Newsletter Vol3 No 7
Posted: 12 Nov 2008, 13:52
The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 3- No 7 12th Nov , 2008
www.boxingbiographies.com
If you wish to receive future newsletters ( which includes the images ) please email the message “NEWS LETTER”
[email protected]
The newsletter is also available as a word doc on request
As always the full versions of these articles are on the website
Name: Harry Mizler
Career Record: click
Nationality: British
Hometown: St George's, London, United Kingdom
Born: 1913-01-22
Died: 1990-00-00
Age at Death: 76
.
Adaptation of articles published 1952, Boxing News.
THE Perfect Fighting Machine descends on us so very occasionally yet, when he does, the tendency is to take him for granted.
During the past half century who has there been worthy of that exalted title ?. In the United State Mickey Walker, Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong and Ray Robinsoon. Over here Jimmy Wilde, Jim Driscoll, Kid Lewis, Benny Lynch and Randolph Turpin, while the Continent has contributed the tragic Marcel Cerdan.
Yet one finds the task of selecting the greatest boxers, from a class field, comparable to finding the sweetest fruit in a box of fresh strawberries.
There have been thousands of fighters from every weight division who have reached championship class. Men who have won titles, others who have never been given their deserved opportunity, and youngsters whom fate has, treated cruelly.
CLASSIC STYLIST
And for every career, there is a story worthy of inclusion in the long history of boxing's annals.
The burning question that constantly remains unanswered is . . . What
qualifications are required to raise the good boxer into the immortal class ?
Michaelangelo once wrote:
" Trifles make perfection, and Perfection is no trifle."
But surely that is a matter of opinion. The only answer that covers the whole question is —results ! For as I see it, there have been, and still are many who possess the every attribute necessary to a champion's make-up, but lack that extra indefinable quality that bridges the difference between the forgotten man, and the name that springs at once to people's lips.
Harry Mizler, who won the British lightweight title in 1934 at the age of 21, and lost it two years later, was an outstanding example of an athlete once idolised and now remembered by only the few.
Mizler, champion in his 14th professional contest at a time when there was an abundance of class performers, and who retired from the ring as recently as 1945, was the last of a long succession of outstanding Jewish scrappers.
If you pin-point the essentials that constitute a great boxer, Harry had them all.
Boxing ability, punch and ability to take punishment. Mizler was a classic stylist who used with devastating effect the copybook English straight left which most present day fighters are taught, and so few perfect.
After he outpointed Johnny Cuthbert, of Sheffield, to annex the British lightweight crown, Charlie Thomas the referee said that Mizler's left hand was the finest he had seen since the days of Driscoll.
Secondly, Harry was a boxer who used the heavy artillery in his right fist sparingly, but when he unleashed that weapon it usually spelt curtains for his opponent. His ability to spot the split-second opening in his opponent's defence, and at timing a blow were exceptional.
Always handicapped by weak hands Mizler actually broke both knuckles when losing for the first time inside the distance — the first of his contests with Jack Kid Berg.
But in his initial year in the paid ranks he was undefeated in thirteen matches — ten opponents were stopped decisively inside the distance. After damaging his hands Mizler was often rather apprehensive about punching too hard, but even so his record was studded with knock-out victories.
Last but not least, while Mizler was no rugged two-fisted battler hewn from granite, his durability became legend.
His never-say-die performance against the iron-fisted Gustave Humery on an October night in 1935, is still considered today one of the finest displays of gallantry and sheer guts seen in this country.
CAME BACK TO WIN
He won that fight but the manner in which he survived knockdown after knockdown for seven seemingly endless pain-filled rounds, and absorbed enough punishment for ten men, brought tears to the eyes of hardened fight fans.
The only comparison by present day standards (for those who do not remember Humery) is to imagine any middleweight surviving all the punishment Randy Turpin could hand out. Then coming back to stop the Leamington Licker with practically one punch in the eighth round.
But that is what Mizler accompished. Even his corner team begged the East Ender to give up, while only his wonderful lighting spirit enabled him to keep getting up from the canvas where the Frenchman unceremoniously dumped him time and again.
The only man in that vast arena that night who had the same faith was referee Moss Deyong, who was condemned by many at the time for not stopping the unequal struggle to prevent Mizler from sustaining serious injury.
In fact, although Harry gained the decision and lots of glory, he was so badly mauled that he spent the two succeeding months recovering from the effects of the punishment.
If anyone is in a position to comment accurately on Mizler the fighter, it
is his old trainer and inseparable companion Nat Seller. Nat, who has trained as many good boys as he has hairs on his head, supports the theory that Mizler had the ability of a great fighter, and adds " besides his qualities as a boxer he was a remarkably clean living and conscientious lad."
Why, then couldn't Harry go on to capture a World championship, or even retain his British title in that second defence in 1936 ? Perhaps after reading this story you will form your own conclusions.
OVERTAXED STRENGTH
Many factors have contributed to the issue. But even his intimate friends are divided in their opinions. Some say that Mizler's fate changed on the day his hands were seriously damaged, despite the fact that he went on in later years to win some of his greatest battles.
Others feel that the long, backbreaking hours of sweat and toil in the fish market, where he worked to assist his family, between fights, had a disastrous effect on his stamina.
That, I feel, is the likelier explanation, although it is not the full story by any means. To say that Mizler's fighting days were tough in more senses than one, is a sweeping understatement. Frequently young Harry would tumble into bed shortly after a gruelling contest and be up at the crack of dawn to get to the market.
