Khaosai Galaxy, Super Flyweight, nicknamed the "The Thai Tyson." He had that nickname because he was like a small version of Mike Tyson, he could crack, and much like Tyson, he just didn't give his opponents much of a chance, it didn't take long before he was all over his opponent and battering him. He's ranked number 19 on Ring magazines 100 greatest punchers list. He dominated his era, ruled with an iron fist. He was Super Flyweight champion for seven years, making 19 defenses of his title, and finished his career with a record of 49-1 (43 KO), he avenged his only defeat by brutal knockout. He took out most of his opponents by knockout, usually with his left, which was lethal. A nasty little fighter, always moving forward, stalking his prey, he liked to use his right to set up his opponents, and then go in for the kill with the left. He was a notorious body puncher, his favorite punch was the straight left to the midsection, which was dubbed “the left hand that drills intestines.”
Stanley Ketchel, middleweight, "the Michigan Assassin." A fearless and vicious man, a real savage, could punch like heck, he floored legendary heavyweight champion Jack Johnson when they fought, a middleweight flooring a heavyweight, that's how hard he punched. Stanley Ketchel was a real loose cannon, borderline psychotic, he lived life on the wild side and died young, but he is a legend in the sport, he's not a guy you would want to see standing across the ring in front of you.
The Michigan Assassin
For middleweight legend Stanley Ketchel, the boxing ring was the only theater in which his mania could legally project its voice. Born in 1886 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and orphaned at 14, the ‘Michigan Assassin’ travelled westward as a teenager, distinguishing himself as a feared street fighter in Montana’s tough-knuckled mining culture. Ketchel would parlay his brutal fists and pugnacious disposition into a successful professional boxing career, becoming middleweight champion in 1908. His blazing run ended prematurely with his murder at 24, but despite his brief time at the top he is ranked by some as the greatest middleweight of all-time. Simply put, Stanley Ketchel was one of the most vicious and devastating punchers to ever wear boxing gloves.
Fighting, aggression, and general boisterousness encapsulated Ketchel’s short life. From his days as a brawling youth to his time fighting in Montana bars, Ketchel’s identity was drawn from his ability to physically dominate other men. As an adolescent he knocked out a grown man in a boxing exhibition at a local fair and soon after he turned to boxing as a lucrative financial opportunity. It is estimated that before he turned professional in 1903, Ketchel battled in as many as 250 unsanctioned and doubtlessly brutal fights around Montana, during which he honed his skill and savagery. Whether as an amateur or pro, Ketchel always entered the ring with the same decisive look in his cold eyes, at once nervous and unshakably self-confident, prepared to acquit himself viciously in the vortex that was the early 20th century boxing ring.
Never formally trained, Ketchel didn’t possess exemplary technique. He wasn’t defensively skilled and often fought wide open, confident that his antagonistic style would prove too onerous for his opponent. Strong enough to knock someone out with either hand, Ketchel’s thirst for violence was supported by bottomless reserves of energy that allowed him to continue pressing at a desperate pace in the late stages of a contest. He was a furious, whirling dervish inside the ring, wholly intent on annihilating his opponent. According to manager ‘Dumb’ Dan Morgan, “Ketchel was an exception to the human race. He was a savage. He would pound and rip his opponent’s eyes, nose and mouth in a clinch. He couldn’t get enough blood.” Rarely serene, Ketchel’s impulsive, even psychopathic disposition, made his behaviour unpredictable. He often carried a gun, and when upset would flaunt it unabashedly.
Ketchel vanquished all of the available competition in Montana, losing only twice in his first forty pro fights, with almost all of his wins coming by knockout. He then moved on to California, with its deeper well of boxing talent and the promise of a chance at a world title. There the career of “The Michigan Assassin” would ascend. Losing to Joe Thomas on points in a controversial decision, Ketchel won the rematch by knockout. This fight, considered by many to be one of the greatest in boxing history given its furious pace and changes of momentum, was followed by a third clash, which Ketchel won on points. And with the victory came the world’s middleweight championship. Fighting frequently, Ketchel successfully defended his title against the highly regarded Sullivan brothers, Mike and Jack, Billy Papke, and then Joe Thomas again.
As the story goes (though some historians dispute its veracity), in the rematch with Papke, Stanley was blindsided by a cheap shot from the challenger before the opening bell. The blow, which, according to legend gave rise to the customary pre-fight order to shake hands or touch gloves, left the champion dazed and hurting and allegedly affected his ensuing performance; Stanley succumbed by TKO in the twelfth round. Furious at the outcome, Ketchel avenged the loss in a third meeting with “The Illinois Thunderbolt,” punishing his rival without mercy for an eleventh round knockout, the only time in Papke’s career that he was counted out.
After this triumph, the middleweight king headed east, twice fighting light heavyweight champion ‘Philadelphia’ Jack O’Brien. In the first match—a classic, competitive bout that was deemed a no decision—it’s possible that Ketchel should have been credited with a KO victory at the end of the tenth and final round. Fortunately for the Irishman, the bell saved him from being counted out, leaving the result in dispute. The outcome of their rematch would be less vague, however, as Ketchel finished O’Brien in three rounds. He then traveled back to California to again defeat Papke, this time by unanimous decision. This was merely a preamble, however, to his next bout, a huge showdown against the legendary Jack Johnson.
