New HW Boxers Rated

[Waltercito]

Originally Posted by pilight

Under game options where it says "External Data Source Link" change the string to http://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/$$ID$$

Thanks!

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Here was the 2nd of two German heavyweights in the 2nd series group.

Ossi Buettner HW Germany

Career Record: W18(KO 5) / L16(KO 6) / D6

Unknown information has been left blank.

Birth Name: Oswald Ludwig Buettner

Did Buettner I think it was back around 2006 orginally with the file

named Buttner. Later couple years back I redid it a Buettner as BoxRec

has him listed. This file updates the rating some. Changed him from a

Boxer to Slugger and changed his Fouls to Occashionally. Info found in

Ring on his fights leads me to rate him more that kind of fighter.

Found on line an obituary placing Ossi death on Sept 18th, 2015, in

Sarasota, Florida. In this obituary, they show his name as Owald Ludwig

Buettner, spelled with the "e" as boxrec lists him. Would appear to be

his birth name spelling though the note in BoxRec says his birth name as

"Buttner" with the two little dots above the 'U". Sportenote.com shows

it spelled this way as his birth name. The German spelling? The same

newspaper account on line that showed the obituary, spells it Buttner.

Accounts in the Ring and other accounts including photos of him show his

name spelled Buttner.This is going by his birth German spelling I'm

assuming?

The "Sport & Note Boxing Passion" website an old photo that spelled his

name on it Buttner.

See his file bio for all the fight information I found. Decided some of these just too much to paste here and you can easily read it in the file.

[Waltercito]

Originally Posted by Rocco Del Sesto

Here was the 2nd of two German heavyweights in the 2nd series group.

Ossi Buettner HW Germany

Career Record: W18(KO 5) / L16(KO 6) / D6

Unknown information has been left blank.

Birth Name: Oswald Ludwig Buettner

Did Buettner I think it was back around 2006 orginally with the file

named Buttner. Later couple years back I redid it a Buettner as BoxRec

has him listed. This file updates the rating some. Changed him from a

Boxer to Slugger and changed his Fouls to Occashionally. Info found in

Ring on his fights leads me to rate him more that kind of fighter.

Found on line an obituary placing Ossi death on Sept 18th, 2015, in

Sarasota, Florida. In this obituary, they show his name as Owald Ludwig

Buettner, spelled with the "e" as boxrec lists him. Would appear to be

his birth name spelling though the note in BoxRec says his birth name as

"Buttner" with the two little dots above the 'U". Sportenote.com shows

it spelled this way as his birth name. The German spelling? The same

newspaper account on line that showed the obituary, spells it Buttner.

Accounts in the Ring and other accounts including photos of him show his

name spelled Buttner.This is going by his birth German spelling I'm

assuming?

The "Sport & Note Boxing Passion" website an old photo that spelled his

name on it Buttner.

See his file bio for all the fight information I found. Decided some of these just too much to paste here and you can easily read it in the file.

Yes, the correct german spelling would be Büttner, so Buettner is the accurate translation.


Büttner is said to have had a colourful personality, and was deeply involved in Frankfurt's prostitution subculture at some point in the seventies.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Ran across Koski's name in one of the Ring Magazine Continental rankings when I was actually looking up info on one of the other recent HW's working on. A name I'd not seen before. I looked and found him in by data base. A rating originally done by John Dewey I'm pretty sure finding it under the Miscellaneous ratings that he started and contributed so many of those. You'll see my redo is shook up quite a bit from John's after I did some play testing against many of his opponents also in my data base. Of course I've updated bio information as much as I could find.

Ilkka Koski - HW - Finland

Career Record: W7(KO3) / L1(KO1)/ D1

Unknown information has been left blank

Birth name: Ilkka Rikhard Koski

Original rating was posted by John Dewey under the Miscellaneous fighters in April 2010.

From en.wikipedia.org, From Finland, Koski completed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics winning a bronze medal in 1952, but lost his first bout in 1956. In Finland, he held their amateur heavyweight title in 1951-1956 and 1958, then turning professional. Account says he retired in 1962 due to an injury. Inducted into the Finnish Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008.

Olympics.com website account says that in the 1952 Olympics he lost his semi-final bout to Ingemar Johansson. Then went on to win the bronz. In 1956 he lost to Italian Mino Bozzano.

Another website found, memim.com/ilkka-koski.html gives his birth place as Jyvaskyla on June, 10, 1928 and his DOD, Feb 28, 1993 in Helsinki.It gave some further detail of his Olympic career. In the 1952 games he first defeated Laszlo Bene, from Hungary by second round KO and then in beat Eddie Hearn from Great Britain on points. In the semifinals he lost a 1:2 decision to johansson. In 1956 he retired in the 2nd round against Giacomo Bozzano in his first round fight.

Sept 1958 Ring 06/01/58 - Ilkka Koski made his pro debut outscoring his opponent, "bloated" Hans Peter Drabes of Germany in 6 rounds.The writer makes the comment that Koski has already had his best years as an amateur.

Dec 1958 Ring 09/12/58 - Ilkka Koski uses his "bone-crushing right hand" to knock out Robert Warmbrunn in the first round.

March 1959 Ring May 1959 Ring had Koski ranked 10th in their Continental Heavyweight ratings for the month.

March 1959 Ring 12/01/58 Ilkka Koski and Hans Friedrich, Germany fought what was described as a "crude" bout won by Koski.

April 1959 Ring dropped Koski out of it's Continental Rankings relacing him with Jose Gonzalez at #10.

May 1959 Ring 02/02/59 - Ilkka Koski pounded out a clear points win in 8 rounds over Jose Gonzalez. Gonzalez, the account says took several counts. The short report mentions Koski did well to work his way towards the top Brackets. In this May 1959 Ring had Koski ranked 10th in their Continental Heavyweight ratings.

June 1959 Ring, Ilkka Koski was back at #10 HW in the Continental rankings.He got as high as #6 Rank In the July 1959 Ring and then ranked in gradually slipping until dropped from the top 10 in March 1960. Inactivity had a lot to do with that.

July 1959 Ring 04/17/59 - Ilkka Koski the report says "dismantled" Tongan Sifa Kivalu, and the reporter judged that Koski was showing great potential. The July 1959 Ring Continental Rankings put Koski at # 6 HW.

August 1959 Ring listed Ilkka Koski it's Heavyweight Prospect of the Month.

April 1960 Ring - 01/23/60 Ulli Nitzchke knocked out Ilkka Koski, 205 in the 2nd round avenging a loss to Koski back in thier amateur days. Koski was send down two times in the first round, but kept up the fight into the 2nd round before two rights and a left to the head dropped Koski for good.

Sept 1962 Ring - 06/03/62 After almost 2-1/2 years out of the ring, ilkka Koski fought a draw with Lars Olof Norling over 6 rounds in fight best described by Ring as mauling affair.

Nov 1962 Ring - 08/17/62, Ilkka Koski met up again with Lars Norling and this time easily won a 6 round points decision. This Ring accounts though quoted Koski afterward that Koski would not meet again with top boxers but stay with preliminary level bouts. "Too lazy to train in his 34 years!"

Various sites on line mention Koski retiring in 1962 after an injury.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Something screwy with the Koski file posted duplicated it. Deleted the duplicate.
Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

While just looking through my data base just looking at some things as I was starting to work on Albert Westphal, next German HW on that Boxing News list from 1966, I come across a file for John Strand, Swedish heavyweight from the 1920s. The file had no identification who rated him. Just that the file I had came from TB1 days. Saw he spent some time fighting in England so my interest picked to see If I find anything online on him through the UK newspaper website I'm on right now. Found some things.

Only photo of him I found online was in one of the newspaper articles of him training with another fighter. I was such a bad graining photo I didn't bother taking a snip of it.

John Strand - HW - Sweden 1925-28
Career Record: W7(KO 2) / L10(KO 6) / D5

Unknown information has been left blank.

DOB and DOD are from Boxerlist.com

Original rating could not find record or who made it. A list of heavyweights in the data base at the time was posted by LeeSkye on 3/25/2004 under General Discussions forum.So dated back to before that time. Anyone shed light on original rating originator let me know to give credit.Original rating was named as Johnny Strand. But all accounts of Strand in some UK papers on line and other sources all refer to him as John Strand to changed it to John.

