Eugene Criqui, "Iron Jaw", 1910s and 20s French featherweight, brutal puncher. His boxing career was interrupted by World War I, while doing guard duty at Verdun he took a sniper's bullet to the jaw and it blew his mouth to pieces. A surgeon reconstructed his jaw using wire, silver, and bone from a goat's leg, it's how he got his nickname. You would think something like that would put an end to his boxing career, nope, went right back to it and knocked out the great Johnny Kilbane in 1923 to become world featherweight champion, putting an end to Kilbane's 11-year title reign. This is his rookie card, 1922 Boy's Friend Eugene Criqui.
Here are a couple of photos of Eugene Criqui and you can see the scars on his jaw and face from where the sniper's bullet tore through. Talk about having a granite chin, tough son of a gun.
This is a photo of Eugene Criqui in his French military uniform during World War I. This photo was taken after he had been hit in the jaw by a sniper's bullet and had undergone reconstructive surgery. It's honestly one of the most insane stories in not only boxing history but sports history, to have your jaw blown apart by a sniper's bullet and put back together, and you go right back to boxing and win the world featherweight title. This guy was made of material not of this Earth.
A couple more photos of Eugene Criqui, I'm sorry but you just can't help but to be fascinated and enthralled with his story. The guy was hard as nails.
Eugene Criqui standing over a beaten Joe Fox in London in 1922. This victory was part of an impressive 23-0 (22 KOs) winning streak that culminated in the French war hero capturing the world featherweight title with a stoppage of Johnny Kilbane in New York.
Les Darcy, "The Maitland Wonder", middleweight great from Australia, built like a brick $hithouse, probably one of the strongest middles of all-time, he died young so we never got to see his full potential, but from what we did see, he probably would've been dominant for years to come, his record was 45-4, solid technical fighter with good knockout power. Interestingly, Harry Greb was on his way up about the time that Darcy died, that would have been one hell of a fight. This is Les Darcy's rookie card, 1922 Davies & Herbert "Newcastle Famous Boxers" series. These cards are exceedingly rare and it is difficult to find even minor subjects. They were issued by Davies & Herbert, a candy company in Australia. These cards are most always found in rough condition.
"Nonpareil" Jack Dempsey (John Edward Kelly) was the first recognized World Middleweight Champion, reigning from 1884 to 1891. Born in Ireland, he was a scientific, fast-punching boxer with a 51-3-11 record (24 KOs). His nickname means quite simply, he had "no equal", a true all-time great. This is the 1888 Old Judge Cigarettes "Nonpareil" Jack Dempsey, two different variations, both are ridiculous rare but the one on the left is extinction-level rare.
Ok, up next we're going to do "The Manassa Mauler" Jack Dempsey, legendary heavyweight champion who ruled the heavyweight division with a brutal Iron fist for seven years, from 1919 to 1926. A punishing fighter with murderous power, he earned that nickname because he worked his way inside close to his opponents and mauled the ever living hell out of them. Now, he's got a boatload and I do mean boatload of trading cards so I'm just going to pick my favorites. This is the 1926 Spalding Champions with bio back and a beautiful example at that.
Here is a 1948 Leaf Gum Jack Dempsey with a color shift error, you can see the where the mistake happened during the printing process and the ink shifted and is misaligned, really cool.
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1910 Champion Athletes (C52) #24 Johnny Coulon. I love this card, the orange background and Coulon himself looks so cool, he looks like a kid.
1948 Leaf Gum Johnny Coulon.
Eugene Criqui, "Iron Jaw", 1910s and 20s French featherweight, brutal puncher. His boxing career was interrupted by World War I, while doing guard duty at Verdun he took a sniper's bullet to the jaw and it blew his mouth to pieces. A surgeon reconstructed his jaw using wire, silver, and bone from a goat's leg, it's how he got his nickname. You would think something like that would put an end to his boxing career, nope, went right back to it and knocked out the great Johnny Kilbane in 1923 to become world featherweight champion, putting an end to Kilbane's 11-year title reign. This is his rookie card, 1922 Boy's Friend Eugene Criqui.
Here are a couple of photos of Eugene Criqui and you can see the scars on his jaw and face from where the sniper's bullet tore through. Talk about having a granite chin, tough son of a gun.
