This is a tough one. I only know of it because I used to own the bell that was used for the fight ( I sold it to another local collector for $1500 about a decade ago ).
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I was going to say Peter McNeeley but just watched the fight to check and seems like he took a few before it was over
Only first punch ko I remember is James Thunder, no clue who he was fighting and I doubt he was champ
That was Crawford Grimsley that Thunder KO’d in about three seconds, but he’s not the name I’m looking for.
The fight I’m talking about was sanctioned by the NYSAC as world heavyweight title fight even though the challenger was unrated at the time.
I’ll give you a hint. The fight took place a long time ago. It wasn’t a recent fight.
John L Sullivan
“Duke” Evers vs Spider Rico.
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Nope. Not that far back.
You said a long time ago figured I’d take a swing lol
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Spinks vs Ali?
No clue
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Shit I didnt read correctly about the first punch. My bad
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Pete Rademacher didn’t do very good against Floyd Patterson…
I thought about Floyd too tbh
Let me know when you guys want me to give you the answer.
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I would have appreciated the answer instead of your “hint”. Now I don’t care anymore and I’ll never find out the answer because I’m never clicking on this thread again.
Who was the teenage tennis player that once shot an ace against a former Roland Garros champ?
Hint: male
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This is fun, I have no idea who it is, but keep them coming billy boy!
If the answer is with in the last 30 years I’ll be pissed I don’t know the answer
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OK, gentleman, this one even stumps a lot of boxing historians.
On November 14, 1944 at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, NY, heavyweight champion Joe Louis was set for a four-round exhibition match with an obscure clubfighter from Brooklyn by the name of Johnny Davis ( his record was 3-3 at the time ). But the NYSAC stepped in & demanded that the fight be an official fight & heavyweight title defenses because they had outlawed exhibitions in the state.
So, rather than a nice four-round match where Louis would take it easy on Davis, Louis wasn’t risking a freak loss of his title against the unknown challenger, so he came out at the bell ( the one I would later own for several years ) & knocked Davis out with a viscous short right hand at the 53 second mark. It was the first punch he landed on the challenger ( who would finish his career at 5-20 ).
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Thank you for sharing OP, fun trivia. How did you acquire the bell?
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When they gutted the inside of the old auditorium a couple of decades back, the bell was sitting on a shelf in a back room collecting dust. It hadn’t been used for about 10 years ( the last fight card held in the auditorium was the December 1992 event, headlined by Roberto Duran vs Tony Biglen ) & I’d heard the company in charge of cleaning the place out was about to trash the bell & a treasure trove of old fight posters & programs. So, I went there with my friend, Bill, who’s also a boxing memorabilia collector, & we bought the workers lunch & let us have it all.
I really wanted the bell, so I let Bill take the bulk of the posters & programs.
Then, years later, when I decided to pare down my collection, I was originally going to keep the bell, but the guy who bought it had a big display planned for it, while I just had it in a storage box. So, I accepted his offer of $1500 even though I could have gotten two or three times that at auction.
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