Following are some bits of information from online UK newspapers of the time on some of Strand's fights there in the UK in 1927.

08 Apr 1927,Fri Westminster Gazette, London - Strand making his debut in England made a good showing. He had Gunner Bennett, his opponent down for a nine in the 5th round.Bennett then started getting better timing on Strand's frequent rushes and catching Strand with uppercuts, getting control of the fight.

08 Apr 1927,Fri Belfast Telegraph,Antrim, NI - Account says Strand dropped Bennett in the 15th round with a right-hand to the chin, not the 5th.This account notes Bennett rose and was able to stop Strand's further rushes in with straight lefts to the face and some rights to the body.Blood covered both fighters faces, Bennett from a cut to the eye and Strand from his nose. STrand seemed to weaken as the fight progressed from steady punches to his body by Bennett.

08 Apr 1927,Fri Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Yorkshire, England - This paper that BoxRec references to in thier record of this fight Strand vs Bennett, makes this detailed comment about Strand. "Strand is a man of strength, speed, hitting power, and great gameness, but knows very little about the art of boxing. Strand though was constantly attacking with both hands swinging fiercing. This account says Strand put Bennett down for the 9 count in the sixth round from a right upper cut to the jaw.

22 Apr 1927,FRi Westminster Gazette, London - Charlie Smith, Deptford beat John Strand, Sweden as the referee intervened in the seventh round after STrand looked very "distressted".

08 May 1927, Sun Reynold's Newspaper, London - Short piece more about Charlie Smith, mentions Smith stoppage of JOhn Strand, describing STrand as "a powerful young giant with a punch and is reckoned next best to Harry Persson in Sweden."

03 June 1927,Fri Belfast Telegraph, Antrim, NI - One time heavyweight champion of Great Britain, Bombardier Billy Wells, was referee in the ring in the Ilford Skating Rink for the 15 round bout between Harry Reeve, Plaistow and John Strand, Sweden. The fans apparently booed Wells out of the ring after he gave the 15 round decision to the Englishman!The fight found the crowd cheering on Strand as it continued with STrand the more agressive fighter while Reeve's was constantly on the defense.

10 June 1927,Fri Eastern Counties'Times, London - This account of the Reeve vs Strand fight also noted how the outcome decision was very unpopular with the fans.Strand came out fast to make a fight of it, but Reeve commenced to clinch much as he could and with his more experience could take advantage of an inside game. It went this way through the first 10 rounds but then from the 11th round on, STrand would not deal any more with Reeve's holding and clinching tactics and began turning it into a punching brawl. The writer of the article comments, had Strand had more experience, he felt Stand could have done Reeve in possibly, even by knock out route.Well's apparently had it in his mind to give the verdict to the local lad despite what the crowd thought who were cheering on Strand in the later stages.

13 Aug 1927,Sat Hull Daily Mail, Yorkshire, England - Talking about the upcoming fight for Con O'Kelly with his opponent being Swedish heavyweight John Strand. Article mentions Strand is under the management of Charlie Rose who also manages Phil Scott, leading UK heavyweight at the time.

23 Aug 1927,Tue Hull Daily Mail, Yorkshire, England - Prefight artical on the O'Kelly vs John Strand fight mentions Strand's height being about 6ft and weight at 13-1/2 stone.

24 Aug 1927,Wed Yorkshire Evening Post, and the Hull Daily Mail, Yorkshire, England. - Swedish heavyweight, John Strand gave a good showing at the Metropole, Hull against Con O'Kelly making the best action during the first five rounds.In the fifth round the referee warned Strand against using his head. Strand timed his blows well landing with his left and following with rights to the ribs.Strand kept his distance, prefering to fight outside, he had the advantage but during some wild exchanges in the sixth, O'Kelly repeatedly landed both hands with terrific blows to Strand's body. Opening the 11th, Strand landed a leading right hook to O'Kelly's jaw, but then breaking away from a clinch, O'kelly landed to Strand's chin with a left dazing Strand who fell into a clinch with O'Kelly. There O'Kelly pounded Strand again into the body dazing Strand further to the point the referee Harry Dorsey of Leeds, stopped the fight declaring O'Kelly the victor.

[Cap]

John Strand, Sweden 1927

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by Cap

John Strand, Sweden 1927

Great find Cap!!

Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

So, going to focus visiting month by month journey through my collection of The Ring, looking at the Big Men of boxing (naturally this thread has always been about primarily the heavyweights), focus of course on the heavyweights but looking some at the light heavyweight division and some of the major players there. I've collected back complete years to 1940 of the Ring now my aim being I was interested in digging into more history of boxing from the time of the origins of World War Two and see the effects of that upon the world of boxing. Joe Louis was at the early prime to prime of his career as were there we many others. Those 6 years from late 1939 thru the summer of 1945 had some major implications on how Louis and others' careers played out in the later 1940s.

I have also some collections of the UK publication, Boxing News for a number of years starting with 1946, so when I someday reach the year 1946, I want to dig into that great boxing news publication and the wealth of great boxing history it lends. That is of course if I'm still breathing by then!

Working through this I want to look at not all the minor players of the Big Men divisions, but the Major players. The guys who Ring and other sources were ranking each month along with looking at any Big Men that may have been mentioned in that monthly issue. See if it digs up any new gems to look at rating but also shed any new light on the many fighters we currently have in TB. Some I may look at in more detail than others looking into accounts about the fighter in newspapers online. Others I may just look through more just other online sources. My big aim will be to just try and update fighter personal info and bio info as much as possible from what was originally offered in the files offered by different sources that I have in my data base and bring them up to date more and if I feel there's a concrete reason to do so offer a breakdown of the file I have into other weight classes the boxer fought at. I've done this with a number of fighters I've redone and offered up here on this site.

First case of that was the great Welsh heavyweight of the 1920s on into the early 1950s, Tommy Farr. He was one of the first heavyweights was introduced to starting my reading through the January 1940 Ring. There was an article that talked about some of the better-known UK fighters of the time that by that January 1940 issue publication, had found themselves in military service. some even before the start of the war, Tommy Farr was one of those. The article had mentioned that Farr had gotten permission to take a leave from his service duties to fight Manuel Abrew at the Theatre Royal in Dublin on November 10, 1939. Looking at Farr's record and information on line, you can see where his career breaks down to fighting as a Light Heavy up through 1935, but then his fight with Tommy Loughran in January 1936 is basically the dawn of his move into the heavyweight division.

Tommy Farr - LHW/HW - Wales
Career Record: W86(KO 24) / L35(KO 6) / D19

TITLES:
BBBofC Welsh Area Light Heavyweight Title
Welsh Heavyweight Title
BBBofC British Heavyweight Title
Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight Title


Unknown information has been left blank.

A Website, sites.google.com/sites/tjsmithers/ shows a family tracing that a Terry Smithers had done, found that Thomas George Farr was linked by marriage to a great-aunt of Smithers mother. Smithers goes on in the article traced Farr's birth certificate which placed his birth on 12th March 1913 at 3 Railway Terrace, Blaenclydach, Rhondda, Wales. His father a haulier in a coal-mine. The full extent of Smithers tracing of the family, he sums up that Tommy Farr's full name was Thomas George Farr, born on 12th March 1913, contrary to some claims his name was Thomas George Paul Farr (as BoxRec shows) , born in 1914.

'www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-21697971 notes that Farr retired in 1940, but bad investments cost him his fortune and he was forced to return to the ring.

In March 1934 won a 15 round decision over Jim Winters in an eliminator bout for the British Light Heavyweight Title. Then in June, he lost by 3rd round disqualification against Eddie Phillips in the final eliminator.

Lost a 15 round decision to Eddie Phillips in February 1935 for the vacant BBBofC British Light Heavyweight Title that had been vacated by Len Harvey.

In Jany 1936, Farr fought former world lightheavyweight champion Tommy Loughran who was now fighting in the heavyweight dvision and defeated Loughran in a 10 round decison. This would mark eccentially Farr's transition to the heavyweight division.

