"Dressing room No. 26 in the rear of New York's Madison Square Garden is a windowless pit that holds heat like a thermos. Behind its heavy steel door, Room 26 contains nothing but the basic needs for a fighter in training—two low benches pressed against the grim, peeling walls, a small tiled shower, an archaic bronze-colored scale that has lost too many decisions to oxidation, a rubbing table only recently oiled and repadded to disguise its oblique past. Every day for six weeks prior to meeting Joe Giardello for the world middleweight championship, Dick Tiger, the courtly 36-year-old Nigerian challenger, would come to this room and sit on a bench in the 90 degree heat.

......

Right from the first round, Tiger flicked jab after jab at Giardello. From a far corner there even came the sound of an apesi, a Nigerian drum. Played by a friend of Tiger's, it beat constantly, and its message was "keep punchin'." In turn, Giardello's fans from Philadelphia started chanting "Hey, hey, take it away," in the ninth round when Joey seemed to rally, but there was very little that Giardello could do to take anything away. As the fight moved toward the 15th round, his combinations had totally disappeared, his legs looked stiff and Tiger's jab was keeping him from ever getting a chance to throw the big right hand that would knock Tiger out. Giardello was courageous, as he always has been, and he was thoroughly beaten, as he hadn't often been.

......

In his dressing room after the fight Tiger looked like a woodcut print of a boxer, while Giardello, sitting on a table across the arena, lifted his mashed profile and announced, rather proudly, his retirement."

(William Leggett)

29 Aug 1960

A fight between spectators, officials and boxers ended the European Heavyweight title fight between holder Dick Richardson and former European Champion Brian London, at Porthcawl, Wales. Trouble started when referee Andrew Smyth stopped the match after the eighth round due to London's badly cut left eye. He awarded the fight to Richardson, whereupon London dashed across the ring and attacked his victor.

Richardson's trainer was knocked to the floor by London, spectators swarmed into the ring and the battle began. It took 20 policemen to control the two rivals and their supporters.

(Source - REUTERS)

The first black boxer to contest a British title was Dick Turpin against Vince Hawkins in June 1948. It was felt to be significant enough to warrant coverage on BBC radio. Dick Turpin comprehensively won the fight before a crowd of 40,000 at Villa Park to become the first black boxer of the modern era to hold a British title.

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British Boxing’s Colour Bar lasted between 1911 and 1948.

Charles Donmall, the General Secretary of British Boxing Board of Control was quoted in 1947 - "It is only right that a small country such as ours should have championships restricted to boxers of white parents. Otherwise we might be faced with a situation where all our British titles are held by Coloured Empire (Commonwealth) champions. The Board has done much for the Empire boxers of colour. We have a very high regard for them as men and boxers. They are not penalized by this rule. They have the British Empire (Commonwealth) championship open to them"

However, it was only a year after the above statement that the colour bar in british boxing was repealed.

Dick Madden, young Boston heavyweight, shared Max Baer's mood for good, clean fun last night and they put on one of the most amusing travestries a Boston boxing crowd ever witnessed.

The heavyweight champion was wearing his motion picture ring costume and was eager to provide comedy. His hilarious antics had the over-flow crowd of 4,000 in hysterics all through the four round skit.

Max reeled and slipped, walked bow-legged and acted punch drunk from Madden's futile efforts to hit him. In the second round Madden became a bit serious but he desisted when Max rapped him on the jaw a few times and reminded him he was forgetting his lines.

The champion got a great kick out of his performance but his 239-pound brother Jacob, known as 'Buddy', ran into an unexpected setback. In a four round bout with the veteran Babe Hunt of Ponca City, Oklahoma., Young Baer was soundly drubbed.

(The Miami News - Jan 11, 1935)

*This was one of five exhibition bouts that Baer had in January 1935

"The Bloodbath" - 1913 Ray Campbell beat Dick Hyland on points over 15 rounds at the Arena Steveston,British Columbia, Canada

photo credit - JTheron