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She’s the Princess Of the Ring

Come on Katie Do your thing

Watch her Jab and hook and swing

Come on Katie Taylor

Corrigan Brothers the Irish band who have enjoyed over seven million you tube hits with their international hit “There’s no one as Irish as Barack Obama” and  have charted all over the world are back with a song in support of Irish World Champion Boxer Katie Taylor as she bids for Olympic Gold. The brothers who have made the US top 40 world music chart , had one of their songs recently feature in the hit American Comedy “30 Rock” and  have just completed the soundtrack for the Olympia Films production of “George Clooney’s Irish Roots as well as having a  TV hit video in the USA IN April for their song celebrating Rory McIlroy’s elevation to the number one golfer in the world. Lead singer Ger Corrigan said, “ We are delighted that Katie will be carrying the Irish Flag andwe think Katie Taylor has the potential to be a world superstar, she has a sparkling personality and is an extremely talented boxer and the Olympic stage is a great opportunity for her to shine, we hope to perform the song personally for her when she returns with Gold from London.

Come On Katie Taylor –  words and Music Corrigan Brothers- 2012

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Home of “Irish” Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund – for the first time in seven years, on Wednesday night, May 9 at Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Local fan favorites “Irish” Joe McCreedy and Sean Eklund, whose uncles are Micky and Dicky, will fight in front of their hometown fans for the first time as pros on the “Homecoming” card, and former world champion “Vicious” Vivian Harris will be making his Bay State debut.

“Homecoming” is presented by Chicago Fight Clubs Promotion (“CFC Promotion”). “We signed Joey and Sean and they both fought on our last show in Burbank, Illinois (Oct. 7),” CFC Promotion president Cynthia Tolaymat explained why a Chicago promoter is doing a show in Massachusetts. “The two fighters and Dicky Eklund spoke to me and my husband, Wasfi Tolaymat, who now manages Joey and Sean, about the possibility of doing a show in Lowell. We liked the idea of Joey and Sean featured on a show in their hometown. I have faith in them and their legendary trainers, Micky and Dicky. Lowell may be a small city but it has so many GOOD boxing fans. We have been welcomed with open arms in Lowell. We’re looking forward to the May 9th show and it being the first of many there for CFC Promotion. ”

The popular McCreedy (13-5-2, 6 KOs) takes on Benjamin “El Trapicha” Diaz (11-6-2, 8 KOs) in the 10-round main event for the vacant United States Boxing Organization (“USBO”) super middleweight title. McCreedy is trained by Dicky Eklund at Micky Ward’s gym in nearby Chelmsford. Eklund (10-4, 2 KOs), trained by Ward, faces light welterweight James Ventry in an eight-round bout.

Harris (29-7-2, 19 KOs), a Guyana native fighting out of Brooklyn, squares-off against Jermaine “Too Sweet” White (17-4, 9 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature for the vacant USBO welterweight title. In 2002, Harris captured the World Boxing Association (“WBA) light welterweight championship, stopping Diosbelys Hurtado the second round. Vivian successfully defended his WBA crown three times against Soulemane M’baye and Oktay Urkal twice.

Also fighting on the card is hot Chicago light welterweight prospect Antonio “Aztec God of War” Canas (6-0, 3 KOs), who faces the stiffest test of his young career in a six-round match versus Tyrone Chatman (9-1-1, 6 KOs). Also on the undercard in a pair of four-round bouts is pro-debuting welterweight Jimmy Smith, of Portland (ME), vs. Rafael Vasinmo, of Lawrence (MA); pro-debuting middleweight Bernie Ongewe, of Dracut (MA) vs. Anthony Jones (0-0-1). Smith is a former New England Golden Gloves Tournament winner who served two tours in Iraq as a U.S. Marine. All fights and fighters are subject to change.

Harris and Canas are handled by CFC Promotion, which also promotes IBF International light welterweight champion Albert “Tornado” Mensah, who successfully defended his title against Michael Katsidis, as well as world middleweight title challenger Osumanu Adama.

Tickets, reasonably priced at $25.00, $40.00 and $75.00, may be purchased by calling 978.761.8374 or at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium box office. Doors open at 6 PM/ET, first both scheduled for 7:00 PM/ET. Go to www.cfcpromotion.com or www.irishjoemccreedy.com for additional information.