Farr's career record would appear then to breakdown as follows by LHW and then HW.
LHW W61(KO 15) / L25(KO 4) / D18 NC2
HW W25(KO 9) / L10(KO 2) / D1 NC0

After winning the Welsh Heavyweight Title which was an eliminator for the British Heavyweight Title in September 1936, Farr then won the BBBofC British Heavyweight Title along with the Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight Title in a 15-round decision over Ben Foord in March 1937. Victories then over Max Baer and Walter Neusel in April and June 1937 set up Tommy Farr's chance at the NYSAC World Heavyweight Title against Joe Louis in August 1937, loss to Louis a 15 round UD.

Next up I'm looking at Pat Comiskey. A first article in the January 1940 Ring interview with Mike Jacobs and his plans for the heavyweights he plans to stage fights for, one of them, Pat Comiskey. The article talks also of Lou Nova, Max Baer, and Bob Pastor all ranked heavyweights at the time. Started looking at Comiskey on line newspaper articles. Started fighting when he was 18 and I can't believe the hoopla he started generating after just a handful of fights into his career.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

I came across this boxing venue looking up some things on the internet about Welsh heavyweight Jack Petersen. Wanted to share info on it to add to your venue data base if you don't have. I didn't have it.

Holborn Stadium
Holborn, London
85 High Holborn, England
Gave it site rating of 1 use what you think
Seating Capacity: 700 was noted in wiki site when it started it's existence in the late 1800s.
Good Website on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holborn_Theatre

Started out life as the New Royal Ampitheatre as an equestian ring and theatre in 1867 and operating as such till 1886. It went through several name changes becoming the Holborn Theatre in 1884. The theatre was 76 ft wide x 130 ft in length and housed about 700 people. The venue ceased to perform live theatre in 1886. It became eventually Holborn Stadium and later to become called The Stadium Club featuring boxing matches through the early 1900s through till it was closed and eventually demolished in 1939. (Reference website the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Holborn_Stadium_Holborn_London).

In 1929, the National Sporting Club was forced to close it's premises at that time in Covent Garden and for a while moved into The Stadium Club, Holborn. NSC moved on to 21 Soho Square in January 1930.

Some fight card announcements in various newspapers looked at from 1917-1919 describe it, Holborn Stadium, High Holborn, W.C., One minute's walk from Chancery-lane, Holborn and Museum Station, Nearly Opposite Holborn Empire

Could not find any outside photos of it. One posted here of a boxing match going on inside in 1905 is on the wiki site.

[Cap]

Thanks, Rocco. Some good stuff there. Here's another inside pic of the Holborn Stadium ring...


Cap

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by Cap

Thanks, Rocco. Some good stuff there.

Cap

Thank you Cap!

I'm hoping I'll stumble on some reference to Holborn's capacity while I'm looking through newspaper articles on Jack Petersen. So far nothing.

Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

As mentioned in the first post, the 1940 Ring had an article about some of the prominent British fighters of the time who were now in the service at the start of the war. One of those was from whom the title of the article was based on..."It's Lieut. Petersen Now". Before getting on with Cominsky and some of the others mentioned in the Mike Jacobs interview, I decided to look through this article.

Jack Petersen was former heavyweight king of the British Empire the article started with and was actually in the Royal Air Force for England several months before the start of the war, being now Lieutenant Jack Petersen. So Petersen was already retired, but his career looked impressive considering how quickly he attained the British titles. The short excerpts from newspaper articles below illustrate that.

Jack Petersen - Welsh HW
Career Record: W35(KO 21) / L5(KO 4) / D0

TITLES:
BBBofC Welsh Area Heavyweight Title
BBBofC British Light Heavyweight Title
BBBofC British heavyweight Title
Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight Title

Unknown information has been left blank.
DOB and DOD confirmed on Wiki website.
Real name, John Charles Peterson.

The default rating record, original from TB 1 found a posting that it may have been done by LeeSkye.

I retested the TBCB3 Team rating and thought is was way underpowered averaging only about 1/2 the stoppages Jack had. Articles I've read give me the impression he was a pretty hard puncher. Good power espeically in his right. So I changed things actucally back to some numbers like the original (LeeSkye?) rating. Tweeking a bit, results like a lot better to his record. All three ratings still included.

The following are some newspaper accounts following Jack Petersen's rise in a rapid one and half year time from amateur boxer to the British HW and LHW Championship along with the Welsh HW title! Within 2 years he would also capture the British Empire Commonwealth crown!

03 Jan 1931 Portsmouth Evening News, England - While still an anateur heavyweight, who was considered the most promising fighter Wales had ever turned out, was unable to make a trip with the Welsh Amateur Association to Norway, when he broke a leg!

14 Sept 1931 Daily News, London - Account of Jack Petersen's decision to turn pro. Mentions he's only 19 years old and the son of a physical culture expert in Cardiff. Mr. Teddy Lewis, manager of Jimmy Wilde is interested in Petersen. He's 6 ft 4 inches tall and has a terrific punch according to this article.

Several newspaper articles around 18-19 Sep 1931 mention that Petersen is to make his professional debut against Bill Partridge on the 26th. These articles also say Petersen was the A.B.A. light heavyweight champion back in March.

28 Sept 1931 Daily News, London states Jack Petersen is scheduled to debut this evening at the Stadium Club agains Bill Partridge.

29 Sept 1931 Staffordshire Sentinel, England along with several other papers on this date account Petersen's first professional fight on the 28th again Bill Partridge at the Stadium Club defeating Partridge in the 4th round of a scheduled 12. The BoxRec entry for Petersen's first fight, against Bill Partridge but places it on Sept 21t and it at Holborn Stadium, Holborn, also called The Stadium Club.

13 Oct 1931 Western Mail, Glamorgan, Wales - Petersen won his second fight against experienced heavyweight, Alf Noble. Petersen showed he had a punch as he brought Noble to his knees for a two count with a left hook to the jaw. Then after some brisk exchanges in close quarters, Petersen connected with a right to Noble's jaw sending Noble down for good within 30 seconds of that first round.

20 Oct 1931 Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Yorkshire, England- This account of Petersen's 3rd fight, with Jim Campbell notes he put Campbell down twice in the fight the first time within 9 seconds and the second and final time at 20 seconds in. BoxRec notes 22 seconds. This Telegraph account notes Campbell as a 17 st fighter. The Western Mail, Wales account puts the end of the fight at 22 seconds, the first time flooring Campbell for a count of 7.

27 Oct 1931 Sheffield Independent, Yorkshire, London - Petersen make short work of his opponent again as he dropped Jeff Wilson in the first round for a count of two with a right. Petersen forced the exchanges throughtout the first round. A left hook following with a right to the head forced Wilson back with Wilson just swinging wildly and holding. The second and third rounds were more of the same with Petersen doing the scoring and Wilson mainly covering up. At the end of the fourth round Wilson was forced to retire with a badly cut left eye.

03 Nov 1931 Daily News, London - At the Stadium Club, Jack Peterson decisioned George Porter in six rounds but Petersen showed the much better fighter and sent Porter down for a count of nine in the last round.

17 Nov 1931 Western Daily Press, Bristol - Took Jack Petersen just 1 minute into the 1st round against Tom wailes who was substituting for Jack Taylor with Wailes no match for Petersen.

24 Nov 1931 Dundee Courier, Angus, Scotland - Jack Petersen featured his left hand work to set up openings for his right to defeat Jack Stratton over six rounds.

8 Dec 1931 Western Mail, Glamorgan, Wales - Jack Petersen opened the fight with a series of lefts to George Browns face and was easily avoiding the swings from Brown. In the second Brown was more successful swinging with both hands and landed some to Petersen's head but did little damage. But, Petersen was getting careless some with his defense and in the fourth Brown connected with a right to Petersen's jaw staggering him. Petersen then in the last two rounds got more cautious but managed to outpoint Brown in those rounds to take the decision.

15 Dec 1931 Daily Herald, London - Jack Petersen beat Australian light heavyweight champion, Leo Bandias on points in 10 rounds. Petersen landed double handed punches in the opening rounds and sent Bandias down for a count of eight in the 3rd. In fourth round Bandias took more heavy punishment and was stunned with a right to the temple but managed to hang on and make some comeback in the fifth round getting some blows in while Patersen was missing. Petersen's speed and skill kept Bandias traveling around the ring and over the last three rounds kept the Australian in trouble but, Bandias managed to hang on to finish the fight.

