The 64-man, single-elimination 1920s heavyweight tourney is scheduled to open with Fighting Bob Martin, the 32nd seed, facing No. 33
Floyd Johnson, kicking off a four-bout card at the First Regiment Armory in Newark, N.J.
The American Expeditionary Force's heavyweight champion during World War I (he opened his professional career with a four-round loss to AEF light-heavy champ Gene Tunney) Martin was 41-12 with 40 KOs, with most of his wins coming against novices and the defeats to nearly every decent fighter he faced. The biggest victories came against Bob Roper in a newspaper decision listed by boxrec.com as his only distance win, Martin Burke and end-of-the-line former White Hopes Arthur Pelkey and Gunboat Smith.
"By early 1924 he had become banned from boxing in 18 states due to his increased frailty resulting from injuries he received from two separate car crashes in which he was involved," reads Martin's bio on boxrec.com, "leaving him with partial paralysis of his left leg and forcing him to walk with a cane. It is believed that he then became a West Virginia state trooper soon afterward
Johnson (38-13-11, 27 KOs) was probably known for getting stopped in 11 by Jess Willard at Yankee Stadium in 1923, which is really saying something, since it was the Pottawatomie Giant's first ring appearance since getting butchered by Jack Dempsey four years earlier.
"Willard had been coaxed from retirement to make a comeback because there was such a dearth of heavyweight material that Rickard thought he could still get by, but as I remember the old fellow, he couldn't fight a lick," A.J. Liebling wrote in The Sweet Science. "He had a fair left jab and a right uppercut that a fellow had to walk into to get hurt by, and he was big and soft. Johnson was a mauler worse than Rex Layne, and the old man knocked him out."
Johnson and Martin met at Madison Square Garden in 1922, with Floyd winning by TKO at 0:31 of the 10th round.
***The second opening-night match pits 21st-seeded
Jack Renault against No. 44
Alvin Hunt.
Renault (80-25-3, 37 KOs), perhaps the finest heavy ever produced by the Quebecois -- OK, it's a low bar -- won twice in three tries against George Godfrey, split with Arthur De Kuh, outpointed Bob Roper and stopped Floyd Johnson and the ever-dangerous Sully Montgomery. He lost several crossroads fights, though, including a controversial 1925 points defeat to Jack Sharkey and a 10-round decision to Jack Delaney in an elimination tournament to determine a post-Dempsey challenger for Gene Tunney (who Renault faced in a bout called by refereree Pep O'Brien "because neither man was trying," according to boxrec.com and the Chicago Tribune." Something of the John Ruiz of his day, Renault was frequently criticized for dull, slow fights and also dropped a pair of decisions to a fighter more than 20 pounds lighter, Harry Greb.
Hunt ended the '20s as a rising contender and scored consecutive wins over Jim Braddock, Ernie Schaaf and Johnny Risko -- all within a span of 35 days -- before facing Renault in Philadelphia three weeks after the Risko win in Oklahoma City and 14 days after dropping a 10-rounder to Angus Snyder in Wichita. The overmanaged Hunt, who came in at 50-5-4, also lost on points to Renault and went on to lose almost as many as he won to finish 90-40-11, 39 KOs.
***
More previews and first-round action to come ...