Colour Line Greats - Panama Joe Gans

As he has had a few mentions over the last couple of days thought I would strike while the iron was hot and give Panama Joe Gans his rightful place in the colour line greats series. Growing up aroundthe camps constructing the Panama Canal Joe had the misfortune to lose his father at the age of ten. With little income Panama Joe did what he could to survive which unfortunately often involved crime, after being caught stealing fish Joe was sent to a detention centre, whilst in there Joe received a little basic scholloing but also a chance to competitive sports and his first taste of boxing.

Upon his release from the centre Joe returned to the camp he had last seen his family but could not locate them and returned to his hard scramble existence hustling however he could to earn a living. Whilst leading this tough existence Joe saw a sign in a saloon window saying "wanted - boxers" Within three hours Joe was in a makshift ring against a guy outweighing him by 30 pounds, despite this disadvantage and no real experience Joe did enough to earn five dollars and an invite to return, which he did for the next nine months.

His form in these smokers saw him taken on by prominent local business man HR Cambridge and over the next two and half years Joe continued to hone his skills and win more than he lost until he was considered good enough to be matched with local fight legend Isthmus: Abe the newsboy Holandersky who was seen a nigh unbeatable in local parts. When the two finally met the first six rounds certainly seemed to suggest Abe was unbeatable, Gans barely landing a shot, perhaps overawed by the occasion, however from the seventh on Gans came to life taking a severe beating for the full 25 rounds but with both men knowing at the end that Gans had triumphed in his biggest test to date.

This win bought him to the attention of infamous promoter Leo P Flynn who bought out his contract and shipped Joe to New York. However fro whatever reason Joe struggled to adjust the life in the states immediately and his form was patchy to say the least. It was at this point though that lady luck and the US Army helped a hand. As the first world war was waging Joe was drafted to Camp Upton to do his bit and once his talent was discovered he was seconded to the PE unit to teach recruits boxing. Fortunately for Joe the main boxing instructor at the camp was none other than the Ghetto Wizard Benny Leonard, if Joe had entered the camp a good fighter six month of training with the peerless lightweight turned him into a great one and his form soon began to reflect this improvement.

On his return from the army Joe was to go on something of a streak beating all and sundry, however perhaps his finest fight during this period was with one time middleweight title claimant Jeff Smith, although officially a no decision eight rounder pretty much every report said Gans had handled the excellent Smith with ease, however rather than opening doors for Gans this performances only served to spook the other prominent middles and Joe was forced to scratch out a living beating second tier fighters.

Perhaps frustrated by his inability to land big fights Joe agreed to join the camp of heavyweight king Jack Dempsey as he prepared for his title fight with Billy Miske, despite being outweighed by 40 pounds and being unable to hurt Dempsey, Joe aquitted himself well and regularly gave the near prime Dempsey some of his finest workouts. As an interesting aside many may be familiar with the story of when Harry Greb turned up to work with Dempsey with the Pittsburgh Windmill frustrating the hell out of Demspey for three rounds. As Dempsey and Greb ended their sesssion Jack apparently asked Gans if he wanted to go a few rounds with the legendary Greb an offer Joe was only too happy to take and all the reports suggest the session was something to behold with Joe giving Harry all he could handle and vice versa, although this was as close as Joe was ever going to get to facing Greb it does give some indication of his ability that he could match up so well with the middleweight great.

With the press reporting well on Gans' sparring exploits Flynn was able to match Gans with coloured middleweight champion George Robinson in what was the first fight ever between two black fighters at Madison Square Garden. Robinson held a win over Gans when Gans first arrived in the states but was in no danger of repeating the trick on the much improved Gans losing a clear twelve round decision. Despite feelers being sent out to both welterweight champion Jack Britton and middleweight king Mike O'Dowd the title shot would not come. After s hort break through contracting pneumonia Joe was back to winning ways including a win over future middleweight champion Tiger Flowers and having much the better of a no decision affair with Mike Mctigue, in fact his only loss during this period was to Jack Malone in a fight it looks likely Gans threw., but was able to avenge in some style a couple of years down the line.

After maintaining his form Joe was to encounter one opponent who very much got the better of him when his pneumonia and he was hospitalised and nearly killed by the disease, despite returning to the ring the disease had took its toll and Gans was a shadow of the fighter he had once been and his form reflected that fact and despite carrying on for another four years his days as a contender were gone. However this should never detract from how great a fighter Gans was at his best, on his release from the army Joe went nearly four years unbeaten with his only loss being the probablty thrown fight to Malone and his win column during that period containing such names as Jeff Smith, Tiger Flowers, Mike McTigue and George Robinson, all great fighters in their own right and all the more impressive when one considers Joe rarely weighed above 145lbs. He may not be as great as the old master but he certainly deserves to bear the Joe Gans name.

Brilliant stuff, Jeff. Interesting story and cracking fighter. One of the Gans I have heard of as well.

Not very sporting of you to release this now in a clear attempt to derail my Jack Doyle thread.

Not intentional Tina, am off work today and writing this whilst at work and with a book the size of the sundowners on my desk is not particularly practical.

rowley wrote:Not intentional Tina, am off work today and writing this whilst at work and with a book the size of the sundowners on my desk is not particularly practical.

Who is going to stop all the immigrants coming in today?

No offense taken though, buddy. It was a great read and if it keeps Khan/Peterson/Bradley/Pacquiao of the top for a few minutes then your hard work is not wasted.

Scholloing?

Another excellent article Jeff, I see that he also went under the name of Cyril Quinton Jr, do you know when he 'became' Joe Gans, and whether it was due to a particular resemblence or similar fighting style?

'Panama' Cyril Quinton Jr doesn't really have the same gravitas.

The Panama tag is fairly self expanatory but the Joe Gans tag is never really explained, probably nothing more than as Tina has alluded to it sounding better than Cyril Quinton