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Titles and Title Bouts

WBA: The “Toy Bulldog,” Mickey Walker, continued to rule the roost in the MW division, making four successful defenses of the WBA crown he has worn since April 1925, and all four of his challengers did not last the distance. His victims, in chronological order, were Len Johnson (TKO 13), Tiger Flowers (TKO 9), Frank Moody (KO 4) and Young Terry (KO 1).

NABF: Only one title clash for this belt, when veteran Tiger Flowers was dethroned by Vince Dundee (DQ 10).

USBA: Dundee won this title in early 1929 after Flowers (then the newly-crowned NABF titleholder) had relinquished it. He stopped Larry Estridge (TKO 10) to capture the belt and defended once versus Young Terry (UD 12) before moving up to claim Flowers’ NABF title. Then, Terry stepped up to win the USBA belt vacated by Dundee with a UD 12 win over Oakland Jimmy Duffy.

CBU: Aussie Alf Stewart took the title from Frank Moody (KO 11) on home turf in Sydney, only to lose it later in the year to Brit Len Johnson (UD 12).

GBU: Frank Moody retained this belt, despite making no title defenses in 1929.

EBU: Len Johnson defended twice, besting Rene DeVos (TKO 10) and Ernst Grimm (UD 12).

OPBF: Ceferino Garcia continued to keep the title he has held since 1927, winning two title defenses inside the distance in 1929 (TKO 6 over Frankie Burns; KO 7 over Alf Stewart).

MW Division Profile

Total: 168 RL: 104 TC: 64

RL by Career Stage:
End - 8
Post - 17
Prime - 40
Pre - 28
Beginning - 11 (3 New)

Rated: 73
800+: 18
500+: 37
200+ : 69

Jan 1930 Rankings (Perf Points and Changes from Jan. 1929 in Parens):

Champ: Mickey Walker 42-1 (33) (1887) (NC)
1. Panama Joe Gans 52-12-3 (19) (1245) (+5)
2. Len Johnson 25-9-1 (15) (1149) (+5) (CBU, EBU Champ)
3. Jock Malone 33-15-3 (13) (1109) (+2)
4. Rene DeVos 41-11-2 (17) (1090) (+7)
5. Bryan Downey 47-19-4 (21) (1090) (-1)
6. Jack McVey 29-10-2 (16) (1032) (-4)
7. Young Terry 22-3-3 (9) (977) (+3) (USBA Champ)
8. Vince Dundee 25-3-1 (13) (968) (+8) (NABF Champ)
9. Frankie Schoell 34-12-1 (11) (961) (-8)
10. Tiger Flowers 36-14-1 (17) (946) (-2)

Others: 16. Ceferino Garcia 23-16 (17) (838) (+11) (OPBF Champ)
30. Frank Moody 37-18-4 (13) (571) (-16) (GBU Champ)

Top Ten: Everyone listed above at Prime except for Panama Joe, Downey and Schoell (all three now at Post) and Flowers (now at End career stage). Walker has now won his last 19 in a row, including 17 straight WBA title bouts. Gans remained unbeaten in 1929 to move into the top contender slot, taking a pair of UD 10 wins from Dave Shade and Brian Downey after a draw with McVey. Len Johnson moved up with three title defenses after falling short when challenging Walker for the WBA crown. Malone snapped a five-bout winless skein, stopping Mike O’Dowd and Billy Angelo, taking a UD from Gorilla Jones and, more recently, a UTD win over German Hein Domgorgen. DeVos fell short in his bid to regain the EBU title from Johnson, but he succeeded in posting UD wins over three top MWs (McVey, Downey and Angelo). Downey kept on plugging away, going 2-2 in 1929, enough to maintain a top five ranking. McVey slipped badly, going winless during the year. Young Terry continued to improve, but could not handle more experienced guys like Walker (who could?) and Dundee. The vagaries of the ranking system still had Dundee one rung below Terry despite a head-to-head win as part of a 4-0 campaign during the year. Schoell took a UTD from Dave Shade but dropped by a UD to Garcia. Flowers managed to cling to the #10 spot despite losing both of his 1929 encounters.

Other Notables: Mike O’Dowd, #3 last year, retired from the ring. Dave Shade slipped five spots to #14 after successive losses to Gans (UD 10) and Gorilla Jones (MD 10). It was a good year for Garcia, the OPBF Champ, who went 3-1 for the year, losing only to Jones after a UD 10 win over Schoell. The aforementioned Jones finished the year at #13, beating both Shades (Dave and Billy) to end 1929 at 22-5-1 (14). Top newcomer to the list, still unbeaten at 17-0 (15) is Freddie Steele, the “Tacoma Assassin,” who checks in at #17. Other top debutants are Johnny Romero, #23 who sports a 16-2 (14) record. Jock McAvoy, a hot prospect from the UK, is still unbeaten and ranked #16, after compiling a 13-0-2 (12) career mark thus far. British Champ Moody did not have his title belt at stake when losing two bouts during the year, sliding further down the list.

Prospects: Brit Jack Casey, who battled McAvoy to a draw, is still unbeaten at 13-0-1 (8). Puerto Rico’s Angel Cliville is off to a 12-0 (8) start, but he has yet to be tested. Ad Zachow, now 13-1 (11), suffered his first career defeat (a UD loss to Pete Horton) but recovered with wins over Henry Firpo and veteran Augie Ratner. Tony Tozzo, who lost earlier in his career to Steele, escaped with a draw against Ben Jeby and then won a rematch; he is now 12-1-1 (9). Jeby wound up the year at 10-1-1 (7). Still perfect, both at 11-0 (11), are Harry Smith, the “Harlem Thunderbolt,” and Aussie Ron Richards. Solly Krieger (9-0, 7 KO) and Paul Pirrone (9-0, 7 KO) remained unbeaten against TC opposition. Lou Brouillard (6-1, 5 KO) suffered a DQ loss to a TC for his first career loss. Teddy Yarosz (7-0, 6 KO) and Frank Battaglia (6-0, 5 KO) look to continue improving next year.

Retirements: Two former WBA Champs were among the four retirees in 1929.

Eddie Palmer (USA) 1911-29 32-33-6 (12) No Titles Highest Rank: 19
George Robinson (USA) 1911-29 37-29-8 (7) No Titles Highest Rank: 10
Mike O’Dowd (USA) 1913-29 42-15-2 (16) WBA Champ 1919-22
Johnny Wilson (USA) 1911-29 40-25-1 (12) WBA Champ 1924-25

Looking Ahead: Walker still appears to be an unmovable force at the top of the division. Gans, Downey, McVey, Schoell and Flowers appear to be headed out of the top group, leaving room for talented young fighters like the still unbeaten Freddie Steele. In Europe, guys like Domgorgen, McAvoy and the Italian, Fiermonte, appear to be poised to challenge for the EBU title at least. Harry Smith, the Harlem Thunderbolt, is a hot prospect for the future. Not much hope for the 1930 class of MW newcomers, as none is highly rated enough to be on a future Champions watch list.