Golden Gate Exposition 1939

These three fascinating photographs show Irish boxing legend Tom Sharkey as a guest of honour at the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939.

The fair was held in San Francisco and celebrated, among other things, the city's two newly-built bridges: the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge which had been dedicated in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge (1937).

The exposition featured months of events - but what was Sharkey’s role?

Anyone know anymore?

WHAT'S THE BEST BOXING MOVIE EVER MADE?

Really enjoyed Danny Leigh's Boxing at the Movies documentary from the BBC.

Danny wisely didn't try to rate the films for the punch they packed - but if we were to try which movie would take the title?

'Top 10' lists are always subjective - for instance, I - gulp - don't really like Rocky that much... (ducks)

For what it's worth, here's my top 3:

1) Raging Bull (predictable, I know)

2) When We Were Kings

3) The Fighter (because Christian Bale is immense)

Agree or disagree? Let me know. I can take it.

* By the way, you can see Danny Leigh's documentary on the BBC i-Player. Follow BOXING AT THE MOVIES.

For Historians of Ireland, New York and Boxing

The new e-book of our award-winning Tom Sharkey biography I FOUGHT THEM ALL does not include an index but we thought it might be helpful for historians of Ireland, New York and Boxing to know what is in it.

INDEX OF PEOPLE AND PLACES

Allen, George 

Armory Hall, Vallejo 

Armstrong, Bob

Asbury Park, New Jersey

Australia

Australia (steam ship)

Baker, Henry “Slaughterhouse”

Baltimore, Maryland  

Bangor           

Barrington, Jim

Beecher, Harry

Belfast

Bellows, George

Braddock, James

Brady, Bill     

Broadway      

Broadway Athletic Club

Brooklyn        

Brooklyn Navy Yard

Brown, Alex (referee)

Brown, Charles “Sailor”        

Burley, Nick   

Burns, Tommy           

Burroughs, Chuck      

Bush Street Theatre, San Francisco   

Cape Horn

Carr, Frank

Carroll, Patrick Joseph (Joseph James Sharkey)

Carson City    

Casey, M        

Cattanach, Jack

Cavanagh, John J       

Chicago          

Childs, Frank “The Crafty Texan”

Choynski, Joe 

Claremont Villa

Clark, John S  

Cleveland, Ohio

Clifton, Lord Talbot  

Cohen’s Hotel

Colorado Athletic Association

Colville, Jimmy

Coney Island

Connolly, Buck

Connolly, Eddie

Conroy, “Stockings”

Considine, George

Corbett, James           

Corneille, Marguerite 

Craig, Joe

Creedon, Dan 

Cripple Creek

Cullen, Frank (referee)

Daniel, Dan    

Davies, Parson           

Delaney, Billy

Dempsey, Jack “Manassa Mauler”

Dempsey, Jack “Nonpareil”

Denver           

Derry  

Detroit

Devery, Chief of Police

Dixon, George                       

Dublin            

Dundalk

Dundalk Museum      

Dunkhorst, Ed           

Dunn, Jim

Earp, Wyatt

Eckhardt, Johnny

Edward VII, King

Everett, “Mexican” Pete

Finnegan, Jack           

Fitzpatrick, Sam

Fitzsimmons, Bob

Fitzsimmons, Rose

Fleischer, Nat

Foley, Ted

Fort Dearborn Athletic Club, Chicago

Fox, Richard K

Gans, Joe

Gardner, Jack

Gibbs, Jim

Goddard, Joe 

Gosling, James

Grand Central Palace, New York

Graney, Ed     

Gray, George 

Greater New York Athletic Club      

Great Northern Railway, Ireland       

Green, George

Greggains, Alec

Groom, Jim

Guilder, Jim   

Gunst, Moses 

Hall, Jem        

Hall, Jim         

Hallen, Fred   

Harrison, Billy

Hartford, Connecticut

Hart, Hugh S

Hart, Marvin  

Harvey, Charley         

Harvey, Jim    

Heenan, John C          

Herford, Al    

Herman, Paul 

Holtman, Jake            

Honolulu        

Horton Law   

Hotel Bartholdi, New York   

Hotel Warwick, Broadway

Ice Palace, Manhattan

Industrial Hall, Philadelphia

Jackson, Peter

James, Tom    

Jeffords, Jim  

Jeffries, Jim    

Jester, Louis   

Jimmy Wakeley’s Saloon, New York            

Johnson, Jack             

Jordan, Billy

Julian, Martin 

Kelly, “Honest” John

Kelly, Margaret (Tom Sharkey’s mother)      

Kelly, “Spider”                      

Kenny, “Yank”                      

Kilrain, Jake   

King, Alva

Knickerbocker Athletic Club, San Francisco 

Langley, Jack 

Lansing, Tom 

Lavigne, George “Kid”

Lazay, Vic      

Lenox Club (Manhattan)       