At a time when young fighters need all the rest they can get, the Londoner may well have overtaxed his strength. Some men prefer to throw their careers away, hitting the high spots and enjoying night life, and others . . .? Well, one man's meat is another's poison, or is it merely a vicious circle ?
For all that., the handsome Southerner's record bears close scrutiny. As an amateur he was in a class of his own. winning three A.B.A. titles from bantamweight to lightweight.
He upheld British prestige in international matches, including the 1930 Empire Games in Canada, and represented his country in the 1932 Olympics at Los Angeles. That year he did not bring back a title, but for a nineteen-year-old youngster — one of only three British representatives who all failed — his performance was none the less worthy.
On professional programmes Mizler lost only sixteen fights in about eighty contests, against some of the best men in both the light and welterweight divisions, during eleven years of hectic competition. Harry fought regularly every year, but remember the war years severely handicapped all fighters who were eligible for military service. Mizler
himself was an instructor in the Royal Air Force and had little time for fighting his own battles.
But the East End battler utilised his prize money sensibly. After seeing to the welfare of his family he left the fish trade and set himself up in a fashionable gown salon. Today he and his wife Betty have a flourishing concern at Golders Green.
COMPARED WITH DRISCOLL
Surely that is an object lesson to the young boxers of current times.Remember, fifteen years ago, promising talent or " big names " could not command the heavy purses that leading promoters can pay them today. It is perhaps easy to point here and there in Mizler's fine record and say " He was unbeatable that night," or " that was one long thrill." There was for example his contest with the American "midget bulldozer " Al Roth, in 1937, which John Harding of the National Sporting Club considers
His greatest promotion.
Harding proved his matchmaking ability that night by pairing two fine athletes with contrasting styles. Mizler's display in taming the tough Roth, who fought the World champion three times, was compared with Driscoll at his best, and the fight itself considered the most memorable since Driscoll v. Charles Ledoux.
Then there was his points victory over Alby Day, one of the most stirring battles ever promoted at the -old Devonshire Club. His brilliant knock-out of Norman Snow, and the Gustave Humery epic.
COACHES YOUNGSTERS
Yet Harry, looking back, smiles and comments: " They all came the same to me. I didn't bother myself with reputations. I just trained hard, and dealt with each one according to
his merits. After all, an opponent in the ring only has two arms and two legs, the same as you."
The former champion's boxing interests these days are limited because of business demands, but he still finds time to visit local youth clubs to show the lads the advantages of leading with an old English straight left,rather than the jaw first technique—and who better to teach them
Part 2
TRAINING, training and still more training is Harry Mizler's advice to the championship aspirant. And you can take that from a fighter who practised what he now preaches.
It is so easy for a naturally good fighter to be led astray and dismiss training as something that can be fitted in between times. Many champions in the past have erred in this way.
When William Muldoon, a well-known physical culturist, was prevailed uponto get a drink-sodden John L. Sullivan into shape he found the task so difficult that on one occasion he had to use force on the great champion.
But not every trainer is in a position to knock his charge about. Muldoon,fortunately, understood Judo — but Nat Seller had only to suggest something and he could regard it as already done.
Nat who combined his duties with that of confidant-cum-guardian angel, speaks highly of Mizler's willingness : " If I wanted him in the gymnasium at 6 a.m. or midnight, he would be there on time. He was always anxious to do his best.
Of course Harry was fortunate in having Seller, whom he had known since boyhood days as a neighbour in St. Georges. Fifteen years Mizler's senior,Nat was old enough to command his respect — already at the age of twenty-one he had trained a champion—at the same time being young enough to act as companion.
But young Mizler always had a shrewd boxing brain both inside and outside the ring, and needed little urging to do what he knew was right.
LOVED HIS FAMILY
Harry became an addition to the Mizler family of two boys and two girls,in the year before the first World War. In the happy but tough early days — with an invalid father and mother who seemed to do everything for them — he developed a deep affection for the intimate circle that was his family.
Most fighters are a generous and warm-hearted section of the community,but Mizler's deep-rooted love of his family is exceptional, and he has proved it many times.
Seller tells of the few occasions that Mizler trained out of London, with a touch of good natured resignation : " When his mind should have been free of care, he would be worried stiff. On the road he would stop at practically every telephone box to ring home and make certain that nothing had gone wrong."
Harry, or Hymie as his parents called him, also had a deep respect for his brothers Judah and Morris, both keen scrappers. The former boxed in local amateur circles. while Moe Mizler turned professional to help his parents' business in Watney Street, Stepney, and boxed with considerable success at the famous "Premierland."
There were four years difference between the brothers and each passed on his boxing knowledge to his immediate junior. Consequently Harry benefited considerably from Moe's Instruction.
The youngest Mizler's first club was the Berners Street School Old Boys,and at the age of ten he gained some experience in scrapping with boys of his own size. But there was little opportunity for improvement—places like the Judean Club in the East End had finished and there was little organised instruction or suitable competition.
When the school closed down, and the club with it, he continued to learn from Moe and eventually moved to Oxford and St. George's B.C.
At fourteen, turning the scales at 1st. 71b., he began his association with the fight game. A few months on the right side of the age limit,he won a London Federation of Boys' Clubs championship and a Stepney Boys' Club title. Although unable to get about easily, his father went_ to watch him in every contest and his presence spurred young Harry to greater heights.