As dangerous as Ketchel was, there was little chance he could beat “The Galveston Giant.” Winning shouldn’t have necessarily been Ketchel’s objective anyway, if he wanted to comply with the wishes of the motion picture company covering the bout, which wanted it to go an acceptable length for commercial purposes. This necessitated a more reserved style of boxing, which was anathema to Ketchel. Johnson fought in his usual, defensive manner, aware that he stood to receive a sizeable share of profits if the fight went long enough to conciliate the movie-going public. Ketchel, far too aggressive a soul to remain restrained, veered from the script when he hammered Johnson with a wild right in round twelve and sent the bigger man to the canvas. Johnson rose and immediately knocked Ketchel unconscious with a right hand of his own.
After the Johnson episode, Ketchel fought five more times before his demise, earning a no decision, losing to Sam Langford, and winning three others, finishing his career with a record of 51-4-4. Only 24, Ketchel was murdered by a farm hand in Conway, Missouri, in October of 1910, for reasons apparently rooted in jealousy and financial gain. His last words, at odds with the fearless image he presented publicly, are said to have been, “Take me home to mother.”
Stanley Ketchel floors Jack Johnson. This is one of the most famous and talked about knockdowns in history, Jack Johnson is a legendary heavyweight champion, he was a huge and powerful guy, many books have been written about the legendary Jack Johnson and a movie starring James Earl Jones was made about his life and career, great movie, he's one of the greatest heavyweights in history. On this day, he underestimated Stanley Ketchel, the smaller middleweight, and Ketchel caught him with a shot.
After Johnson was floored by Ketchel, he got up pissed as hell and obliterated Ketchel, knocked him out cold with a savage flurry, here is the photo of Jack Johnson standing over an unconscious Stanley Ketchel.
But the fact that Ketchel floored the "Galveston Giant" Jack Johnson remains a mythical accomplishment, you just don't see stuff like that happen, especially to the legendary Jack Johnson, but Ketchel was no ordinary middleweight, he wrecked guys in his division.
One more story about Stanley Ketchel, he finished his career with a record of 52-4-4 (49KO), somd people consider him to be thd greatest middleweight ever. Anyway, he was so good that in 1909 he stepped up to the all-time great light heavyweight champion Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, Ketchel absorbed a solid beating for six rounds, but came back to knock O'Brien down four times in the ninth and tenth rounds. The fight would have been a knockout if O'Brien hadn't been saved by the bell, the bout was declared a no-decision. In their rematch, Ketchel demolished O'Brien in three rounds. That's how good Ketchel was, a middleweight laying a beating on an all-time great light heavyweight like Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. This is a photo of Ketchel on the left and O'Brien on the right at a weigh-in. Anyway, tragically Stanley Ketchel was murdered at the age of 24, shot in the back though the lung, a jealous husband that had hired Ketchel for a job thought Ketchel was trying to steal his wife.
"Bad" Bennie Briscoe, middleweight from Philadelphia, one of the greatest boxers to never win a world title. Nobody wanted to fight this guy, he had a brutal style of fighting, they called him "the robot" because he was always coming forward and pounding his opponent relentlessly, could punch like hell too. He also had a chin made of granite, he would take your best shots and just keep coming after you. He was a mean and vicious man in the ring, nice as can be outside the ring.
The Way We Were: Boxer Bennie Briscoe feared in the ring, loved outside it
Bennie Briscoe never won a world title, but he became a favorite of many boxing fans in Philadelphia.
The story of Augusta-born boxer Bennie Briscoe could be that of Philadelphia's "Rocky," if the beloved movie tough guy had never won the big fight.
Born in 1943, Briscoe left Georgia at 16 with few fond memories, except that he once caddied for President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Augusta National Golf Club and was tipped $100.
He went to Philadelphia, found work with the streets department (initially killing rats) and kept at his day job for the next 40 years.
His night job became boxing, and the man they called "Bad Bennie" was very good.
In a career from 1966 to 1982, he won 66 times with 53 knockouts, lost 25 times and had five draws.
He is often remembered as the "best boxer to never win a world title."
In 2019, the late Harold Lederman told BoxingTalk.com about Briscoe, "He had a left hook to the body that you could feel up in the rafters! He was just vicious. There was nobody- nobody- who was meaner in a boxing ring than Bennie Briscoe. He was the meanest man I ever saw. He would scare his opponents half to death when he would come out for the referee’s instructions. He was one of the first guys to have a shaved head."
Ring Magazine ranked him 34th on its list of 100 all-time punchers, ahead of Marvin Hagler, Joe Frazier and Evander Holyfield. (Joe Louis was No. 1.)
He was a Philly fan favorite because his relentless boxing style overcame a lack of finesse with fearsome force. He was also nicknamed "the Robot" for stiffly stalking into the ring and beating other boxers with his sledgehammer-like fists. He could take on a rock-hard opponent and pound him "into chalk," one promoter said.
Sometimes he would lose a bout on points, while the winner went to the hospital.
