Joe Jordan

Joe Jordan, Rochester husky, came back after three trips to the canvas to stop Tony (Kid) Dyke, North Side German, in the third round. The Flower City puncher, who once performed on the gridiron for Holy Cross College under his family name of Joe Lillich, ran flush into one of Dyke's killing rights in the first round, and barely managed to reach his feet before the count of 10. He was down twice in the second, but managed to weather the storm. Dyke tired and when Jordan began propelling blows that carried steam in the third Dyke dropped face downward and was counted out. It was a great bout...

This boy Jordan who finished off Kid Dyke came in as a last minute substitute for George Levine, Brooklyn veteran who failed to pass the club doctor's examination. Jordan left Rochester at 6:30 o'clock and hastened to the Arena in a taxicab in time to change into ring togs and crawl through the ropes.

After Pordan [sic] had rallied from a bad beating and stopped the hard hitting North Sider, fans began to wonder just who the visitor was. He started in the amateur boxing ranks in 1929 while a student at Hly [sic] Cross and the same year won the New England A. A. U. light heavyweight title. In 1930 he turned professional, but was driven from the game by injuries suffered in an automobile accident. Two vertebra in his back were broken and he was confined in a cast in a hospital for several months.

In 1931 he became athletic director at the Memphis Y. M. C. A., and the following year decided on a ring return. In February of 1932 he engaged Battling Bozo, then an outstanding negro fighter in the Southland and dropped his foe for the full count in the first round. Some of the other boys Jordan has whipped are Bob Towe, Young Firpo, Eddie Simms, Tommy Hambrich and Tom Davenport.

Syracuse Herald, Tuesday evening, August 22, 1933