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Old 12-03-2009, 05:40 PM   #22
professordp
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Don Mogard

A standard question in a boxing trivia quiz, "Who was the first fighter to go the distance with Rocky Marciano?" Thus, Don Mogard is another one of those guys who is famous for a fight he lost rather than a bout he won.

And his record (19-16-3) reveals that he only won half of his fights during a career as a heavyweight from 1947-1951. He was sort of a mediocre, non-factor in the division who typically fought preliminary matches against other mediocre non-factors of the era.

In addition to Marciano, he did lace up against Roland LaStarza, an aged Jack London, Don Cockell, and Carmine Vigo, all in losing efforts. As far as his victories, in his nineteen wins he didn't defeat anyone of great reputation or worth.

Still he was seen as a rugged, somewhat skilled boxer. He didn't have much of a punch. He kayoed three tomato cans and stopped two others. As demonstrated by his match with Marciano, he had a VERY strong chin and could take a pounding. He was never stopped, finishing all of his matches on his feet--win, lose, or draw.

Most of his matches were six or eight round affairs. Besides losing a one-sided unanimous decision to the Rock in 1949, the only other time he was scheduled for a ten rounder was earlier that year when he lost a another unanimous nod to Jo Weiden.

His back story is a little interesting, insofar as he was infected by a bit of wanderlust. Perhaps it was in his genes. Don's dad was a Norwegian who settled in Canada following World War One.

Prior to joining the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War Two, he worked as a lumber jack which might account for his ruggedness in the ring. At some point he fought as an amatuer and served as a physical fitness instructor during his service hitch.

After mustering out of the military, he was encouraged to give the pro fight game a whirl. Mogard's first three fights were in Canada, but by the end of 1947 he was fighting regularly in the New York metropolitan area, appearing on undercards in local venues like St. Nick's Arena, Broadway Arena, and Jamaica Arena in Queens.

He actually was part of the undercard at Yankee Stadium on the night that Joe Louis kayoed Jersey Joe Walcott in their 1948 championship match. Mogard scored a four round decision over James Patrick Connolly earlier in the evening.

After the loss to Marciano, he hooked up with Lee Savold and functioned as a sparring partner. Savold was scheduled to meet Bruce Woodcock for a match in the UK, and Mogard took the trip with Lee to help him prepare.

Don seems to have taken a liking to the British Isles and never returned to the U.S. during his boxing days. He matched up against the likes of London, Cockell, and Irishman Paddy Slavin before calling it a career in early 1951.

Mogard was a tough fighter to rate (at least for me!). I combed through old copies of The Ring, searched through the Net, and looked over a biography of Marciano. All of that and very little information gained. I was quite surprised that The Ring carried no account of his match with Marciano outside of a brief, one-sentence report that Marciano defeated him in a ten round match by UD.

Most likely, his total rating of a 4 is a bit generous. But to finish on your feet after ten rounds with Marciano as he was entering his prime has to earn you points. So I gave him strong ratings for endurance, chin/ko, ability to recover and absorb punishment but I scored him low in virtually all of the offensive categories. The little information that I found was somewhat conflicted concerning his style, thus I set him as "Either."

The picture below was posted previously by Rom.
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Last edited by professordp; 12-03-2009 at 10:51 PM.
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