Up next we have George "Kid" Lavigne, aka "The Saginaw Kid, one of the greatest lightweights ever. During their brutal title fight on December 2, 1895, in Queens, New York, Barbados Joe Walcott landed a powerful uppercut in the 11th round that tore open Lavigne's ear, with a follow-up punch coming dangerously close to severing it completely. Despite the gruesome injury and pleading from the crowd to stop the slaughter, Lavigne's corner refused to throw in the towel, and Lavigne survived the fight to win a 15-round decision. That was George freakin' Lavigne. This is his rookie card, the 1890 Mayo's Cut Plug - George Lavigne.
This is the story of the “Saginaw Kid,” lightweight world champion George Henry Lavigne, who held the top spot from 1896 to 1899. Raised in the bawdy lumber towns of Michigan, the “Kid” cut his fistic teeth fighting bare-knuckle matches against the best men of the camps. Just as Lavigne was making his professional debut in 1886, the Queensberry Rules, featuring gloved fists and timed rounds, were transforming boxing as it fought its way to legitimacy and legality.
The saga is a rollicking ride from the Kid’s birth in 1869 to his defeat of “Iron Man” Dick Burge of England for the world lightweight title in 1896. The story pulls no punches, following Lavigne’s booze-fueled decline, a dozen arrests, a foray to Paris to conduct a boxing school, trips to the insane asylum and ultimately his death at age 58 in 1928 in Detroit.
Meticulously researched and featuring dozens of photos and quotes from original correspondence, the book deftly mixes genealogy, history, culture, and sport, showcasing boxing’s early beginnings and providing an entertaining account of the life of “Kid” Lavigne, one of the era’s most popular and accomplished pugilists. Lauren Chouinard’s passion for the subject shines through clearly.
“An unearthing of the Lavigne saga that is worthy of its magnificent subject: With the love and energy of an archeologist, Chouinard has reached down into the distant past to tell the story of one of the greatest lightweights who ever lived.”
-Kelly Nicholson, author of Hitters, Dancers, and Ring Magicians
Benny Leonard, aka "The Ghetto Wizard", arguably the greatest lightweight that ever lived, Benny Leonard held the world lightweight championship for nearly 8 years, reigning from May 28, 1917, until he retired in January 1925. His historic run remains one of the longest and most dominant reigns in the history of the lightweight division. Benny could do it all, box, punch, defense, one of the brainiest boxers to ever live, he truly was a wizard. This is his rookie card, the 1920 W529-6 Big Head Strip Card - Benny Leonard. I'm thinking this is the photo of Leonard they used for the image on this card, they tweaked it a bit, but it's probably the photo. A lot of these strip cards messed with the images a bit, the artwork doesn't always match up with the photo but you can usually tell which photo they were using.
1963 KATV Publishing - Jewish Sports Champions - Benny Leonard. They tweaked it a little but I'm pretty sure this is the photo of Leonard they used for this card.
This is an awesome image of Benny Leonard paying his respects to "The Old Master" Joe Gans. Two of the greatest lightweights in history. In no particular order, Benny Leonard, Joe Gans, Roberto Duran, Ike Williams, Pernell Whitaker, the throne room of the lightweight gods.
Look at the eyes of Benny Leonard in this photo, the intensity, I can't begin to explain how great Leonard was in his prime, the man ruled the lightweight division with an iron fist for eight years.
This is my favorite Benny Leonard card, and it drives me crazy that I can't find the photo of Leonard to match up with it. The 1922 Amalgamated Press - Sporting Champions - Benny Leonard. Wicked image of Benny.
Music break. Straight from the Golden era of hip-hop, massive stylistic innovation, lyrical complexity, and diverse sampling, the best era of hip-hop there ever will be. You just don't hear stuff like this anymore.
Up next, Battling Levinsky, another pound-for-pound monster from the 1910s and 1920s, fought middleweights, light heavyweights, and heavyweights. Almost 300 fights in his career, one of the true iron men of boxing. In 1914 alone, Levinsky fought 36 times, that's insane. A slick boxer and defensive genius, he won the world light heavyweight title in 1916 and held it until 1920. Holds wins over Leo Hauck, Jack Dillon, Mike McTigue, Billy Miske, and a slew of legit heavyweight contenders. Great fighter. This is the 1923 Burstein Isaacs - Famous Prize Fighters - Mix Type- Battling Levinsky.
