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Gus Ruhlin:
There were about 13 great heavyweights at the close of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth, 1890 to 1905 and as far as I know, all but two have biographical books written about them. Champions Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, and Hart are chronicled as are top contenders Slavin, Jackson, Choynski, Maher, McCoy, and Sharkey, the exceptions are Joe Goddard and my subject here, Gus Ruhlin. Gustave Ruhlin was born in Canton on January 8th 1872 of Swiss and French extraction but shortly was relocated to Akron, Ohio. He was an accomplished athlete, oarsman, footballer who stood around 6-2 and weighed 190 pounds or more. His resting heart rate was measured at 42 bpm in 1901. He played semi-pro football at left back for Akron until his boxing commitments became too much in mid-1898, The Akron Beacon said of Ruhlin that “He has a leather strap on his back to which the half back clings. You can count on him for a gain every time. He is the largest man on the team and he takes every bit of himself into the game.”
The first recorded fight I could find for Gus was in 1894 on May 10th against an S.Costigan over 3 rounds, no decision available, at the Excelsior, Akron. Then on June 9th at the Columbia Rink he edged out another promising local fighter, Jim Wood over 4 rounds. August 4th at Tracy Hall, Barberton saw a good 5 round ko win over Con Tobin, a big 215 pound veteran. Next up was a four round exhibition with Jack Cattonache(in reality Doc Payne) in which Payne was slightly better in the no decision affair at the Columbia Hall on September 13.This appears to be the Doss Payne fight in the records, normally shown as a win for Gus. On October 23 at the Excelsior Club he won a competitive 3 round contest with Pat Lewis which seems to have eluded the record keepers.
On to 1895 and Peter Maher was barnstorming with his troupe when on January 7th he rocked up to the Academy of Music, Akron. Little did he expect that his opponent would become the other half of a fight considered one of the greatest heavyweight battles ever, four years later. The Akron Beacon gives us the detail; “Maher let Ruhlin hit him in the first two but then punched the Akron boy rather lively in the last round.” A May 15 date saw a win over Tony Gelter, KO2, weights 180 to 170 at the Excelsior, billed, optimistically for the State title. June 27 at the Bowling Green, Baltimore brought his first big test and it didn’t go well, Yank Kenney stopping him in 16. this one was for the Ohio championship.
He regrouped and on January 27 at the Academy of Music, Tony Gelter was out classed in a four round no-decision bout. He again boxed Tony on February 4th in a three round exhibition before going to the Gold Mine AC in Cleveland to box a draw with Domnick Kane over four on February 10th. Reports suggest Ruhlin was hard done by a hometown decision. The date and result are usually recorded incorrectly. Finally in May of 1897 Ruhlin cracked the big time by defeating Steve O’Donnell over ten hard rounds. Steve maybe hurt his hand in the first but the fight was competitive until Gus pulled out a big last round that had O’Donnell hanging on at the gong. Aside from the win, a big plus came when O’Donnell’s manager, the famous Billy Madden, snapped up Gus, and later spells as a sparring partner of Steve and Jim Corbett brought him along greatly.
The next move was a trip to California to tackle the new rage of the West coast, Jim Jeffries. Ruhlin was in trouble in the last round but boxed well enough to merit a 20 round draw. Tut Ryan and Texas Smith were easily defeated and at the end of December , four second-raters were defeated in one night, only McGibony getting stopped but by all accounts Gus could have stopped all four inside the stripulated three rounds if he wished, on his Saint Louis debut.
The St.Louis Post-******** gave a great description of the Akron man; “Tall, standing 6 feet 2 inches in height, massive in frame, muscled perfectly and as shifty on his feet as fighters many pounds lighter than himself, he presents a perfect appearance in the ring. And above all, he is a clever ring general, never leaving an opening, and always following up his antagonist well.” The rest of his career is well documented, great highs and lows, a bit inconsistent, but boxing on for another eight years, always at the top tier. Beat Sharkey, a fading Maher, Choynski and a slew of fringe contenders, McCormick, Conroy, Big Ed Dunkhorst, revenge against Kenney, Jeffords, Carter, Stelzner, Goddard and Everett. Draws with Carter, Hart and Ferguson as he aged, were commendable and a close loss to McCoy likewise. Jeff, Sharkey and Fitz hammered him, his lack of a big punch holding him back from the ultimate award. There were also a couple of inexplicable losses to Jeffords and Joe Kennedy. Finally, a big hit against Gus was his refusal to meet a black opponent, even though his main sparring partner was Denver Ed Martin.
