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My Five Favourite Boxers of All Time by Ross Dix-Peek
My Five Favourite Boxers of All Time
By
Ross Dix-Peek
When I think of Great boxers, five names immediately come to mind. I call them boxers, but they were really street-fighters, brawlers, almost primal in their intensity and resolve. These Great pugilists were not aware of the existence of the word, "surrender". They were ruthless, unrelenting and unforgiving, and absolutely magnificent to behold. I speak of Jack Dempsey "The Manassa Mauler"; Rocky Marciano "The Brockton Blockbuster"; that awesome Panamanian, Roberto Duran; "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, and Don McCorkindale, one of South Africa's Greatest fighters of all time.
Let us cast our minds back over eighty years, to the 1920s, and the first among my Pantheon of Greats, William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey. If any man ever epitomized the word "Tough", it was this raw-boned fury from Manassa Colorado.
Known as the "Manassa Mauler", Jack Dempsey began to ply his trade in the mining towns of Colorado and Utah, earning a paltry $3. 50 for his first "official" fight, in August 1914.
Although Dempsey was quite useful with his fists, it was Jack "Doc" Kearns, a distinguished boxing manager, who really kick-started Dempsey's career. Under Kearns, Dempsey began what can only be described as the decimation of the Boxing fraternity, leaving Fred Fulton, Battling Levinsky, Carl Morris and Gunboat Smith in his wake.
"The Manassa Mauler" had arrived.
He was now earmarked as a serious contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
There was an obstacle however, and a gargantuan one at that, a certain Jess Willard.
Jess Willard, a farmer from Kansas, was a big man, indeed.
Known as the "The Pottawatomie Giant", he stood 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 240 lbs, which equates to 111 kilograms.
Conversely, Dempsey stood at just over 6 feet tall, seven inches shorter than his opponent, and was, quite astonishingly, no-less than 56 lbs lighter than the giant from Kansas.
And when they met in the ring for the title bout in Toledo, Ohio, on the 4 July 1919, Dempsey resembled a mere boy, not a man, in contrast to the towering physique of Jess Willard, the Heavyweight Champion of the World.
But Jack Dempsey had no qualms about his opponent's advantage in size, and made light of it, even going so far as to bet his entire purse on a first-round victory; now that is sheer audacity for you.
Well, what transpired is that the "Pottawatomie Giant" was given a telling lesson in boxing from the "Manassa Mauler".
Dempsey proceeded to knock the courageous Willard down no-less than seven times in only the first round, with a display of primordial ferocity.
Willard battled on spiritedly but finally succumbed in the third.
Jack Dempsey, the lumberjack from Colorado, was the new Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Dempsey then began a whirlwind of activity, defending his title no-less than three times in ten months, which included his million-dollar bout (boxing's first) against the Frenchman, Georges Carpentier, a War Hero and the Darling of the French Nation. Dempsey destroyed Carpentier, knocking him out in the fourth round.
He then fought intermittently, successfully defending his title against Gibbons and Firpo, before facing his nemesis, James Joseph "Gene" Tunney, the ex-marine from Greenwich Village, New York, in Philadelphia, in September 1926.
Suffice it to say he lost, and suffered the same fate a year later in a rematch, the famous "Battle of the Long Count", when Dempsey knocked Tunney to the floor, only to stand over him instead of obeying the newly instituted rule which decreed that a fighter retire to a neutral corner during the duration of the count.
Tunney used the reprieve to full advantage, and won on points.
If only Dempsey had adhered to the new rule...but, as they say, hindsight is an exact science.
Nevertheless, nothing can detract from Dempsey's Aura of Pugilistic Greatness. He was simply the best fighter of his day, winning 59 of his 79 bouts, suffering only six losses, eight draws and six No-decisions, while also holding the much-prized title of Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1919 until 1926.
Now, on to another Demon of the ring, Rocco Francis "Rocky" Marciano. Marciano, or as was his real surname, Marchegiano, was truly something special, infinitely unique.
A warrior to the core, Marciano took to boxing relatively late in life, when twenty-three years-of-age.
His lack of subtlety and technical acumen can probably be attributed to this late start in the world of boxing, for he never mastered more than the rudiments of his chosen vocation.
But, what he lacked in technique, was more than compensated for by pure unbridled grit and determination.
In addition, his trainer, Charley Goldman, a former bantamweight with an incredible 300 fights to his credit, knew that his protege was an instinctive brawler rather than a natural boxer, and wisely focused upon Marciano's strengths rather than his shortcomings.
A person only has to glance at a picture of Marciano to see the raw physical power and toughness of the man. And although he was the shortest in stature of all the modern heavyweights champions of the Boxing Ring (he stood over 5 feet 10 Inches tall), it was his unrivalled reservoir of pure unadulterated punching power that made him unstoppable.
Marciano began his professional boxing debut in 1947, and using his devastatingly effective short hooks and uppercuts, proceeded to obliterate all eleven opponents during his first year as a professional. He was subsequently afforded the opportunity of capturing Jersey Joe Walcott's world title. The bout took place in Philadelphia on the 23 September 1952, and it was obvious from the very outset that Walcott had not read the script. He floored Marciano in the first round, and continued to box superlatively, foiling Marciano's attacks round after round.
It seemed an inauspicious beginning to Marciano's bid for boxing glory, but that was before the advent of the 13th round.