22 Dec 1931 Daily Herald, London - Jack Petersen wond over 10 rounds against Gunner Mick Bennett. Petersen's quick lefts were most telling in controlling the fight as Bennett was hard pressed in evading Petersen's follow up rights. A right uppercut in the fifth round had Bennett on his heels but the bell saved him. Petersen was an easy points winner.

12 Jan 1932 Daily News, London - Up until the day of the fight, papers were reporting Jack Petersen to fight Lew Connor on the 11th. Instead he went in with apparent last minute sub, Jack Newitt and Petersen proceeded to knock out Newitt in 25 seconds! Right at the start, Petersen caught Newitt squarely "on the point", and sent him down for a count of four and in falling, Newitt banged his head hard on the canvas. Petersen immediately attacked back in and sent Newitt down again for a five count but Newitt could not make it up fully and his corner threw in the towel.

12 Jan 1932 Western Mail, Glamorgan, Wales - Newitt a boxer weighing 13st 8lbs and 6ft 3in in height crashed to the floor on receiving that first right to the jaw from Petersen and he fell forward and his forehead struck the floor very hard. The second right blow by Petersen then put Newitt out and his corner carried him off but he didn't recover there. An examination later found he suffered a concussion being examined by a doctor at ringside. He'd suffered a cut on his forehead from the fall. It was some minutes before he regained consciousness.

14 Jan 1932 Daily Herald, London - Announced that Jack Petersen would meet Dick Power, Welsh heavyweight champion over 15, 3 minute rounds at Cardiff on Feb 3rd. This fight was arrainged actually for Petersen and Power to fill in for another fight that was to have taken place for the Cardiff Infirmary Boxing Show. It was being noted in the paopers that this matchup had been in the works by various promoters for some time and being Petersen agreed to the fight to go the full championship course of 15 rounds and that Power, current Welsh champion and Petersen were the only two heavyweights within reach of each other's caliber in Wales, would this fight end up being held for the Welsh HW Title?

15 Jan 1932 Dundee Evening Telegraph, Angus, Scotland - And some other news articles are reporting of Jack Petersen's intention to first fight and win the British cruiser-weight (LHW) championship while he is still able to do the 12st. 7lb weight. So first indication he has been fighting around LHW/HW fight weights. Then after winning that his intention to fight for the heavy-weight championship. The Stadium Club was announcing it's intent to pup as much as £300 for the contest. The primary challangers being looked at by Petersen's camp were Harry Crossley(then British LHW champion) and Reggie Meen (then British HW champion).

15 Jan 1932 Western Mail, Glamorgan, Wales - Announced that the Welsh Boxing Board of Control had granted permission to the committee of the Cardiff Infirmary boxing tournament to stage a contest between Jack Petersen and Dick Power for the Welsh Heavyweight Championship.

So a number of things going on at this time for Jack Petersen as his star was rising rapidy in the British boxing arean! Within 5 months he would meet all three, Power, Crossley and Meen and take all three's titles! Then within 2 years after first loosing the British HW title to Len Harvey, he wins back the HW title from Harvey along with the British Empire (Commonwealth) Heavy Title!

JackPetersen retired in 1937 some time after he'd lost a 3rd time to German, Walter Neusel in February that year. In August the previous year he'd lost the British and Commonwealth HW titles to Ben Foord. In early 1939, Petersen joined the Territorial Army and when WW2 started he joined the regular army. His requests to serve abroad were refused. After the war he became involved with the BBBofC.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Researching right now Danny Hassett, MW/HW from the 1930s thru 1941 that we'll see introduced in the 1940 Ring and ran across this new venue to offer up for your data bases in you don't have. This as location of the first boxing match to be staged in Meriden, Conn. in 10 years in an Oct 1936 bout between Danny Hassett and Steve Carr. Not much of anything else on boxing history at it other than this one bout, but, interesting search finding a bit about the site.

City Hall Auditorium, Meriden, Conn.
Address 142 East Main Street
Rating 1
Seating Capacity: 1200
Meriden City Hall of 1907 (Photo) replaced two previous buidling on this site, one 1869-89 and the second from 1889, was destroyed by fire on Feb 14, 1904. This is till the location of the City Hall so would assume to be the site in 1936 where newspaper accounts discussed a fight between Danny Hassett of Philidelphia and hometown fighter, Steve Carr. This fight on October 13, 1936 was noted as the first boxing match in Meriden in 10 years. A couple accounts of the Carr/Hassett fight put the show as the Hall was packed and another account listed the crowd at about 1200. Assuming it was filled to capacity as this was a big time sport event in Meriden at the time, put the site capacity at 1200.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Ring Magazine January 1940 - "New Faces"

Ring each month would showcase some up-and-coming new stars on the boxing horizon. Some end up making something for themselves, some will not. It will be interesting to look through these maybe more than looking at the "stars" that we are more familiar with.

First up I'm looking at is Dan Hassett, Philadelphia heavyweight "who looks like promising material". Well, Hassett was actually started on the 2nd comeback in his career. He started out the first 4 years about as a Middleweight and sometimes light heavyweight. His MW years he actually has a decent looking w/l record. HW which after a break in his career in 1935 he came back mid-year in 1936 and fought a handfull of fights that year as a heavyweight. he then dissappeared again for about 3 years coming back again in 1939, fought a few then one fight in 1940 and one in 1941 getting KO'd by Billy Conn.

I've created Hassett with MW and HW ratings. Did not have him in my data base as being done by anyone before.

Danny Hassett - MW / HW
Career Record: W38(KO 2) / L13(KO 3) / D4

Unknown information has been left blank.

DOB has been estimated from Meriden, Conn. newspaper article on 01 Oct 1936 which puts Hassett's age at 23.

From 1930 through August 1935 he fought as a Middleweight, though many times up even in the light heavyweight weight range. Floated that weight up and down. After winning two, 10 round decisions against Al Zappala he then was out of the ring for a year, by his BoxRec account until he came back beefed up to heavyweight class to defeat Steve Carr a light heavy. At the time up to the Steve Carr fight, some newspaper accounts showed Hassett was acting as a sparring partner for Al Ettore. During these four years, Hassett fought up and down in weight between middleweight and light heavyweight, fighting both weight division foes.

The rest of Hassett's career was fought in the heavyweight division. In 1936 he fought five times. At first ws successful with a 4 round decision against Steve Carr on Sept 22, 1936, and then a couple weeks later beat Terry Mitchell in 10 round decision. Then things went south for Hassett as he lost 10 round decisions to Steve Carr and Buddy Knox, one of the top heavies at the time and up and coming Lou Nova he drew 6 rounds with. Nova was 9-0-1 at the time.

Record MW: W33(KO 2) / L6(KO 1) / D3
Record HW: W5(KO 0) / L7(KO 2) / D1

From Hassett's heavyweight career...

23 Sep 1936 Wed, Hartford Courant, Conn. - Dan Hassett from Philadelphia and working as a sparring partner for Al Ettore at the time got back into the ring beefed up from his hefty middleweight days to 180 lbs and took on Steve Carr of Meriden, Conn. who weighed only 179. Hassett finished strong in the four rounder and had Carr on the deck for a four count when the bell rang ending the last round giving Hassett the points win only. Hassett landed a right to Carr's jaw to score the knockdown.

01 Oct 1936, Thu The Philadelphia Inquirer - Dan Hassett will take a rematch with Steve Carr to be fought in Carr's hometown, Meriden, Conn. according to Hassett's manager, Pete Moran.

01 Oct 1936, Thu The Journal Meriden, Conn. - An article actually more on Steve Carr, mentions that Dan Hassett like Steve Carr is 23 years old and known variously as the Blond Tiger and the Sturdy Oak of Oak Lane, a suburb of Philadelphia where he makes his home.

02 Oct 1936, Fri, The Journal, Meriden, Conn. - Little info piece on Dan Hassett, mentions Hassett has a side line occupation, selling motor cars along the streets of hometown Oak Lane, Philadelphia.

03 Oct 1936, Sat, The Philadelphia Inquirer - Reviewing Dan Hassetts fight against Terry Mitchell, the piece comments on Hassett's returning recently from "a long visit to the sidelines", defeating Steve Carr in his debut as a heavyweight. That layoff had been little more than a year. Describing the fight, Hassett controlled the first 5 rounds with crisp right-handers and "hammerlike" jabs having little difficulty nailing the "awkward, windmill-flailing Mitchell with an assortment of jabs, hooks and right swings." Mitchell managed to rebound and control the action in the sixth and seventh rounds, but Hassett regained command and outfought Mitchell over the last three to gain the decision in 10 rounds.