Up next, Harry Lewis, world welterweight champion from 1908 to 1911. I would really like to see this guy fight on film, by all accounts had a very aggressive style, likened to a mouse going after a piece of cheese, had a chin made of cast iron and was a brutal puncher. Great fighter.
1910 E77 American Caramel Prize Fighters - Harry Lewis.
John Henry Lewis, one of the greatest light heavyweights ever, world light heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1939. God only knows how long he could have reigned if he hadn't gone nearly blind in his left eye due to a probable traumatic cataract, he was forced to retire at the age of 24. He concealed the eye injury for years, fought injured, and was still damn near unbeatable, he was that great. He was a Jack of all trades, a great technician with brutal knockout power and solid defensive skills. Maxie Rosenbloom, James Braddock, Jock McAvoy, Bob Olin, Johnny Risko, Elmer Ray, Len Harvey, Tiger Jack Fox, that's the list of scalps on his resume, that's insane. This is his rookie card, the 1935 United Tobacco Co. - World Famous Boxers - John Henry Lewis.
Damn, Leaf Gum obviously used a photo from this shoot for the image of John Henry Lewis on his 1948 Leaf Gum card, but it's not THE photo. It's frustrating as heck when you get that close to finding the photo but come up short. Of course there is a possibility that Leaf tweaked the photo a bit.
Up next, Tommy Loughran, aka "The Philly Phantom", light heavyweight and heavyweight in the 1920s. Let's just look at the scalps under his belt, he holds wins over James Braddock, Max Baer, Mickey Walker, Mike McTigue, Jack Sharkey, Harry Greb, Jack Delaney, Georges Carpentier, Johnny Risko, Jimmy Slattery, Young Stribling, Paulino Uzcudun, Jeff Smith. There really isn't anything else that needs to be said about Loughran, that win resume is one of the greatest in boxing history period, I just about fall out of my chair every time I see it. This is the 1929 Tabacalera La Morena - Tommy Loughran.
Another frustrating dead end, the photo Globo Chewing Gum used for their 1937 Tommy Loughran card is so obviously from the Tommy Loughran vs Tommy Farr pre-fight photo shoot, but I can't find THE exact photo to match up with it. I love this stuff, I swear, you get such a feeling of satisfaction when you find the exact photo that was used for the image on a boxing card. But it can be frustrating at times when you get so close just to come up short.
Up next, Scotland's Benny Lynch, one of the greatest flyweights in boxing history and often regarded as the greatest fighter to ever come out of Scotland. He was a triple-edged axe of a fighter, great pure boxer, lethal puncher, defensively brilliant, throw in his granite chin and you begin to understand why he was virtually unbeatable in his prime. He would become the first undisputed world flyweight champion after capturing both the world title (1935) and then the American title (1937). This is a Boxing News Premium - Benny Lynch. I love these premiums, the color really pops and they just look really cool.
Boxing historian and writer Matt McGrain ranks Benny Lynch number 6 on his list of 50 greatest flyweights in boxing history. I always like reading McGrain's work, he's so knowledgeable about the sport and it's history. McGrain is actually from Scotland so he probably knows about Benny Lynch better than anyone. Here's what he says about the great Benny Lynch:
"We reach a false summit with this inclusion. Seven through ten are debatable with eleven through fourteen but here, at six, we meet our first indisputable member of The Ten. Benny Lynch, the greatest fighter to hail from my home country of Scotland, is a lock.
Born in the Gorbals, a notorious housing scheme in the city of Glasgow, Lynch was plying his trade in the thriving smokehouses and gyms of the Scottish fight scene by twenty-one. He would box almost one hundred and thirty contests. He would be stopped only in his last by which time he was weighing at a pudgy, drink-sodden 131lbs. An iron-born man hailing from an iron-hued city he had a natural talent and aptitude for fighting.
Emerging from the terrible chaos that shrouded the division after the abdication of Fidel LaBarba in 1927, Lynch positioned himself for glory in dusting two elite French fighters tempted to Glasgow for sizeable purses, Maurice Huguenin and Valentin Angelmann. His reward was a crack at a piece of the splintered title against Jackie Brown. Brown, an ironman in his own right, had been knocked out just once five years earlier, a slight for which he had three times wrought vengeance. Having boxed Lynch to a draw up at bantamweight earlier in 1935, experts predicted Brown would keep matters tight once more.
What they witnessed instead was a man possessed grasping his opportunity with both gloved hands.