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To any follower of boxing’s history the name of Tommy Gibbons will eventually come up, usually regarding his heavyweight championship fight with Jack Dempsey. However, there is much more to story of Tommy Gibbons. In viewing films of some of his fights, especially in slow motion, you will find for a heavyweight he was an excellent defensive boxer. In my youth I heard much from my father who did some boxing in the same era, about the famous Gibbons Brothers, Tommy and Mike. I find as I research them that he was right about their greatness.

George D. Blair

Thomas J. Gibbons was born on March 22, 1891 in Saint Paul, Minnesota – Died November 19, 1960. Tommy as he was to be known was the brother of future world boxing champion Mike Gibbons. Tommy started boxing professionally in 1911 as a middleweight. Like his brother he was a master scientific boxer who chose to outbox his opponents. In time, he advanced to the Heavyweight class and developed a respectable punch.

In his youth he began work at the Great Northern Railway rail yard for $1.10 a day, of which he was allowed to keep 10 cents. He gave the rest of the money to help his mother and father support the family. He accompanied his brother, Mike to some of his boxing matches. When their father saw that they could earn much more money boxing, than they could ever earn at the rail yard, he allowed them to go into boxing full time.

Gibbons got his start in boxing as a young man in St. Paul at the local YMCA. He turned professional in 1911 as a welterweight at the age of twenty, knocking out one Oscar Kelly in Minneapolis. He relocated to New York before his third bout and went undefeated in first twelve outings to secure a match with fellow up-and-comer Billy Miske in 1914. The fight, held in Hudson, Wisconsin, lasted a full ten rounds, but as state law forbade official decisions at the time, the bout was declared a no-decision. Still, more reporters at ringside felt that Gibbons had the better of the action. In 1915 the pair fought a rematch, to another no-decision which again was felt to be Gibbons?s fight. Almost immediately following this, Gibbons leapt into a match with Pittsburgh’s Harry Greb, a wild-swinging middleweight brawler who would later be recognized by The Ring magazine as the single greatest middleweight in history. According to reporters, only Greb’s fabled toughness saved him from a knockout. The fight went the distance and was officially a no-decision, but no one doubted who the winner was. Gibbons spent the next several months travelling and fighting less than stellar opponents in Canada, Missouri, Milwaukee, New York, and Scranton before taking on Battling Levinsky, who was the reigning light heavyweight champion of the world at the time, though, because Gibbons was only a middleweight, the title would not be on the line. Though Gibbons was by now undefeated in twenty-four pro fights, Levinsky was a veteran of an amazing 181 fights. Again the fight ended in a no-decision, but reporters gave their verdict to Gibbons.

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Gibbons continued his undefeated streak for the next three years–fighting a variety of competition and fighting in places such as Dayton, Pittsburgh, Scranton, Baltimore, Akron, Terre Haute, Des Moines, Buffalo, Denver, Minneapolis, Calgary, Seattle, Peoria, and Edmonton. On May 15, 1920 he fought a second no-decision against Greb. In a rematch two months later, which took place in a thunderstorm at the open air Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, the fight was closely contested in the early goings but Greb’s aggressive style made all the difference in the final third of the bout. The newspapers gave their verdict to Greb. Technically, though, Gibbons was still undefeated and he continued to be so through his bouts with moderate level fighters like Chuck Wiggins and Dan (Porky) Flynn in the next few months. On June 22, 1921 he knocked out Willie Meehan, the “San Francisco Fat Boy”, who had twice beaten the great Jack Dempsey earlier in his career. Against Gibbons, Meehan lasted less than a round. In fact, for all of 1921, Gibbons scored twenty-one knockouts, ten in the first round. On March 13, 1922, Gibbons was back in the ring with his old nemesis, Harry Greb. This time Greb was the more active fighter and walked away with a fifteen round decision, handing Gibbons his very first professional defeat. A few months later a disqualification against Billy Miske became a second defeat. Gibbons did go undefeated in his next six fights however.

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His biggest fight came near the end of his career when he met heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey on July 4, 1923 in Shelby, Montana.

When Jack Dempsey’s handlers were looking for his first title challenger in two years, they picked Gibbons as a credible contender who would still be an easy mark.

The town of Shelby had dreams of prosperity and a touristic boom, riding on the back of the discovery of oil in the area in 1922. The local backers and the town of Shelby went for broke putting on the fight. A large arena with 40,208-seating had been built for this fight.

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Dempsey’s manager, Jim Kearns asked Shelby officials to guarantee him and the champion an advance for their travelling costs. He also asked for the champion to have a guaranteed purse. So Kearns convinced Shelby to commit money or lose the fight to somewhere else.

Kearns eventually got a contract of three hundred thousand for his boxer – a $100,000 deposit was made, followed by a second payment and finally it was agreed that the rest of the purse was to be collected from the gate revenue. The whole idea was doomed to failure, bad planning and the bad publicity resulting from Kearns threats to cancel the show, resulted in the train company cancelling their extra schedule trips to Shelby, pre-fight ticket sales was badly organised.

The great Dempsey had to battle through the full fifteen rounds before winning by decision.

The fight was scheduled for the then almost regular distance of 15 rounds. Dempsey was considered an aggressor: He had dropped Jess Willard seven times in the first round before winning the title from Willard by stopping him in round three, retaining the title with knockouts over Bill Brennan and Georges Carpentier, among others. Because of this, the fight was thought to be a possible action bout, but instead it was quite strategic. Dempsey constantly threw punches to Gibbons’ head, with Gibbons trying to attack Dempsey’s body. As a consequence, Gibbons was able to duck many of Dempsey’s shots. Dempsey’s mobility, however, made it hard for Gibbons to punch Dempsey’s stomach and ribs.

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In the end, Dempsey retained the title with a 15-round unanimous decision.Only 7,702 paying fans showed up, making the fight one of the biggest economical disasters in boxing history.

An estimated 13,000 people got to see the fight free. Four banks in Shelby went bankrupt in the months following the fight.

Tommy Gibbons record was 56-4-1 with 44 no decisions, and 1 no contest. He scored 48 knockouts, and was stopped only once by Gene Tunney on June 5, 1925. The names dotting his record read like boxing’s hall of fame. Tommy recorded wins over George Chip, Willie Meehan, Billy Miske, Chuck Wiggins, Jack Bloomfield, and Kid Norfolk. Tommy had no decision matches with George “K.O.” Brown, Billy Miske, Harry Greb, Battling Levinsky, Bob Roper, Chuck Wiggins, Georges Carpentier, and others. Only Harry Greb, Billy Miske, Jack Dempsey, and Gene Tunney were able to score wins over Tommy Gibbons.

After retiring from boxing at age 34, he sold insurance very successfully and was a member of the $100,000 Club in the 1920*s. His friends convinced him to run for Sheriff of Ramsey County in Minnesota, which included the capital city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. He won for six consecutive four year terms before retiring at the age of 68.

He died on November 19, 1960 at the age of 69.

Charley Rose ranked Gibbons as the #5 All-Time Light Heavyweight; Nat Fleischer ranked him as the #8 All-Time Light Heavyweight; Gibbons was elected to the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1963 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993

Information Source:

Tom & Mike Gibbons Preservation Society

Wikipedia, Boxrec, George D. Blair, Cyber Boxing Zone

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Katie Taylor today joins the Irish training camp in Ukraine, part of her preparation for the 2012 World Championships in China next month but before leaving added two more comprehensive wins to her record, now standing at 124 wins from 131 contests. Here we take a look at this weekends bouts in Cork and Dungarvan.

By Michael O’Neill, 3 April 2012

Cork City Friday 20th March:

A third win in eight days for Katie as the the World number one comprehensively outpointed Breaux Bridge,Louisiana born Liz Leddy before a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable 500+ crowd at the Silver Springs Hotel in Cork City. Liz Leddy, whose brave fight against depression we reported here last week, was just as brave in the ring as she was when she successfully fought her greatest fight – that against alcohol abuse and drugs, in recent years.

The Cork tournament was organised by the St John’s B.C in Fermoy and once again praise to Patrick Flynn, Seamus Coleman and the rest of the committee for having put together a top class bill, and having to cope with so many changes of opponent for Taylor as other top U.S stars such as Cashmere Jackson , N’yeetah Sherman and Bertha Aracil were forced to withdraw due to injury or visa difficulties.