14 Oct 1936, Wed, The Journal, Meriden, Conn. - Steve Carr outpointed Danny Hassett by a close margin in 10 rounds. Referee Billy Conway of Hartford gave the final stanza and even score giving Carr a 48-43 margin in points at the final bell.

14 Oct 1936, Wed, Hartford Courant, Conn. - The Hassett / Carr fight marked the return to Meriden, boxing for the first time in 10 years. There was not a knockdown in the fight, but Carr scored one on Hassett that might have put him down had it not been Hassett was against the ropes and that kept him up off the canvas. Carr didn't press the issue though and lost his advantage to possibly put Hassett away. The fight was deamed so close into the final round that Carr had to stage a furious rally against Hassett to pull out the win. Carr gave a Hassett "a thorough going over with straight lefts and left hooks to the head."

26 Nov 1936, Thu The Dayton Herald, Dayton, Oh - Danny Hassett who is to meet Buddy Knox in the main event of 10 rounds at the Memorial Hall in Dayton, Ohio, is mentioned as a stablemate of Leroy Haynes who is considered by some, next to Joe Louis, the hardest puncher in the heavyweight division.

01 Dec 1936, Tue, Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Oh - Fans stayed away in large numbers from Memorial Hall, not know who Danny Hassett was and not expecting much of a fight for their local, "Candy Kid", Buddy Knox. According to the Dayton News' Ben Garlikov, they missed one of the most vicious and enterntaining bouts see there in many months. Referee Eddie Griesmeyer, and judges Dave Hall and DAyton Riesinger gave Knox the majority decision win in 10 rounds. Hasseett used a strong straight left and a short right hook that gave him the edge after the first three rounds. Buddy started his winning offensive in the fourth and a split second before the bell ending that round, landed a terrific right to the jaw that sent Hassett to the canvas and staggering to his corner. Hassett continued taking punishment to the head and body in the fifth but still showe enough power in his left to make Knox play carefull. Knox was unmarked in the bout, but Hassett suffered a cut over his left eye and blood spurted from his nose and mouth several times during the course of the bout. There was a crowd of only 806.

08 Dec 1936, Tue Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Oh - The Oct 14th scheduled return bout between Buddy Knox and Danny Hassett was cancelled when Jack Werst, Queensbury A.C. promoter received word from Knox that he will be unable to fight again for at least three weeks. He bruised his right hand in the sixth round in the Dec 1st Knox/Hassett fight.

14 Dec 1936, Mon The Philadelphia Inquirer - Reports taht Danny Hassett has been matched with Lou Nova of California for a six round bout at Madison Square Garden on the Ray Impellittiere-Bob Pastor program.

19 Dec 1936, Sat - Many newspaper account picked up the short that Danny Hassett, 182-3/4 and Lou Nova 194-3/4 fought a six round draw.

From the end of Dec 1936 on through to Sept 1939, Hassett drops from the active boxing world. You see his name pop up in various newspaper pieces mentioned in context talking about other fighters adn past fights with Hassett (Knox, Carr, Nova, etc.). Found nothing written to the why his 2-1/2 year absence from the ring. Then he shows up getting some sparring work with Lou Nova as Nova prepares for his fight in 1939 against Tony Galento.

Ring Magazine Jan 1940 ran a short piece Hassett and his comeback attempt starting with the Nova spar matches in the Ring's "New Faces" column. Hassett of course is not a "New Face" After Hassett's Dec 1936 6 round draw with Nova he just apparently gave up on boxing. Maybe went full time selling cars? Then with Nova's climb to fistic fame at the time in 1939, Hassett decided to give boxing another try.

16 Sep 1939, Sat The Morning Post, Camden, NJ - Dan Hassett, sparring partner of Lou Nova won a four round decision over Jim McVey from Chester.

24 Oct 1939, Tue The Philadelphia Inquirer - In a slugging duel, Gus Dorazio, shelled Danny Hassett to win a 10 round decision over the Oak Lane native. Hassett could not match punches enough with Dorazio. The referee and two judges were all in favor of Dorazio being the victor winning 6 of the 10 rounds, but apparently some of the crowd were not happing with that decision.

29 Nov 1939, Wed The Philadelphia Inquirer - After a back and forth hammering of each other for six rounds, Jim Robinson won the decision over Danny Hassett. Robinson won the vote of Referee Walter Harpt, but the judges disagreed. Al Voice thought Hassett was the victor while Bert Crowhurst thought it was even. The officials were not even close in rounds. Harpt had it four for Robinson, one for Hassett and one even. Voice's 3-2-1 voit favored Hassett and Crowhurst had a round to each man and four even rounds. Robinson outboxed and out punched Hassett in the first four rounds. Although Hassett spotted 26-1/2 pounds to Robinson to say nothing of height and reach, he waged a good fight using his left hooks to Robinson's head and rights to the body had Jim bending over many times. Hassett suffered a cut left eybrow in the fight.

12 Dec 1939, Tue The Philadelphia Inquirer - Danny Hassett won the decision over Jorge Brescia, Argentina, on the nod from referee Adgie after the judges disagreed on the score. Voice scored it for Brescia while Knaresborough called it even.

16 April 1940, Tue The Des Moines Register, Iowa - Danny Hassett surprised fans Monday night by winning the 10 round decision over Buddy Scott who had been a 4 to 1 favorite. Scott opened a cut over Hassett's left eye in the sixth, but Hassett remained the aggressor to win out.

04 May 1940, Sat The Philadelphia Inquirer - In a six rounder, Bill Poland outpointed Danny Hassett. Poland put Hassett down for eight in the first round, but otherwise there was little damage done by both fighters.

02 July 1940 Tue Cumberland EVening Times, Maryland - Bill Boyd scored a nine round TKO over Danny Hassett before a crowd of 15000. Hassett was bleeding from eye cuts, the nose and mouth when Referee Harry Volkman stopped the bout.

07 Mar 1941` Fri The Philadelphia Inquirer - Billy Conn on his build-up schedule toward a heavyweight matchup with Joe Louis, took on Danny Hassett, "pudgy" Philadelphian, knocking him out in the fifth round. Hassett weighed in at 204-1/4 compared to Conn's 181. Hassett weight a good 20 pounds over his usual fight weight having been inactive since July 1940.
Conn dropped Hassett after 35 seconds of the 5th round with a short left to the head. Hassett only made it to his knees by the count of 10. Toward the end Hassett was bleeding badly from an open cut on his left ear, another oneon the nose. Conn had badly bruised Hassett around the left kidney with sharp right hand punches.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Ring Magazine Jan 1940

In the New Faces section, Ring spotlighted a very young new heavyweight from Endicott, New York, Charley Ketchuck. At the time of this spot light he'd been fighting professionally only about 4 months but was already creating waves in the paper headlines around New Jersey and eastern PA. His career turned to be a case of expectations for him were entirely too high too early and then one big slip and he pretty much gets burned by that same media. This may read like a mini book but I found it interesting how his short career rose and fell so quickly.

Career Record: W17(KO 8) / L2(KO 1) / D1

Unknown information is left blank.
DOB listed from article mentioned below from The Daily Record.
BoxerList.com notes DOB as 07/20/1020 and DOD as 07/21/2001.
On a website www.findgrave.com found a posting for Charles Ketchuck, birth unknown, death, 21 Jul 2001 burial at Riverhurst Cemetery, Endicott, Broome County, NY.

14 Sep 1940 Sat, The Bennington Evening Banner, Vermont - Found this article talking through the highlites of Ketchuck's career up to that time and it mentions him being a native of Moscow, PA, near Scranton but living the last eight years in Endicott, NY.

Some newspaper articles in early months of 1939 Ketchuck was fighting some amateur boxing and was referenced to be from Binghamton, NY, high school.

The January 1940 Ring Magazine hilited Ketchuck in their "New Faces" section that month of "up and coming" fighters. It mentions he'd turned pro lst July (The articles in a certain published month of Ring would usually covering boxing events up to 2 even 3 month previous to the published month. So the time in Ketchuck's career is probably around the time of his November 1939 fight with Joey Brandon. The article mentions his "questionable" loss to Dan Merritt that September before the Brandon fight. It tells of him being of Russian parentage and an outstanding football player and declined six offers of college scholarships to try his luck in professional boxing.

