Don Cockell, Joe Erskine, Henry Cooper, Len Harvey, Jack Petersen, Johnny Williams, Tommy Farr....and Rocky Marciano
Showing posts with label tommy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tommy. Show all posts
June 1956 - Madison Square Garden, New York
The winner of this bout would face Archie Moore for the World Heavyweight Title left vacant by the retirement of Rocky Marciano in April 1956.
"21 year old Floyd Patterson of Brooklyn won decisively before 11,255 at MSG for his 17th straight victory. But his triumph was tarnished slightly by a strange split decision. Surprising most of the fans and writers at ringside, Referee Harry Kessler favored Tommy 'Hurricane' Jackson of Far Rockaway, NY. Patterson had Tommy in trouble from rapid-fire left hooks and leaping right leads in 8 of the 12 sessions. Although the Hurricane stalked after the smaller Patterson in every round, he was staggered in the 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 11th and 12th. Tommy almost hit the deck in the 4th and 12th. But he continued to fight back persistently. His best rounds were the 7th and 9th." -United Press
"That Jackson is a tough man. Now I know I can go 15 rounds if I have to because I wasn't tired after 12, even though I landed more punches than I ever threw in my life." -Floyd Patterson
"This boy's not as tough as Bob Baker or Dan Bucceroni. If he fights Moore in September, Archie'll kill him." -Tommy 'Hurricane' Jackson
*Floyd Patterson weighed in at 178 lbs to Tommy Jackson's 193½ lbs
.......................
July 1957 - Polo Grounds, New York
Patterson has beaten Archie Moore eight months previous to become the World Heavyweight Champion and makes his 1st defence against Jackson. Floyd weighs in at 184 lbs to Jackson's 192.5 lbs.
Unable to cope with the speed of the champion’s punches, Jackson's nose was bloodied and he was put down by a combination of rights and lefts to the head just as the bell rang to end the opening session. It did not get any better for Jackson in the second round when Patterson spun him around and dropped him to a knee from a right to the jaw. Named ‘The Hurricane’ due his fighting style, Jackson bravely punched away, but it was Patterson who was doing all the scoring. By the sixth it was apparent that the end was drawing near, but Jackson, his left eye almost closed, would not hear of it and although he was dropped by a pair of body blows and left hooks in the ninth and took a terrific left to the jaw immediately prior to the bell he came out fighting in the tenth. With the brave Jackson just walking into punches and refusing to go down it was left to the referee to save him from taking further punishment, the finish being timed at 1.52. Jackson went to the hospital five hours after the fight to be treated for a bruised kidney. He was kept for several days for observation. Patterson visited Jackson in the hospital three days after the bout.
"Jackson kept telling me in the clinches to come out and fight. He called me a bum. That's a funny way to describe a man who's winning the fight." - Floyd Patterson
From Patterson's biography by W.K.Stratton -
Within hours of the bout’s finale, Jackson began urinating blood. His mother took him to a Long Island hospital, where he was admitted with what was reported as kidney contusions, the result of the many body shots he’d taken from Patterson during the fight. The doctor who examined him diagnosed him as “fairly sick, but not dangerously so. He needs rest.” The doctor advised Jackson to remain in the hospital for a few days. The hospital staff admitted only one set of visitors — Floyd and Sandra Patterson, who arrived with Cus D’Amato. Jackson was shocked that the Pattersons came to see him. The mercurial Hurricane shook hands with the champ and wished him luck in his upcoming fights. Patterson left knowing that the tragic man-child Jackson was likely finished as a boxer of any significance.
The winner of this bout would face Archie Moore for the World Heavyweight Title left vacant by the retirement of Rocky Marciano in April 1956.
"21 year old Floyd Patterson of Brooklyn won decisively before 11,255 at MSG for his 17th straight victory. But his triumph was tarnished slightly by a strange split decision. Surprising most of the fans and writers at ringside, Referee Harry Kessler favored Tommy 'Hurricane' Jackson of Far Rockaway, NY. Patterson had Tommy in trouble from rapid-fire left hooks and leaping right leads in 8 of the 12 sessions. Although the Hurricane stalked after the smaller Patterson in every round, he was staggered in the 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 11th and 12th. Tommy almost hit the deck in the 4th and 12th. But he continued to fight back persistently. His best rounds were the 7th and 9th." -United Press
"That Jackson is a tough man. Now I know I can go 15 rounds if I have to because I wasn't tired after 12, even though I landed more punches than I ever threw in my life." -Floyd Patterson
"This boy's not as tough as Bob Baker or Dan Bucceroni. If he fights Moore in September, Archie'll kill him." -Tommy 'Hurricane' Jackson
*Floyd Patterson weighed in at 178 lbs to Tommy Jackson's 193½ lbs
.......................