Lynch was a puncher. Not a darkening one, but nor just a stinging one, as Brown would no doubt attest after swallowing a flush, trapping right hand in the first. Brown got up but he was never again in the fight. Lynch now deployed his left-hook, an even better punch, and Brown was sent to the canvas thrice more in the first. Keeping count of the knockdowns in the second round is difficult; the referee finally rescued the hapless Brown and Lynch had arrived.
Elite flyweights Pat Palmer and Syd Parker followed in the trail of destruction, both succumbing to stoppages, the former falling short in a crack at Lynch’s strap. Despite his dominance, the title picture remained confused. Lynch righted it early in 1937 when he bested Small Montana, the only other man on the planet with a claim to the flyweight championship. Their fight was not one-sided. Montana was perhaps the only man to really stretch the primed flyweight Lynch and according to the United Press report he stretched him all the way to the final round where their toe-to-toe battle was settled in the Scotsman’s favor.
He swaggered in the ring and launched sudden two-fisted attacks that sometimes seemed to have no end in front of crowds of forty-five thousand. He had it all.
In October of 1937, already beginning to slip, he met the murderous punching Peter Kane, then 42-0, my selection as the division’s #2 puncher; Lynch took what he had to give, doubled it, and banged him out in thirteen rounds. Harder, faster, better. But he would never make the flyweight limit again. Alcohol had overtaken him.
By 1938 his career was over. In 1946, just thirty-three years of age, Benny Lynch was dead."
This is the highlights from the Benny Lynch vs Peter Kane fight in 1937, the fight was just a brutal back-and-forth. Both of these guys could crack, but Kane was a murderous puncher, one of the hardest in flyweight history. Lynch's granite chin was on full display here as he soaked up everything that Kane hit him with for 13 rounds and then took Kane out. That was Benny Lynch, he was a force to be reckoned with.
Benny Lynch vs Jackie Brown in 1935. Lynch's punching power is on full display here, as Lynch drops the tough-as-nails Jackie Brown a total of ten times before the slaughter is stopped.
This is really cool, Glasgow Celtic fans unfurl a tifo of Benny Lynch ahead of a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland.
In his prime, clean and sober, Benny Lynch was one of the greatest fighters that ever stepped foot in a boxing ring period. It's a shame, it really f@#$&ed him up, alcoholism. I've seen it up close and personal, how drugs and alcohol can ruin a life, or outright end a life. I honest to god hate drugs and alcohol.
Music break. Such a powerful, powerful song. It can have so many different meanings for each individual, it can be a heartbreak, a love song, for a complicated situation, for your child, for a friendship, for a loss and so on. I will forever be grateful for it.
Jack McAuliffe, aka "The Napoleon of the Prize Ring", just wow, what a nickname. He was the inaugural World Lightweight Champion and holds the rare distinction of being one of only a handful of world titleholders in boxing history to retire completely undefeated. Over a 12-year professional career (approx. 1885–1897), he finished with a record of around 30 wins (19 by KO), 5 draws, and zero defeats. He was a brilliant two-handed boxer who used a wicked, hard-driven left jab. He possessed cat-like reflexes, elite ring generalship, and fantastic punching power despite his smaller frame. He participated in some of the most grueling matches of the bare-knuckle era. Most famously, he fought British champion Jem Carney for 72 rounds in a match that lasted over 5 hours before it was ruled a draw due to a riot. He dominated the late-19th-century lightweight division for over seven years, great, great fighter. This is the 1910 T220 Champion Athlete and Prize Fighters - Silver Border - Jack McAuliffe.
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Up next we have George "Kid" Lavigne, aka "The Saginaw Kid, one of the greatest lightweights ever. During their brutal title fight on December 2, 1895, in Queens, New York, Barbados Joe Walcott landed a powerful uppercut in the 11th round that tore open Lavigne's ear, with a follow-up punch coming dangerously close to severing it completely. Despite the gruesome injury and pleading from the crowd to stop the slaughter, Lavigne's corner refused to throw in the towel, and Lavigne survived the fight to win a 15-round decision. That was George freakin' Lavigne. This is his rookie card, the 1890 Mayo's Cut Plug - George Lavigne.
1910 T220 Champion Athlete and Prize Fighters - Silver Border - Kid Lavigne.
1936 La Salle Hats - George "Kid" Lavigne.
Another highly recommended boxing book.