03 Mar 1939, Fri Star-Gazette, Elmira, NY - Short piece puts Ketchuck winning his 24th straight fight winning a decision over an Eddie Kowalski. Amateur fight.

23 Mar 1939, Thu The Ithaca Journal, NY - mentions Charley Ketchuck of Endicott going in a fight.

14 April 1939, Fri Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Article talking about a fight CharleyKetchuck had against a Bob Albaino in another amateur bout. Article mentions Ketchuck being from Union-Endicott High Shool. That school is in Endicott which is a little burb outside Binghamton, NY. Union is in between Binghamton and Endicott. Another article in the same paper on May 4th mentions Ketchuck had worked out with Max Baer the previous weekend.

27 May 1939, Sat The Brooklyn Citizen, NY - Article talks a bit about Charley Ketchuck, part of a group of 4 fighters Max Baer has been using as sparring partners. Mentions Ketchuck is only 18 in high school. So that would put his DOB around 1920-21? The article mentions he is fast and agile, very aggressive in his boxing, and has a fast left hand.

14 Jul 1939, Fri The Daily Standard, Red Bank, NJ - Piece mentions Charley Ketchuck, who is managed by Jersey Jones, meets George Clark of Newark. Lists Ketchuck as from Binghamton which the article says Ketchuck is from the home town of Jack Sharkey.

15 Jul 1939, Sat The Daily Standard, REd Bank, NJ - Charley Ketchuck, Binghamton, KO'd George Clark, Newark with a hard punch to the jaw in the final round of thier six rounder. Clark took the count on one knee with Arthur Donavan counting. The time was 1 min 49 seconds.

16 Jul 1939, Sun Scranton Tribune, PA - Short piece on Ketchuck mentions his parents from a farm at Moscow and graduated recently from Union-Endicott High School.

21 July 1939, The Daily Record, Long Beach, NJ - Mentions Charley Ketchuck, Binghamton who will be 19 today will take on Richie Bennett, Wycoff. So this would appear to place Ketchuck's DOB at July 21, 1920

22 Jul 1939, The Daily Record, Long Beach, NJ - Charley Ketchuck pounded out a 2 minute, 40 second KO over Richie Bennett of Wycoff. A "smashing right to the solar plexus" shortly after the opening bell dropped Bennett for a 9 count. Again Bennett went down under Ketchuck's "sledge-hammer" fists and the referee halted the fight as Bennett stumbled groggily around the ring.

25 Jul 1939, The Courier-News, Bidgewater, NJ - Beans Palmer of Ben Cantor's stable lost in 2:49 of the second round to Charley Ketchuck when referee Al Goldie stopped the bout as Ketchuck belted Palmer on the ropes. Palmer gave Ketchuck a rought time in the first round before Ketchuck took over in the second.

29 Jul 1939, Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Charley Ketchuck, Endicott, scored his 4th straight KO stopping Gail Thomas, Newark in a minute and Nine seconds of the 3rd round. A right to the body and a left hook to the chin put Thomas down.

02 Aug 1939, Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Ketchuck's manager, Jersey Jones, who piloted Bingo Joe Banovic to a high ranking in the light heavyweights, talks about his young new rising star, former football star at Union-Endicott High. Ketchuck first came to fame when he won the 175 pound open class in The Binghamton Prss AA Golden Gloves in 1938. Article mentions Ketchuck as an amatuer piled up victories via a speedy pair of legs and a flicking Left hand which he really didn't use for power. He seldom used his right except to hold. Under Jone's learning, Ketchuck has become an agressive , two handed puncher and has learned to roll and weave with his opponent's leads and counters more.

07 Aug 1939, Mon The Herald-News, Passaic, NJ - In "The Sportsman's Corner" by Art McMahon he discusses an interview with Jersey Jones about Charley Ketchuck. This article says he is a "Russian" from Binghamton? The article later talks of Ketchuck being unique in he's the first Russian heavyweight of any promise and then discusses outher European countries that some of the well know heavyweight fighters came from. Jersey Jones describes Ketchuks punching as wolloping from both first and from all angles comparing to Pat Comiskey's style relying exclusively upon his looping right hand.

09 Aug 1939, Wed The News, Paterson, NJ - Charley Ketchuck scored a victory against Johnny Tuck, Paterson who was a former News-PBA Diamond Gloves champion. For six rounds Ketchuck wore Tuck down with body blows. Tuck missed an opportunity in the third round when he landed a terrific right hand punch which staggared Ketchuck, but he failed to follow through and Ketchuck recovered to carry on and carry the win.

16 Aug 1939, Wed The Morning Call, Paterson, NJ - Charley Ketchuck made it two in a row against Johnny Tuck. Charley took advantage of regular superior infighting and scored some long range shots.

12 Sept 1939, Tue Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Announcement that Ketchuck was to fight Detroit heavyweight,m Bill Bommer on Sept 20th. The two days later the Detroit Free Press reported that after watching him in the gym, Commissioner Hettche ordered him off the card believing he was not in shape having not fought in 15 months!

19 Sept 1939, Tue Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - editorial bit that talks about Charley Ketchuck singing praises him being young yet and much to learn but under the coaching of Jersey Jones, the boxing community is talking more about him and saying in a year or two should be headlining some top fights. "Ketchuck should develop into a dangerous contender for Louis' laurels."

21 Sept 1939, Thu, The Morning Call, Paterson, NJ - Fighting a 4 round preliminary bout on the Joe Lous / Bob Pastor championship bout card, Dan Merritt, 195 pound Cleveland heavyweight won a close decision over Charley Ketchuck, giving Ketchuck his first defeat after winning his first six professional bouts.

01 Oct 1939, Sun, Scranton Triburn, PA - Short note that Jersey Jones was in town for a few hours with Charley Ketchuck and here its noted that Ketchuck was born in Moscow.

16 Nov 1939, Thu Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Charley Ketchuck outpointed Joey Brandon, Pittsburgh in six rounds. Brandon was subbing for scheduled opponent, Joe Orlosky, Herrick Center, PA, who thought Ketchuck carried too much weight for him. A crowd of 1422 attended to see the card wound up by Billy Soose, Middleweight defeating Johnny Duca. Ketchuck bombed the shorter Brandon for two rounds but failed to floor the game opponent.

14 Dec 1939, Thu The Tribune, Scranton, PA - Joe Louis saw the Charley Ketchuck / Jack Downey fight apparently impressed. Ketchuck simply used Downey as a "guinea pig". Ketchuck outboxed Downey for a couple then switched to slugging. At the height of the slugfest in the fifth, Ketchuck sent Downey down twice. A collection of blows, finished off with a straight right dropped Downey the first time and then dropped him the second time with a left hook. Downey took nine each time but survived to finish the fight.

BoxRec notes Ketchuks' 6 round decision win over Charley Wright on 12/18/39 a Newspaper decision from the Ashbury Park Press. Did not find that on line.

30 Jan 1940, Tue Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) - Just notes that Charley Ketchuck stopped Steve Colucci in three rounds.

07 Feb 1940, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA - Reviews Charley Ketchuck and his upcoming bout with Jackie Hiller. "He is strong and rugged, moved around exceptionally fast for a big fellow. Knows how to box and can hit with either hand."

08 Feb 1940, Thu The Times-Tribune, Scranton, NJ - Philadelphia towering heavyweight, Jackie Hiller stayed with Charley Ketchuck for four rounds before Charley put Jackie down in the fifth with a looping right to the jaw.Hiller got up on his feet groggy after referee Walton counted to nine. Realizing his opportunity, Ketchuck tore into Hiller punishing him about the face and body and him hopeless up against the ropes when referee Walton stepped in and stopped it at 2 min-58secs in the fifth.

12 Mar 1940, Tue Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NJ - Charley Ketchuck in his 13th professional bout was held to an eight round draw with Eddie "Chief Red Bull" Collins., the decision being given by Referee Andy Brown. After being knocked down by a left hook for a count of eight in the fourth, Ketchuck didn't regain the aggressive form he showed in the first three rounds when he floored Collins in the first and third rounds taking a count each time.

19 Mar 1940, Tue The Morning Call, Paterson, NJ - Meeting in a return eight rounder following thier eight round draw a week before, Johnny Ketchuck got the decision over Eddie "Chief Red Bull" Collins from Referee Paul Cavalier. Ketchuck wins by virtue of a spirited last round rally that had the "Chief" hanging on during the closing minute. Collins was down by a short count in the fifth, but climbed back to tak the sixth and seventh rounds setting up Ketchuck rally fight in the eight.

28 May 1940, Tue Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NJ- Charley Ketchuck knocked out Nick Rabin, Allentown, PA in one minute and 20 seconds of the second round. Rabin had several extra pounds around his midsection. Ketchuck scored hits to that midsection with both hands. When he brought Rabin's guard down, Charley hooked his left to Rabin's head.

21 Jun 1940 Fri, Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NJ - Reports that Charley Ketchuck is to fight tonight, Joe O'Gatty of Newark in an eight rounder.

22 Jun 1940 Sat, The Record, Hackensack, NJ - Charley Ketchuck flattened Paul Pross, Jersey City, after 2:04 of the second session of a scheduled 8. No mention found of what happened to the fight with Joe O'Gatty.

02 Jul 1940 Tue, Asbury Park Press, NJ - More accolades for young Charley Ketchuck. "One of the many young heavyweights now attracting attention as possible future opponents of Joe Louis in a championship match, the two most often mentioned are Pat Comiskey and Charley Ketchuck." "The youngster has made rapid strides in his first year. Exceptionally fast for a heavyweight, Ketchuck is a clever boxer and a thunderous puncher with either hand." This article mentions that Ketchuck was to have fought Joe O'Gatty recently and the reason that didn't happen and he fought Paul Pross, was O'Gatty appeared with a badly swollen arm, the result of an injury suffered while training with Joe Louis.

10 Jul 1940 Wed, The Daily Record, Long Beach, NJ - Charley Ketchuck is to arrive in Long Branch the next day to complete workouts in preperation for making his first appearance in a feature bout since he opened his pro career when he battles 10 rounds with Wally Sears. Promoter Jerry Casale said that "Ketchuck is undoubtedly on the road to the challenger's post for the crown now worn by Joe Louis."

11 Jul 1940 Thu, Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Promoter E.P. Deitrick of the Seven Acres Sporting Club, today completed the supporting card for the Ken Overlin-Billy Soose featured bout at the Scranton Stadium on July 24th. Ketchuck is becoming a hot, wanted fighter for promoters.

13 Jul 1940, Sat, The Daily Record, Long Beach, NJ - Heavy rains necessitated a postponment of the entire boxing programm planned planned at Atlantic Stadium in which Charley Ketchuck and Wally Sears were to headline with a 10 round bout.

19 Jul 1940 Thu, Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Because of his poor one round knockout loss, Ralph Costosky will not meet Charley Ketchuck next Wednesday at Scranton. State Athletic Commissioner George J. Jones, Jr. has ordered Promoter E.P. Diedrick to obatin new opponent for Ketchuck. Another newspaper article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on this same day mentions this.

20 Jul 1940 Sat, Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Pete Tamalonis, Buffalo is announced as the replacement to fight Charley Ketchuck at Scranton on the Overlin-Soose card.

21 Jul 1940 Sun Daily News, NY, NY - Records that Charley Ketchuck spent eighteen months as an amateur winning forty of his forty-four bouts. This article reports that Charley was born of Russian parentage in Binghamton. Other reports of course have him growing up on a farm in Moscow, PA assuming it was PA.

25 Jul 1940, Thu Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Charley Ketchuck outpointed Frank Donforio who substituted for Pete Tomalonis who had agreed to substitute for Ralph Coslosky in a 6 round preliminary of the Soose-Overlin middleweight main event in Scranton. Ketchuck built up a steady lead crashing rights. He sent Donforio through the ropes in the fifth and had him on the canvas in the sixth, just before the final bell.

30 Jul 1940, Tue Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Charley Ketchuck received the referee's decision over Joe O'Gatty . Neither fighter was down in the six rounder, shortened from eight because of rain in the fifth. Ketchuck worked mainly on the midriff of O'Gatty to gain the nod by referee Joe Mangold.

02 Aug 1940, Fri The Daily Record, Long Beach, NJ - Reports that Mike Jacobs, Twentieth Century Sporting Club head and "the leading fistic impressario of the country," will be at the Atlantic Stadium ringside tonight for the Charley Ketchuck / Wally Sears bout.

03 Aug 1940, Sat The Daily Record, Long Beach, NJ - "Ketchuck Decisions Sears In Stadium Feature Ten-Rounder" reads across the top of the sporting page. A first top head line for Ketchuck. Referee Paul Cavalier gave 5 rounds to Ketchuck and 4 to Sears and one even. A large crowd including Jack Dempsey watched. Sears opned up quick with two fisted attack to the head and body in the opening round leaving Ketchuck with a puzzled, reddened face. AFter that, Ketchuck got the better of the in-fighting and scored repeatedly to the head and body. The 3rd was scored even, the first, fourth, fifth and eight to slight margins to Sears. It is Ketchuck's 3rd fight in nine days.

08 Aug 1940, Thu, Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, NJ - A fairly lengthly talking article from Jersey Jones, Charley Ketchuck manager and one of Promoter Mike Jacob's "tub-thumpers". It starts out with Jones explaning his three part development plan for Ketchuck. He's just completed year one, Practical Experience I", first part of the three year "How to Become Heavyweight Champion of the World". Right now Jones has no immediate plan to place him into the "fistic sun". His second year is to be for some "advanced opposition" and then the third year will be for "the drive for the championship". The article talks about Ketchup's opponents thus far not being a Who's Who of heavyweight boxing, but, thats fine to Jersey Jones plans handling his young prospect. The article mentions Charley is the youngest of eight children of Russian parents and native of Pennsylvania but lived the last eight years in Endicott, NY.

14 Aug 1940, Wed Asbry Park Press, Asbury Park, NJ - Lattimore (Jersey) Jones, convinced he has a coming heavyweight title challenger in Charley Ketchuck has given his young "Binghamtonian a well-earned vacation after his 3 fights in 9 days. So we see a 3 month break before Kerchuck will next fight in November 1940. It turns out to be his last fight!

26 Sep 1940, Thu The Tribune, Scranton, PA - During his break from the ring, Ketchuck spent some time sparring for Maxie Baer but a short piece here says he was "fired for belting Maxie too hard in training"!

28 Oct 1940, Mon The Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA - Reported that Abe Adell, long associated with professional boxing enterprises in Scranton and holds fights at the Watres Armory, announced that contracted were received by him from Charley Ketchuck and Finnish heavyweight Gunnar Barlund, to battle in a 10 rounder at the Armory on November 8th.

31 Oct 1940, Thu The Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA - Notes that Promoter Mike Jacobs, believing that Charley Ketchuck hs a bright future, offered to buy the ten round Ketchuck-Barlund fight from Promoter Abe Adell. Adell "politely said no".

01 Nov 1940, Fri The Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA - Gunnar Barlund will be by far Charley Ketchuck's toughest oppenant yet in his early career. Barland was noted here to not be quite the fighter he was a year or two ago when he knocked out Buddy Baer at Madison Square Garden, but he has the strength, ruggedness and hitting power to really test Ketchuck. NOTE: as late as early 1940, Barlund was listed in Ring Magazine's top 10 heavyweights. By the time of this fight he no longer was.

09 Nov 1940, Sat Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY- Ketchuck is Badly Beaten by Barlund reads the headline.Suffers TKO in 9th after staying on defense. "armory last night, saw their favorite crawl into a shell early in the first round and remain on teh defensive practically all the way while Barlund did practically all of the aggressive work an rained blows steadily upon his younger opponent." That was the fight pretty much in a nutshell. After 50 seconds of the ninth round, Barlund connected with a right uppercut to the jaw staggering Ketchuck and referee Jack Walton stepped in and stopped the fight. The Press quoted the Times-Tribune, "He was frozen stiff coming out for the first, and still in a state of cautious bewilderment when Walton called a halt."

09 Nov 1940, Sat The Times-Tribune, Scranton, PA - I'll go ahead and quote much of this article as it illustrates just how quickly one event greatly turns media's opinions on subject matter. Happens all the time! And this public opinion apparently just quickly soured on Ketchuck and turned what looked like could have still been a good heavyweight career. Opinion here expressed, Barlund was still one of the more top rated heavyweights of the time, with so much more experience than Ketchuck had in himself or what he had seen in the ring. For all the talk his manager made about his plan to slowly move Ketchuck on with the level of competition that Jersey Jones said he would not rush, did the media fame and $$ starting to flash in front of Jone's eyes rush Ketchuck too quickly into fighting someone like Barlund. From the Tribune article: "Charley Ketchuck perhaps made a very serious mistake in this busy whirl called life when he deserted his farm chores up Moscow way to seek fame and fortune throwing boxing gloves. After a tremendous build-up, Ketchuck waged a pitiful fight in losing by a nine round TKO to Gunnar Barlund, rugged, tireless Finnish heavyweight, in the Watres Armory windup last night. To say that Chuck let his countless Scranton admirers, his boyhood chums from nearby Moscow and his buddies from Binghamton, Endicott and Johnson City down with a sickening thud is putting it mildly. And sports writers, including The Times sporting editor, who gave too liberally of space before the battle, also took a solid smack on the whiskers." My goodness what a total reversal of opinions and talk about Ketchuck on one night's event!

02 Dec 1940, Mon The Courier-News, Bridgewater, NJ - Reported and in some other papers Charley Ketchuck to fight Frank Poreda as part of a card that night at Laurel Garden.

04 Dec 1940, Wed The Times-Tribune, Scranton PA, Short bit about Kerchuck having lost local prestige in his defeat to Gunnar Barlund and then fails to show up for his scheduled fight with Frank Poreda whith no word of explanation of why he didn't fight.

08 Dec 1940, Sun Scrantonian Tribune, Scranton, PA - reports the inside scoop why Charley Ketchuck failed to show up for his frank Poreda fight was that "the former Moscow sell tiller has been through with Jersey Jones since the night of the Armory show, where he fought Gunnar Barlund for virtually nothing except the chance-to get knocked out."

17 Jan 1941, Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Short report that the New Jersey Athletic Commission is reported to have suspended Charley Ketchuck for breach of contract.

21 Sep 1941, Sun, Scranton Tribune, Scranton, PA - Piece that reports that Charley Ketchuck is to serve as a boxing instructor at the Boys' Club.

09 Mar 1942, Mon, Rocky Mount Telegram, North Carolina - Charley Ketchuck signed a contract with boxing Manager Chris Dundee. Trying to get back into the ring?

24 Jul 1943, Sat Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Reports that a matchup between fellow Binghamton native heavyweights, Joe Matisi and Charley Ketchuck may be in the works for later that summer. The article mentions both are in the armed forces. Matisi was a sergeant in the Army stationed at Camp Mackall at Hoffman, NC. Ketchuck was in the navy at training station at Sampson, NY.

27 Jul 1943, Tue Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY - Three days later reports Kerchuck has decided he's done with boxing and the match with Matisi is off. A report found later in the Marshfield News-Herald, Wisconson mentions Kerchuck took up playing football at the Sampson NY Training Station in the navy.

01 Aug 1943, Hartford Courant, Conn. - Posted and interesting large photo of Charley Ketchuck standing with featherweight Willie Pep and lightweight George Zengaras at the Sampson NY Naval Training Station where Ketchuck acted as referee in a match Pep and Zengaras put on for the salors at Sampson.

Some later various newspapers Ketchuck stayed in the news reporting on him eventually stationing to Pearl Harbor where he servedd as a navy physical training instructor and played football on the service team.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Some more photos of Ketchuck. Pick which you want.
Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Ring Magazine Jan 1940
The New Faces column that featured a piece on Charley Ketchuck had a photo of him and his stable mate, Joe Banovic, LHW of Jersey Jones who fought a good number of the top LHW's of the 1930s. By 1939/40 Banovic had not fought in 3 years till coming out in Sept 1939 to fight one heavyweightm Nick Rabin and then later in Aug 1940 would end his career lost TKO to Joe Matisi. Found that LeeSkye had done a rating of him as a HW. Looking some into his record and past, broke down his career to an early MW portion and then the majority and most successful part as LHW.

Joe Banovic aka Joe Borlan - MW / LHW / HW

Career Record: W52(KO 7) / L22(KO 6) / D5

Unknown information has been left blank.
DOB and DOD listed on BoxerList.com
Manager was Jersey Jones.

Original HW rating was by LeeSkye

He was pictured in the Jan 1940 Ring Magazine with his stablemate Charley Ketchuck both of whom were managed by Jersey Jones.
BoxRec notes under alias being known as Bingo Joe Banovic and as Joe Borland.

18 Mar 1930 Tue, The Wilkes-Barre Record,PA - Article talking about Banovic's climb in fame in boxing over the past year. Some articles looked at in earlier years of his career back only even into 1928 his fight accounts were as Joe Borland. This article starts out, "So far as Joe Boland's ring success is concerned there certainly is something in a name change regarless of the old saying". Jersey Jones had discovered the young fighter from Binghamton, NY took a liking to him and took over his management sometime that year before. Binghamton writers told Jersey Jones when he started looking at him, that they young fighter was known as Joe Boland but his real name was Joe Banovic, and he was of Slovak descent. Jones took "Boland" under contract. Under the New York State Boxing Commission rules, Jersey was obligated to use the fighter's real name, so "Boland" was "laid on the shelf" and Joe Banovic started showing up in the boxing newspaper accounts around the area.

May 1927 newspaper accounts on "Boland" at the time noted him as a middleweight at the time of his fight with Jimmy McAllister. The 30 Jun 1927 Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, NY there was a very short piece account of "Boland"'s fight with "Frankie Kearns of Utica defeating Joe Boland, First ward middleweight,"'

You then see a break until 3/30/28 in "Boland's" career when he's back and fights Frank Cawley, a light heavyweight at the time. So this seems a distinct time that Banovic's career stopped being a Middleweight after the Frank Kearns fight and he came back 9 months later and started his light heavyweight career he is known for.

25 Mar 1928, Sat The Evening News, Wilkes-Barre, PA - Piece on Frankie Cawley, the Pittston light heavyweight to take on Jim Bolin, "a classy light heavy who hanges his hat in Binghamton, NY and who until recently sported the State amateur championship in the middleweight adn light heavyweight divisions." Is this Joe Boland/Banovic? Could he have quit pro ranks after the McAllister fight and go back to fighting amateur? Some other articles found on line discussing Cawley's fight with this "Jim Bolin" by the date assume it was his fight on 3/30/28 listed in BoxRec with Joe Boland/Banovic.

So, looking at this information I have broken Banovic's record down as follows:
Middleweight: 12/21/25 thru 6/30/27 W9(KO 1) / L2(KO 0) / D1
Light Heavyweight: 3/30/28 thru 7/1/36 W42(KO 6) / L19(KO 5) / D4
Heavyweight: 9/27/39 and 8/22/40 W1(KO 0) / L1(KO 1) / D0

After his last fight on 7/1/36 against Henry Taylor at LHW, he then did not fight in the ring until that 9/27/39 fight when he came back at 217 lbs! In that three years he had been working doing a lot of sparring work for various fighters of the time still under management of Jersey Jones as he became a stable mate with Charley Kerchuck and photographed sparring with him in the Jan 1940 Ring Magazine's "New Faces" column.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Each month edition with its monthly ratings, Ring would list Prospects of the Month. January 1940 features young Philadelphia HW Ben Moroz, BIG Big Man of Boxing. Mark Elwood did a rating of him I believe. I'm taking a look at Moroz, have quite a way to go researching him in the newspapers, but ran across a couple interesting photos of him from a couple St. Louis papers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat both from March 13, 1940 to share ahead. He was traveling to Arkansas with his manager Bill Duffy when they stopped over in St. Louis. Depending what I find later might be useful to do a better closeup shot of him for TB than the photo that BoxRec has currently.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Another Ben Moroz photo from April 18, 1940 The St. Louis Star and Times.

His size certainly giving him a bit of print considering only 3 pro fights! But his manager was talking him up a lot, the next Primo Carnera, "better"!! Well not much then?!
The Star and Times article with the photo was putting Moroz' height at 6ft 11 comparing him to this PIttsburgh Pirates pitcher, Johnny Gee who was said to be 6ft 9.