July 1957 - Polo Grounds, New York
Patterson has beaten Archie Moore eight months previous to become the World Heavyweight Champion and makes his 1st defence against Jackson. Floyd weighs in at 184 lbs to Jackson's 192.5 lbs.
Unable to cope with the speed of the champion’s punches, Jackson's nose was bloodied and he was put down by a combination of rights and lefts to the head just as the bell rang to end the opening session. It did not get any better for Jackson in the second round when Patterson spun him around and dropped him to a knee from a right to the jaw. Named ‘The Hurricane’ due his fighting style, Jackson bravely punched away, but it was Patterson who was doing all the scoring. By the sixth it was apparent that the end was drawing near, but Jackson, his left eye almost closed, would not hear of it and although he was dropped by a pair of body blows and left hooks in the ninth and took a terrific left to the jaw immediately prior to the bell he came out fighting in the tenth. With the brave Jackson just walking into punches and refusing to go down it was left to the referee to save him from taking further punishment, the finish being timed at 1.52. Jackson went to the hospital five hours after the fight to be treated for a bruised kidney. He was kept for several days for observation. Patterson visited Jackson in the hospital three days after the bout.
"Jackson kept telling me in the clinches to come out and fight. He called me a bum. That's a funny way to describe a man who's winning the fight." - Floyd Patterson
From Patterson's biography by W.K.Stratton -
Within hours of the bout’s finale, Jackson began urinating blood. His mother took him to a Long Island hospital, where he was admitted with what was reported as kidney contusions, the result of the many body shots he’d taken from Patterson during the fight. The doctor who examined him diagnosed him as “fairly sick, but not dangerously so. He needs rest.” The doctor advised Jackson to remain in the hospital for a few days. The hospital staff admitted only one set of visitors — Floyd and Sandra Patterson, who arrived with Cus D’Amato. Jackson was shocked that the Pattersons came to see him. The mercurial Hurricane shook hands with the champ and wished him luck in his upcoming fights. Patterson left knowing that the tragic man-child Jackson was likely finished as a boxer of any significance.
Shelby
The fight was nothing to write home about. Dempsey bored in, bobbing and weaving. He tried to land squarely on Gibbons face but he was rusty and his timing was off.
After the fight Jack said, “Nailing him was like trying to thread a needle in a high wind.” Gibbons stated in his biography “Punches That I Have Taken” that “People couldn’t seem to understand how I could take so much from Dempsey…All I did was slip this way and that…Brother Mike, he taught it to me.”
The challenger also clinched and held a lot. Tommy tried to land punches to Jack’s body but Dempsey was too fast for him. Gibbons opened a cut under the champ’s right eye in the 2nd round that bothered Jack throughout the fight. Dempsey seemed to have Gibbons in trouble in round 7 but couldn’t put him away. At the end of the 15th and final round referee Jim Dougherty raised Dempsey’s hand in victory. Gibbons did not protest.
He stated years later in his biography, “I could have licked him in Shelby if I had been thirty, but I was thirty-two… I never got so tired of a man in my life.” He was tired but happy. He had gone 15 rounds with Jack Dempsey and would live to brag about it.
Years later Tommy told a reporter for CBS Radio that “Dempsey could beat anybody he could hit. The only reason he couldn’t do anything with fellows like Tunney or Greb or myself was he couldn’t hit us.”
(by Norman Marcus)
(image courtesy of rockyssplitnose)
One day at Stillman’s Gym, Charley Goldman, who trained Rocky Marciano (shortly to become world heavyweight champion), approached a young, then-middleweight, yet to turn pro, Floyd Patterson and asked if he could go a few rounds with a new fighter Goldman was working with, Tommy Harrison. Patterson wasn’t so sure he was ready for that. Harrison was one of Marciano’s regular sparring partners, and he was taller and heavier than Patterson. And he was fast, nearly as fast as Floyd himself.
Patterson told Goldman to ask Cus D’Amato, who was cautiously bringing Floyd along, not rushing him to spar fighters substantially better than he. D’Amato, to Patterson’s surprise, gave the OK. Early in the first round, Harrison unloaded twelve unanswered jabs, most landing in spite of Patterson’s bobbing and weaving. Those blows hurt Floyd, even though Harrison wore padded sparring gloves. In all his amateur career, even fighting for the championships of the AAU and the Olympics, Floyd never encountered punches as hard as these. It was a brutal introduction to just what Floyd could expect as a pro. The eyes of the Stillman’s cognoscenti locked onto Patterson as he took those heavy shots — Would the kid collapse? Patterson knew he had to do something. He timed Harrison’s next big jab. When it arrived, Patterson threw a stiff right cross above it, tagging Harrison in the face. The experienced pro staggered. After that, Floyd pursued Harrison, firing combinations that Harrison struggled to ward off. The men in the folding chairs nodded their approval, happy with how Floyd had overcome adversity, transforming it into an advantage.
