Tragic Boxing Stories

[zelley]

Cyber Boxing

Excellent link! Of interest, Hank Kaplan was involved with a boxing magazine some years back.

[thistlecrown]

http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w0906-glen.html

WHO then on the board might be the one to talk with about my stuff and this fighter?

[MarkScott]

Joe Gans and Battling Nelson, who fought 3 Homeric battles, both had tragic ends. Gans died young of TB while Nelson ended up in a hospital for mentally ill.

[zelley]

Wallace (Bud) Smith (1929 - 1973)

While scanning through old boxing magazines, I noticed in
the April 1974 issue of "Boxing Illustrated" that they
had a picture of Wallace (Bud) Smith and noted that he was
shot to death on a Cincinnati street. His date of death was July 11, 1973.

For those that don't remember SMITH, he was the 1948 AAU lightweight champion
and then turned pro facing the likes of Red Top Davis, Jimmy Carter, Joe Brown
and many more.

[oldgringo]

Tyrone Everett's story is a tragic one. I don't know all of the most intimate details, but to be given the **** end of the decision in your biggest professional fight, and to be shot to death when you had a bright future ahead of you, well that's tragic.


Tyrone Everett - 1971-1977 (36-1, 20 KOs): Mention the name Tyrone Everett to any hardcore boxing fan and one fight will immediately spring to mind: His split decision defeat to WBC super featherweight champion Alfredo Escalera.

Escalera-Everett is universally recognized as one of boxing history's worst decisions, and the injustice is further magnified by the fact that the 24-year-old Everett would be dead two fights and six months later after his girlfriend shot and killed him during a domestic dispute.

"We were talking to Don King about a rematch," said Everett's promoter J. Russell Peltz, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. "He had personal problems with his girlfriend and she shot him. Some people say that if he had won (the Escalera fight) that he would have moved out of the neighborhood, he wouldn't have gotten involved with those people and he'd still be alive today. I don't know if he would have moved out or not. He made $15,000 for a title fight that took place 30 years ago and we sold ringside tickets for $25. That probably would have translated to about $100,000 today."

Most observers had Everett winning 10 of the 15 rounds as the slick southpaw used his speed and quickness to befuddle the champion.

"He was too quick for Escalera," Peltz recalled. "He embarrassed Escalera in that fight with the way he dominated. Escalera would be winging punches and Tyrone would be gone by the time they got there. There were only one or two rounds that Escalera clearly won. I was standing at the ring when (ring announcer) Ed Derian read the decision. There was one Philly judge that we knew would be OK and a Puerto Rican judge who we knew would vote for Escalera no matter what. We focused all our attention on the Mexican referee. We never thought that the Philly judge would ever vote against Everett and when Ed announced he voted for Escalera I said, 'Ed, you idiot, you read the scorecard backward.' I was sure he made a mistake. And the Mexican referee ended up being the only one voting for us."

The robbery against Escalera hurt both boxer and promoter to the core because they were so sure that Everett had done more than enough to become the new champion.

"It was like he got ****d in front of 16,000 people," Peltz said. "It's hard to believe that a bunch of outside people could come into Philly and embarrass you like that, and you're standing like a little kid with your pants down. It was just frustrating. Every magazine I've ever read since then said it was one of the worst decisions of all time. Everett came into my office a couple of days after the fight and he told me 'I made Escalera s**k my d**k.' And he did. It was terrible. It took Philly boxing a long time to recover and get over the stink of that fight."

Everett was an immensely skilled boxer who had the ability to dominate while fighting on the road, and Peltz compared him favorably to two of the 1980s greatest speed merchants.

"He had a little bit of (Hector) Camacho without the B.S., and though he didn't have quite the technique of (Pernell) Whitaker he had better hand and foot speed," Peltz said. "He was not in too many competitive fights. There were a couple, but he outclassed everybody with his speed. In the pre-casino era, there were no neutral sites; you either fought at home or you fought in the other guy's backyard. (Tyrone) wasn't afraid to go on the road and we would never worry about where he would fight. He beat Ray Lunny in San Francisco and he beat a Colombian (Hugo Barranza) in (Caracas) Venezuela in the rain. And he even won decisions on the road, which is even tougher to do. If you're a big puncher, you can knock him out but if you're a boxer and you still get a decision, that's the sign of a very good fighter."

Despite being a defensively-oriented southpaw, Everett was a popular attraction.

"Everett was drawing $50,000 to $60,000 houses and attract between 7,500 and 10,000 fans," Peltz said. "I could afford to fly in guys from Korea, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and he was beating them up."

Had Everett lifted the belt from Escalera, Peltz said a long reign would have been possible, but he said the toughest challenge might have come from Alexis Arguello.

"Arguello was big and rangy," Peltz said. "But then again, Arguello struggled with Ruben Olivares, who was a slow methodical body-punching Mexican who was a little past his prime. Escalera had two sensational fights with Arguello and Everett dominated Escalera, so Everett could have pitched a shutout on Arguello too. Arguello would have had his hands full with Everett and I'm not sure if he wouldn't have licked him. Arguello was the best at 130, but I'm not sure if he would have been better than Everett."

Unfortunately, we will never find out.

Got that reading material from m.a.x.b.o.x.i.n.g. Pretty good stuff.

[zelley]

Tragic Boxing Stories

Oldgringo
Thanks for the detail, very interesting.

[0Rooster4Life0]

Henry Armstrong Died blind and broke =(

[Chr0nic]

did'nt sugar ray robinson die in poverty?

[hammerhiem]

G-man and Watson, happened within a short period of time and I watched both fights.

Watson is still seen on occasion and he and Eubank are still friends as far as I know, I remember when I met Eubank in 97 he said that was the only thing in his life he would change and how much he admired Watson for his courage and strength.

He received an MBE and completed the London marathon, he is as much a hero as any single person I have ever met, including winners of Queens galantry medals.

[S.G.]

didn't read the thread but Marcel Cerdan is quite tragic... dead in a plane crash just after he swore to regain his middleweight title after losing it in a fight where he sustained an injury in the 1st round

chances are he woulda won the rematch with LaMotta too