PROFESSOR MARBRY TEACHING WEEKEND CLASS TO FIGHT FANS
Professor Chuck Marbry
Charlotte, NC– I have written about a few fighters, trainers, some “Old School” ways, some fight history, and even how to throw a few punches properly. Today, I take pen in hand ( before I go to the keyboard ) to have some fun and share some little known pugilistic history, so you, too, can shock and amaze your friends.
THE CONCEPT OF TITLE BELTS & CHAMPIONS
The practice of awarding title belts in the States was begun in the late 1880s by Richard K. Fox, who was the publisher of the then popular Police Gazette. The way the story goes, Fox had been insulted by John L. Sullivan, which probably was true, given Sullivan’s proclivity to imbibe in provoking s*it. This incident supposedly took place in a saloon in New York, and thus afterwards Fox couldn’t stand the Great John L. Fox began to back several fighters trying to beat Sullivan, including both Paddy Ryan and Jake Kilrain. Since the Police Gazette was the “Ring Talk” of the day, the official source of trusted boxing news, Fox began awarding “The Police Gazette Diamond Belt” to those he considered champions in several weight classes. And because of Fox’s strong dislike for Sullivan, he awarded his belt to Jake Kilrain, thus “declaring” him the “legitimate” heavyweight champion of the world. However, in 1889, The Sullivan AKA the Boston Strong Boy “Whupped” ( Whupped is a legitimate boxing term, look it up! ) Kilrain and Sullivan was grudgingly crowned and recognized as the champion. Richard Fox died 1922, the same year that Nat Fleischer founded his Ring magazine. Eventually Fleischer took up where Fox left off in awarding belts, and thats how we have championship belts today.
WHY THERE ARE SO MANY “NO-DECISIONS” ON OLD SCHOOL RECORDS?
The No-Decision time ran from around 1911 until 1920, officially, however it carried on a bit longer in some places because old habits die hard. The No-Decision era began with the Frawley Law that was enacted in 1911. The purpose of the law was to try to stop “fixed” fights, and the idea behind it was that a fix was less likely if the only way to win was by a knockout. But, we fight fans want a winner and a loser to a fight, knockout or not, so the sportswriters for the newspapers took over, giving their own decisions. And, during this time if you look at a cross-reference from different papers covering the same fights, you will find that the newspaper writer/judges were usually a lot better than todays current crop of fight judges. The Frawley Law was changed by the Walker Law in 1920, effectively ending the No-Decision era. So when you go to the International Boxing Hall of Fame and look at the records of all those “Old School” fighters from the early 1900s and see 20, 30, 40 and even 50 No-Decisions, you can figure that those fighters won probably 85% to 90% of those No-Decision fights, and you begin to realize how good they really were.
THE MOUTH PIECE OR GUM SHIELD AS WE NOW IT
In the beginning of pugilism, they didn’t have or use mouth pieces. But fighters would often eat orange wedges in between rounds as a way to stay hydrated and to keep energy levels up. Remember, this was pre-Gatorade and before Manny Pacquiao’s fans and foes get whipped into a frenzy, pre Performance Enhancing Drugs. And one day a fighter just decided to keep the orange peel in his mouth to try to protect the inside of his lips from being cut by his teeth when he got popped in the mouth. Necessity really is the mother of invention.
TOOK A DENTIST TO FINALLY INTRODUCE GUM SHIELD (EUROPE) OR MOUTHPIECE (USA)
Finally in 1902, a London dentist, Jack Marles came up with what he called a “gum shield.” Interestingly, it was first intended to be used during training only so a fighter wouldn’t get hurt before a fight. It wasn’t all that important to protect a fighter during a fight, since the whole object was to do as much damage to your opponent as possible. It took seven or eight years before somebody got the bright idea to use the “gum shield” on a regular basis during a fight, and that was English fighter Ted “Kid” Lewis, who had a record of 170-30-14, and was a two time welterweight champion. Having dome some research, it doesn’t tell us if Lewis retired with all his teeth intact.
HOW ABOUT THE RANKING OF FIGHTERS
As weird as it might sound, for 200 years there were no rankings nor weight classes in the manly art of self defense. Folks generally agreed on who the champions were, but that was far from being world recognized. So it was actually up to the fighters themselves to follow and challenge the champions if they wanted a title shot. In January 1925, Tex Rickard, boxing promoter of questionable repute published “The Rickard Boxing Lists for 1924” (at the urging of none other than Nat Fleischer ). When Rickard died in 1929, Fleischer convinced Jack Dempsey to continue the rankings, which would be published in Fleischer’s magazine. Dempsey’s first list of the “Top Ten” came out in February 1930, and Dempsey ranked the fighters for the rest of the year.
THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES (MAYBE EVEN TODAY?) WHEN RING’S RATINGS WERE “FIXED”
After that, Fleisher decided that he and his staff would do the rankings themselves, and as we have recently seen, with the exception of Ring magazine’s John Ort, who rigged the rankings for promoter Don King and his departed schleps like Al Braverman and Paddy Flood, this during the ABC TV televised United States Boxing Tournament. Although some think things have been aboveboard and completely honest in the rankings ever since, be advised that a promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, owns both Ring magazine and Golden Boy Promotions. While that doesn’t prove or imply that Oscar rigs the rankings, it is certainly a “conflict of interest” that boxing doesn’t need.
OK, IF IT’S SQUARE WHY DO THEY CALL IT A BOXING RING?
The term “ring” actually comes from the early days of bare-knuckle-boxing, and even gloved boxing, with the early practice of having a circle of spectators form a “ring” around the two fighters. Sometimes a single rope would be held by the crowd to show the official area the fighters were to stay in. Many times these fights were held in out of the way places as they were still illegal in many states and cities. As such, they wouldn’t take much in the way of equipment, not even stools for the fighters to rest on in between rounds. Often one of the corner men would kneel down on one knee with the other knee up to form a “seat” for the fighter to sit on, and the crowd held the rope to from the fighting area. That way, if the Police would happen upon an illegal prize fight, the people scattered, and all the fight promoters would be out would be the cost of a rope. And to this very day, some of those promoters descendants still promote fights and want to get by with paying fighters the cost of a 20-square foot rope!
TAKE THIS TO THE WATER COOLER AND BE THE KING!
So there you have just a little boxing history that you won’t get anywhere else. The next time there is a quick knockout on Friday Night Fights, you now have some info to amaze your friends!
Professor Chuck Marbry