This is the story of the “Saginaw Kid,” lightweight world champion George Henry Lavigne, who held the top spot from 1896 to 1899. Raised in the bawdy lumber towns of Michigan, the “Kid” cut his fistic teeth fighting bare-knuckle matches against the best men of the camps. Just as Lavigne was making his professional debut in 1886, the Queensberry Rules, featuring gloved fists and timed rounds, were transforming boxing as it fought its way to legitimacy and legality.
The saga is a rollicking ride from the Kid’s birth in 1869 to his defeat of “Iron Man” Dick Burge of England for the world lightweight title in 1896. The story pulls no punches, following Lavigne’s booze-fueled decline, a dozen arrests, a foray to Paris to conduct a boxing school, trips to the insane asylum and ultimately his death at age 58 in 1928 in Detroit.
Meticulously researched and featuring dozens of photos and quotes from original correspondence, the book deftly mixes genealogy, history, culture, and sport, showcasing boxing’s early beginnings and providing an entertaining account of the life of “Kid” Lavigne, one of the era’s most popular and accomplished pugilists. Lauren Chouinard’s passion for the subject shines through clearly.
“An unearthing of the Lavigne saga that is worthy of its magnificent subject: With the love and energy of an archeologist, Chouinard has reached down into the distant past to tell the story of one of the greatest lightweights who ever lived.”
-Kelly Nicholson, author of Hitters, Dancers, and Ring Magicians
Benny Leonard, aka "The Ghetto Wizard", arguably the greatest lightweight that ever lived, Benny Leonard held the world lightweight championship for nearly 8 years, reigning from May 28, 1917, until he retired in January 1925. His historic run remains one of the longest and most dominant reigns in the history of the lightweight division. Benny could do it all, box, punch, defense, one of the brainiest boxers to ever live, he truly was a wizard. This is his rookie card, the 1920 W529-6 Big Head Strip Card - Benny Leonard. I'm thinking this is the photo of Leonard they used for the image on this card, they tweaked it a bit, but it's probably the photo. A lot of these strip cards messed with the images a bit, the artwork doesn't always match up with the photo but you can usually tell which photo they were using.
1921 W551 Strip Card - Benny Leonard.
Check out this example of the 1921 W551 Strip Card - Benny Leonard, graded a PSA 9, just wow. It is on eBay right now with a price tag of $12,000.
1920 W519 Strip Card - Benny Leonard.
1926 Spalding Champions - Benny Leonard.
1938 NX5 - American Sweets Knockout Bubble Gum - Benny Leonard.
1948 Leaf Gum - Benny Leonard.
1923 Willard Chocolate - Benny Leonard.
1963 KATV Publishing - Jewish Sports Champions - Benny Leonard. They tweaked it a little but I'm pretty sure this is the photo of Leonard they used for this card.
1923 W515 Strip Card - Benny Leonard.
1925 W529-1 Strip Card - Benny Leonard.
1935 United Tobacco Co. - World Famous Boxers - Benny Leonard.
1950 Joe Palooka Candy - Benny Leonard.
2004 Rockwell - Mighty Atoms - Benny Leonard.
2010 Ringside Boxing Round One - Gold - Benny Leonard.
1929 W560 - Playing Card Strip Cards - Benny Leonard.
1928 W565 Strip Card - Benny Leonard. They tweaked the crap out of his left arm on this card.
This is an awesome image of Benny Leonard paying his respects to "The Old Master" Joe Gans. Two of the greatest lightweights in history. In no particular order, Benny Leonard, Joe Gans, Roberto Duran, Ike Williams, Pernell Whitaker, the throne room of the lightweight gods.
Look at the eyes of Benny Leonard in this photo, the intensity, I can't begin to explain how great Leonard was in his prime, the man ruled the lightweight division with an iron fist for eight years.
This is my favorite Benny Leonard card, and it drives me crazy that I can't find the photo of Leonard to match up with it. The 1922 Amalgamated Press - Sporting Champions - Benny Leonard. Wicked image of Benny.
Music break. Straight from the Golden era of hip-hop, massive stylistic innovation, lyrical complexity, and diverse sampling, the best era of hip-hop there ever will be. You just don't hear stuff like this anymore.
Up next, Battling Levinsky, another pound-for-pound monster from the 1910s and 1920s, fought middleweights, light heavyweights, and heavyweights. Almost 300 fights in his career, one of the true iron men of boxing. In 1914 alone, Levinsky fought 36 times, that's insane. A slick boxer and defensive genius, he won the world light heavyweight title in 1916 and held it until 1920. Holds wins over Leo Hauck, Jack Dillon, Mike McTigue, Billy Miske, and a slew of legit heavyweight contenders. Great fighter. This is the 1923 Burstein Isaacs - Famous Prize Fighters - Mix Type- Battling Levinsky.