1923 Burstein Isaacs Eugene Criqui.
This is a photo of Eugene Criqui in his French military uniform during World War I. This photo was taken after he had been hit in the jaw by a sniper's bullet and had undergone reconstructive surgery. It's honestly one of the most insane stories in not only boxing history but sports history, to have your jaw blown apart by a sniper's bullet and put back together, and you go right back to boxing and win the world featherweight title. This guy was made of material not of this Earth.
A couple more photos of Eugene Criqui, I'm sorry but you just can't help but to be fascinated and enthralled with his story. The guy was hard as nails.
Eugene Criqui standing over a beaten Joe Fox in London in 1922. This victory was part of an impressive 23-0 (22 KOs) winning streak that culminated in the French war hero capturing the world featherweight title with a stoppage of Johnny Kilbane in New York.
Eugene Criqui knocks out Johnny Kilbane in the 6th round to win the world featherweight title in 1923 at the Polo Grounds.
This is the photo of Eugene Criqui from his Hall of Fame profile, he looks fearsome as hell, he was a bada$$.
These are really, really cool, 1925-31 Four-on-One Exhibits Postcards Eugene Criqui / Dave Shade / Joe Judge / Ty Cobb.
1937 Globo Chewing Gum Eugene Criqui. I can't find the photo of Criqui that was used for this card and it's driving me crazy.
Les Darcy, "The Maitland Wonder", middleweight great from Australia, built like a brick $hithouse, probably one of the strongest middles of all-time, he died young so we never got to see his full potential, but from what we did see, he probably would've been dominant for years to come, his record was 45-4, solid technical fighter with good knockout power. Interestingly, Harry Greb was on his way up about the time that Darcy died, that would have been one hell of a fight. This is Les Darcy's rookie card, 1922 Davies & Herbert "Newcastle Famous Boxers" series. These cards are exceedingly rare and it is difficult to find even minor subjects. They were issued by Davies & Herbert, a candy company in Australia. These cards are most always found in rough condition.
1930 Sweetacres Gum Les Darcy. I'm having a ridiculously hard time trying to find a decent scan of this card, this is going to have to do for now.
Here's a photo of Les Darcy and you can see how how big he was as a middleweight.
Another great shot of Les Darcy and his sheer size at middle. Gosh, Darcy vs Greb would have been made-for-TV.
A cool little custom card, 2011 ZeeNut Spot the Winner Les Darcy.
Another Les Darcy card from the 2011 ZeeNut Spot the Winner series.
1933 B.D.V Who's Who in Australian Sports Les Darcy, these cards were issued with backs that featured other Australian athletes.
"Nonpareil" Jack Dempsey (John Edward Kelly) was the first recognized World Middleweight Champion, reigning from 1884 to 1891. Born in Ireland, he was a scientific, fast-punching boxer with a 51-3-11 record (24 KOs). His nickname means quite simply, he had "no equal", a true all-time great. This is the 1888 Old Judge Cigarettes "Nonpareil" Jack Dempsey, two different variations, both are ridiculous rare but the one on the left is extinction-level rare.
1888 S.F. Hess "Nonpareil" Jack Dempsey, another ridiculous rare card.
Ok, up next we're going to do "The Manassa Mauler" Jack Dempsey, legendary heavyweight champion who ruled the heavyweight division with a brutal Iron fist for seven years, from 1919 to 1926. A punishing fighter with murderous power, he earned that nickname because he worked his way inside close to his opponents and mauled the ever living hell out of them. Now, he's got a boatload and I do mean boatload of trading cards so I'm just going to pick my favorites. This is the 1926 Spalding Champions with bio back and a beautiful example at that.
1926 Spalding Champions Jack Dempsey with ad back.
That photo of Jack Dempsey was also used for the 1948 Leaf Gum card.
Here is a 1948 Leaf Gum Jack Dempsey with a color shift error, you can see the where the mistake happened during the printing process and the ink shifted and is misaligned, really cool.
Here is a 48' Leaf Dempsey with another printing error, this time the card is missing black ink.
1924 Willard's Chocolate Jack Dempsey, I love this set.