When I look back I tend to do in decades. The 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s etc. However, when I sat down to think about this look-back I decided to ignore the obvious 50 year view and go for 60 years. Many of the things that are accepted as routine in boxing today were already born or being born in 1959, but the picture in 1949 was vastly different to the present set-up of the sport.
Back in 1949 boxing was still very much built around the small hall shows. Almost every major town and city in the USA and Europe had regular shows, where a local fighter could build a following and learn his trade. A fighter with less than 30 fights was a novice and fighters with over 100 fights were not unusual.
There were only eight universally recognised weight divisions. TV was not a major player in the sport. Total gross receipts for boxing in the USA in 1949 were reported to be $5 million, less that the purse many top boxers receive for one fight today.
Boxing was not as “international” as it is today. Many of the countries that are a force in boxing today were at best only minor players in 1949. South America was remote and inward looking, Oriental giants of today such as Japan and Thailand had not yet produced a single world champion and Mexico played only a minor role in the lower weight divisions. In contrast Europe had lots of world class bantamweights and flyweights, a disappearing breed in this millenium.
On a minor note, a southpaw champion was also a very rare breed. Up to 1949 only ten southpaws had won world titles. Today they are everywhere as if they had taken lessons from the rabbit on breeding.
Most people may not be aware but Britain led the field in technical innovation in boxing. The 1938 bout between Len Harvey and Jock McEvoy was the first fight to be televised, but this was to a select audience. The first screening of a bout on TV to the public, and also the first theatre telecast was the 1939 bout between Eric Boon and Arthur Danahar. However, with it vast potential audience America was starting to take the medium seriously.
The International Boxing Club started it’s operations in Chicago in 1949 with the Ezzard Charles vs. Jersey Joe Walcott fight and was a major development for the sport. Little did we know what was ahead. In 1960 the IBC was blown out of the water by the revelations in front of a Senate hearing in 1960 of the involvement of mobster Frankie Carbo in the undercover involvement in the IBC and the management and manipulation of many of the fighters who appeared regularly on IBC shows. The scandal convinced the public that boxing was corrupt and fight fixing rife The baby born in 1949 would almost turn out to be the killer of the sport that gave it life.
The difference between the “heavyweights” of 1949 and today is remarkable. Joe Louis was just over 6’1” and at most weighed 218lbs, Ezzard Charles was 6’0” and weighed 184lbs, Jersey Joe Walcott was also 6’0” and weighed 194lbs, Marciano was 5’11” and weighed 184lbs. Some of those would not even be considered as heavyweights today.
The Klitschko brothers are both over 6’6” and weigh over 240lbs, Nikolai Valuev is 7’0” and weighs 310lbs, Chris Arreola in 6’4” and weighs over 250lbs(on a bad day). Even where height is comparable i.e. the 6’2” Samuel Peter, he weighs 250lbs.
In 1949 anyone of comparable height to the Klitschko’s would be useless as a boxer because the mobility and fitness they have comes from modern methods of training and nutrition which were not thought of in 1949.
Modern concerns with the health of boxers were also paid scant attention in 1949 as boxers moved from State to State or country to country fighting as often as there was money to be made with minimum medical checks and variable standards of refereeing. Things were not always rosier in the nostalgically loved past.
Because of the lack of any accepted bodies such as today’s four majors, if a champion did not want to fight a southpaw, or anyone, there was no body to put pressure on him, so in theory ever title defence was “voluntary” and the champion-or in reality his manager and promoter-could dictate the terms and avoid any fighter they did not want to face. Great fighters such as Archie Moore and Joe Brown were typical victims of this avoidance.
That does not mean that there was universal acceptance of a champion-only the appearance of it. At various times the National Boxing Association(NBA), the forerunner to the WBA, the New York Commission, various other State Commissions and some European bodies all disagreed over who was world champion, and often the matter rested in the hands of Ring Magazine to try to establish an order where one did not really exist.
The picture was not clear at heavyweight. Joe Louis had retired. Ezzard Charles won NBA recognition by beating Jersey Joe Walcott in June 1949 and made defences against Gus Lesnevich and Pat Valentino, but was not universally accepted as champion. Jersey Joe showed he was not finished by going to Sweden and kayoing Ole Tandberg. The ratings featured fighters such as Lee Oma, who won his ten fights in 1949, Jimmy Bivins and Clarence Henry and Bruce Woodcock who retained his British, European and Empire titles by kayoing world light-heavyweight champion Freddie Mills.