1929 Tabacalera La Morena - Battling Levinsky/Georges Carpentier.
Up next, Harry Lewis, world welterweight champion from 1908 to 1911. I would really like to see this guy fight on film, by all accounts had a very aggressive style, likened to a mouse going after a piece of cheese, had a chin made of cast iron and was a brutal puncher. Great fighter.
1910 E77 American Caramel Prize Fighters - Harry Lewis.
John Henry Lewis, one of the greatest light heavyweights ever, world light heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1939. God only knows how long he could have reigned if he hadn't gone nearly blind in his left eye due to a probable traumatic cataract, he was forced to retire at the age of 24. He concealed the eye injury for years, fought injured, and was still damn near unbeatable, he was that great. He was a Jack of all trades, a great technician with brutal knockout power and solid defensive skills. Maxie Rosenbloom, James Braddock, Jock McAvoy, Bob Olin, Johnny Risko, Elmer Ray, Len Harvey, Tiger Jack Fox, that's the list of scalps on his resume, that's insane. This is his rookie card, the 1935 United Tobacco Co. - World Famous Boxers - John Henry Lewis.
1937 Globo Chewing Gum - John Lewis.
Damn, Leaf Gum obviously used a photo from this shoot for the image of John Henry Lewis on his 1948 Leaf Gum card, but it's not THE photo. It's frustrating as heck when you get that close to finding the photo but come up short. Of course there is a possibility that Leaf tweaked the photo a bit.
Up next, Tommy Loughran, aka "The Philly Phantom", light heavyweight and heavyweight in the 1920s. Let's just look at the scalps under his belt, he holds wins over James Braddock, Max Baer, Mickey Walker, Mike McTigue, Jack Sharkey, Harry Greb, Jack Delaney, Georges Carpentier, Johnny Risko, Jimmy Slattery, Young Stribling, Paulino Uzcudun, Jeff Smith. There really isn't anything else that needs to be said about Loughran, that win resume is one of the greatest in boxing history period, I just about fall out of my chair every time I see it. This is the 1929 Tabacalera La Morena - Tommy Loughran.
1935 United Tobacco Co. - World Famous Boxers - Tommy Loughran.
1946 Propagandas Montiel - Tommy Loughran.
1948 Leaf Gum - Tommy Loughran.
Police Gazette - Gallery of Champions - Tommy Loughran.
Another frustrating dead end, the photo Globo Chewing Gum used for their 1937 Tommy Loughran card is so obviously from the Tommy Loughran vs Tommy Farr pre-fight photo shoot, but I can't find THE exact photo to match up with it. I love this stuff, I swear, you get such a feeling of satisfaction when you find the exact photo that was used for the image on a boxing card. But it can be frustrating at times when you get so close just to come up short.
1926 British Tobacco - Siam Champions - Tommy Loughran.
This is so cool looking with the Blue color, the 1920's Exhibits Boxers - Postcard Back - Blue Tint- Tommy Loughran.
A red one.
Music break. Let's go back in time.
Up next, Scotland's Benny Lynch, one of the greatest flyweights in boxing history and often regarded as the greatest fighter to ever come out of Scotland. He was a triple-edged axe of a fighter, great pure boxer, lethal puncher, defensively brilliant, throw in his granite chin and you begin to understand why he was virtually unbeatable in his prime. He would become the first undisputed world flyweight champion after capturing both the world title (1935) and then the American title (1937). This is a Boxing News Premium - Benny Lynch. I love these premiums, the color really pops and they just look really cool.
Boxing historian and writer Matt McGrain ranks Benny Lynch number 6 on his list of 50 greatest flyweights in boxing history. I always like reading McGrain's work, he's so knowledgeable about the sport and it's history. McGrain is actually from Scotland so he probably knows about Benny Lynch better than anyone. Here's what he says about the great Benny Lynch:
"We reach a false summit with this inclusion. Seven through ten are debatable with eleven through fourteen but here, at six, we meet our first indisputable member of The Ten. Benny Lynch, the greatest fighter to hail from my home country of Scotland, is a lock.
Born in the Gorbals, a notorious housing scheme in the city of Glasgow, Lynch was plying his trade in the thriving smokehouses and gyms of the Scottish fight scene by twenty-one. He would box almost one hundred and thirty contests. He would be stopped only in his last by which time he was weighing at a pudgy, drink-sodden 131lbs. An iron-born man hailing from an iron-hued city he had a natural talent and aptitude for fighting.