Lewis, Warren            

Lexington Avenue, Manhattan          

London          

London Prize Rules   

Louis, Joe       

Louisville, Kentucky  

Lowry, Pete   

Lucky Baldwin’s Hotel, San Francisco         

Lynch, Danny

Lynch, Tom    

Mace, Jem “Gypsy”

Madden, Billy

Madison Avenue        

Madison Square Garden

Maher, Peter   

Manhattan      

Manzoni, Florence     

Marciano, Rocky        

Marks, Jack    

Marquis of Queensberry Rules

Martin Hotel, Broadway        

Masterson, Bat

McAuley, Jack                       

McCarty, Dan “White Hat”   

McConnell, Sammy   

McCormick, Frank     

McCormick, Jim                     

McCourt, Pat 

McCoy, “Kid”           

McGovern, Terry       

McGrath, Tim

McIntosh, Katherine  

McKane, John Y        

McKittorick, Tom      

McLaglen, Victor       

McVey, Con

Mechanic’s Pavilion, San Francisco   

Miller, Colonel Harvey L “Heinie”    

Miller, Jerry    

Miller, John “The Terrible Swede”    

Mitchell, Charley       

Monroe, Jack  

Mulverhill, Martin      

Nation, Carrie

National Athletic Club, San Francisco          

National Sporting Club, London       

Nealon, Fred  

Needham, Danny       

Nevada           

New Orleans  

Newry

New York City

O’Brien, Dick

O’Brien, “Philadelphia” Jack 

O’Donnell, Steve

Olympic (ship)           

O’Neill, “Reddy”       

O’Rourke, Tom

Palace Athletic Club, New York

Pardello, Leo  

Pardy, George T

Parks, Tom

Parks, TV       

People’s Palace, San Francisco

Philadelphia

Philadelphia American League Club 

Pickett, J

Poole, Bill

Quinn, “Scaldy” Bill  

Quinn, John    

Raines Hotel Law (New York)

Reich, Barney            

Rocap, Billy (referee) 

Roche, Billy   

Roeber, Ernest                       

Root, Jack      

Ruhlin, Gus    

Russell, Fred

Ryan, Paddy  

Ryan, Tommy

Sagamore Hotel, Coney Island

Salt Lake City

San Francisco 

Scanlon, Jim   

Scully, Pat      

Seaside Sporting Club                       

Sharkey, Elizabeth (Tom’s sister)

Sharkey, James (Tom’s father)           

Sharkey, James (Tom’s brother)

Sharkey, John (Tom’s brother)           

Sharkey, Mary (Tom’s sister)

Sharkey, Owen (Tom’s brother)        

Sharkey, Patrick (Tom’s brother)       

Sharkey, Richard (Tom’s brother)

Sharkey, Rose (Tom’s sister) 

Sharkey’s Bar 

Sheepshead Bay         

Siler, George  

Sing, Sing       

Slavin, Frank  

Smith, “Australian” Billy       

Smith, “Denver” Ed   

St Louis          

Stuart, Dan

Sullivan, Dave            

Sullivan, Jeremiah “Yank”     

Sullivan, John L         

Sullivan, Senator Tim             

Sullivan, William “Spike”      

Sweeney, Eddie         

Tammany Hall            

Tanforan racetrack     

Tate, Bill        

Tattersall’s, Chicago  

Tenderloin      

Thompson, “Rough”  

Thorne, Jeff    

Tuttle, Fred    

Tuttle, Jennie  

Tyson, Mike   

US Navy

USS Drum     

USS Independence

USS Philadelphia

USS Saginaw

Vallejo            

Van Buren’s Hotel     

Van Court, DeWitt    

Vanderbilt Hotel        

Vaughn, Punch          

Vermont (ship)           

Walcott, Joe   

Walsh, Jack    

Warrenpoint   

Washington, George (boxer)  

West Baden Springs  

Westchester    

West Point     

White, Charley           

White, Johnny (referee)         

White, Tommy           

Whitman, Police Captain Charles W 

Willard, Jess   

Williams, Jim (Salt Lake City)           

Woodward’s Pavilion, San Francisco

Yosemite Athletic Club, San Francisco

The Story of "Real McCoy"

Writing Tom Sharkey's biography meant we got to "meet" many of the great characters of old-time boxing.

Sharkey wasn't the only wild character among them.

One of our favourites was "Kid" McCoy – real name Norman Selby - who faced Sharkey in January 1899 as a boyish-looking 26-year-old who had fast become one of the most notorious figures ever to step in the ring; a talented fighter, yes, but a trickster too. 

According to Patrick Myler: “The numerous stories told about his trickery, mostly apocryphal, are a treasured part of boxing folklore.” 

He was said to have once filled his mouth with loose teeth and spat them out during a bout, horrifying his opponent and delivering a knockout punch on his unguarded chin. 

He also scattered thumb-tacks on the canvas when he took on a fighter who fought in bare feet. 