Climbing fast were a 26-year-old crude banger from Brockton by the name of Rocky Marciano who had a 25-0 record with 23 wins inside the distance and Roland LaStarza, a 22-year-old with 37 straight wins. In May 1950 Marciano and LaStarza would clash in a crossroads fight, won by Marciano.
Others such as Rex Layne and Bob Baker were first year pros in 1949. Layne, who won 15 fights in 1949, would run up a record of 34-1-2, beating guys such as Walcott and Bob Satterfield, before being kayoed by Marciano in July 1951.
At light-heavyweight Mills had gained general recognition when he beat Gus Lesnevich in 1948, but did not make any defences, preferring to try his hand at heavyweight.
Joey Maxim started the year by losing to Ezzard Charles but won the NBA version of the title by beating Lesnevich in May 1949.
The ratings held guys such as Artie Levine, Leon Morrow, Harry “Kid” Matthews, Lloyd Marshall, Irish Bob Murphy and a couple of future greats in Archie Moore and Harold Johnson. Arguably Charles was at his best as a light-heavyweight and one of the greatest of all-time at the weight.
Matthews was in the midst of an unbeaten run that would eventually extend to 52 fights before that man Marciano crushed him in two rounds in July 1952. Marshall at 35 was on the down slope of a 100 fight career but anyone who had beaten Charles and Jake LaMotta had class.
Southpaw “Irish” Bob Murphy was 14-1 in 15 fights in 1949, including victories over Eddie Cotton and Marshall and was on his way to an unsuccessful challenge to Joey Maxim for the world title in 1951. Archie Moore was rebuilding after only going 9-4 in his bouts in 1948, and future champion Johnson lost his unbeaten record to his nemesis Moore in 1949.
Germany’s Bubi Scholz was a 19 year-old just starting on his great career and other names for the future such as Eddie Cotton, Yvon Durelle, Gerhard Hecht and Yolande Pompey were all at the novice stage.
It was the year of “The Bronx Bull” (“The Raging Bull” was a later invention) at middleweight, but as the year started it was the “Casablanca Clouter”, Marcel Cerdan who held the world title. The Frenchman had won the title the previous year by forcing Tony Zale to retire after eleven rounds.
Cerdan had two wins early in 1949 and then put his title on the line against Jake LaMotta at Briggs Stadium in Detroit in June. Marcel gave up his title in the tenth round, retiring with an injured shoulder. Tragedy struck four months later when the great French fighter was killed in an air crash in the Azores when on his way to the USA for a return with LaMotta. Cerdan’s greatness in illustrated in his record of 111 wins and just four defeats with the injury loss to LaMotta being the only time he was halted.
Despite the title winning effort it was actually a mixed year for LaMotta, mainly against French opponents, as he lost to Laurent Dauthuille and won and lost in bouts with Robert Villemain.
In the background of course was the great “Sugar” Ray Robinson who was welterweight champion, but eyeing the middleweights.
Although Tony Zale had bowed out Rocky Graziano was still active and won his four bouts, the start of a 21 bout unbeaten streak that would take him to a shot at Sugar Ray in 1952.
Dauthuille and Villemain were both in the running for title shots in 1949. Dauthuille had his shot in a return with LaMotta in September 1950 and came so close. In the “Fight of the Year”, he had a big lead on all of the cards going into the last round. However, LaMotta battered him to a stoppage with just 23 seconds left in the fight. Villemain faced Sugar Ray for the Pennsylvanian version of the world title1950 but lost a wide points verdict.
Over in Britain Randy Turpin suffered a shock loss to Dutchman Jean Stock, Bobo Olson had six wins in the year to build his record to 31-2, St Paul star Del Flanagan extended his winning run to 38 during 1949(on his way to an unbeaten run of 52 bouts), Eduardo Lausse was dominant in South America and others such as Tiberio Mitri, Steve Belloise, Artie Towne and Peter Mueller were all prominent.
