Sept. 1908.
Newspapers compared Stanley Ketchel to Jim Jeffries, who would be refereeing him the match, labelling him “the pugilistic marvel of the decade, ranking as prominently today as Jeffries ranked in his prime.” 'The Evening World' labelled him “another Fitzsimmons, the greatest of the modern fistic artists.” The World also knew Billy Papke. “It will be a desperate scrap.”
Billy’s ring walk was almost Zen-like, “a broad smile on his features, in excellent humour with himself and all the world…he was almost childlike in his supreme confidence,” (The LA Herald).
Within three minutes of the opening bell, the fight was over as a competitive battle. In a hellish first round, Papke knocked Ketchel down for the nine count no less than three times. Ketchel, hurt initially by a right hand smash to the bridge of his nose, was dropped five times in total. Already bleeding from the nose, mouth, and a bad cut over his rapidly closing right eye, he needed the aid of his seconds to make it back to his stool.
“When Ketchel stepped to the center for the second round it was seen that his right eye was closed. At the next intermission his seconds lanced the socket and sucked the blood, but Ketchel never regained the sight of his right eye. Before the finish the other eye was all about closed, and for the last three rounds he staggered about the ring dizzy, like a drunken man, virtually blind.” – Jay Davidson, Los Angeles Herald
Papke, a hard-nosed, unforgiving fighter, grinned and laughed as he piled up the damage, but he struggled to put over a finishing blow as Ketchel battled gamely to survive. In the clinches, where much of the battle was fought, Ketchel spat blood that dripped down Papke’s body.
In the eighth, Ketchel was brutalised horribly, shipping multiple flush headshots, blood now pouring from his nose. The 1900’s crowd began to call for the fight’s end, a rarity for the era. Both men were smothered in Ketchel’s blood. By the ninth both of Ketchel’s eyes were shut and he staggered blindly about the ring as Papke thrashed him.
In the tenth, The San Fransisco Call describes Ketchel’s face as “barely human looking.” Ketchel prepared himself for the eleventh by trying to scrape the blood from his eyes, the left still gaping from the failed lancing between rounds one and two.
The LA Herald: “The minute between rounds was not enough for Ketchel to recover his wits and although he responded to the gong he was unsteady on his legs and beclouded of brain and about all he could do was cover up and try to stall the round. Papke would not have it…forcing an opening he [landed] a clean right to the head flooring Ketchel for the count of nine.”
Only a heart unbreakable could have drawn Ketchel from the canvas in that moment. Papke, still smiling the same smile he had worn on his way to the ring, approached, but Ketchel was not even looking at him, rather he was looking out to the crowd, arms hanging at his sides, and he “did not raise his hands to ward off the punch that toppled him from the championship pedestal.”
“As they went to their corners (at the end of the tenth), Papke raised his hands to the crowd and they were running with blood from his wrists to his shoulders, where his opponent had hung on.” – Los Angeles Times
The crowd roared for referee Jim Jeffries to stop the bout in the eleventh, but the former heavyweight champion ignored the cries. Finally, Papke scored with a series of blows, sending Ketchel falling through the ropes and onto the laps of the ringside press. The fight looked certain to be over, but the bell rang and the writers pushed the beaten man back into the ring, where he was lead to his corner for a minute’s reprieve.
“The twelfth saw the finish, for in the opening of the round, Papke floored the “champion” with a right on the jaw. Ketchel was down for eight seconds and when he wobbled to his feet and bleared at his foe, Papke dropped him against for the last time with an uppercut on the jaw. He stayed down for five seconds and then half-raised himself and, sitting there with his mashed and bleeding face and his closed eyes turned toward his own corner. Referee Jeffries counted him out amid a great chorus of cheers from the thousands of excited fans.” – Grey Oliver, Los Angeles Times
Ketchel’s condition was horrific. The Evening World: “Both his eyes were closed tight. His face was battered out of shape, as if Papke had knocked him about with a baseball bat instead of two fists. His face was crooked as if his cheekbones had been beaten in. His mouth was a mere gash. His whole body was covered with unsightly lumps where Papke’s iron fists had landed…it will be months before he fights again, if he ever does.”
The fight became a source of some controversy in later years, with the legitimacy of Papke’s victory called into question. Papke was said to have struck Ketchel with a devastating opening blow when the champion had extended his hand for the customary touching of the gloves. It is true that Papke ignored the traditional handshake by going after Ketchel to start the bout, but he missed wildly with his opening swing and it was actually Ketchel who landed first when he tagged Papke with a left hand.
In the days after the fight, there was no talk of the bout being decided by foul play, but Ketchel did indicate he believed the result had been a fluke and blamed the loss on overconfidence. Papke naturally disagreed and was quick to sign for a third meeting, agreeing to meet Ketchel again on November 26.
(also contains notes from online articles by Andrew Fruman and Matt McGrain)
