Gervonta’s Baltimore Homecoming Awakens Echoes of Harry Jeffra

Published

5 years ago

July 27, 2019

Gervonta's-Baltimore-Homecoming-Awakens-Echoes-of-Harry-Jeffra

Seventy-nine years ago this coming Monday (July 29), Baltimore native Harry Jeffra successfully defended his featherweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Toronto’s Spider Armstrong. This match — refereed by The Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer – is being recalled as the last world title fight held in the City of Monuments in which a local man defended his title….until tonight, that is, when Gervonta Davis defends his World Boxing Association Super World Super Featherweight Title (that’s a mouthful) on SHOWTIME in an apparent soft defense against Panama’s unheralded Ricardo Nunez.

Harry Jeffra was very good and had a legitimate claim to the world featherweight title, but as title fights go, Jeffra vs. Armstrong warrants an asterisk.

No, there weren’t four international bodies vying for supremacy, but things back then were just as muddled. When Jeffra entered the ring that night, he was one of three recognized featherweight champions. The National Boxing Association (forerunner of the WBA) recognized Petey Scalzo. The New York and Maryland (and eventually Pennsylvania and California) boxing commissions recognized Jeffra. The Louisiana commission was partial to Jimmy Perrin. And overseas? Well, let’s not go there.

Harry Jeffra, who was Sicilian on his father’s side, was born in Baltimore on Nov. 30, 1914. His birth name was Ignatius Guiffre. With a name like that, it was inevitable he would adopt a different ring name, but folks knew him as Harry Jeffra before he ever laced on a pair of gloves. The name was applied to him by his schoolteachers who couldn’t pronounce Guiffre.

Jeffra was born in the shadow of Baltimore’s Pimlico Racetrack and in some of his early fights was billed as the Pimlico Kid. Ironically, in retirement, after working as a jockey’s agent, Jeffra became a stable manager at the fabled racetrack.

Turning pro at age 18, Jeffra had his first 39 fights in Baltimore with the exception of four excursions to nearby Washington, DC. He attracted national notice late in this run with a 10-round split decision over Puerto Rico’s Sixto Escobar, the generally recognized world bantamweight champion.

Jeffra and Escobar would meet five times; Jeffra winning four. The third and fourth meetings were stamped as world title fights. The finale, in Baltimore, would be Escobar’s final pro bout.

Escobar-Jeffra III was staged on Sept. 23, 1937 at New York’s Polo Grounds as part of the “Carnival of Champions” in which four title-holders risked their belts on the same card. Lightweight Lou Ambers and welterweight Barney Ross prevailed against Pedro Montanez and Ceferino Garcia, respectively. Middleweight title-holder Marcel Thill was upended by Fred Apostoli, the San Francisco Bell Boy (although New York continued to recognize Freddie Steele; go figure) and Harry Jeffra got things started by dethroning Escobar, winning a lopsided 15-round decision. “He buzzed around him like an angry hornet in a fight that was full of action,” said the correspondent for the New York Times.

Promoter Mike Jacobs anticipated a crowd of 50,000, but the announced attendance was only 32,600. Many boxing fans hadn’t yet recovered from the Great Depression and all sorts of amusements were in the doldrums.

Five months later, the Baltimorean and the Puerto Rican met up again on Escobar’s turf in San Juan. In this bout, Jeffra bore scant resemblance to the fighter that won their three previous meetings. He was knocked down twice in the 11^th and once in the 14^th and finished the contest with both of his eyes nearly closed. The announced attendance at the outdoor show was 12,000, but promoter Mike Jacobs, a whiz at creative bookkeeping, claimed that the gate receipts totaled only $13,900.

Jeffra had struggled to make weight for Escobar IV. Seven months later he returned to the ring as a featherweight and after adding eight wins to his ledger was pitted against veteran Joey Archibald who held a share of the fractured featherweight title. It was the first defense for Archibald who had won the belt in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, with a 15-round decision over Chicago’s Leo Rodak.

Archibald was managed by wily Al Weill who later handled the ring affairs of Rocky Marciano. Washington, DC was Archibald’s second home. Prior to his Sept. 28, 1939 bout with Harry Jeffra at Griffith Stadium, he was 18-0 in DC rings.