In 1929 and 1930 he won Federation of Boy’s Clubs titles at bantamweight. In the latter year he went on to narrowly capture the championship at the same weight, beating W. Jackson of St. Pancras B.C. on a casting vote. At seventeen, he was then the youngest boxer to win a senior A.B.A.
Strangely enough, he won that title before winning a junior honour.
EMPIRE GAMES SUCCESS.
When the first championship preliminaries began, Mizler was not quite seventeen and so ineligible for the senior competition. Instead he plunged wholeheartedly into the junior Federation tournament but halfway through the series he became seventeen and entered the A.B.A. championships.
Harry won that title and in view of that success was moved straight through to the junior final, which he won also. But as he says today, I had to — it just wouldn't have lone for the men's champion to lose .Wouldn’t have done for the men’s champion to lose to a boy”.
Because of his success, Harry was ,elected to represent Great Britain in the Empire Games held that year in Ontario, Canada. He emerged as me of the Mother Country's four winners — others were Frank Meacham, Fred Mallin and Tony Stuart — coming away with bantamweight honours.
As the youngest member of the team Harry was thrilled by the occasion and was looked after by he others, so to this day he remembers the visit to Canada as one of his greatest thrills. While he was here he won several " friendly contests " and travelled across the border into the United States for a visit.
On his return he was selected for he A.B.A. team to meet Ireland, and won contests in Dublin and Belfast. He did not defend his title the following year and instead challenged for the feathers crown. But he suffered a rare setback Then he lost to an old Oxford and St. George's B.C. rival and " bogeynen," Benny Caplan. However, the next season he achieved his ambition by outpointing Frank Frost in the final.
DAMAGED HAND VICTORY
Harry had come a long way since he first began winning fights at fourteen. Then he was a raw, two-fisted bustler with more enthusiasm than style, but by now brother Moe's lessons, plus his natural head for boxing, were paying rich dividends.
For the Olympic Games at Los Angeles that year (1932) Britain was represented by Harry, Tommy Pardoe and Dave McCleave. The trio returned without a laurel wreath between them, but for a nineteen year-old in such class company,experts reckoned the St. George's boxer had acquitted himself extremely well. He was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the American Nat Bor.
At this stage in his career the “baby" of the Miner family wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps and turn professional. But he was dissuaded and told to bring home he A.B.A. lightweight championship first.
So 1933 saw him fighting his way through to the finals, In doing so misplaced a bone in his right hand, but Professor A. E. Shakesby an eminent osteopath, was secretly called in. While waiting between bouts Mizler sat in a box at the Albert Hall with his hand plastered and tightly bandaged.
In the final he defeated twenty year-old Ernie Smith, of St. Andrew's B.C., Dublin, whom he had outpointed in the feathers semi-final the previous year.
His victory — he was later described as " The Master Boxer " - made him the only champion to emerge that night with an unblemished record. And so he emulated Fred Webster in winning titles at three different weights.
Now, with more than 150 trophies to his credit, he considered himself capable of facing and triumphing over the rigours of the paid ranks.
With Nat Seller he visited Ted Broadribb, who was then matchmaker to Jeff Dickson. They discussed Harry's potentialities, but 'Ted was not thrilled at young Mizler's prospects,although he offered him engagements as a preliminary boy.
The amateur champion and his friend then went to see the late Victor Berliner, general manager of the Blackfriars ''Ring." He arranged for Harry to box fortnightly there, so Mizler joined the same stable as amateur champions Pat Palmer and Dave McCleave.
On June 4, 1934, he entered a public ring without his amateur vest for the first time. A large crowd at the Ring that Sunday afternoon were curious to see how he would shape in his pro debut. His opponent was Bob Lamb, a tough scrapper from Sunderland. They didn't have long to. wait. It took the debutant just 2 min. 13 sec. to dispose of his opponent !
BRILLIANT PRO DEBUT
At the opening bell Mizler came out of his corner fast, meeting Lamb halfway, and sent over three swift jabs to the face. The Sunderland man poked out his own left and Mizler scored with the same punch again. The Londoner then sent his opponent staggering back with a beautifully timed left-right combination, to the jaw.
Lamb desperately threw a left hook to the body, but that was the last aggressive action he took in the contest.
Mizler tore in with a dozen clean lefts and rights to the jaw which sent Lamb down for a count of " three," but before he could box on he collapsed for another eight seconds.
He was given no respite and met another barrage of punches that sent him sagging to the canvas again for " eight." By the time he took another eight seconds count the crowd were shouting 'stop it," but a perfectly timed left and right cross sent him down, out to the wide. The referee stopped counting at three and signalled that Mizler was the victor.
Off to a brilliant start, Mizler now aroused even greater interest. He looked the goods, the crowd reasoned, but was he just a flash in the pan.
Name: Jack Gardner
Career Record: click
Nationality: British
Hometown: Market Harborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Born: 1926-11-06
Died: 1978-11-11
Age at Death: 52
Gardner won the 1948 ABA Heavyweight title. He also represented Great Britain at the 1948 London Olympic games.
http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/pag ... p982p.aspx
Jack Gardner was born in 1926 at Market Harborough, England. He began boxing while in the Grenadier Guards in the British Army during the 1940s and won the Army and Imperial Services Titles in 1948 as well as the ABA Heavyweight Title. Gardner looked tall, but I don't know how tall he was, had to be over six feet. He weighed anywhere from 198 to 221 pounds during his career. He was one of the best punchers in the heavyweight division and was never KO'd during his career (he lost two by TKO, one due to cuts).
