Today In Sports History: Tommy Burns KO American challenger ‘Fireman’ Jim Flynn in 15 rounds

On this day 2 October 1906 (Exactly 113 years ago today) The only Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KO American challenger ‘Fireman’ Jim Flynn in 15 rounds to retain his title at the Naud Junction Pavilion, Los Angeles, California, USA

The October 3, 1906 edition of the Los Angeles Herald called the fight one of “the most terrific battles ever witnessed among heavyweights.”

The following is from the Herald’s report:

Nine minutes after Tommy Burns sent Jim Flynn to the floor for the fourth and last time last night, in the fifteenth round, the Coloradoan was carried from the ring in a semiconscious condition. During the final minutes of the grueling contest Flynn received terrific head punishment, and despite the efforts of his seconds, could not be revived for a considerable length of time. Although no serious results are anticipated, the occurrence might have been avoided had Referee Robinson remained firm in his decision after counting Flynn out when the game miner went down for the second time beneath Burns’ heavy blows. Flynn appeared out, and Robinson tolled off the ten seconds, saying “You’re out!” after making the count. Flynn, however, found his feet Just at the call, and made a brave attempt to continue the fighting. Burns had him helpless, however, and Flynn dropped again to the floor as a result of no particular blow. With Flynn on the mat, Robinson cautioned him to rise, with the provision that he would disqualify him. The miner again regained his feet and once more Burns sent him to the floor, this time for good. Flynn’s seconds dashed into the ring and endeavored to revive the fallen gladiator who lay stretched on the canvas. Difficulty was experienced by the police in clearing the circle where excited spectators surged between the ropes to catch a glimpse of the defeated man, who lay senseless. The action of Robinson in allowing Flynn to continue after he had called him out created amazement among those at the ringside. Robinson admitted last night that he erred in not stopping the go, and offered as explanation that he feared a violent protest would have resulted had he interfered under the circumstances. “The count was so close,” said Robinson, “that I feared an uproar from the house, which might not understand that I had made the count.”

On this day 2 October 1980 (Exactly 39 years ago today) The then 38 year old Muhammad Ali came out of 2-year retirement to challenge undefeated world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas; Ali pounded unmercifully for 10 rounds before his corner threw in the towel.

Read this report from the New York Times

Holmes Stops Ali and Keeps Heavyweight Title

There were no more miracles tonight for Muhammad Ali. At the age of 38 and after a two-year retirement, his attempt to win a fourth world heavyweight boxing championship ended with his sitting tired and battered on a stool, unable to answer the bell for the 11th round in his scheduled 15-round contest with Larry Holmes, his former sparring partner.

In a setting almost as strange as Ali’s career, the only threetime heavyweight champion in history was no match at all for the 30-year-old undefeated Holmes. At the end, Ali had a cut under his right eye, reddening under his left and he had suffered a bloody nose.

Lands Fewer Than 10 Punches

In 10 rounds, he landed fewer than 10 solid punches, and took what seemed like hundreds. Only his legendary courage and great chin prevented him from being knocked down.

After the ninth round, when a vicious right uppercut by Holmes had Ali’s upper body draped briefly on the top strand of the ropes and another right to the kidney had Ali crouched over in pain, the former champion’s longtime trainer, Angelo Dundee, asked him, “Do you want to do it?”

Ali tried one more round, but it was no different than any of the ones that preceded it. Holmes, oblivious to all of Ali’s attempts at psychological warfare, hardly missed a punch. At the end of the 10th, Ali’s manager, Herbert Muhammad, sent Pat Patterson, the Chicago policeman who is one of the fighter’s security guards, to the corner with instructions to stop the fight, “because he’s getting defenseless,” said the manager.

Under World Boxing Council rules, the fight will go into the record book as an 11th-round knockout.

Brown Seeks to Continue

Dundee tried stopping the fight, but Drew (Bundini) Brown, the cornerman who had coined Ali’s famous slogan, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” begged the ex-champion to go on.

