John Heenan is our next Hall-of-Famer up for review.
Heenan was born in Troy, NY in 1835, but worked as an unskilled laborer (swinging a hammer) in California for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Heenan stood at 6'2", weighed 200lbs and was known as being VERY muscular and VERY tough.
After moving to NYC in 1858 Heenan began to issue challenges to American heavyweight champion John Morrissey through the New York Sun. Surprisingly, Morrissey agreed to fight. We'll replay that fight here.
John Heenan vs. John Morrissey - 4/20/1858 - Long Pt. Island, Canada
In real life, the bout took place in Canada in large part to avoid police interference. Each side but up $5000. Heenan entered the fight with a large abscess in his leg. He started strong, but the veteran Morrissey began to dominate as the bout went on. Weakened by the abscess, Heenan collapsed in the 11th round. Morrissey never granted him a rematch.
Here's the result of my replay between these two Hall-of-Famers:
Round 1:
Too close to call as both fighters have their moments. Heenan scores with a hook to the jaw that sent Morrissey backwards. Morrissey, though, responded with solid work to the body and a couple of clean shots to the head.
Round 2:
Morrissey dominates with a series of solid hooks. A violent cross clearly does damage.
Round 3:
The first round awarded to Heenan. He lands a wicked uppercut and a straight right that glazes Morrisey's eyes over momentarily. It's clear from this fight that Heenan's strategy is to look for the homerun, while Morrissey is content to box, score points, and gradually wear his opponent down.
Round 5:
Morrissey continues to rack up the points. He lands hooks to the head and chest, mixing in a few effective crosses to keep Heenan at bay.
Round 6:
A nice uppercut from Morrissey stops Heenan in his tracks. A cut is opened on the outside of Heenan's right eyebrow.
Round 7:
Morrissey continues to land hard combos to Heenan's midsection. The damage and points are mounting.
Round 8:
Heenan finds his opening and lands a sharp combo that staggers Morrissey backwards. He follows with a hard cross to the head that immediately causes swelling in Morrissey's right eye. He finishes the round working the body. Morrissey is absolutely pummeled this round but withstands the storm.
Round 9:
With his right eye continuing to swell, Morrissey absorbs more blows to the body and the head. His legs turn to jelly and Heenan drops him at the 2:10 mark. After a long 8 count Morrissey regains his feet but meets the canvas again after Heenan unleashes a powerful uppercut. Morrissey continues to battle, but is dropped for a 3rd time at the 0:41 mark following a hook to the head. The referee stops the fight at 0:15 left in the round as it is clear that Morrissey can no longer protect himself.
John "The Benicia Boy" Heenan wins via TKO over John Morrissey for the American heavyweight title!
John Heenan
- Terry