He could also take a punch. The best blows of others were said to bounce off his jaw, and he was knocked out only once – in the 1974 middleweight title fight.
Scary? Yes. But outside the ring, "he was a nice guy," said Arnold Weiss, his manager during the 1970s.
"He was quiet. He was introverted. But if he knew you, he'd give you a hug," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He said the hard-punching soft touch would also give away his tape and boxing supplies to others at the gym.
His brother, Archie, said such generosity was legendary. If he "had a million dollars, he wouldn't have a dime. He would give it all away. He knew what it was like to be hungry," his brother said.
Almost everyone who knew Briscoe said the poverty of his youth sparked the empathy of adulthood.
Briscoe was the oldest of a large Augusta family. Younger brother Archie told the Inquirer that when their mother was hospitalized for some time, Bennie took care of his younger siblings. "He made sure we ate. He kept us in line," and they all earned college degrees, his brother said.
Briscoe fought for the world middleweight title three times but never won. He also took on the stars of his day, such as Hagler, Emile Griffith or Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.
Philadelphia loved him. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007, and Philadelphia boxing historian John DiSanto created the annual Briscoe Award to honor the city's top boxers.
In 1980, the Philadelphia Daily News did a profile on Briscoe – then 37 – under the headline: "What Makes Bennie Briscoe Run?" Briscoe answered the question:
"Other guys that started out when I started out, they're either in jail or on drugs, or they're dead, and I'm still here. I love my mother and my father, and that's why I think I lasted so long. "
He lasted until a few days after Christmas, dying Dec. 28, 2010, at age 67.
The Philadelphia newspapers reported he had been ill for some time, under care at Temple University Hospital and then in hospice.
His funeral at Deliverance Evangelistic Church was covered by the Inquirer, which noted that when those gathered were asked to acknowledge if they had ever faced Briscoe in the ring, 20 men raised their hands.
#LetsGoSwitzerlandThe Man Who Does Not Read Has No Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read. The biggest obstacle to progress is a habit of “buying what we want and begging for what we need.”You get the Freedom you fight for and get the Oppression you deserve.
Bennie Briscoe vs Carlos Monzon. This was one of my favorite fights, Carlos Monzon is one of the 3 greatest middleweights in history, many consider him the best ever, he was World middleweight champion for 7 years, he was practically unbeatable. The great Marvin Hagler once said that if he could fight anyone in history to challenge himself, it would be Carlos Monzon, Monzon was that great. I never liked Carlos Monzon, he was a brilliant boxer, indeed one of the best ever, but he was a piece of garbage as a person. He was violent as hell outside the ring, Monzon spent five and a half years in prison for killing his wife Alicia by throwing her off a balcony, and admitted that he had hit every single woman that he had dated. When Briscoe and Monzon fought in 1972, Monzon got the decision, but Briscoe had his moments, he wore out Monzon brutally with body punches, and in the 9th round, he rocked Monzon and almost took him out, I loved it, Monzon was stumbling up against the ropes like a drunk.
Henry Cooper, British heavyweight. He was a good fighter, he had a left hook that was deemed "Henry's Hammer", it was a brutal punch, he took guys out with it, and on one night at Wembley stadium, he almost pulled off one of the greatest upsets in boxing history when he landed Henry's Hammer on a young fighter by the name of Cassius Clay. Now, Henry cooper was one heck of a fighter, always came to fight, he wasn't an easy night's work for anyone and he might have won more fights, but Cooper was what is known in boxing as a bleeder. He could sneeze and a cut would open up on his face, the joke went. Many of his promising performances were derailed when the blood started to flow from his delicate skin.
Clay vs. Cooper 1: Muhammad Ali floored by the most famous punch in British boxing history
A 21-year-old Cassius Clay was completely unaware of the danger. After having had a scare or two in the opening round, as well as a bloody nose, the brash young American had things well in hand in the fourth. His opponent was gushing blood from a horrific eye cut, and a predicted fifth-round stoppage looked assured.
BANG!
It was June 18, 1963, at Wembley Stadium, when a nonchalant Clay tossed a half-hearted punch over the head of British champ Henry Cooper and left himself open. A sitting duck, he was caught on the counter by the Englishman’s signature shot – the left hook. Henry’s Hammer landed flush with sickening impact just as the bell sounded to end Round 4.
It may be disconcerting for "Smokin’" Joe Frazier fans, but no single punch ever hurt Muhammad Ali more than this one did.
"I am now convinced that if that round lasted 20 seconds longer that Cooper would have knocked Clay out," recalled Hall of Fame boxing journalist Colin Hart, who was tasked with collating quotes for the long-defunct Daily Herald that night. "Nobody finished better than Henry Cooper, and when Ali got up, he didn’t know where the hell he was. The bell sounded and saved him.
"When Clay got back to the corner, [assistant trainer Chickie Ferrara] can be seen putting smelling salts under his nose. You see in the film, Clay jerks his head back away from it, and of course, smelling salts were illegal. (Chief second) Angelo Dundee got away with [having them in the corner.]”
