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Joe Gans D20 Joe Walcott -- San Francisco, Sept. 30, 1904
Lightweight champion Joe Gans was the master boxer while welterweight champion Joe Walcott was an aggressive fighter whose nickname, The Barbados Demon, had been well-earned.
The shorter, much heavier-set Walcott was required to make 138 pounds at an unusual ringside weigh-in and according to the San Francisco Bulletin "saved his forfeit money by a very slight fraction" although the actual weights were not reported.
There were hints that the boxers might not go all out, but referee Jack Welch visited both men and reassuringly told the Bulletin: "I think the contest will be the best and squarest ever pulled off in San Francisco."
Welch was not far wrong, with the Bulletin reporting: "It was a great fight. Gans was the clever ring mechanic. Walcott was the same old Barbadoes [sic] hurricane. He carried the fight to Gans from the start and didn't seem to mind the facers that would either have slowed up the average fighter or put him out of commission."
When Welch signaled a draw the crowd booed, believing that Gans had won. Walcott, the Bulletin reported, was "tickled to death with the verdict and sprang forward and shook the referee's hand."
Lightweight champion Joe Gans was the master boxer while welterweight champion Joe Walcott was an aggressive fighter whose nickname, The Barbados Demon, had been well-earned.
The shorter, much heavier-set Walcott was required to make 138 pounds at an unusual ringside weigh-in and according to the San Francisco Bulletin "saved his forfeit money by a very slight fraction" although the actual weights were not reported.
There were hints that the boxers might not go all out, but referee Jack Welch visited both men and reassuringly told the Bulletin: "I think the contest will be the best and squarest ever pulled off in San Francisco."
Welch was not far wrong, with the Bulletin reporting: "It was a great fight. Gans was the clever ring mechanic. Walcott was the same old Barbadoes [sic] hurricane. He carried the fight to Gans from the start and didn't seem to mind the facers that would either have slowed up the average fighter or put him out of commission."
When Welch signaled a draw the crowd booed, believing that Gans had won. Walcott, the Bulletin reported, was "tickled to death with the verdict and sprang forward and shook the referee's hand."
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