A buzz began to spread around New York about D’Amato’s up-and-comer, a kid who someday soon just might be good enough to put in the ring with the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson.
There were plenty of questions about his manager, however, the most eccentric man in the New York fight community. He was a weirdo, someone who read too many books, someone who believed in flying saucers and welcomed visitors from another planet, someone who never smoked or drank — the latter all but unheard of in the world of professional boxing.
And there was more. For reasons no one could quite understand, D’Amato refused to play ball with the men who ran professional boxing. It seemed as if he bore a vendetta against something, but just what that something was left boxing insiders scratching their heads. It also seemed as if he were preparing for a war of some kind. He lived in his gym, sleeping in a small room to the left of the boxing ring, a baseball bat within easy reach, a gun or two hidden away, his fierce dog curled up on the floor next to him. He never rode subways, fearing enemies could push him onto the tracks as he waited for a train. But he was plotting to become the most powerful force in professional boxing.
(by W.K. Stratton)
..............................
*A couple of years later in 1954, 15 fights into his professional career, and now weighing 169lbs, Patterson TKO'd Tommy Harrison in 89 seconds of the first round of their fight in Brooklyn. The fight report is testament to Patterson's nature as a boxer -
"Patterson staggered Harrison against the ropes, floored him with a clean flurry for "four" and the mandatory eight-count, and floored him a second time with a left-right combination to the head that sent Harrison down flat on his back. Harrison barely made the count of ten. But he lurched helplessly around the ring with his arms down. Referee Conn appeared contented to let the bout continue but Patterson refused to attack and implored him to step in."
Patterson told Goldman to ask Cus D’Amato, who was cautiously bringing Floyd along, not rushing him to spar fighters substantially better than he. D’Amato, to Patterson’s surprise, gave the OK. Early in the first round, Harrison unloaded twelve unanswered jabs, most landing in spite of Patterson’s bobbing and weaving. Those blows hurt Floyd, even though Harrison wore padded sparring gloves. In all his amateur career, even fighting for the championships of the AAU and the Olympics, Floyd never encountered punches as hard as these. It was a brutal introduction to just what Floyd could expect as a pro. The eyes of the Stillman’s cognoscenti locked onto Patterson as he took those heavy shots — Would the kid collapse? Patterson knew he had to do something. He timed Harrison’s next big jab. When it arrived, Patterson threw a stiff right cross above it, tagging Harrison in the face. The experienced pro staggered. After that, Floyd pursued Harrison, firing combinations that Harrison struggled to ward off. The men in the folding chairs nodded their approval, happy with how Floyd had overcome adversity, transforming it into an advantage.
A buzz began to spread around New York about D’Amato’s up-and-comer, a kid who someday soon just might be good enough to put in the ring with the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson.
There were plenty of questions about his manager, however, the most eccentric man in the New York fight community. He was a weirdo, someone who read too many books, someone who believed in flying saucers and welcomed visitors from another planet, someone who never smoked or drank — the latter all but unheard of in the world of professional boxing.
And there was more. For reasons no one could quite understand, D’Amato refused to play ball with the men who ran professional boxing. It seemed as if he bore a vendetta against something, but just what that something was left boxing insiders scratching their heads. It also seemed as if he were preparing for a war of some kind. He lived in his gym, sleeping in a small room to the left of the boxing ring, a baseball bat within easy reach, a gun or two hidden away, his fierce dog curled up on the floor next to him. He never rode subways, fearing enemies could push him onto the tracks as he waited for a train. But he was plotting to become the most powerful force in professional boxing.
(by W.K. Stratton)
..............................
*A couple of years later in 1954, 15 fights into his professional career, and now weighing 169lbs, Patterson TKO'd Tommy Harrison in 89 seconds of the first round of their fight in Brooklyn. The fight report is testament to Patterson's nature as a boxer -
"Patterson staggered Harrison against the ropes, floored him with a clean flurry for "four" and the mandatory eight-count, and floored him a second time with a left-right combination to the head that sent Harrison down flat on his back. Harrison barely made the count of ten. But he lurched helplessly around the ring with his arms down. Referee Conn appeared contented to let the bout continue but Patterson refused to attack and implored him to step in."
Former world heavyweight champion Tommy Burns, after he won the world heavyweight title, fought two men in one night and both bouts were billed as for the world heavyweight title...James J Walker and Jim O'Brien...boxrec states neither opponent had won a bout before their fights with burns that night.
and...Burns, defended his title twice in 88 seconds...once against Bill Squires (with James J Jeffries as referee) and once in Dublin, on St Patricks Day..against Jem Roache...the only time a world heavyweight fight was staged in Ireland.
and...Burns, defended his title twice in 88 seconds...once against Bill Squires (with James J Jeffries as referee) and once in Dublin, on St Patricks Day..against Jem Roache...the only time a world heavyweight fight was staged in Ireland.
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