Clay would recover and win as predicted in the fifth round. Or, as Hart recalls, "Clay stopped f***king around and cut Henry to ribbons." The fight, which was a scheduled 10-round heavyweight title eliminator, was in the record books. But the controversy, the anecdotes, the legend of the Clay-Cooper fight had only just begun.
The reverberations from that punch have carried on for six decades.
Muhammad Ali would go on to become the most beloved figure in sports history and perhaps the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. However, in 1963 London, he was a loudmouthed upstart who needed a fist crammed down his throat.
"Clay arrived, 21 years old, and let’s not make bones about it, he was hated by a lot of people in this country," admitted Hart. “In that era, the British were not fans of sportsmen being boastful or explaining how good they were. Clay would say things like, 'If Cooper talks jive, he’ll fall in five,' and the British took great exception to that. They weren’t used to it.
"The weigh-in was at the London Palladium and when Clay got there, he noticed a crown in the corner of the dressing room that had been used in a pantomime. On the night of the fight, when he came to the ring, he was wearing an ermine robe with that crown on his head. That only added to the crowd’s dislike for him."
Despite reports that there were fifty to sixty thousand fans in attendance that night, Hart estimates that 30,000 is a more realistic figure. And the size of the crowd isn’t the only thing that’s been exaggerated through the decades.
When Clay returned to his corner, he was badly hurt, and his chief second, the legendary Angelo Dundee, was in full-on crisis mode. His prized pupil was closing in on a heavyweight championship fight and Cooper had him virtually out on his feet.
Already one of the shrewdest men in boxing, Dundee desperately needed to buy time. If the Hall of Fame trainer’s most famous piece of trickery was loosening the ropes to aid Ali in rope-a-doping George Foreman (Dundee always denied this), then bringing a split glove to the attention of referee Tommy Little in Clay-Cooper is a close second.
But while Dundee successfully bought Clay extra time, it wasn’t even close to the 30 seconds or even 60 seconds that’s been rumoured down the years.
"The myth of the split glove," Hart said knowingly. "Bless him, Cooper seemed to suggest in later years that there was a two-minute interval between rounds four and five. There was literally five seconds extra. But you could still make the point – and it’s a valid point – that an extra five seconds for a fighter that’s been so badly dazed could be vital. It was only five seconds, but that could have saved Clay from being knocked out in Round 5.
"Angelo Dundee did not split the glove. The glove was split, torn away from the seam, in the fourth round. There’s pictorial evidence of the horsehair – in those days that’s what gloves were stuffed with – coming out of the split. What Angelo Dundee did was try to make the split worse, then he called the referee over. He tried to say they couldn’t carry on and that the glove needed changed, but there were no spare gloves at ringside. To have gone back from the middle of Wembley Stadium to the dressing room and picked up new gloves, believe me, that would have taken five to 10 minutes. The fight continued with the split glove."
So, with iconic Hollywood couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor positioned at ringside, Clay sent enough blood hurtling in their direction to fill several love hearts. Cooper’s face disintegrated under a fuselage of lefts and rights, forcing Little to call a halt to the bout at 2:15 of Round 5.
What everyone remembers, however, is that punch. Is it the most famous in British boxing history?
"It is, without question," said Hart instantly. "It made Cooper a national hero. In this country, as strange as it is, we love losers. The vast majority of people felt that the bell saved Clay from being knocked out and that made Cooper a hero in their lives.
"Cooper was already very popular, but when he scored that knockdown, which millions of viewers saw the next night on television, it changed everything. You need to remember, the next fight Clay had was against Sonny Liston [for the title]. If Cooper had knocked out Clay, it would have changed the course of the heavyweight division, because Clay would not have got the fight with Liston."
Three years later, Ali, who sensationally halted Liston in six rounds in February 1964, made the fourth defence of his title against Cooper. Again, "The Greatest" prevailed via cut-induced stoppage, this time in the sixth round.
Ali had a granite chin, he was only off his feet four times in his entire career, never stopped, so punches like this are almost mythical in the boxing world. Of course, after the knockdown, Ali realized it was time to stop screwing around, he knew Henry was cut and bleeding, so he opened up in Cooper, leaving him a bloody mess. This is one of the most famous photos in boxing history, Henry Cooper after Ali stopped him in their 1966 rematch. I have to hand it to Cooper, he was a savage, he couldn't have cared less about the blood, he wanted to keep fighting the kind of guy you had to kill to beat.
Comments
Khaosai Galaxy, Super Flyweight, nicknamed the "The Thai Tyson." He had that nickname because he was like a small version of Mike Tyson, he could crack, and much like Tyson, he just didn't give his opponents much of a chance, it didn't take long before he was all over his opponent and battering him. He's ranked number 19 on Ring magazines 100 greatest punchers list. He dominated his era, ruled with an iron fist. He was Super Flyweight champion for seven years, making 19 defenses of his title, and finished his career with a record of 49-1 (43 KO), he avenged his only defeat by brutal knockout. He took out most of his opponents by knockout, usually with his left, which was lethal. A nasty little fighter, always moving forward, stalking his prey, he liked to use his right to set up his opponents, and then go in for the kill with the left. He was a notorious body puncher, his favorite punch was the straight left to the midsection, which was dubbed “the left hand that drills intestines.”
Khaosai Galaxy's wax sculpture at Madam Tassaud's in Bangkok Thailand, his home country.
Khaosai Galaxy in his prime.
Stanley Ketchel, middleweight, "the Michigan Assassin." A fearless and vicious man, a real savage, could punch like heck, he floored legendary heavyweight champion Jack Johnson when they fought, a middleweight flooring a heavyweight, that's how hard he punched. Stanley Ketchel was a real loose cannon, borderline psychotic, he lived life on the wild side and died young, but he is a legend in the sport, he's not a guy you would want to see standing across the ring in front of you.
The Michigan Assassin
For middleweight legend Stanley Ketchel, the boxing ring was the only theater in which his mania could legally project its voice. Born in 1886 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and orphaned at 14, the ‘Michigan Assassin’ travelled westward as a teenager, distinguishing himself as a feared street fighter in Montana’s tough-knuckled mining culture. Ketchel would parlay his brutal fists and pugnacious disposition into a successful professional boxing career, becoming middleweight champion in 1908. His blazing run ended prematurely with his murder at 24, but despite his brief time at the top he is ranked by some as the greatest middleweight of all-time. Simply put, Stanley Ketchel was one of the most vicious and devastating punchers to ever wear boxing gloves.
Fighting, aggression, and general boisterousness encapsulated Ketchel’s short life. From his days as a brawling youth to his time fighting in Montana bars, Ketchel’s identity was drawn from his ability to physically dominate other men. As an adolescent he knocked out a grown man in a boxing exhibition at a local fair and soon after he turned to boxing as a lucrative financial opportunity. It is estimated that before he turned professional in 1903, Ketchel battled in as many as 250 unsanctioned and doubtlessly brutal fights around Montana, during which he honed his skill and savagery. Whether as an amateur or pro, Ketchel always entered the ring with the same decisive look in his cold eyes, at once nervous and unshakably self-confident, prepared to acquit himself viciously in the vortex that was the early 20th century boxing ring.
Never formally trained, Ketchel didn’t possess exemplary technique. He wasn’t defensively skilled and often fought wide open, confident that his antagonistic style would prove too onerous for his opponent. Strong enough to knock someone out with either hand, Ketchel’s thirst for violence was supported by bottomless reserves of energy that allowed him to continue pressing at a desperate pace in the late stages of a contest. He was a furious, whirling dervish inside the ring, wholly intent on annihilating his opponent. According to manager ‘Dumb’ Dan Morgan, “Ketchel was an exception to the human race. He was a savage. He would pound and rip his opponent’s eyes, nose and mouth in a clinch. He couldn’t get enough blood.” Rarely serene, Ketchel’s impulsive, even psychopathic disposition, made his behaviour unpredictable. He often carried a gun, and when upset would flaunt it unabashedly.
Ketchel vanquished all of the available competition in Montana, losing only twice in his first forty pro fights, with almost all of his wins coming by knockout. He then moved on to California, with its deeper well of boxing talent and the promise of a chance at a world title. There the career of “The Michigan Assassin” would ascend. Losing to Joe Thomas on points in a controversial decision, Ketchel won the rematch by knockout. This fight, considered by many to be one of the greatest in boxing history given its furious pace and changes of momentum, was followed by a third clash, which Ketchel won on points. And with the victory came the world’s middleweight championship. Fighting frequently, Ketchel successfully defended his title against the highly regarded Sullivan brothers, Mike and Jack, Billy Papke, and then Joe Thomas again.
As the story goes (though some historians dispute its veracity), in the rematch with Papke, Stanley was blindsided by a cheap shot from the challenger before the opening bell. The blow, which, according to legend gave rise to the customary pre-fight order to shake hands or touch gloves, left the champion dazed and hurting and allegedly affected his ensuing performance; Stanley succumbed by TKO in the twelfth round. Furious at the outcome, Ketchel avenged the loss in a third meeting with “The Illinois Thunderbolt,” punishing his rival without mercy for an eleventh round knockout, the only time in Papke’s career that he was counted out.
After this triumph, the middleweight king headed east, twice fighting light heavyweight champion ‘Philadelphia’ Jack O’Brien. In the first match—a classic, competitive bout that was deemed a no decision—it’s possible that Ketchel should have been credited with a KO victory at the end of the tenth and final round. Fortunately for the Irishman, the bell saved him from being counted out, leaving the result in dispute. The outcome of their rematch would be less vague, however, as Ketchel finished O’Brien in three rounds. He then traveled back to California to again defeat Papke, this time by unanimous decision. This was merely a preamble, however, to his next bout, a huge showdown against the legendary Jack Johnson.
As dangerous as Ketchel was, there was little chance he could beat “The Galveston Giant.” Winning shouldn’t have necessarily been Ketchel’s objective anyway, if he wanted to comply with the wishes of the motion picture company covering the bout, which wanted it to go an acceptable length for commercial purposes. This necessitated a more reserved style of boxing, which was anathema to Ketchel. Johnson fought in his usual, defensive manner, aware that he stood to receive a sizeable share of profits if the fight went long enough to conciliate the movie-going public. Ketchel, far too aggressive a soul to remain restrained, veered from the script when he hammered Johnson with a wild right in round twelve and sent the bigger man to the canvas. Johnson rose and immediately knocked Ketchel unconscious with a right hand of his own.
After the Johnson episode, Ketchel fought five more times before his demise, earning a no decision, losing to Sam Langford, and winning three others, finishing his career with a record of 51-4-4. Only 24, Ketchel was murdered by a farm hand in Conway, Missouri, in October of 1910, for reasons apparently rooted in jealousy and financial gain. His last words, at odds with the fearless image he presented publicly, are said to have been, “Take me home to mother.”
Stanley Ketchel floors Jack Johnson. This is one of the most famous and talked about knockdowns in history, Jack Johnson is a legendary heavyweight champion, he was a huge and powerful guy, many books have been written about the legendary Jack Johnson and a movie starring James Earl Jones was made about his life and career, great movie, he's one of the greatest heavyweights in history. On this day, he underestimated Stanley Ketchel, the smaller middleweight, and Ketchel caught him with a shot.
After Johnson was floored by Ketchel, he got up pissed as hell and obliterated Ketchel, knocked him out cold with a savage flurry, here is the photo of Jack Johnson standing over an unconscious Stanley Ketchel.
But the fact that Ketchel floored the "Galveston Giant" Jack Johnson remains a mythical accomplishment, you just don't see stuff like that happen, especially to the legendary Jack Johnson, but Ketchel was no ordinary middleweight, he wrecked guys in his division.
Stanley Ketchel takes out Billy Papke.
Stanley Ketchel going to his corner after knocking his opponent down.
Ketchel takes Papke out again in the rematch.
Stanley Ketchel in his prime.
Ketchel in Ring magazine.
Great book about Stanley Ketchel, "the Michigan Assassin."
The statue of Stanley Ketchel in Grand Rapids Michigan.
Ketchel was great, no doubt, when you get compared to Sugar Ray Robinson.
Stanley Ketchel and Jack Johnson face off before their epic encounter.
This clipping shows how vicious and wild Ketchel was, he would go at his opponents in a ferocious manner.
The great Stanley Ketchel in his prime.
One more story about Stanley Ketchel, he finished his career with a record of 52-4-4 (49KO), somd people consider him to be thd greatest middleweight ever. Anyway, he was so good that in 1909 he stepped up to the all-time great light heavyweight champion Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, Ketchel absorbed a solid beating for six rounds, but came back to knock O'Brien down four times in the ninth and tenth rounds. The fight would have been a knockout if O'Brien hadn't been saved by the bell, the bout was declared a no-decision. In their rematch, Ketchel demolished O'Brien in three rounds. That's how good Ketchel was, a middleweight laying a beating on an all-time great light heavyweight like Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. This is a photo of Ketchel on the left and O'Brien on the right at a weigh-in. Anyway, tragically Stanley Ketchel was murdered at the age of 24, shot in the back though the lung, a jealous husband that had hired Ketchel for a job thought Ketchel was trying to steal his wife.
"Bad" Bennie Briscoe, middleweight from Philadelphia, one of the greatest boxers to never win a world title. Nobody wanted to fight this guy, he had a brutal style of fighting, they called him "the robot" because he was always coming forward and pounding his opponent relentlessly, could punch like hell too. He also had a chin made of granite, he would take your best shots and just keep coming after you. He was a mean and vicious man in the ring, nice as can be outside the ring.
The Way We Were: Boxer Bennie Briscoe feared in the ring, loved outside it
Bennie Briscoe never won a world title, but he became a favorite of many boxing fans in Philadelphia.
The story of Augusta-born boxer Bennie Briscoe could be that of Philadelphia's "Rocky," if the beloved movie tough guy had never won the big fight.
Born in 1943, Briscoe left Georgia at 16 with few fond memories, except that he once caddied for President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Augusta National Golf Club and was tipped $100.
He went to Philadelphia, found work with the streets department (initially killing rats) and kept at his day job for the next 40 years.
His night job became boxing, and the man they called "Bad Bennie" was very good.
In a career from 1966 to 1982, he won 66 times with 53 knockouts, lost 25 times and had five draws.
He is often remembered as the "best boxer to never win a world title."
In 2019, the late Harold Lederman told BoxingTalk.com about Briscoe, "He had a left hook to the body that you could feel up in the rafters! He was just vicious. There was nobody- nobody- who was meaner in a boxing ring than Bennie Briscoe. He was the meanest man I ever saw. He would scare his opponents half to death when he would come out for the referee’s instructions. He was one of the first guys to have a shaved head."
Ring Magazine ranked him 34th on its list of 100 all-time punchers, ahead of Marvin Hagler, Joe Frazier and Evander Holyfield. (Joe Louis was No. 1.)
He was a Philly fan favorite because his relentless boxing style overcame a lack of finesse with fearsome force. He was also nicknamed "the Robot" for stiffly stalking into the ring and beating other boxers with his sledgehammer-like fists. He could take on a rock-hard opponent and pound him "into chalk," one promoter said.
Sometimes he would lose a bout on points, while the winner went to the hospital.
He could also take a punch. The best blows of others were said to bounce off his jaw, and he was knocked out only once – in the 1974 middleweight title fight.
Scary? Yes. But outside the ring, "he was a nice guy," said Arnold Weiss, his manager during the 1970s.
"He was quiet. He was introverted. But if he knew you, he'd give you a hug," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He said the hard-punching soft touch would also give away his tape and boxing supplies to others at the gym.
His brother, Archie, said such generosity was legendary. If he "had a million dollars, he wouldn't have a dime. He would give it all away. He knew what it was like to be hungry," his brother said.
Almost everyone who knew Briscoe said the poverty of his youth sparked the empathy of adulthood.
Briscoe was the oldest of a large Augusta family. Younger brother Archie told the Inquirer that when their mother was hospitalized for some time, Bennie took care of his younger siblings. "He made sure we ate. He kept us in line," and they all earned college degrees, his brother said.
Briscoe fought for the world middleweight title three times but never won. He also took on the stars of his day, such as Hagler, Emile Griffith or Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.
Philadelphia loved him. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007, and Philadelphia boxing historian John DiSanto created the annual Briscoe Award to honor the city's top boxers.
In 1980, the Philadelphia Daily News did a profile on Briscoe – then 37 – under the headline: "What Makes Bennie Briscoe Run?" Briscoe answered the question:
"Other guys that started out when I started out, they're either in jail or on drugs, or they're dead, and I'm still here. I love my mother and my father, and that's why I think I lasted so long. "
He lasted until a few days after Christmas, dying Dec. 28, 2010, at age 67.
The Philadelphia newspapers reported he had been ill for some time, under care at Temple University Hospital and then in hospice.
His funeral at Deliverance Evangelistic Church was covered by the Inquirer, which noted that when those gathered were asked to acknowledge if they had ever faced Briscoe in the ring, 20 men raised their hands.
Maybe he wasn't so bad.
Awesome stuff DD!
Any women boxers?
No girls allowed!
Bennie Briscoe vs Carlos Monzon. This was one of my favorite fights, Carlos Monzon is one of the 3 greatest middleweights in history, many consider him the best ever, he was World middleweight champion for 7 years, he was practically unbeatable. The great Marvin Hagler once said that if he could fight anyone in history to challenge himself, it would be Carlos Monzon, Monzon was that great. I never liked Carlos Monzon, he was a brilliant boxer, indeed one of the best ever, but he was a piece of garbage as a person. He was violent as hell outside the ring, Monzon spent five and a half years in prison for killing his wife Alicia by throwing her off a balcony, and admitted that he had hit every single woman that he had dated. When Briscoe and Monzon fought in 1972, Monzon got the decision, but Briscoe had his moments, he wore out Monzon brutally with body punches, and in the 9th round, he rocked Monzon and almost took him out, I loved it, Monzon was stumbling up against the ropes like a drunk.
Bennie Briscoe sends Lenny Harden to the canvas.
The robot moving forward and pounding away.
Bennie Briscoe faces off with Jean Matteo.
Briscoe was an intimidating man.
Bennie Briscoe vs Rodrigo Valdes.
Bad Bennie Briscoe, a legend.
Bennie Briscoe, brutal puncher.
Henry Cooper, British heavyweight. He was a good fighter, he had a left hook that was deemed "Henry's Hammer", it was a brutal punch, he took guys out with it, and on one night at Wembley stadium, he almost pulled off one of the greatest upsets in boxing history when he landed Henry's Hammer on a young fighter by the name of Cassius Clay. Now, Henry cooper was one heck of a fighter, always came to fight, he wasn't an easy night's work for anyone and he might have won more fights, but Cooper was what is known in boxing as a bleeder. He could sneeze and a cut would open up on his face, the joke went. Many of his promising performances were derailed when the blood started to flow from his delicate skin.
Clay vs. Cooper 1: Muhammad Ali floored by the most famous punch in British boxing history
A 21-year-old Cassius Clay was completely unaware of the danger. After having had a scare or two in the opening round, as well as a bloody nose, the brash young American had things well in hand in the fourth. His opponent was gushing blood from a horrific eye cut, and a predicted fifth-round stoppage looked assured.
BANG!
It was June 18, 1963, at Wembley Stadium, when a nonchalant Clay tossed a half-hearted punch over the head of British champ Henry Cooper and left himself open. A sitting duck, he was caught on the counter by the Englishman’s signature shot – the left hook. Henry’s Hammer landed flush with sickening impact just as the bell sounded to end Round 4.
It may be disconcerting for "Smokin’" Joe Frazier fans, but no single punch ever hurt Muhammad Ali more than this one did.
"I am now convinced that if that round lasted 20 seconds longer that Cooper would have knocked Clay out," recalled Hall of Fame boxing journalist Colin Hart, who was tasked with collating quotes for the long-defunct Daily Herald that night. "Nobody finished better than Henry Cooper, and when Ali got up, he didn’t know where the hell he was. The bell sounded and saved him.