Emerging from the terrible chaos that shrouded the division after the abdication of Fidel LaBarba in 1927, Lynch positioned himself for glory in dusting two elite French fighters tempted to Glasgow for sizeable purses, Maurice Huguenin and Valentin Angelmann. His reward was a crack at a piece of the splintered title against Jackie Brown. Brown, an ironman in his own right, had been knocked out just once five years earlier, a slight for which he had three times wrought vengeance. Having boxed Lynch to a draw up at bantamweight earlier in 1935, experts predicted Brown would keep matters tight once more.
What they witnessed instead was a man possessed grasping his opportunity with both gloved hands.
Lynch was a puncher. Not a darkening one, but nor just a stinging one, as Brown would no doubt attest after swallowing a flush, trapping right hand in the first. Brown got up but he was never again in the fight. Lynch now deployed his left-hook, an even better punch, and Brown was sent to the canvas thrice more in the first. Keeping count of the knockdowns in the second round is difficult; the referee finally rescued the hapless Brown and Lynch had arrived.
Elite flyweights Pat Palmer and Syd Parker followed in the trail of destruction, both succumbing to stoppages, the former falling short in a crack at Lynch’s strap. Despite his dominance, the title picture remained confused. Lynch righted it early in 1937 when he bested Small Montana, the only other man on the planet with a claim to the flyweight championship. Their fight was not one-sided. Montana was perhaps the only man to really stretch the primed flyweight Lynch and according to the United Press report he stretched him all the way to the final round where their toe-to-toe battle was settled in the Scotsman’s favor.
He swaggered in the ring and launched sudden two-fisted attacks that sometimes seemed to have no end in front of crowds of forty-five thousand. He had it all.
In October of 1937, already beginning to slip, he met the murderous punching Peter Kane, then 42-0, my selection as the division’s #2 puncher; Lynch took what he had to give, doubled it, and banged him out in thirteen rounds. Harder, faster, better. But he would never make the flyweight limit again. Alcohol had overtaken him.
By 1938 his career was over. In 1946, just thirty-three years of age, Benny Lynch was dead."
This is the highlights from the Benny Lynch vs Peter Kane fight in 1937, the fight was just a brutal back-and-forth. Both of these guys could crack, but Kane was a murderous puncher, one of the hardest in flyweight history. Lynch's granite chin was on full display here as he soaked up everything that Kane hit him with for 13 rounds and then took Kane out. That was Benny Lynch, he was a force to be reckoned with.
Benny Lynch vs Jackie Brown in 1935. Lynch's punching power is on full display here, as Lynch drops the tough-as-nails Jackie Brown a total of ten times before the slaughter is stopped.
This is really cool, Glasgow Celtic fans unfurl a tifo of Benny Lynch ahead of a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland.
In his prime, clean and sober, Benny Lynch was one of the greatest fighters that ever stepped foot in a boxing ring period. It's a shame, it really f@#$&ed him up, alcoholism. I've seen it up close and personal, how drugs and alcohol can ruin a life, or outright end a life. I honest to god hate drugs and alcohol.
Music break. Such a powerful, powerful song. It can have so many different meanings for each individual, it can be a heartbreak, a love song, for a complicated situation, for your child, for a friendship, for a loss and so on. I will forever be grateful for it.
Jack McAuliffe, aka "The Napoleon of the Prize Ring", just wow, what a nickname. He was the inaugural World Lightweight Champion and holds the rare distinction of being one of only a handful of world titleholders in boxing history to retire completely undefeated. Over a 12-year professional career (approx. 1885–1897), he finished with a record of around 30 wins (19 by KO), 5 draws, and zero defeats. He was a brilliant two-handed boxer who used a wicked, hard-driven left jab. He possessed cat-like reflexes, elite ring generalship, and fantastic punching power despite his smaller frame. He participated in some of the most grueling matches of the bare-knuckle era. Most famously, he fought British champion Jem Carney for 72 rounds in a match that lasted over 5 hours before it was ruled a draw due to a riot. He dominated the late-19th-century lightweight division for over seven years, great, great fighter. This is the 1910 T220 Champion Athlete and Prize Fighters - Silver Border - Jack McAuliffe.
1890 Mayo's Cut Plug - Prizefighters - Jack McAuliffe.