One particularly dirty trick involved Peter Maher. McCoy sent him a fake telegram, shortly before they were due to fight, saying there been a sudden death in the Irishman’s family. 

As another writer, Graeme Kent, has noted: “McCoy was a brilliant boxer and an extremely shrewd operator who had sailed close to the wind on a number of occasions.”

His name lives on with us to today as a way of describing the genuine article. Myler reckons this relates to confusion with a lesser-known fighter named Peter McCoy, who was also known as “Kid”. He says a newspaper once ran the headline, ‘Choynski is Beaten by the Real McCoy’ and the phrase stuck. Kent prefers a story more in keeping with ‘Kid’ McCoy’s trickster image. He says that McCoy, trading on the drawing power of his name, sometimes booked himself to appear in different places at the same time and sent along ringers. 

“Promoters had grown wise to this ploy and had insisted on the Kid being less generous with his doppelgangers,” notes Kent. “To reinforce this point they had taken to billing the boxer as ‘the real McCoy’, a phrase which later entered the lexicon.”

"A Great Contribution to Ring History"

We've collected some of the reviews for the hardback version of 'I Fought Them All'.

"Hugely entertaining and exquisitely researched... It's a great contribution to ring history." --Pete Ehrmann, boxing writer, contributor to The Ring

"I Fought Them All is an excellent read. It's well-researched and is good news for boxing fans everywhere." --Tracy Callis, International Boxing Research Organisation

"It emits quality from the first opening crack of the hard cover until its final satisfying closing." --Marty Mulcahey, Max Boxing

"Gun-slingers, shipwrecks, tragic love stories, gambling, acts of heroism and, of course, gruelling fights. I thoroughly recommend this book."
--Glenn Wilson, Cyber Boxing Zone

E-book now available here.

EARLY FIGHTS IN THE US NAVY

I Fought Them All – authors' extras #1

A series of articles accompanying the e-version of the biography of Tom Sharkey

Our award-winning biography of Tom Sharkey, entitled ‘I Fought Them All: The Life and Ring Battle of a Prize-fighting Legend’, is sold out.

However, it is now available as an e-book.

These short articles are based on some of the extensive additional notes published in the hardback version only and are printed here for the benefit of those interested in the e-book.

EARLY FIGHTS IN THE US NAVY

Tom Sharkey enlisted in the United States Navy on November 28, 1892, and it was there he would hone the skills which would see him later challenge the best fighters of the day.

“I boxed more than ever,” Sharkey said later. “I put on the gloves every chance I had – tackled five or six men one after another.”

In fact, in that first year in the navy, Sharkey knocked out fellows named Jack Gardner (in four rounds on March 17, 1893), J Pickett (in two on April 7), Jack Langley (four on May 3), Jim Harvey (also two on May 27) and Jack Walsh (August 21) and J Barrington (September 10), both in the first.

There would, of course, never be any records of these first fights on board ship or in the dockyards.

It is generally claimed that Tom was undefeated or at least had by far the better of these fights. His subsequent record in the professional game would obviously support that.

However, an obituary for 53-year-old Father William Henry Ironsides Reany, ‘The fighting chaplain of the US Navy’, which was published in the New York Times on November 19, 1915, claimed: “He was said to be the father of boxing in the Navy and also introduced other athletics among the sailors. Fr Reany was always ready to put on the gloves with the sailors and was a very proficient boxer. It is related of him that he was the only man in the navy who ever defeated Tom Sharkey.

“The story is that Sharkey was obstreperous and interrupted divine services and the priest ‘called him down’. As soon as the services were over he reproached Sharkey for his disturbance and the upshot of the matter was that they put on the gloves.

“Fr Reany with his clean hitting and scientific knowledge of the sport, soon placed the pugilist hors de combat and from that time on never had any further trouble with Sharkey.”

The obituary provoked a strong response from a Helen Manzone, of Brooklyn, who was angry not at the claim that Tom might have been beaten but had been rude.

She wrote to the newspaper’s editor: “I have read your tribute to Fr Reany. I take pleasure in attempting to correct that statement relative to Tom Sharkey. You have put it before the public that Fr Reany had to upbraid Tom Sharkey for being turbulent. That is false. Such thing is against Tom Sharkey’s principle.”

Buy 'I Fought Them All' on Kindle

Award-winning boxing biog now available as e-book

We can't believe the crazy prices now being asked for the few remaining hardback copies of our Tom Sharkey biography I Fought Them All.

Take a look at Amazon.

It's enough to floor Sharkey and Jeffries with a single punch.

Anyway we promised an e-book so here it is.

Come 'n' get it!

I Fought Them All: The Life and Ring Battles of Prizefighting Legend Tom Sharkey

At last available for your KINDLE

$12.87 in the US; £8.04 in the UK; and available for your Kindle wherever you are.

New cover especially designed for the Kindle version: