Meet ‘Old-Timer’ Tod Morgan, a New Addition to the Boxing Hall of Fame

Published

3 years ago

December 8, 2021

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On Aug. 3, 1953, Tod Morgan died a pauper in his home state of Washington. He was 50 years old.

After more than 200 pro fights, Morgan had nothing to show for it. A former world junior lightweight champion and the former lightweight champion of Australia, Morgan the ex-boxer worked as a bellman in Seattle hotels until he became incapacitated. But he wouldn’t be completely forgotten. This coming June, nearly 69 years after he drew his last breath, Tod Morgan will be formally inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

The second fighter from the Apple State to be accorded this honor (Tacoma’s Freddie Steele was enshrined in 1999), Morgan was born Albert Pilkington in Sequim, a town on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Taking the surname of his stepfather, Frank Morgan, he made his pro debut at age 17 at a vaudeville house in Concrete, Washington, a town whose major employer was, you guessed it, a cement company.

Morgan was just a few fights into his pro career when he shifted his tack to the town of Vallejo near Oakland on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay. Between October of 1920 and May of 1923, he fought exclusively in California, 50 fights in all. These were all 4-rounders. In November of 1913, the voters in California approved a measure that restricted all fights, amateur and pro, to four rounds. The law remained in effect for 10 years.

After a short stint in Seattle, Morgan returned to California. On Dec. 2, 1925, he made the national news wire when he stopped New Jersey’s Mike Ballerino at LA’s Olympic Auditorium. The match was billed for the world junior lightweight title. Ballerino took all the worst of it until his corner tossed in the towel in the 10^th and final round.

His bout with Ballerino would be the first of 15 fights denominated as world title fights in the 130-pound weight class. Morgan’s record in these encounters was 12-2-1.

Six of the title fights were at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden.

In his first Madison Square Garden exposure, Martin successfully defended his belt with a lopsided decision over Brooklyn’s Joe Glick. They would fight again in this same ring, a match in which Glick was disqualified for low blows. (The wags would saddle Joe Glick with boxing’s oddest nickname. A tailor by trade, he was dubbed the Brownsville Buttonhole Maker.)

Another Brooklynite, Eddie “Cannonball” Martin, gave Morgan one of his toughest fights when they met at Madison Square Garden on May 24, 1928. The referee and both judges gave the bout to Morgan, but there were dissenters among the ringside press.

Cannonball Martin, who previously had a tenuous hold on the world bantamweight title, was very good, but Morgan left no doubt that he was the better man when they hooked up again. After 15 gory rounds, the decision favoring the West Coast invader was so clear-cut that it was cheered by the pro-Martin crowd. The match was held on a hot and muggy July evening before 20,000 at Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn baseball team that had taken the name Dodgers.

Tod Morgan’s lone setbacks in those 15 title fights came at the hands of Joey Sangor and Benny Bass. Tod didn’t bring his “A” game when he fought Sangor in a 10-round bout at Milwaukee on New Year’s Day, 1929. The newspaper writers were in general agreement that Sangor, a local man, edged it. But Wisconsin was then a no-decision state which meant that Morgan kept his title as it could only change hands in the event of a knockout. His defeat at the hands of Benny Bass at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20, 1929, was a horse of a different color. The fight had a bad odor about it.

After winning the first round convincingly, Morgan was knocked out in the second. The knockout punch was a clean right hand to the jaw, but the outcome supported the whispers that the fix was in. All of the late money was on Philadelphia’s “Little Fish,” which made no sense as Morgan was far cleverer. In the lobby at Madison Square Garden, the odds favoring Bass soared as high as 6/1.

The New York Athletic Commission withheld the fighters’ purses. They were unable to prove any wrongdoing, but got a measure of satisfaction by abolishing the junior lightweight class – and for good measure, the other junior divisions as well. Other jurisdictions continued to recognize a 130-pound class and New York eventually relented, restoring the weight division in 1949.

Morgan wore out his welcome in the Big Apple with that suspicious performance and would never fight in New York again. He returned to Washington and fought up and down the West Coast before trundling off to Sydney, Australia in the late summer of 1933.

Morgan spent the last nine years of his boxing career in the Land Down Under. He had 62 fights in Australian rings, the vast majority slated for 15 rounds, and promoted a few fights on the side before returning to the United States shortly after the end of World War II.

When he was young, Morgan was known for his fast footwork. “His boxing was a pleasure to the eye,” wrote UPI sports editor Frank Getty, who added that when the occasion warranted, Morgan could out-slug the roughest and toughest. As he grew older, what stood out was his cageyness. “He could punch from any angle or position,” reminisced Sydney southpaw Vic Patrick who won three out of four from Tod Morgan at the tail end of Morgan’s career. “He had a favorite punch that seemed to hit right on the spot, where the liver is, without being an illegal punch.”

Back in the States, Morgan told an Associated Press reporter that he planned to enlist the aid of other Pacific Northwest fighters from his era in the formation of a non-profit “to take care of indigent and/or punchy fighters who have passed their prime.” He had a name for it: the American Professional Boxing Association.

Morgan would need to find a sugar daddy to pull this off as he had virtually no resources of his own. When he left the Antipodes with his Australian wife, he didn’t have the funds to pay his way home for the both of them and hired on as a messman in the ship’s cafeteria.

How can a boxer with that many fights under his belt, and a former long-reigning world champion to boot, leave the sport with only his scrapbook? Keep in mind that the 130-pound division was new and had very little cachet. Also, the last half of Morgan’s career overlapped with the period when most of the world, and especially the U.S. and Australia, were in the grips of the Great Depression. Purses were miniscule.

During Morgan’s day, to steal a line from the great sportswriter Jimmy Cannon, professional prizefighters in the main were paid with what amounted to moving-around-money. It cost money to go places to ply one’s trade, even if one doesn’t go first-class. The expenses — transportation, lodging, meals, etc. — can eat a hole in one’s pocket in a hurry.

In July of 1951, Morgan suffered a stroke while staying in the home of his mother in Reno. Two months later, on Sept. 22, this disheartening item appeared in the Los Angeles Times: “[Tod Morgan] underwent an unsuccessful brain operation in Reno recently…He’s now in a State hospital in his home state of Washington…and without funds.”

According to BoxRec, Morgan finished 133-42-33 with 29 KOs in a career during which he answered the bell for 1664 rounds. When he fell ill, a reporter made this observation: “Tod never turned down an opponent, no matter how tough or famous, and was fighting long years after everyone thought him washed up.”

He’s been dead more years than he lived, but this week he was resuscitated, in a fashion, with the news that he has been named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. If you happen to visit the Shrine in Canastota, be certain to check his plaque on the wall. It would bring a smile to his face, and he had precious few reasons to smile after he hung up his gloves.

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Arne K. Lang

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

2 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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