By S.R. Nicolaisen
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1. Stanley Ketchel KO32 Joe Thomas September 2, 1907, Colma 2. Ad Wolgast KO40 Battling Nelson February 22, 1910, Point Richmond 3. Bobby Cachon W15 Bazooka Limon December 11, 1982, Sacramento 4. James J. Corbett KO27 Joe Choynski June 5, 1889, Benicia 5. Sam Langford KO14 Harry Wills November 26, 1914, Vernon 6. Yaqui Lopez W15 Jesse Burnett July 2, 1978, Stockton 7. Stanley Ketchel KO11 Billy Papke November 26, 1908, Colma 8. Harlem Tommy Murphy W20 Abe Attell March 9, 1912, Daly City 9. Carlos Palomino KO15 Armando Muniz January 22, 1977, Los Angeles 10. Ken Norton W12 Muhammad Ali March 31, 1973, San Diego 11. Jim Corbett NC61 Peter Jackson May 21, 1891, San Francisco 12. Bobby Cachon KO9 Danny Lopez May 24, 1974, Los Angeles 13. Ruben Olivarez KO5 Lionel Rose August 22, 1969, Inglewood 14. Battling Nelson KO17 Joe Gans July 4, 1908, Colma 15. Ad Wolgast KO13 Joe Rivers July 4, 1912, Vernon 16. Tony Lopez W12 Rocky Lockridge July 23, 1988, Sacramento 17. Mickey Walker W10 Ace Hudkins October 29, 1929, Los Angeles 18. Stanley Ketchel D20 Joe Thomas July 4, 1907, Marysville 19. Pete Ranzany W10 Adolpho Viruet February 24, 1976, Sacramento 20. Mys. Billy Smith KO14 George Lavigne March 14, 1899, San Francisco 21. Dick Hyland KO41 Leach Cross June 26, 1909, Colma 22. Tony Lopez D12 Brian Mitchell March 15, 1991, Sacramento 23. Curtis Cokes KO8 Charlie Shipes October 2, 1967, Oakland 24. Julio C. Chavez KO8 Mario Martinez September 13, 1984, Los Angeles 25. Battling Nelson KO18 Jimmy Britt September 9, 1905, Colma |
2. Ad Wolgast KO40 Battling Nelson, February 22, 1910, Point Richmond At Ringside: Harry B. Smith San Francisco Chronicle  "Courageous to the core, as Nelson proved himself, it would have been nothing more than brutality for the fight to have continued longer. Weak and trembling on legs that had long since refused to support him firmly, with his left eye tightly closed, his left cheek badly swollen, his other eye almost useless, and blood streaming from his mouth and both ears, the Durable Dane was a sorry spectacle..." Since arriving in California from Chicago by way of Montana in 1904 Battling Nelson, rough, tough, virtually impervious to punishment, had terrorized the lightweight division. In September 1905, Nelson, absorbing a beating in the early rounds, came on to knock out Jimmy Britt in 18 rounds to win the world light-weight title. After losing the title to Joe Gans on a foul in 42 rounds in Goldfield, Nevada in September, 1906, Nelson had regained the title by knocking Gans out in 17 rounds in July, 1908, and had defended by knocking out Gans in 21, Fighting Dick Hyland in 23, and Jack Clifford in five.He'd suffered just one setback during his reign, one that Nelson considered minor: in July, 1909 in Los Angeles, twen-ty-one-year-old newcomer from Cadillac, Michigan named Ad Wolgast had unofficially bested Nelson in a ten-round, no-decision bout. Nelson considered this little more than an exhibition, and refused to seriously consider Wolgast's challenge for a title fight. |
When Nelson did answer Wolgast's challenge, he came up with some of his own...that the bout be forty-five rounds, with Ed Smith, then sports editor of the Oakland Tribune, as Nelson's hand-picked referee. In addition, due to each fighter's rabid dislike of the other, a "no-foul" clause was written into the fight contract.The early rounds of what boxing publicist and promoter Billy McCarney would later call "Positively the dirtiest title fight I ever saw," saw Nelson, usually a slow starter, score repeatedly with rights to Wolgast's face as Wolgast, backing off much of the time from Nelson's attack, countered to Nelson's face and pounded his body in close. Throughout the first twenty-five rounds Nelson did his best to destroy Wolgast as the Michigan Wildcat answered in kind, with both butting heads repeatedly. Nelson hit Wolgast with an open glove, dug his famed "half-scissors" left hook-delivered with thumb and index finger extended-into the challenger's ribcage and even headlocked Wolgast with his left arm in the sixteenth while pounding his kidneys with hand rights.In the twenty-seventh, Wolgast, sensing that Nelson was tiring, took the offensive. Fighting out of a crouch, Wolgast pounded Nelson at close range with both hands, scoring with jabs and right hands to the champion's battered face from the outside. By the thirty-fifth Nelson, his face a swollen, bloody mess, looked more like a mugging victim than lightweight champion. After taking a beating in the thirty-seventh, referee Smith assisted Nelson to his corner and tried to talk him into quitting but nelson shook a gloved fist at Smith and growled "No! Never! Never!"The once-Durable Dane managed to stagger out for the fortieth. Wolgast set himself, and as Nelson came forward Wolgast caught him flush with a right to the chin. Nelson, careening across the ring and off the ropes, somehow refused to fall but referee Smith had seen enough. He stepped between the fighters and, despite Nelson's protests of "No, no, Eddie" raised Wolgast's arm as the winner and new champion. Thus ended, after two hours and thirty-seven minutes, what W. O. McGeehan, covering the bout from ringside for the New York Herald Tribune, would later call "for concentrated viciousness... the most savage bout I have ever seen." |
From: Boxing Illustrated, Feb. 1995