New guys just getting used to the feel of the canvas included George Benton, Joey Giambra, Joey Giardello and Holly Mims. It was going to be tough days ahead for middleweights.
Another fighter active during 1949 was Dave Sands, the man many consider to be the best fighter ever produced by Australia. Dave had turned pro in 1941 as a 15-year-old, and was boxing twelve round fight by the time he was 17. He was campaigning in Britain in 1949 and had eight fights. He suffered a set-back in a loss to Teddy Yarosz, but won the British Empire title with a first round kayo of Dick Turpin. Dave would go on to beat Bobo Olson twice (the second bout in October 1951 was the first fight televised coast-to-coast in the USA). However after winning the Australian heavyweight title in July 1952, a fight in which Dave weighed just 154lbs, he was killed in a road accident the following month. Only 26, Dave had crammed in 110 fights from light-welterweight to heavyweight and lost just ten.
As with Ezzard Charles being at his best at light-heavyweight many feel that Sugar Ray Robinson was the supreme fighter as a welterweight. He was champion in 1949. Throughout this period of his career Sugar Ray fought often and against top opposition, although being held to a draw by someone named Henry Brimm( who?) in 1949. He made only one defence and that was against his most dangerous challenger “The Cuban Hawk” Kid Gavilan. Sugar Ray won a unanimous points verdict, but had to overcome a bad cut on the way.
That was Gavilan’s only loss in the year in which he scored wins over Ike Williams (twice), Rocky Castellani and Beau Jack. Others in the ratings were Jack Bratton, who would win the NBA version of the title when Robinson moved up, Bernard “Big Duke” Docusen, Akron southpaw Ronnie Delaney, who won ten fights in 1949 on the way to an unbeaten streak of 44 bouts (Ronnie lost only three of 66 bouts-and never got even near a title shot) Charley Fusari, Billy Graham and Eddie Thomas from Wales.
Champion to be Virgil Akins was fighting six round bouts in St Louis, Isaac Logart was a 16-year-old novice in the pros in 1949 and others such as Tony Demarco and Joe Miceli were just getting their start.
Worth mentioning is the then Mexican welterweight champion Kid Azteca who turned pro reportedly in 1929 at the age of 16. He first won the Mexican welterweight title in 1932 and was still national champion in 1949. The “Kid” had at least one fight every year from 1929 to his retirement in 1961, 32 years, the longest record of continuous activity in the history of boxing. His “record” show 210 fights, but it seems certain he had many more than this.
The lightweight division was headed by Ike Williams. Ike had cleared up the confusion existing since Sammy Angott’s retirement in 1944 by winning the NBA version of the title by beating Juan Zurita in 1945 and stopping the New York State Commission champion Bob Montgomery in 1947. Ike had a busy year in 1949 with twelve fights, including defences against Enrique Bolanos and Freddie Dawson, but also lost twice in non-title fights to Kid Gavilan. Incidentally Montgomery went on to create a bit of history in 1971 when he became the first black promoter ever in Philadelphia.
Sammy Angott was active again, but a fading force, as were former champions Lew Jenkins and Beau Jack. Out in California “Art “Golden Boy” Aragon was starting to roll winning 14 of his 16 fights in the year, on the way to a 15-year career , 90 wins in 116 fights, and only one world title shot.
Future champion Jimmy Carter was as unpredictable as always in 1949 and a 23-year-old Joe Brown was unbeaten in eight fights in the year, much better than 1948 when he won only one of his six bouts. Others in the ratings were Maxie “Little Duke” Docusen who extended his unbeaten run to 56 fights that year, title challengers Bolanos and Dawson, Canadian Arthur King and Brooklyn’s Paddy “Billygoat” DeMarco. Paddy would reign for eight months in 1954, winning and losing to Carter.
The future brigade making small waves in 1949 included Bud Smith, Arthur Presley, an 18-year-old Baby Vasquez, Cuban Orlando Zulueta and one Italy’s best ever, Duilio Loi.
In the “Fight of the Year” the “Will O’ The Wisp”, the fabulous Willie Pep, regained the title from Sandy Saddler with a convincing unanimous decision in February 1949, and retained in September with a stoppage of Eddie Compo. Up until his kayo loss to Saddler in October 1948 Willie’s record was 134-1-1, a score that will surely never be beaten. Between them Pep and Saddler had 239 fights before this 1949 meeting.
