Appreciating the past puts the present in perspective

Date: 28th May 2010 at 12:30 am
Written by Boxing Head

Willie Pep against Terranova in February 1945

Let me just say, I’m not such a great historian of boxing.

I know about certain events, but I am not good with specific records, champions, etc. So I was talking to my grandpa about Floyd Mayweather and how my Grandpa sees Floyd as the second chapter of Muhammad Ali, amazing skills, loud mouth, and disrespectful to everyone. So as we went through the history of boxing, he was giving me names of some greats from back in the day and I was looking them up. He didn’t remember their numbers and was shocked that I could find them on the computer!

We’ve all heard the tales of Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier, Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones, and so many others. But the fighters below are extremely overlooked and under appreciated for their massive impact on our sport. Some of these stats will blow your mind.

Willie Pep was a featherweight fighter who throughout his career achieved a record of 230 wins & 11 loses from 1940-1966. He was known for his finesse and ability to slip punches and there is a story that’s been passed down that no one really knows the reliability of, that Willie Pep once won a round without throwing a single punch. Some boxing historians said he slipped punches the whole round and made his opponent look foolish. Other boxing historians say he started out in that style but wasn’t able to go the whole round without punching. Others say the story is a myth and that Pep was throwing and landing punches.

Mickey Walker was a fighter who started at Welterweight and moved himself through the ranks, eventually winning the heavyweight title despite never weighing over 180lbs. He got off the mat to beat a 210lbs heavyweight when he was a 168lbs middleweight and he also beat a 223lbs heavyweight when he was a 175lbs. That’s a 42 and 48lbs weight disadvantage respectively. From what I heard, weight classes meant nothing to this guy.

I’m sure many of you know Archie Moore had 131 knockouts throughout his career. As if his 185-23 record wasn’t astonishing enough, Moore also fought in to his mid 40′s where he wasn’t he prime self. If he would have retired at a younger age, he wouldn’t have the losses to Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, and others. But his skills were by no means deteriorating at that point. The last 10 fights of his career he achieved a 7-2-1 record. In today’s day and age, that may not be considered a decent record but for a fighter in his mid 40′s fighting top competition, that’s an amazing way to end an already great career.

Most of us know the great Sugar Ray Robinson. Known for his amazing speed, power, and boxing ability, Robinson finished his career 173-19 with 103 knockouts. He was only stopped one time in his career out of 19 loses, retiring on his stool prior to the 14th round against Joey Maxim in 105 Degree heat.

But possibly the most amazing and also tragic story about Ray Robinson is that on June 24, 1947 in his fight with Jimmie Doyle, Robinson caught Doyle with a lead left hook and he crashed to the canvas immediately. He was rushed to the hospital after he didn’t regain consciousness and was later pronounced dead. Ray reports that he tried to back out prior to the fight because he had a dream that he killed someone in a boxing match.

Jimmy Wilde was possibly the greatest ‘small fighter’ of all time. He fought at Flyweight and had amazing knockout power. Out of his 138 career wins, 100 came via knockout. With 138 career wins, he only lost 5 fights; 3 loses were by knockout and 2 were by decision. But take into consideration he was fighting in a time where boxing matches went on until someone was knocked out. If a fighter wasn’t knocked out the fight was ruled a No Decision but there were newspaper reporters who would form a decision from ringside and declare one of the fighters as the winner although it would not be recognized as an official win.

So his 3 loses by knockout are somewhat misleading. It is reported that he was knocked out in his final professional fight, losing his title, and announced his retirement shortly after.

I will most likely be updating this as I notice more astonishing fighters, records, and statistics.