The Great Underrated Boxers

By Mike Sterritt

This book pays tribute to twenty two worthy yet lesser known professional boxers of the last hundred years. Some became champions, and some never were crowned as such. All have their own stories and share of glory though, be it long or fairly brief. Some of the names are famous, and some are unknown by the average boxing fan. Read here about the fighting careers of Rocky Kansas, Ruby Goldstein, and Sam Mc Vea, along with nineteen others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781450289139

Mike Sterritt

I have been a boxing fan for over thrity years. In that time I've read biographies for many famous champions. Over the years I've done a good bit of research about boxers and boxing in general. As I say in the introduction, I am impressed by how many talented pro boxers have never had their stories told, going back a hundred years or more. There are a lot of great boxing tales to be told. Writing has been an interest since I first learned to write. It became a sideline and now I would like to make it my occupation. I live in Denver. I am single and enjoy skiing, hiking, and all kinds of music.

Book preview

John Patrick Johnny Kilbane

51W 4L 7D 25 KOs 78ND

It is fitting to start with the fighting story of Johnny Kilbane. He may well be the most underrated featherweight champion of all time.

Born to Irish parents in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 9, 1889, he was soon fighting tough odds in life. His mother died when he was three, and his father was blind by the time Johnny was six. Young John Patrick left school to help support his family, finding work on the ore docks of the Great Lakes. Johnny probably got his first boxing lessons from scraps on the docks, though he got a few pointers from a professional lightweight by the name of Jimmy Dunn. He liked what he saw in the youngster and invited him to his boxing camp for instruction. Johnny kept coming back and began to show some promise.

Johnny Kilbane turned pro in 1907 at the age of eighteen. His third pro fight was against a tough guy slugger with a string of KO wins named Kid Campbell. Campbell weighed one thirty five, and Kilbane weighed one hundred and ten. It was Johnny’s first KO victory when he put the Kid down for the count in the sixth round. Johnny fought Kid Campbell on Christmas Day in ’07. His next fight was on New Years Day against the unrelated Tommy Kilbane. Johnny won their first fight and got a draw in their second a month later. John Patrick didn’t lose a fight until his nineteenth bout with Biz Mackey. Johnny claimed a foul but the fight went on his record as a five round TKO loss. Apparently Biz meant business.

Johnny’s first championship bout was in October of 1910 against the featherweight champion, veteran Abe Attell. Kilbane lost the fight, but he showed skill, and was known then as one of the best around. In his next fight he avenged a previous upset loss with a win over Benny Kaufman. In May of 1911, Johnny fought tough Mexican Joe (also called Indian Joe ) Rivers, who was undefeated in nine fights. The bout went twenty rounds and Joe stayed undefeated. In September of 1911, Kilbane fought Rivers again. This time Johnny knocked out Mexican Joe in the sixteenth round. Wins over top contenders Frankie Conley and Charley White put Johnny in position for another shot at Abe Attell’s featherweight