A final mention on his famous draw with Maher, and an excerpt from “The Irish Champion” by this author. “Six thousand fans crowded into the Lenox Athletic Club, New York, to see the struggle. Ruhlin attacked at the opening bell, nearly closing one of Maher’s eyes but after a heavy exchange, a big right to the body sent the “Arkon Giant” to the floor. He regained his feet at the limit and a hard right cut his eye as they slugged to the bell. Ruhlin came back into it in the next as Maher played to the body. Peter regained the initiative in the next as he still pounded the body and Gus was still on the defensive in the fourth and fifth and in the sixth, it looked curtains for Ruhlin as he got caught with smashing right and left crosses. He rallied and cut and bunged up both of Maher’s optics and drew blood from his left eye in the eighth. Peter was still the stronger and worked the body well and also closed Ruhlin’s eyes. Maher was staggered by a straight left at the start of the eleventh and Ruhlin now forced the pace.
Ruhlin was the stronger by the thirteenth, but a feint fooled him and he ducked into a hard left to the jaw. He almost put Peter through the ropes in the fourteenth but Maher was game and came back strong. He battered Ruhlin in the next round and contrary to all aspersions to his staying power, was the stronger as they faltered down the finishing stretch. He bloodied his opponent’s nose in the seventeenth and had his man cornered at the bell. The next was even as both men worked hard and the penultimate saw Gus cautioned for holding on as Maher found the target with uppercuts to the body. The last round saw them shake hands and as both strived for the win, Ruhlin stood off the aggressive Maher’s rushes. At the bell, referee White decided the bout a draw, and so ended one of the greatest contests of the nineteenth century."
"John Sullivan was the night watchman for thirty-two years in Madison Square Garden until it closed down in 1925. He claimed to never have missed a night and on the occasion of his retirement he spoke of the Maher-Ruhlin struggle. “It was the bloodiest battle ever staged in New York,” declared the ancient caretaker. “The eyes of both men were closed in the middle of the fray and how they ever lasted it out, I could never understand.” Jimmy DeForest, too, perhaps the finest boxing trainer of the time, rated it the greatest heavyweight fight he had ever seen.
Gus took a wife in Sarah Mulrooney who was to achieve fame with a mention in James Joyce’s epic novel “Ulysses” as Mrs Gus Rublin. Sarah, herself, had fame in her time, as a leading suffragette in America. Together Gus and his wife ran a saloon in Brooklyn, New York on Myrtle Street. They were not blessed with offspring and the former fighter died early in 1912 at his home in Brooklyn of a massive heart attack, aged only 40.uhlin, a recap and corrections on his early career.
There were about 13 great heavyweights at the close of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth, 1890 to 1905 and as far as I know, all but two have biographical books written about them. Champions Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, and Hart are chronicled as are top contenders Slavin, Jackson, Choynski, Maher, McCoy, and Sharkey, the exceptions are Joe Goddard and my subject here, Gus Ruhlin. Gustave Ruhlin was born in Canton on January 8th 1872 of Swiss and French extraction but shortly was relocated to Akron, Ohio. He was an accomplished athlete, oarsman, footballer who stood around 6-2 and weighed 190 pounds or more. His resting heart rate was measured at 42 bpm in 1901. He played semi-pro football at left back for Akron until his boxing commitments became too much in mid-1898, The Akron Beacon said of Ruhlin that “He has a leather strap on his back to which the half back clings. You can count on him for a gain every time. He is the largest man on the team and he takes every bit of himself into the game.”
The first recorded fight I could find for Gus was in 1894 on May 10th against an S.Costigan over 3 rounds, no decision available, at the Excelsior, Akron. Then on June 9th at the Columbia Rink he edged out another promising local fighter, Jim Wood over 4 rounds. August 4th at Tracy Hall, Barberton saw a good 5 round ko win over Con Tobin, a big 215 pound veteran. Next up was a four round exhibition with Jack Cattonache(in reality Doc Payne) in which Payne was slightly better in the no decision affair at the Columbia Hall on September 13.This appears to be the Doss Payne fight in the records, normally shown as a win for Gus. On October 23 at the Excelsior Club he won a competitive 3 round contest with Pat Lewis which seems to have eluded the record keepers.
On to 1895 and Peter Maher was barnstorming with his troupe when on January 7th he rocked up to the Academy of Music, Akron. Little did he expect that his opponent would become the other half of a fight considered one of the greatest heavyweight battles ever, four years later. The Akron Beacon gives us the detail; “Maher let Ruhlin hit him in the first two but then punched the Akron boy rather lively in the last round.” A May 15 date saw a win over Tony Gelter, KO2, weights 180 to 170 at the Excelsior, billed, optimistically for the State title. June 27 at the Bowling Green, Baltimore brought his first big test and it didn’t go well, Yank Kenney stopping him in 16. this one was for the Ohio championship.