Taylor is no stranger to Cork as in recent years she has fought in Fermoy, Ballyhooley,Youghal and at the Rochestown Park Hotel so no great surprise that Cork fans have ‘adopted’ Taylor as if she was one of their own.
Full marks though to Liz Leddy, the 30 years old U.S star ,now based in Portland, Maine. She came out aggressively from the first bell and attempted to take the fight to Taylor. No way was she prepared to allow Taylor to take the initiative from the off. Taylor’s response was fast and furious – three of her trademark left hooks in the opening phase. More of the same in round two though at a slightly less frenetic pace.

Another good round from the American in round three, though visibly tiring but by then Taylor was well in command.
Hardly surprisingly round four was one where both boxers were tiring though Taylor did add a punishing right hander which resulted in a standing count of eight for the gallant American.

Later the Bray woman after paid fulsome praise to Leddy went on : “I’m very happy with that performance. Liz Leddy was great. It’s very useful to box against the different styles. We knew what to expect when fighting her – it was non-stop attack for four rounds. But we did well – our tactics were perfect”.

She told BreakingNews.ie : “”The crowd were unbelievable,” adding that “They always get behind you so much in these kind of nights. It was an amazing atmosphere to fight in, which helped make the night so enjoyable. I think I’ve fought in Cork four or five times now and each time it is fantastic”

Of her hopes for qualification for the Olympic she again warned reporters of the need to avoid being over confident: “I just take each day as it comes. I keep getting congratulations for qualifying for the Olympics – I think I’ve been getting them for about a year now but I’m far from qualified! All I can do is go to China in the best condition I can be in, and perform to the best of my ability”.

And her hopes for the months ahead: “I’m getting stronger and fitter. I’ve lots of work to do and a bit of fine tuning to my condition. By the time China comes around, I should be absolutely spot on.”
“It’s a big year with the Euros and the world champs and then hopefully the Olympics. First things first though, I want to retain my world championship and come home with my fourth world title.”

” Dungarvan 31st March:

For Taylor and Leddy and their coaches it was on to Dungarvan on Saturday and the Crotty Memorial Tournament in honour of that late great Dungarvan boxer Peter Crotty . Another “full house” and another night greatly appreciated by followers of the ‘noble art’ in Waterford and surrounding counties.

This was a superbly organised tournament, as has been the case for some years now. Top marks to Gerry O’Mahoney and his team. As with Cork, Taylor is well respected in Dungarvan having boxed here on previous occasions including a memorable win over GB Boxing Olympic hopeful, Amanda Coulson.

Leddy replaced another American N’yeetah Sherman who suffered a facial injury in training earlier in the week. The young 19 years old Sherman, from Ohio, had reportedly put a Professional debut on a Miguel Cotto v Floyd Mayweather world title bill, ‘on hold’ to have a crack at Taylor – alas that was not to be but the Dungarvan crowd found in Leddy (who has Clare and Cavan ancestors) an opponent who again went out – and gave it her all – to upset the odds and reverse the previous evening’s result.

For Taylor though Saturday night was her 125th win from 132 bouts – a remarkable record especially when one considers that the defeats include some debatable decisions against such as Gulsum Tatar, Sofia Ochigava and Denitza Eliseeva earlier in her career.

Taylor again proved too strong for the Portland BC fighter who took two standing counts in the third and another in the fourth and final round of Saturday’s clash.

Abbeyside’s Gerry O’Mahoney, Secretary of the local club and one of the founders of the Dungarvan BC in 1988, now President of the IABA’s Munster Council ,paid tribute to Taylor and to Leddy as well as other boxers on the night’s show , adding:

“It was a fantastic performance from Katie.She was on top all the way through against a tough opponent”.
“We’re delighted with the turn out for the show and the quality of boxing and it was a great night all round.”

And so, Taylor has won her final four bouts on Irish soil before the World’s in China, which also acts as the only women’s Olympic qualifier.
The fact that Tyrone McCullagh and Chris Phelan have been added to the boxing squad now in the training camp will ensure that she has some good sparring partners in Ukraine.

But as she has warned so often, the toughest bouts are those ahead in China. No one though could be better prepared for the battles ahead !

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