure if they would be slugged, shot or kidnapped. Latter that night they were awaked by gun fire, thinking it may be a revolution or them being robbed. They were about to throw the bags out the window until a bellhop told them that it was a old Mexican custom."

Check out July 4, 1922. Some famous, and (but for BoxRec) formerly forgotten warriors were entertaining the boxing fans that day.

Okay, for July 4 1922 I find Benny Leonard kayo over Rocky Kansas.Bud Taylor ND against Babe Asher and Bill Brennan NDagainst Bob Martin. l.ots of good fighters in the July 4th list. The most recent one I find is the great Manuel ortiz defending his bantamweight title against Memo Valero in 1948.
Another interesting factor to tis subject is the number of towns they were fought in...Michigan City, Terre Haute,Ashland Kentucky...reminds us how much traveling even name fighters did in those days and how many towns there were to host them.

Dempsey-Willard was also July 4.