Walker bulled his way inside and hammered away at Shade’s body before the Californian surprised him with three straight lefts to the face. Two rights sent Walker to the ropes but he fought back fiercely as Shade closed in, and a further body attack sent Dave into his defensive crouch. Round two and Walker charged across the ring to hammer both hands to the body again. Shade was glad to clinch. Mickey tore himself free but an overhand right shook him and a right uppercut turned him halfway round before the bell.
The crowd was in an uproar; this was already a good fight. Into round three and a Walker left hook staggered Shade and a following right to the jaw almost floored the challenger. They clinched and Shade fought his way out, sending three lefts to Mickey’s face, then a hard right before the bell.
In round four Walker continued to hammer away at Shade’s body and Dave jumped into a clinch every time Mickey came in punching. A strong right to the jaw rocked Shade and a beautiful left almost decked him. He was coming back with a smart right uppercut at the bell. Starting the fifth, the champion cracked over a wicked left to the head that almost floored Shade. Dave fought back and they swapped leather at a furious pace with the crowd going crazy.
In round six the challenger opened up a serious attack on the champion. Trading effectively with both hands, Walker put over a vicious right square to Shade’s face that sent the challenger back on his heels. Four times Walker landed to the head without a return. Another left caught Shade off balance and he almost fell. The crowd was in a frenzied uproar as the fight assumed faster proportions. Both landed vicious blows to head and body as the bell halted a furious exchange.
Coming out for the seventh round, Shade was bleeding from the mouth and a cut under his right eye. Walker scored left and right to the head before they clinched. Then Shade flashed a right to the head and Walker reeled to the ropes, where a savage uppercut jarred him. Both landed smashing blows as they slugged away in the center of the ring before the bell gave them, and the fans, a minute’s rest.
Into round eight and Walker was at Shade like a terrier at a rat, and a vicious left hook to the body bent Dave in half. A following left to the head spun him around, then Walker was hammering at his ribs with thudding blows from either hand. Just before the bell another body shot doubled the Californian over.
Coming out for round nine, Dave jammed his left into Walker’s oncoming face and spun him halfway around before he could get his punches off. Mickey smashed a left to the body that staggered Dave, but he punched back and the champion was wild with a swinging left. Shade was having the best of it, and three times his jab sent Mickey’s head back on his shoulders. It was a good round for Mr. Shade. So was the tenth. Shade staggered Walker with a stiff right to the head. He came up with an uppercut and the champion came up with a bleeding mouth. Both blasted away viciously to the head, Shade getting the better of the battling. Shade landed to the head, then three uppercuts rocked Walker’s head. Shade forced Walker to the corner and poured leather at the champion from all directions. The champion came back strong, however, and forced Shade into a clinch as the bell ended the round.
Dave had come in tight at the weight and the ferocious pace was telling on him. For the most part he had cast aside the dodging, weaving defense by which he had often baffled opponents in other fights. He had traded punches toe to toe with the champion. It was a game at which Walker was highly proficient and the change in tactics spelled defeat for the crafty Californian.
At the bell for round eleven, Teddy Hayes sent Walker out to finish the fight. Mickey tried. He staggered Shade with a heavy left to the head and raked his body with savage hooks from either hand, but Dave stood his ground and caught Walker left and right to the face. They were both bloodied as the bell sent them back to their corners.
Round twelve and both fighters feeling the pace, there were more clinches and Referee Haley was a busy man, separating them so that they could come back punching. They did, Shade jabbing to the face, bringing the blood from Mickey’s eye again. But the champion was fighting for his life now and he forced his way inside again, where his hammering fists wracked Shade’s body.
The thirteenth and Walker put a vicious right to the body that creased Shade. Mickey was doing good work inside with Shade now lying back looking for a knockout. But as Joe Williams would write, “Walker knows now that Shade’s new knockout punch is no knockout punch at all. Shade hit Walker just as hard as he ever hit Jimmy Slattery but Walker was never in distress. Walker, unlike Slattery, does not possess a china chin.”
In the fourteenth round they rushed to the ropes in a clinch and Shade had a little advantage at close quarters. Both stung with rights to the head. Walker continued his body punches. Both of Shade’s eyes appeared to be cut as he came out of a clinch. Walker missed three leads. A weak right grazed Shade’s face. He staggered Walker with a counter right. Shade’s crouching tactics had Walker at sea.
Walker measured Shade with a right but the bell prevented the blow.
As the bell brought them out for the fifteenth and final round, Walker had more left in his tank than Shade had in his, and he set up a nonstop, two-fisted attack that almost chased Dave Shade clear out of the stadium. The crowd was on its feet for the entire three minutes as the champion fought for his life, hammering the challenger around the ring until it seemed he must go down.
In a United News dispatch, columnist Westbrook Pegler wrote, “For wild, reckless ferocity, this fight can only be compared to the one between Jack Dempsey and Luis Angel Firpo.... Joe Humphreys climbed through the ropes, collected the little voting slips from the referee and the two judges and, amid a throbbing silence that held the vast crowd, announced, ‘The winner and still champion of the world, Mickey Walker.’
“One prominent fan bet on Walker and stood to win $1,200 if the champion retained his title,” reported United Press sports editor Henry L. Farrell. “Yet in the tenth round he laid off as much money as he could, thinking that Shade was going to win and he ended up $60 out on the fight.”
Some years later Dave Shade would say, “Walker gave me all my hardest fights. He was no tougher than Ace Hudkins, but a lot smarter. Walker was smartly managed, too. Jack Bulger, and later, Jack Kearns, did a lot to keep Mickey up around the top.”
Trawling through the newspapers the day after the Shade fight, Mickey came across an item that gladdened his Irish heart: WALKER A REAL CHAMP—CORBETT. In an exclusive for the Universal News Service, James J. Corbett, the legendary former heavyweight champion of the world, had written, “Mickey Walker is a real champion. Let there be no doubt about that.... Walker won the decision and it was a fair verdict.... It was his wonderful boxing rather than his wallop that won for Walker.”
Jack Kearns and his Toy Bulldog were big winners with this fight. Doc had negotiated a $100,000 guarantee for Mickey to defend the title against Dave Shade. When he met Mickey a couple of nights after the bout, Doc handed him a check for $96,000. All he had taken out was $4,000 for training expenses. Mickey didn’t even look at the check, but just stuffed it in his pocket. A few days later Doc received a letter which contained a note and a check. Mickey’s note said, “Dear Doc, Everything we do is 50–50. Yours, Mickey.” The check was for $48,000.
(by John Jarrett)
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(Mickey Walker and Dave Shade met for this World Welterweight Title fight on September 21st 1925 at Yankee Stadium, New York. The pair had met twice before in non-title bouts sharing a result each.)
