Good and great middleweights 1930 -1950

[McGoorty]

Not much more at all, I am afraid. It is the job of his surviving relatives to get his record up. The man kept meticulous records. His own wife kept ongoing scrapbooks of his fights and articles on him. He also fought under several other names, as was the custom. His nickname, at least one used in an article on him I once read on a visit to his house, was the Prarie Cyclone.

In the 1940's & early 50's, he trained amateurs in our area. My dad was on one of his teams in about 1947. He had a successful construction & paving company, but his first love remained boxing for all of his years. He would talk about it anytime. I wish I had talked to him more. I do, however, have a cassette tape of an interview I conducted with him. It is one of those rinky-dink outfits smaller than a pack of cigarettes. Sometime I might buy some batteries for it and dig out the tapes. That one thing was the only purpose I ever used it for.

Having not only known Dempsey, but sparred with him professionally, Connie considered Dempsey the greatest heavyweight ever. He said if Dempsey touched you in the ring it hurt.

At his 100th birthday party a massive amount of boxing paraphernalia was on display from his collection and career. If his relatives are not going to do anything about making his record public, then they should give the records to someone who will. I am a little peeved that nothing has been done, but my own hands are tied.

I will probably remember a little more. One of the guys he trained in the 1960's only because of the kid's special talent, is a great friend of mine. I can ask him some questions.

A lot of his record will be in opponents records so I will look around

[Humean]

Good post, yes Cerdan I know, what a talent, fast hard puncher and fantastic skills, loved a war. Thil I have never seen but of course I know a bit about him. Didn't Cerdan fight Villemain on film or was it LaMotta ?

There is footage of a few Thil fights on youtube but ithey are short videos and mostly of low quality. Thil had a brawling style, coming in on a crouch and working in close, a real hard man who could take a punch and had a good measure of power.

Villemain fought LaMotta twice, went 1-1 but was considered to have been robbed in their first encounter, i'm not aware of either fight having been on film though.

Some more:

Gorilla Jones - NBA champion. I know little about his style but I think it was more of a boxing style. He was the first crowned middleweight champ after Mickey Walker vacated but Jones lost it in Paris to Thil. He was also Mae West's lover and friend and was kept employed and provided for by her right up until her death.

Freddie Steele - NYSAC/NBA champion. Either Steele or Thil was the best middleweight of the 1930s. Definitely the classiest operator of the 30s middleweights, fast on his feet bouncing in and out with fast, crisp and fairly hard punches. Was probably injured when he lost his championship to Al Hostak, possibly a fixed fight. Frankie Carbo fighter.

Babe Risko - NYSAC/NBA champion. Frankie Carbo's first world champion and the basis for his early power in boxing and control of the middleweight division in the 1930s. Risko had a stiff style, kind of reminds me of Carl Froch but no where near as good, a really ugly jab and one of the weakest middleweight champs there has been.

Ken Overlin - NYSAC champion. Seems to have had a bouncy boxer style but very little power. I think his fights had a tendency to be close run affairs.

Vince Dundee - NYSAC/NBA champion. Slugger with little speed and only half decent power. Liked to punch to the body, minimal skill but seemingly a solid chin, only knocked out once in 157 fights and that was to Freddie Steele.

Teddy Yarosz - NYSAC/NBA champion. He had a bouncy boxer style with a fairly quick left jab. He had little power and tended to land punches with an open glove, a real slapper. Dirty on the inside with his use of the head and wrestling tactics. Only knocked out once in 128 fights.

[The Old LefHook]

A lot of his record will be in opponents records so I will look around

I do not know why everyone in our town referred to him as Will(s) when his last name was Will, but I never got out of the habit.

A few years ago when I discovered there was only one fight of his on Boxrec agasinst a guy whose first name was Judy. Connie and Judy. Connie lost that one. Now I see there are three fights of his up on BoxRec, so someone must have been doing something. His son told me they were having trouble with documentation for BoxRec or whomever they were dealing with. His son is in his eighties himself, so I don't know if the complete record will ever happen.

Of the three fights posted, Connie lost two and drew one. Not too impressive at this point.