He regrouped and on January 27 at the Academy of Music, Tony Gelter was out classed in a four round no-decision bout. He again boxed Tony on February 4th in a three round exhibition before going to the Gold Mine AC in Cleveland to box a draw with Domnick Kane over four on February 10th. Reports suggest Ruhlin was hard done by a hometown decision. The date and result are usually recorded incorrectly. Finally in May of 1897 Ruhlin cracked the big time by defeating Steve O’Donnell over ten hard rounds. Steve maybe hurt his hand in the first but the fight was competitive until Gus pulled out a big last round that had O’Donnell hanging on at the gong. Aside from the win, a big plus came when O’Donnell’s manager, the famous Billy Madden, snapped up Gus, and later spells as a sparring partner of Steve and Jim Corbett brought him along greatly.
The next move was a trip to California to tackle the new rage of the West coast, Jim Jeffries. Ruhlin was in trouble in the last round but boxed well enough to merit a 20 round draw. Tut Ryan and Texas Smith were easily defeated and at the end of December , four second-raters were defeated in one night, only McGibony getting stopped but by all accounts Gus could have stopped all four inside the stripulated three rounds if he wished, on his Saint Louis debut.
The St.Louis Post-******** gave a great description of the Akron man; “Tall, standing 6 feet 2 inches in height, massive in frame, muscled perfectly and as shifty on his feet as fighters many pounds lighter than himself, he presents a perfect appearance in the ring. And above all, he is a clever ring general, never leaving an opening, and always following up his antagonist well.” The rest of his career is well documented, great highs and lows, a bit inconsistent, but boxing on for another eight years, always at the top tier. Beat Sharkey, a fading Maher, Choynski and a slew of fringe contenders, McCormick, Conroy, Big Ed Dunkhorst, revenge against Kenney, Jeffords, Carter, Stelzner, Goddard and Everett. Draws with Carter, Hart and Ferguson as he aged, were commendable and a close loss to McCoy likewise. Jeff, Sharkey and Fitz hammered him, his lack of a big punch holding him back from the ultimate award. There were also a couple of inexplicable losses to Jeffords and Joe Kennedy. Finally, a big hit against Gus was his refusal to meet a black opponent, even though his main sparring partner was Denver Ed Martin.
A final mention on his famous draw with Maher, and an excerpt from “The Irish Champion” by this author. “Six thousand fans crowded into the Lenox Athletic Club, New York, to see the struggle. Ruhlin attacked at the opening bell, nearly closing one of Maher’s eyes but after a heavy exchange, a big right to the body sent the “Arkon Giant” to the floor. He regained his feet at the limit and a hard right cut his eye as they slugged to the bell. Ruhlin came back into it in the next as Maher played to the body. Peter regained the initiative in the next as he still pounded the body and Gus was still on the defensive in the fourth and fifth and in the sixth, it looked curtains for Ruhlin as he got caught with smashing right and left crosses. He rallied and cut and bunged up both of Maher’s optics and drew blood from his left eye in the eighth. Peter was still the stronger and worked the body well and also closed Ruhlin’s eyes. Maher was staggered by a straight left at the start of the eleventh and Ruhlin now forced the pace.
Ruhlin was the stronger by the thirteenth, but a feint fooled him and he ducked into a hard left to the jaw. He almost put Peter through the ropes in the fourteenth but Maher was game and came back strong. He battered Ruhlin in the next round and contrary to all aspersions to his staying power, was the stronger as they faltered down the finishing stretch. He bloodied his opponent’s nose in the seventeenth and had his man cornered at the bell. The next was even as both men worked hard and the penultimate saw Gus cautioned for holding on as Maher found the target with uppercuts to the body. The last round saw them shake hands and as both strived for the win, Ruhlin stood off the aggressive Maher’s rushes. At the bell, referee White decided the bout a draw, and so ended one of the greatest contests of the nineteenth century."
"John Sullivan was the night watchman for thirty-two years in Madison Square Garden until it closed down in 1925. He claimed to never have missed a night and on the occasion of his retirement he spoke of the Maher-Ruhlin struggle. “It was the bloodiest battle ever staged in New York,” declared the ancient caretaker. “The eyes of both men were closed in the middle of the fray and how they ever lasted it out, I could never understand.” Jimmy DeForest, too, perhaps the finest boxing trainer of the time, rated it the greatest heavyweight fight he had ever seen.
Gus took a wife in Sarah Mulrooney who was to achieve fame with a mention in James Joyce’s epic novel “Ulysses” as Mrs Gus Rublin. Sarah, herself, had fame in her time, as a leading suffragette in America. Together Gus and his wife ran a saloon in Brooklyn, New York on Myrtle Street. They were not blessed with offspring and the former fighter died early in 1912 at his home in Brooklyn of a massive heart attack, aged only 40.uhlin, a recap and corrections on his early career.
Ivich
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