Jack Johnson vs Stanley Ketchel 16.10.1909 – World Heavyweight Championship (Highlights)

Jack Johnson’s first proper defense of the World Heavyweight Championship against reigning World Middleweight Champion, the dangerous Stanley Ketchel. More info below…

Stanley Ketchel is one of the greatest middleweights of all time and well deserving of his moniker, “The Michigan Assassin”. He is consider to be arguably the hardest hitting middleweight of all time, an unpolished brawler who was not without skill and was credited with inventing the “triple shift” punch (throwing 2 punches towards the body or head to make an opponent block that area, then switching his lead foot and landing a 3rd punch on the now exposed area). The “triple shift” punch was known to confuse opponents as they were unsure how to defend against it and where the third punch might land. Ketchel was not considered a clever boxer however and his defense was often lacking. Ketchel turned pro in 1903 and although he won his first fight he ended up losing his second fight to Maurice Thompson with newspapers at the time claiming Ketchel “has little or no science. In fact, he fought like a schoolboy… He got a good drubbing, but he was game to the end…”. Ketchel had a rematch with Maurice in 1904 but once again was beaten on points. This would be the last loss Ketchel would suffer for a long time as over the next 4 years he would go undefeated in 41 fights. In 1907 Ketchel laid claim to both the World Welterweight and Middleweight titles and the following year he would face the greatest threat to his claim as World Champion, Billy Papke. Ketchel would face Papke 4 times over 13 months. Ketchel would win the first encounter on points over 10 rounds but he would loss the second fight, along with his World Middleweight title, by TKO in Rd 12. Ketchel would bounce back strong winning the 3rd encounter by KO in Rd 11 (reclaiming the World Middleweight title and becoming the first 2 x Middleweight Champion of the gloved era) and then outpointing Papke over 20 rounds in the 4th fight. Ketchel’s record at the time was 48-3-4 and just 3 months later he would face Jack Johnson…

Jack Johnson had won the World Heavyweight title from Tommy Burns in 1908. Since winning the title Johnson had participated in 3 no decision bouts against aging former World Heavyweight title challenger Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, Italian born journeyman Tony Ross and talented San Francisco based fighter Al Kaufman. Although Johnson’s World Heavyweight title was on the line (against O’Brien and Kaufman at least), a no decision bout means if both boxers are still on their feet at the end of the contest then no decision would be rendered. The only way to win would be by KO… It was common practice at the time as a way for Champions to retain their titles but newspapers would often print who they felt had won the fight. Newspaper decisions however did not count as official outcomes and it was more for the public’s interest as to who had performed better. Johnson was hoping to face James J. Jeffries, the former World Heavyweight Champion who had retired undefeated in 1904. As Jeffries was reluctant to face Johnson for both racial and personal reasons, boxing promotors looked elsewhere for a legitimate challenger. Although there were some talented black heavyweights, Johnson was drawing his own color line and instead opted to face Stanley Ketchel. Johnson’s record at the time was 37-5-7.

Story goes that Ketchel and Johnson both agreed to drag the fight out the full 20 rounds as it would be more financially beneficial when selling footage of the fight if went longer. For almost 11 rounds both men were following the supposed plan, Ketchel had been dropped in rounds 2 and 3 but was far from being knocked out, and Johnson was well ahead on the scorecards. In round 12, with Johnson standing uncharacteristically wide open, Ketchel let loose with an overhand right that dropped Johnson. Johnson looked shocked and was slow to his feet but he was feinting Ketchel in and when fighting resumed he landed a stiff, short right hook that broke Ketchel’s front teeth off at the roots and followed it up with a small flurry to put him down and out…

Ketchel would only have 5 more fights before he was shot dead by a farm hand in Missouri, who was allegedly jealous of his girlfriend’s attraction to Ketchel. His final fight was a KO win against unheralded Jim Smith in 1910, leaving his professional record standing at 51-4-4.