He made his professional debut in 1948 when he defeated three men on the same night in a novice tournament. Gardner won all three fights by knockout in the first round. He was a slow mover but had a good left hand. Gardner won ten more fights, and he won five fights by KO in the first round during his career.
Gardner defeated Johnny Williams in 1950 in one of the most grueling fights ever staged in Britain after both men had to spent a night in a hospital. He won the British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator and the fight was christened the "Bloodbath of the Midlands". Gardner then became a contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1950, even being rated above Rocky Marciano, the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Gardner challenged Bruce Woodcock in 1950 for the British and Empire Heavyweight Championship, defeating him by TKO after eleven rounds. Afterwards, Gardner defeated Jo Weidin on points after fifteen rounds in 1951 for the European Heavyweight Championship. He then lost his European title to Hein Ten Hoff later that year after fifteen rounds and lost his British and Empire titles to Johnny Williams on points in 1952, retiring from boxing.
However, he made a comeback in 1954 with a series of victories and Gardner knocked out Williams after five rounds in 1955 in a British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator. However, he was finally defeated in 1956 by TKO after two rounds with Joe Bygraves. He then retired from boxing at age twenty - nine.
Gardner had a record of 28 wins, 23 by KO, and 6 losses, 2 by TKO.
Williams Sneaks Heavy Crown
Gardner Made fight, But Lost Verdict
Boxing News March 19, 1952
There should be no European, or even more ambitious , title plans for newly-crowned British and Empire Heavyweight champion Johnny Williams, points winner over Jack Gardner
After fifteen rough and rugged rounds at the Exhibition Hall, Earls Court. So narrow and so debatable was his winning margin of points an early return with the ex-Guardsman should be his first objective.
The argument as to who is the better man remains unsolved, even after 27 punishing rounds. On this occasion we gave Gardner eight rounds, Williams six, with one even, and can only assume that Gardner's failure to capture referee Jack Hart's points verdict was due to a large extent on his tactics of puling his man on to rights–an offence for which he was frequently warned. But there was only one aggressor: Gardner. Throughout he chased Williams and although a number of his punches were badly directed, especially his right, it was his work that made what little action there was, and on that score alone he appeared to have done enough to gain the verdict.
Williams certainly heeded the lesson of their Leicester battle nearly two years ago, when he foolishly started swapping punches with Gardner. Had he fallen into a similar trap on this occasion Gardner would have won inside the distance, so much harder was his punching.
Instead, when Williams was hurt he either, back-pedalled and shot out lefts or fell into a clinch, where Gardner, failing to use his weight advantage of 20 lb., showed once again his reluctance to punch away to the body. There was little or no in- fighting and invariably the clinches developed into clumsy entanglements to be broken up by the referee, and thus Gardner's opportunities were allowed to slip away.
Spectators with hopes that this return would be as thrilling as their memorable Leicester fight were disappointed, for they had to be content with fourteen rounds of hard but unspectacular battling and only three minutes of fireworks—the last round when Gardner, following up his advantages for the first time, had Williams hard-pressed on the ropes.
Bells and hunting horns accompanied the fanfares that greeted first Williams and then Gardner into the ring, and as they came together for the referee's instructions it was plain to see Gardner's advantages in height and reach. Gardner scaled 15st. 4lb. and
Williams 13st. 12.11b.
The fight took the generally expected course in the first four rounds,with Williams' speed and snappy left leading checking Gardner's attacks. Early in the third a trickle of blood under Gardner's left eye roused him into an attack and the two good left hooks to Williams' head were the best punches thus far.
Gardner received a warning for pulling his opponent on to a punch early in the fourth and Williams maintained his speedy left leading for most of the round. Certainly picking up the points and Increasing his early lead, but never once shaking the tough Gardner.
The fifth clearly showed Gardners lack of in-fighting. He rocked Williams with a right hook, but when Williams moved in close Gardner fire petered out and the crisis was over.
Williams blows although outnumbered by Gardner's were certainly better directed, as was shown in the sixth when he twice hurt Gardner with two good rights as he moved forward, but they failed to halt or even stem Gardner's pressure
Rounds seven and eight apart of course from the last were Gardner's best. His right eye was now badly swollen, but he chased Williams all the time, admittedly taking flicking lefts, but handing out some severe punishment in the form of long rights.
The initiative swayed in Williams favour in the ninth, when he rocked Gardner with two perfect rights to the jaw — possibly the best two punches of the fight. This switch in fortunes was repeated in the tenth, when Williams stabbing left was again prominent and this forced Gardner to vary his attack in the eleventh to straighter punching, with a good deal of success.
Gardner bleeding badly from the mouth as well as from cuts near both eyes, forced Williams out of the fight in the twelfth and thirteenth, shaking him badly with a left hook to the law, but once again Williams sought a close-quarter berth and recovered.Conserving their efforts for the last round led to a tame fourteen, with plenty of clinches and the best punch —a good right hook — coming from Gardner.
Then came the fifteenth, with more action packed into that three minutes than the rest of the fight put together. Midway through the round a long right and left to the head drove Williams to the ropes, and Gardner followed up with another long left that made Williams stagger.
As he shot out lefts in an effort to check Gardner's attack. the final bell sounded and without hesitation the hand of a badly shaken Williams was raised.