Finally, Dundee told the referee, Richard Green, that it was all over. The remarkable career of one of the world’s greatest athletes had ended in a parking lot as fireworks lighted up the clear desert night sky.

On a parking lot where spaces cost more than they do Saturday nights on Broadway ($500 for ringside), the greatest show in boxing history, and some will say the greatest heavyweight in history, closed.

The desert sun, which had broiled and often blinded the preliminary fighters in the temporary 24,790-seat arena constructed by Caesars Palace Hotel, had long set behind the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The fireworks were for Holmes.

The former Ali sparring partner from Easton, Pa., had scored his eighth knockout in the eighth defense of his W.B.C. title. He has been considered by almost all boxing experts as the finest heavyweight in the world since last year, when he knocked out Mike Weaver, who later went on to win the World Boxing Association version of the title Ali relinquished.

Taunts in the Ring

Holmes, taunted and teased by Ali in the ring (“I’m your master, I’m your teacher”), has always admired and respected his former employer.

“He was the greatest fighter in the world,” Holmes said at his postfight news conference. “He’s one hell of an athlete, one hell of a man. Even trying to win a fourth title is one hell of an achievement. He had a two-year layoff and then tried to fight the baddest heavyweight in the world.”

The victory was Holmes’s 36th, 27 by knockout, and his string of knockouts in title defenses is a heavyweight record. Joe Louis, among the many celebrities at ringside, twice knocked out seven challengers in a row, but in between, he was denied a knockout victory when Buddy Baer was disqualified for refusing to fight any more.

Ali, a 1960 Olympic champion as Cassius Clay, won the heavyweight title in 1964 by upsetting Sonny Liston. He was believed finished as a fighter 10 years later before he upset George Foreman to win the title a second time.

In February 1978, he lost it to young Leon Spinks, who was in his eighth professional fight, but seven months later regained the crown for the record third time and soon retired. From the way he looked, there appeared little chance six months ago he would even be able to attempt a comeback.

Lost Every Round

He slimmed down from 254 pounds to 217 1/2 by yesterday’s weigh-in and proclaimed it “the first miracle.” The second, he said, would come by defeating Holmes. But he was no match for the younger, faster and stronger man.

None of the three voting judges gave Ali a round. One, Duane Ford, gave Holmes a 2-point margin in the ninth round under the 10-point “must” scoring system.

The loss was Ali’s fourth against 56 victories, and it was the first time he was ever stopped before the final bell. Nothing he tried worked against Holmes, whose 28-month reign as champion has brought him little recognition and appreciation. Holmes is a masterly boxer who in the past has demonstrated great courage and professionalism. His problem has been that he is not really that hard a hitter and, more importantly, he followed the colorful and charismatic Ali.

The first thing Ali tried was intimidating Holmes when the champion entered the canopied ring. Several times he ran after Holmes as if he were looking for a fight. Holmes just stared intently back.

A Quick Retreat

Holmes, sleek and fit at 211 1/2 pounds, went right out at the bell and sent Ali into retreat with a left hook. This was a new punch for the champion, one that he knew would be effective against Ali. The hook was followed by a right to the body and another hook. Ali stood flat-footed and hardly threw a punch. The pattern of the fight had been established, though the crowd that set a boxing record with a $6 million live gate (Ali’s last fight set the previous mark of $4.8 million) could hardly know that then.

Holmes was to make this as one-sided as his victory over the journeyman Scott LeDoux in his previous title defense. The champion showed almost everything in his repertory in the opening round. There were overhand rights and rights to the body and left jabs and hooks to the head and body. Suddenly, near the end of the round, Ali tried what obviously was to be his knockout punch: a right cross following a jab. It caught Holmes, but not solidly.

Ali showed some defense in the second round, getting his head out of the way of some jabs, but most of his offense was just talk. He could not land many punches because he did not throw many. When he did, Holmes beat him to the punch. The champion had far superior hand speed.

Reddening Left Eye

By the second round, there was a reddening under Ali’s left eye. By the fourth, there was blood trickling from his left nostril. Occasionally, Ali would try for that big right hand, the lucky punch almost. He landed another in the fourth, but Holmes can take a punch, too, and simply responded with a series of left jabs, all landing.

Ali tried the rope-a-dope, the tactic of allowing his opponent to swing at him until tiring, the one he used to wear down Foreman. Holmes responded by hitting him one punch at a time and pulling back, saving strength for later rounds.

In the fifth round, Ali came out dancing and Holmes ran after him until finally a couple of jabs slowed up the former champion. When Ali stopped along the ropes, Holmes dissected him, starting with another series of jabs that at one point seemed to stun Ali.

Ali tried his jab in the sixth round, but again Holmes beat him to the punch, and again and again he cornered his teacher, measuring punches and seemingly not missing. By the end of the round, there were a lot of boos from the crowd, but where the fans were for Holmes during the introductions, now they were for Ali. He was doing nothing but catching punches.

Tries Dancing Again

He tried dancing again in the seventh, this time even throwing jabs, but Holmes landed a straight right counter. The champion, for so long under the shadow of the master, landed another one near the end of the round and Ali appeared hurt.

By the eighth round, Holmes, keeping his distance and not allowing Ali to tie him up, continued landing hard right hands to Ali’s head. Midway in the round, with Ali backed in the corner after taking four straight right hands, Holmes seemed almost tired of hitting him, not tired physically, just bored.

It was worse in the ninth round, when the vicious right uppercut by Holmes draped Ali over the top strand of the ropes. He wobbled away, but was pounded, this time unmercifully, at one point crunching over in pain from a right to the kidney. At the end of the round, Dundee asked him, “Do you want to do it?”

Ali tried one more round, but it was all over. There were no more miracles tonight.

On this day 2 October 1988 (Exactly 31 years ago today) Future world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, representing Canada, won super-heavyweight gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; beat American Riddick Bowe by 2nd round TKO

On this day 2 October 1988 (Exactly 31 years ago today) South Korean light middleweight boxer Park Si-hun was controversially awarded the Seoul Olympic gold medal after appearing well beaten by future 4 weight class world champion Roy Jones Jr

On this day 2 October 1991 (Exactly 28 years ago today) Steffi Graf beat Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-2 in the Volkswagen Cup in Leipzig to become the youngest woman to win 500 professional tennis matches

On this day 2 October 2009 (Exactly 10 years ago today)The International Olympic Committee (IOC) elected Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) as the host city of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016 during its 121st Session in Copenhagen, Denmark. Rio de Janeiro received 66 votes compared to Madrid’s 32 in the final round of voting.

IOC President Jacques Rogge congratulated Rio de Janeiro on its election and praised the high quality of the bid, “I would like to congratulate the city of Rio de Janeiro on its election as the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. Rio de Janeiro presented the IOC with a very strong technical bid, built upon a vision of the Games being a celebration of the athletes and sport, as well as providing the opportunity for the city, region and country to deliver their broader long-term aspirations for the future. This call to “live your passion” clearly struck a chord with my fellow members and we now look forward to seeing Rio de Janeiro stage the first Olympic Games on the continent of South America. Well done, Rio!”

Rogge also thanked the other competing cities of Chicago (USA), Tokyo (Japan) and Madrid (Spain), “Unfortunately, there can only be one victor in this competition and I’d like to thank the cities of Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid for participating. Their projects and dedication to spreading the Olympic values throughout their countries and beyond has been outstanding. Despite not being elected today, these cities have all seen the benefit of being candidates for the Games. I would like to congratulate them all for their efforts and for their commitment to the Olympic Movement.”

Results:

ROUND 1 :
MADRID: 28
RIO DE JANEIRO: 26
TOKYO: 22
CHICAGO: 18

ROUND 2:
RIO DE JANEIRO: 46
MADRID: 29
TOKYO: 20

ROUND 3:
RIO DE JANEIRO: 66
MADRID: 32

BY: GEORGE ‘Alan Green’s MAHAMAH