"When Clay got back to the corner, [assistant trainer Chickie Ferrara] can be seen putting smelling salts under his nose. You see in the film, Clay jerks his head back away from it, and of course, smelling salts were illegal. (Chief second) Angelo Dundee got away with [having them in the corner.]”
Clay would recover and win as predicted in the fifth round. Or, as Hart recalls, "Clay stopped f***king around and cut Henry to ribbons." The fight, which was a scheduled 10-round heavyweight title eliminator, was in the record books. But the controversy, the anecdotes, the legend of the Clay-Cooper fight had only just begun.
The reverberations from that punch have carried on for six decades.
Muhammad Ali would go on to become the most beloved figure in sports history and perhaps the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. However, in 1963 London, he was a loudmouthed upstart who needed a fist crammed down his throat.
"Clay arrived, 21 years old, and let’s not make bones about it, he was hated by a lot of people in this country," admitted Hart. “In that era, the British were not fans of sportsmen being boastful or explaining how good they were. Clay would say things like, 'If Cooper talks jive, he’ll fall in five,' and the British took great exception to that. They weren’t used to it.
"The weigh-in was at the London Palladium and when Clay got there, he noticed a crown in the corner of the dressing room that had been used in a pantomime. On the night of the fight, when he came to the ring, he was wearing an ermine robe with that crown on his head. That only added to the crowd’s dislike for him."
Despite reports that there were fifty to sixty thousand fans in attendance that night, Hart estimates that 30,000 is a more realistic figure. And the size of the crowd isn’t the only thing that’s been exaggerated through the decades.
When Clay returned to his corner, he was badly hurt, and his chief second, the legendary Angelo Dundee, was in full-on crisis mode. His prized pupil was closing in on a heavyweight championship fight and Cooper had him virtually out on his feet.
Already one of the shrewdest men in boxing, Dundee desperately needed to buy time. If the Hall of Fame trainer’s most famous piece of trickery was loosening the ropes to aid Ali in rope-a-doping George Foreman (Dundee always denied this), then bringing a split glove to the attention of referee Tommy Little in Clay-Cooper is a close second.
But while Dundee successfully bought Clay extra time, it wasn’t even close to the 30 seconds or even 60 seconds that’s been rumoured down the years.
"The myth of the split glove," Hart said knowingly. "Bless him, Cooper seemed to suggest in later years that there was a two-minute interval between rounds four and five. There was literally five seconds extra. But you could still make the point – and it’s a valid point – that an extra five seconds for a fighter that’s been so badly dazed could be vital. It was only five seconds, but that could have saved Clay from being knocked out in Round 5.
"Angelo Dundee did not split the glove. The glove was split, torn away from the seam, in the fourth round. There’s pictorial evidence of the horsehair – in those days that’s what gloves were stuffed with – coming out of the split. What Angelo Dundee did was try to make the split worse, then he called the referee over. He tried to say they couldn’t carry on and that the glove needed changed, but there were no spare gloves at ringside. To have gone back from the middle of Wembley Stadium to the dressing room and picked up new gloves, believe me, that would have taken five to 10 minutes. The fight continued with the split glove."
So, with iconic Hollywood couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor positioned at ringside, Clay sent enough blood hurtling in their direction to fill several love hearts. Cooper’s face disintegrated under a fuselage of lefts and rights, forcing Little to call a halt to the bout at 2:15 of Round 5.
What everyone remembers, however, is that punch. Is it the most famous in British boxing history?
"It is, without question," said Hart instantly. "It made Cooper a national hero. In this country, as strange as it is, we love losers. The vast majority of people felt that the bell saved Clay from being knocked out and that made Cooper a hero in their lives.
"Cooper was already very popular, but when he scored that knockdown, which millions of viewers saw the next night on television, it changed everything. You need to remember, the next fight Clay had was against Sonny Liston [for the title]. If Cooper had knocked out Clay, it would have changed the course of the heavyweight division, because Clay would not have got the fight with Liston."
Three years later, Ali, who sensationally halted Liston in six rounds in February 1964, made the fourth defence of his title against Cooper. Again, "The Greatest" prevailed via cut-induced stoppage, this time in the sixth round.
Henry Cooper catches Cassius Clay with his hammer left hook.
Ali had a granite chin, he was only off his feet four times in his entire career, never stopped, so punches like this are almost mythical in the boxing world. Of course, after the knockdown, Ali realized it was time to stop screwing around, he knew Henry was cut and bleeding, so he opened up in Cooper, leaving him a bloody mess. This is one of the most famous photos in boxing history, Henry Cooper after Ali stopped him in their 1966 rematch. I have to hand it to Cooper, he was a savage, he couldn't have cared less about the blood, he wanted to keep fighting the kind of guy you had to kill to beat.
Henry Cooper was a warrior, he's one of my favorite fighters, always went out in his shield.
Great book about Henry Cooper.
And like I said, Henry Cooper had one of the most devastating left hooks in boxing history, Henry's Hammer.
Cooper vs Clay.
Cooper and Ali became good friends later on.
The great Henry Cooper.
One more I forgot to add, this is the devastation Henry Cooper was capable of, he flattened Joe Erskine when they fought in 1959.