Volume 3- No 7 12th Nov , 2008
www.boxingbiographies.com
If you wish to receive future newsletters ( which includes the images ) please email the message “NEWS LETTER”
[email protected]
The newsletter is also available as a word doc on request
As always the full versions of these articles are on the website
Name: Harry Mizler
Career Record: click
Nationality: British
Hometown: St George's, London, United Kingdom
Born: 1913-01-22
Died: 1990-00-00
Age at Death: 76
.
Adaptation of articles published 1952, Boxing News.
THE Perfect Fighting Machine descends on us so very occasionally yet, when he does, the tendency is to take him for granted.
During the past half century who has there been worthy of that exalted title ?. In the United State Mickey Walker, Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong and Ray Robinsoon. Over here Jimmy Wilde, Jim Driscoll, Kid Lewis, Benny Lynch and Randolph Turpin, while the Continent has contributed the tragic Marcel Cerdan.
Yet one finds the task of selecting the greatest boxers, from a class field, comparable to finding the sweetest fruit in a box of fresh strawberries.
There have been thousands of fighters from every weight division who have reached championship class. Men who have won titles, others who have never been given their deserved opportunity, and youngsters whom fate has, treated cruelly.
CLASSIC STYLIST
And for every career, there is a story worthy of inclusion in the long history of boxing's annals.
The burning question that constantly remains unanswered is . . . What
qualifications are required to raise the good boxer into the immortal class ?
Michaelangelo once wrote:
" Trifles make perfection, and Perfection is no trifle."
But surely that is a matter of opinion. The only answer that covers the whole question is —results ! For as I see it, there have been, and still are many who possess the every attribute necessary to a champion's make-up, but lack that extra indefinable quality that bridges the difference between the forgotten man, and the name that springs at once to people's lips.
Harry Mizler, who won the British lightweight title in 1934 at the age of 21, and lost it two years later, was an outstanding example of an athlete once idolised and now remembered by only the few.
Mizler, champion in his 14th professional contest at a time when there was an abundance of class performers, and who retired from the ring as recently as 1945, was the last of a long succession of outstanding Jewish scrappers.
If you pin-point the essentials that constitute a great boxer, Harry had them all.
Boxing ability, punch and ability to take punishment. Mizler was a classic stylist who used with devastating effect the copybook English straight left which most present day fighters are taught, and so few perfect.
After he outpointed Johnny Cuthbert, of Sheffield, to annex the British lightweight crown, Charlie Thomas the referee said that Mizler's left hand was the finest he had seen since the days of Driscoll.
Secondly, Harry was a boxer who used the heavy artillery in his right fist sparingly, but when he unleashed that weapon it usually spelt curtains for his opponent. His ability to spot the split-second opening in his opponent's defence, and at timing a blow were exceptional.
Always handicapped by weak hands Mizler actually broke both knuckles when losing for the first time inside the distance — the first of his contests with Jack Kid Berg.
But in his initial year in the paid ranks he was undefeated in thirteen matches — ten opponents were stopped decisively inside the distance. After damaging his hands Mizler was often rather apprehensive about punching too hard, but even so his record was studded with knock-out victories.
Last but not least, while Mizler was no rugged two-fisted battler hewn from granite, his durability became legend.
His never-say-die performance against the iron-fisted Gustave Humery on an October night in 1935, is still considered today one of the finest displays of gallantry and sheer guts seen in this country.
CAME BACK TO WIN
He won that fight but the manner in which he survived knockdown after knockdown for seven seemingly endless pain-filled rounds, and absorbed enough punishment for ten men, brought tears to the eyes of hardened fight fans.
The only comparison by present day standards (for those who do not remember Humery) is to imagine any middleweight surviving all the punishment Randy Turpin could hand out. Then coming back to stop the Leamington Licker with practically one punch in the eighth round.
But that is what Mizler accompished. Even his corner team begged the East Ender to give up, while only his wonderful lighting spirit enabled him to keep getting up from the canvas where the Frenchman unceremoniously dumped him time and again.
The only man in that vast arena that night who had the same faith was referee Moss Deyong, who was condemned by many at the time for not stopping the unequal struggle to prevent Mizler from sustaining serious injury.
In fact, although Harry gained the decision and lots of glory, he was so badly mauled that he spent the two succeeding months recovering from the effects of the punishment.
If anyone is in a position to comment accurately on Mizler the fighter, it
is his old trainer and inseparable companion Nat Seller. Nat, who has trained as many good boys as he has hairs on his head, supports the theory that Mizler had the ability of a great fighter, and adds " besides his qualities as a boxer he was a remarkably clean living and conscientious lad."
Why, then couldn't Harry go on to capture a World championship, or even retain his British title in that second defence in 1936 ? Perhaps after reading this story you will form your own conclusions.
OVERTAXED STRENGTH
Many factors have contributed to the issue. But even his intimate friends are divided in their opinions. Some say that Mizler's fate changed on the day his hands were seriously damaged, despite the fact that he went on in later years to win some of his greatest battles.
Others feel that the long, backbreaking hours of sweat and toil in the fish market, where he worked to assist his family, between fights, had a disastrous effect on his stamina.
That, I feel, is the likelier explanation, although it is not the full story by any means. To say that Mizler's fighting days were tough in more senses than one, is a sweeping understatement. Frequently young Harry would tumble into bed shortly after a gruelling contest and be up at the crack of dawn to get to the market.
At a time when young fighters need all the rest they can get, the Londoner may well have overtaxed his strength. Some men prefer to throw their careers away, hitting the high spots and enjoying night life, and others . . .? Well, one man's meat is another's poison, or is it merely a vicious circle ?
For all that., the handsome Southerner's record bears close scrutiny. As an amateur he was in a class of his own. winning three A.B.A. titles from bantamweight to lightweight.
He upheld British prestige in international matches, including the 1930 Empire Games in Canada, and represented his country in the 1932 Olympics at Los Angeles. That year he did not bring back a title, but for a nineteen-year-old youngster — one of only three British representatives who all failed — his performance was none the less worthy.
On professional programmes Mizler lost only sixteen fights in about eighty contests, against some of the best men in both the light and welterweight divisions, during eleven years of hectic competition. Harry fought regularly every year, but remember the war years severely handicapped all fighters who were eligible for military service. Mizler
himself was an instructor in the Royal Air Force and had little time for fighting his own battles.
But the East End battler utilised his prize money sensibly. After seeing to the welfare of his family he left the fish trade and set himself up in a fashionable gown salon. Today he and his wife Betty have a flourishing concern at Golders Green.
COMPARED WITH DRISCOLL
Surely that is an object lesson to the young boxers of current times.Remember, fifteen years ago, promising talent or " big names " could not command the heavy purses that leading promoters can pay them today. It is perhaps easy to point here and there in Mizler's fine record and say " He was unbeatable that night," or " that was one long thrill." There was for example his contest with the American "midget bulldozer " Al Roth, in 1937, which John Harding of the National Sporting Club considers
His greatest promotion.
Harding proved his matchmaking ability that night by pairing two fine athletes with contrasting styles. Mizler's display in taming the tough Roth, who fought the World champion three times, was compared with Driscoll at his best, and the fight itself considered the most memorable since Driscoll v. Charles Ledoux.
Then there was his points victory over Alby Day, one of the most stirring battles ever promoted at the -old Devonshire Club. His brilliant knock-out of Norman Snow, and the Gustave Humery epic.
COACHES YOUNGSTERS
Yet Harry, looking back, smiles and comments: " They all came the same to me. I didn't bother myself with reputations. I just trained hard, and dealt with each one according to
his merits. After all, an opponent in the ring only has two arms and two legs, the same as you."
The former champion's boxing interests these days are limited because of business demands, but he still finds time to visit local youth clubs to show the lads the advantages of leading with an old English straight left,rather than the jaw first technique—and who better to teach them
Part 2
TRAINING, training and still more training is Harry Mizler's advice to the championship aspirant. And you can take that from a fighter who practised what he now preaches.
It is so easy for a naturally good fighter to be led astray and dismiss training as something that can be fitted in between times. Many champions in the past have erred in this way.
When William Muldoon, a well-known physical culturist, was prevailed uponto get a drink-sodden John L. Sullivan into shape he found the task so difficult that on one occasion he had to use force on the great champion.
But not every trainer is in a position to knock his charge about. Muldoon,fortunately, understood Judo — but Nat Seller had only to suggest something and he could regard it as already done.
Nat who combined his duties with that of confidant-cum-guardian angel, speaks highly of Mizler's willingness : " If I wanted him in the gymnasium at 6 a.m. or midnight, he would be there on time. He was always anxious to do his best.
Of course Harry was fortunate in having Seller, whom he had known since boyhood days as a neighbour in St. Georges. Fifteen years Mizler's senior,Nat was old enough to command his respect — already at the age of twenty-one he had trained a champion—at the same time being young enough to act as companion.
But young Mizler always had a shrewd boxing brain both inside and outside the ring, and needed little urging to do what he knew was right.
LOVED HIS FAMILY
Harry became an addition to the Mizler family of two boys and two girls,in the year before the first World War. In the happy but tough early days — with an invalid father and mother who seemed to do everything for them — he developed a deep affection for the intimate circle that was his family.
Most fighters are a generous and warm-hearted section of the community,but Mizler's deep-rooted love of his family is exceptional, and he has proved it many times.
Seller tells of the few occasions that Mizler trained out of London, with a touch of good natured resignation : " When his mind should have been free of care, he would be worried stiff. On the road he would stop at practically every telephone box to ring home and make certain that nothing had gone wrong."
Harry, or Hymie as his parents called him, also had a deep respect for his brothers Judah and Morris, both keen scrappers. The former boxed in local amateur circles. while Moe Mizler turned professional to help his parents' business in Watney Street, Stepney, and boxed with considerable success at the famous "Premierland."
There were four years difference between the brothers and each passed on his boxing knowledge to his immediate junior. Consequently Harry benefited considerably from Moe's Instruction.
The youngest Mizler's first club was the Berners Street School Old Boys,and at the age of ten he gained some experience in scrapping with boys of his own size. But there was little opportunity for improvement—places like the Judean Club in the East End had finished and there was little organised instruction or suitable competition.
When the school closed down, and the club with it, he continued to learn from Moe and eventually moved to Oxford and St. George's B.C.
At fourteen, turning the scales at 1st. 71b., he began his association with the fight game. A few months on the right side of the age limit,he won a London Federation of Boys' Clubs championship and a Stepney Boys' Club title. Although unable to get about easily, his father went_ to watch him in every contest and his presence spurred young Harry to greater heights.
In 1929 and 1930 he won Federation of Boy’s Clubs titles at bantamweight. In the latter year he went on to narrowly capture the championship at the same weight, beating W. Jackson of St. Pancras B.C. on a casting vote. At seventeen, he was then the youngest boxer to win a senior A.B.A.
Strangely enough, he won that title before winning a junior honour.
EMPIRE GAMES SUCCESS.
When the first championship preliminaries began, Mizler was not quite seventeen and so ineligible for the senior competition. Instead he plunged wholeheartedly into the junior Federation tournament but halfway through the series he became seventeen and entered the A.B.A. championships.
Harry won that title and in view of that success was moved straight through to the junior final, which he won also. But as he says today, I had to — it just wouldn't have lone for the men's champion to lose .Wouldn’t have done for the men’s champion to lose to a boy”.
Because of his success, Harry was ,elected to represent Great Britain in the Empire Games held that year in Ontario, Canada. He emerged as me of the Mother Country's four winners — others were Frank Meacham, Fred Mallin and Tony Stuart — coming away with bantamweight honours.
As the youngest member of the team Harry was thrilled by the occasion and was looked after by he others, so to this day he remembers the visit to Canada as one of his greatest thrills. While he was here he won several " friendly contests " and travelled across the border into the United States for a visit.
On his return he was selected for he A.B.A. team to meet Ireland, and won contests in Dublin and Belfast. He did not defend his title the following year and instead challenged for the feathers crown. But he suffered a rare setback Then he lost to an old Oxford and St. George's B.C. rival and " bogeynen," Benny Caplan. However, the next season he achieved his ambition by outpointing Frank Frost in the final.
DAMAGED HAND VICTORY
Harry had come a long way since he first began winning fights at fourteen. Then he was a raw, two-fisted bustler with more enthusiasm than style, but by now brother Moe's lessons, plus his natural head for boxing, were paying rich dividends.
For the Olympic Games at Los Angeles that year (1932) Britain was represented by Harry, Tommy Pardoe and Dave McCleave. The trio returned without a laurel wreath between them, but for a nineteen year-old in such class company,experts reckoned the St. George's boxer had acquitted himself extremely well. He was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the American Nat Bor.
At this stage in his career the “baby" of the Miner family wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps and turn professional. But he was dissuaded and told to bring home he A.B.A. lightweight championship first.
So 1933 saw him fighting his way through to the finals, In doing so misplaced a bone in his right hand, but Professor A. E. Shakesby an eminent osteopath, was secretly called in. While waiting between bouts Mizler sat in a box at the Albert Hall with his hand plastered and tightly bandaged.
In the final he defeated twenty year-old Ernie Smith, of St. Andrew's B.C., Dublin, whom he had outpointed in the feathers semi-final the previous year.
His victory — he was later described as " The Master Boxer " - made him the only champion to emerge that night with an unblemished record. And so he emulated Fred Webster in winning titles at three different weights.
Now, with more than 150 trophies to his credit, he considered himself capable of facing and triumphing over the rigours of the paid ranks.
With Nat Seller he visited Ted Broadribb, who was then matchmaker to Jeff Dickson. They discussed Harry's potentialities, but 'Ted was not thrilled at young Mizler's prospects,although he offered him engagements as a preliminary boy.
The amateur champion and his friend then went to see the late Victor Berliner, general manager of the Blackfriars ''Ring." He arranged for Harry to box fortnightly there, so Mizler joined the same stable as amateur champions Pat Palmer and Dave McCleave.
On June 4, 1934, he entered a public ring without his amateur vest for the first time. A large crowd at the Ring that Sunday afternoon were curious to see how he would shape in his pro debut. His opponent was Bob Lamb, a tough scrapper from Sunderland. They didn't have long to. wait. It took the debutant just 2 min. 13 sec. to dispose of his opponent !
BRILLIANT PRO DEBUT
At the opening bell Mizler came out of his corner fast, meeting Lamb halfway, and sent over three swift jabs to the face. The Sunderland man poked out his own left and Mizler scored with the same punch again. The Londoner then sent his opponent staggering back with a beautifully timed left-right combination, to the jaw.
Lamb desperately threw a left hook to the body, but that was the last aggressive action he took in the contest.
Mizler tore in with a dozen clean lefts and rights to the jaw which sent Lamb down for a count of " three," but before he could box on he collapsed for another eight seconds.
He was given no respite and met another barrage of punches that sent him sagging to the canvas again for " eight." By the time he took another eight seconds count the crowd were shouting 'stop it," but a perfectly timed left and right cross sent him down, out to the wide. The referee stopped counting at three and signalled that Mizler was the victor.
Off to a brilliant start, Mizler now aroused even greater interest. He looked the goods, the crowd reasoned, but was he just a flash in the pan.
Name: Jack Gardner
Career Record: click
Nationality: British
Hometown: Market Harborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Born: 1926-11-06
Died: 1978-11-11
Age at Death: 52
Gardner won the 1948 ABA Heavyweight title. He also represented Great Britain at the 1948 London Olympic games.
http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/pag ... p982p.aspx
Jack Gardner was born in 1926 at Market Harborough, England. He began boxing while in the Grenadier Guards in the British Army during the 1940s and won the Army and Imperial Services Titles in 1948 as well as the ABA Heavyweight Title. Gardner looked tall, but I don't know how tall he was, had to be over six feet. He weighed anywhere from 198 to 221 pounds during his career. He was one of the best punchers in the heavyweight division and was never KO'd during his career (he lost two by TKO, one due to cuts).
He made his professional debut in 1948 when he defeated three men on the same night in a novice tournament. Gardner won all three fights by knockout in the first round. He was a slow mover but had a good left hand. Gardner won ten more fights, and he won five fights by KO in the first round during his career.
Gardner defeated Johnny Williams in 1950 in one of the most grueling fights ever staged in Britain after both men had to spent a night in a hospital. He won the British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator and the fight was christened the "Bloodbath of the Midlands". Gardner then became a contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1950, even being rated above Rocky Marciano, the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Gardner challenged Bruce Woodcock in 1950 for the British and Empire Heavyweight Championship, defeating him by TKO after eleven rounds. Afterwards, Gardner defeated Jo Weidin on points after fifteen rounds in 1951 for the European Heavyweight Championship. He then lost his European title to Hein Ten Hoff later that year after fifteen rounds and lost his British and Empire titles to Johnny Williams on points in 1952, retiring from boxing.
However, he made a comeback in 1954 with a series of victories and Gardner knocked out Williams after five rounds in 1955 in a British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator. However, he was finally defeated in 1956 by TKO after two rounds with Joe Bygraves. He then retired from boxing at age twenty - nine.
Gardner had a record of 28 wins, 23 by KO, and 6 losses, 2 by TKO.
Williams Sneaks Heavy Crown
Gardner Made fight, But Lost Verdict
Boxing News March 19, 1952
There should be no European, or even more ambitious , title plans for newly-crowned British and Empire Heavyweight champion Johnny Williams, points winner over Jack Gardner
After fifteen rough and rugged rounds at the Exhibition Hall, Earls Court. So narrow and so debatable was his winning margin of points an early return with the ex-Guardsman should be his first objective.
The argument as to who is the better man remains unsolved, even after 27 punishing rounds. On this occasion we gave Gardner eight rounds, Williams six, with one even, and can only assume that Gardner's failure to capture referee Jack Hart's points verdict was due to a large extent on his tactics of puling his man on to rights–an offence for which he was frequently warned. But there was only one aggressor: Gardner. Throughout he chased Williams and although a number of his punches were badly directed, especially his right, it was his work that made what little action there was, and on that score alone he appeared to have done enough to gain the verdict.
Williams certainly heeded the lesson of their Leicester battle nearly two years ago, when he foolishly started swapping punches with Gardner. Had he fallen into a similar trap on this occasion Gardner would have won inside the distance, so much harder was his punching.
Instead, when Williams was hurt he either, back-pedalled and shot out lefts or fell into a clinch, where Gardner, failing to use his weight advantage of 20 lb., showed once again his reluctance to punch away to the body. There was little or no in- fighting and invariably the clinches developed into clumsy entanglements to be broken up by the referee, and thus Gardner's opportunities were allowed to slip away.
Spectators with hopes that this return would be as thrilling as their memorable Leicester fight were disappointed, for they had to be content with fourteen rounds of hard but unspectacular battling and only three minutes of fireworks—the last round when Gardner, following up his advantages for the first time, had Williams hard-pressed on the ropes.
Bells and hunting horns accompanied the fanfares that greeted first Williams and then Gardner into the ring, and as they came together for the referee's instructions it was plain to see Gardner's advantages in height and reach. Gardner scaled 15st. 4lb. and
Williams 13st. 12.11b.
The fight took the generally expected course in the first four rounds,with Williams' speed and snappy left leading checking Gardner's attacks. Early in the third a trickle of blood under Gardner's left eye roused him into an attack and the two good left hooks to Williams' head were the best punches thus far.
Gardner received a warning for pulling his opponent on to a punch early in the fourth and Williams maintained his speedy left leading for most of the round. Certainly picking up the points and Increasing his early lead, but never once shaking the tough Gardner.
The fifth clearly showed Gardners lack of in-fighting. He rocked Williams with a right hook, but when Williams moved in close Gardner fire petered out and the crisis was over.
Williams blows although outnumbered by Gardner's were certainly better directed, as was shown in the sixth when he twice hurt Gardner with two good rights as he moved forward, but they failed to halt or even stem Gardner's pressure
Rounds seven and eight apart of course from the last were Gardner's best. His right eye was now badly swollen, but he chased Williams all the time, admittedly taking flicking lefts, but handing out some severe punishment in the form of long rights.
The initiative swayed in Williams favour in the ninth, when he rocked Gardner with two perfect rights to the jaw — possibly the best two punches of the fight. This switch in fortunes was repeated in the tenth, when Williams stabbing left was again prominent and this forced Gardner to vary his attack in the eleventh to straighter punching, with a good deal of success.
Gardner bleeding badly from the mouth as well as from cuts near both eyes, forced Williams out of the fight in the twelfth and thirteenth, shaking him badly with a left hook to the law, but once again Williams sought a close-quarter berth and recovered.Conserving their efforts for the last round led to a tame fourteen, with plenty of clinches and the best punch —a good right hook — coming from Gardner.
Then came the fifteenth, with more action packed into that three minutes than the rest of the fight put together. Midway through the round a long right and left to the head drove Williams to the ropes, and Gardner followed up with another long left that made Williams stagger.
As he shot out lefts in an effort to check Gardner's attack. the final bell sounded and without hesitation the hand of a badly shaken Williams was raised.