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By Terence Dooley - A huge amount of people will gather to celebrate Christmas with their family and friends today. Over in Belgium, though, 16 fighters will called be into action, barring withdrawals or cancellations, as they take part in the country’s annual Christmas Day fight card.
Christmas Day boxing shows are an increasingly rare breed, especially in recent decades, but there used to be a plethora of small bills across the globe. Sadly, the not-so-traditional festive punch-ups have slowly ground to a halt, leaving Belgium as one of the few places where boxing fans can get a live Christmas Day boxing fix. It is a shame, as in days gone by this fixture has thrown up oddities aplenty.
Anyone who has complained about the long, stressful preparation that goes into Christmas dinner should spare a thought for the well-travelled, Georgia-born Bobby Dobbs and South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s Pete Sheenan. The two met in Trenton, New Jersey on Christmas Day 1899 for a scheduled 20-round bout.
Sheenan retired after the ninth-round after having the stuffing knocked out of him. It was a quick return to form for Dobbs, who was KO’d in six by Joe Walcott on the 5th of December. The Deseret News reported the Walcott result (in the December 6 1899 issue) and also signed off by pointing out “Dobbs and Walcott are negroes”. In those days adding a “bit of colour” to a fight report or dispatch had a whole different meaning. [Click Here To Read More]
Christmas Day boxing shows are an increasingly rare breed, especially in recent decades, but there used to be a plethora of small bills across the globe. Sadly, the not-so-traditional festive punch-ups have slowly ground to a halt, leaving Belgium as one of the few places where boxing fans can get a live Christmas Day boxing fix. It is a shame, as in days gone by this fixture has thrown up oddities aplenty.
Anyone who has complained about the long, stressful preparation that goes into Christmas dinner should spare a thought for the well-travelled, Georgia-born Bobby Dobbs and South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s Pete Sheenan. The two met in Trenton, New Jersey on Christmas Day 1899 for a scheduled 20-round bout.
Sheenan retired after the ninth-round after having the stuffing knocked out of him. It was a quick return to form for Dobbs, who was KO’d in six by Joe Walcott on the 5th of December. The Deseret News reported the Walcott result (in the December 6 1899 issue) and also signed off by pointing out “Dobbs and Walcott are negroes”. In those days adding a “bit of colour” to a fight report or dispatch had a whole different meaning. [Click Here To Read More]
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