What followed has been described as the hardest single punch of Rocky Marciano's entire career as a fighter.
A rematch with Walcott followed, but the aging Walcott was no match for Marciano, and was knocked-out in the first round.
While champion, Marciano's toughest opponent proved to be the former champion Ezzard Charles, whom he fought twice, the latter bout almost being his undoing, but it was recourse to that one powerful punch that again saved Marciano from the jaws of defeat.
"The Brockton Blockbuster", as he was known, after his place of birth, went on to stave off further challenges to his title, before unexpectedly retiring in April 1956, sadly losing his life in a plane crash on the 31 August 1969. This boxer nonpareil, this Demigod of the ring, not only had 49 professional bouts to his credit, including seven wins as Heavyweight Champion of the World, but he never lost a fight; not one.
Enter Roberto Duran; Man of steel. A natural street-fighter, Duran is a product of Chorillo, a disease-infested slum-bed on the east side of the Panama Canal.
Duran, also known as "Mano de Piedra" ("Hand of Stone"), turned professional at the age of fifteen, and won the World Boxing Association's (WBA) Lightweight Title from Scotland's Ken Buchanan, when only 21 years-of-age.
This ferocious fighter then moved up to the Welterweight division, winning the World Boxing Committee's (WBC) Welterweight title in 1980 from none other than Sugar Ray Leonard.
The rematch left much to be desired however, as Duran quit the fight with the words, "No mas, no mas" ("No more, no more").
Although his capitulation during the fight left his reputation in tatters, Panama's version of "Rambo" duly went on to win the World Boxing Association's (WBA) Light-Middleweight Title in 1983, and in 1989, at the age of thirty-eight, surprised all-and-sundry by beating Iran Barkley, and assumed the mantle of the WBC's Middleweight Champion of the World.
This incredible boxer just kept on fighting, due in part to a huge unpaid tax bill owed to the Panamanian Government, but finally retired from the ring in January 2002, with an amazing professional record of 119 fights, of which he won 103, seventy of them ending in knockouts!
Hailed in 2002, by Ring magazine, as the fifth Greatest fighter of the last eighty years, Roberto Duran is a Boxing Icon, a Man among Men, the very personification of a Champion.
And then, of course, there is Marvelous Marvin Hagler! Granite-faced and irrepressible, Hagler dominated the Middleweight division for a decade. Although born in Newark, New Jersey, his mother moved the family to Brockton, Massachusetts, the home town of Rocky Marciano.
Trained and managed by the Petronelli brothers, Goody and Pat, Hagler had to earn his laurels the hard way.
This accomplished pugilist, at ease with either a southpaw or orthodox stance, had to fight an incredible 50 bouts, of which he only lost two, before he was even considered a contender for the world title.
He was finally given his chance in 1979 against the champion Vito Antuofermo, but alas, it was not to be, Hagler being held to a contentious draw.
However, he did not have to wait long, beating the British champion Alan Minter the following year to take the World Middleweight title.
He went on to defend the title twelve times (1980-1987), which included a brutal yet absolutely captivating encounter with Thomas Hearns, the latter considered the fiercest puncher of his generation.
During his boxing career, Hagler seemed indestructible, a superman, able to endure immense punishment without succumbing.
It is rather tragic that the end of his illustrious career had to take the form of a fiercely controversial verdict against the egocentric Sugar Ray Leonard, but his awesome record speaks for itself; 67 fights, with just three losses, and two draws.
This superlative athlete then accomplished what so many boxers have failed to do, retiring from boxing (and remaining thus) while at the top, and so keeping his reputation intact. As a boxer, Marvelous Marvin haggler was quite simply, sublime.
My pantheon of great fighters would not be complete without one of South Africa's greatest fighters of yesteryear, Don McCorkindale.
Born in Pretoria, South Africa, on the 16 August 1904, the 6 foot I inch McCorkindale won the British Amateur Boxing Association's light-heavyweight title in 1926, before representing South Africa as a light-heavyweight in the 1928 Olympic Games, held in Amsterdam, finishing just shy of the podium, in fourth position, and was also the South African Heavyweight Champion from 1930 - 1933.
Indefatigable and ceaseless, MCCorkindale fought some of the great names of his generation, including the Canadian Larry Gains (whom he fought twice),Young Stribling, George Cook, Walter Neusel, Kingfish Levinsky, Paulo Uzcudun and the Italian and former heavyweight champion of the world, Primo Carnera, a huge man, known as the "Ambling Alp" and the "Man Moutain", the fight lasting the full ten rounds.
McCorkindale also did a bit of acting, appearing in "We're Going To Be Rich" (1938), in which film he took the part of "Killer".
Although a superb warrior and athlete, this wonderful boxer is virtually unknown in his country of birth, South Africa; which constitutes a travesty, to say the least.
So, Hats off to my five favorite boxers of all time; Dempsey, Marciano, Duran, Hagler and McCorkindale.
What all of these truly amazing fighters had in common is that they were tough, fearless, unremitting, and single-minded in purpose and intensity. Boxing history would truly have been the poorer, but for these majestic King's of the boxing-ring, these men of steel!
About the Author
Born in Salisbury, Rhodesia, in 1970. Resident in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Archivist by profession and Freelance writer. Interested in History, Military History, the English Language and its etymology,Books, and other pursuits. contact details: e-mail address- dix-peek@webmail.co.za
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