The skein continued with Jeffra losing a split decision that nearly caused a riot. Spectators booed for a good 15 minutes after the verdict was announced and pelted the ring with debris. It was a harrowing experience for ring announcer Jimmy Lake who couldn’t leave his post as the semi-main had been pushed back to the walk-out fight.

Jeffra got his revenge eight months later in Baltimore. He nearly had Archibald out in the second round but the Providence man stayed the 15-round limit only to lose a lopsided decision. Jeffra’s first defense against the aforementioned Spider Armstrong would stand for almost 80 years as the last winning effort by a Baltimore world title-holder in a Baltimore ring. He gave back the belt in a third meeting with Joey Archibald, another disputed split decision at Griffith Stadium, although not as contentious as the first, and then failed in an attempt to regain the title when he was stopped in the 10^th frame by Archibald’s conqueror Chalky Wright.

After losing to Wright, Jeffra soldiered on for a few more years before retiring at age 32. A short-lived and unproductive comeback after a 44-month absence dipped his final record to 94-20-7 (per BoxRec). Although the titles he held were in dispute at the time that he held them, he passes the lineal test as a two-division world champion. The late Hank Kaplan, who was considered the foremost historian of the Sweet Science, is among those who believed that Jeffra did enough to warrant inclusion in the Boxing Hall of Fame.

As a teenager, Jeffra, who stood five-foot-four, was a two-sport standout. He was so good on the links that he considered pursuing a career as a professional golfer. After retiring, he won several amateur tournaments.

In retirement, Harry Jeffra became very involved in local charities including the Baltimore branch of the Veteran Boxers Association. He developed an amusing schtick and was in demand as a public speaker on the rubber chicken circuit. With the money that he saved he was able to send all four of his children off to college.

For years after he quit he ring, Harry Jeffra had a large presence in his hometown. But he eventually faded from view. His name stopped bobbing up in the papers when Baltimore became a major league sports town. Major league baseball returned to Baltimore in 1953 when the St. Louis Browns moved here, taking the name of the city’s Triple-A franchise, the Orioles. That same year, Baltimore acquired an NFL franchise, the Colts. Professional boxing, so vibrant in Jeffra’s heyday with club shows every week, virtually ceased and the old-time boxers spawned by the city, even the best of them, became more obscure with each passing year. When Jeffra died in September of 1988 after a lingering illness, it took several weeks for the news to hit the papers.

Ah, but there was a time when the erstwhile Pimlico Kid was the toast of the town.

Gervonta

At age 24, Gervonta Davis is the youngest active American-born champion. Undefeated, he has stopped 20 of his 21 former opponents including the last 12. His life growing up in Baltimore was quite different from that of Harry Jeffra. There was no golf for him.

“As a tiny kid,” writes Corey McLaughlin in Baltimore magazine, “Davis often slept on the floor of his drug addicted parents’ house in possibly the roughest neighborhood in Baltimore City before going into foster care.” Nowadays, he can laugh about smashing up his $170,000 Ferrari in the first week that he owned it.

gervonta

This past Wednesday, Davis was given the keys to the city of Baltimore by Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young in a ceremony at City Hall. In a city plagued by gang violence, the heavily tattooed boxer is being extolled as a role model, notwithstanding the fact that he has had several brushes with the law.

With the honor comes a responsibility, an obligation to give something back to his community. Harry Jeffra understood this. Now it’s Gervonta’s turn.

Gervonta photo by Amanda Westcott compliments of Showtime

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Arne K. Lang

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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Published

2 days ago

December 21, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.

The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.

Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.

The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.

An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.

Moses Itauma

Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.

His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.

Photo (c): Mark Robinson

Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10^th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.

Bohachuk-Davis

In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.

Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.

Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.

Fisher-Allen

In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.

Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.

In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.

He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Other Bouts of Note

In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.

A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.

In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.

McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

Published

3 days ago

December 20, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.

The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.

Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.

The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.

That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.

The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)

Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)

Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.

Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).

Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.

The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.

Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.

Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.

We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”

The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

Published

4 days ago

December 19, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.

Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.

Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.

Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.

There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.

It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.

Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.

At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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