Saddler was still there as a threat to Willie and everyone else in the division and won 14 other bouts including a victory over Orlando Zulueta in December for the “World Junior Lightweight Title”.
Europe had some good rated fighters such as Ray Famechon who won the European title by beating England’s’ Ronnie Clayton, and 22-year-old Jean Sneyers from Belgium. The year also marked the end of their careers for former NBA champions Phil Terranova and Sal Bartolo, but as they were sliding out other such as Nigeria’s first world champion Hogan “Kid” Bassey and Philadelphia’s Percy Bassett were getting into their stride.
Manuel Ortiz was bantamweight champion. Between 1940 and 1945 various bodies held recognised their own bantamweight champions. The NBA, California, New York, Canada and something called the Territorial Boxing Commission all had “world” champions. By 1945 Ortiz was dominant and the other claimants faded away. In 1949 Manuel made a successful defence in February outpointing Dado Moreno, but at 33 and with over 100 fights behind him, he was not the force he had been and he lost four of the other 13 bouts he had in the year.
Harold Dade had taken the title from Manuel for brief period in 1947, but was sliding down the slope in 1949. In 1950 Marino moved down to flyweight and beat Terry Allen for the world title. The little Spanish southpaw Luis Romero was European champion and won ten of his eleven fights in 1949. In a 15 year career Luis would have 123 fights, but lost to Vic Toweel for the world title in 1951. Londoner Danny O’Sullivan won the British title in December, but would go on to what must be some kind of record. He was floored eleven times in losing to Romero in April 1950 and 14 times when being stopped by Toweel in a world title challenge in December. Other Europeans in the ratings included Frenchman Theo Medina and Italian Guido Ferracin. Cuban Luis Galvani ended the year having extended his unbeaten streak to 40 bouts.
Future champion, a 20-year-old Vic Toweel, turned pro in South Africa January 1949 and ran up twelve wins in the year to crash the world ratings. He would win the world title in his fourteenth fight by beating Ortiz. Scotland’s 21-year-old Peter Keenan won his eleven bouts in 1949, and would go on to be unbeaten in his first 32 before losing to Toweel for the title in 1952.
Rinty Monaghan was recognised as flyweight champion in 1949 having beaten Jackie Patterson, who the New York Commission and the British Board had recognised. Rinty made two defences, outpointing Frenchman Maurice Sandeyron and drawing with Terry Allen, who had floored and outpointed Rinty in a non-tile fight in 1948. Rinty retired in 1950 without fighting again.
Patterson, who had held the world flyweight title in 1943, lost four out of five bouts in 1949, and was really a finished fighter. Allen had drawn with Frenchman Honore Pratesi in 1949, but would beat Pratesi in April 1950 for the vacant world title, but lost the title to Dado Marino in August 1950.
Future champion Yoshio Shira, won both the Japanese flyweight and bantamweight titles in 1949 and in 1952 he would beat Dado Marino to become Japan’s first world champion.
So there you have it a summary of the champions and contenders and future stars. Only a mere eight weight division (well almost as Sandy Saddler had won the NBA super featherweight title in 1949, but by the end of 1951 the title had faded out) instead of the 17 we have now.
There were two all-time great reigning champions in Sugar Ray Robinson and Willie Pep, and a lot of good ones. Some nearing the end of their careers, some at their peak and some on their way to greater things.
Differences from today? With only eight real divisions very few fighters could hope for world title shots. Many of those named here who did not win world titles would certainly have gained that ultimate accolade if they were fighting with today’s 17 titles.
There was no sanctioning body to order title defences, so some good fighters either waited years for their title shot, or it never came at all.
A multitude of fighters either with over 100 bouts under their belt, or well on the way to the 100 mark. World rated fighters fighting ten to 15 times a year usually against other rated fighters, and a loss just being a mild speed bump to be cancelled out by a win next month. Purses generally so low that fighters had to fight often to make a living. Weekly shows in most of the big cities and towns in the USA and Europe with New York the accepted “Fight capital” of the world. No Casino boxing, TV not a player, bums on seats provided the income and that meant that you had to have good matches or the crowd did not turn out.
That was boxing in 1949.
