As anyone who has contemplated the history of boxing knows, no sport offers more when it comes to heartbreak and tragedy. Of the confident and dedicated warrior who was swindled out of his money; to the old man and once great fighter who endures too much; For the can’t-miss young talent who suffers an unexpected knockout and is never the same again: sad stories abound in the fight game. That’s why it’s important to remember from time to time the more uplifting side of the pain business, the good news about those on whom the boxing gods have smiled. And there can be no doubt that one member of that select and fortunate group was Jimmy McLarnin, one of the greatest boxers who ever lived.
Born in Hillsborough, Ireland, Jimmy and his family immigrated to Canada when he was a child and settled in Vancouver, where he was discovered by a sharp-eyed boxer, Charles “Pop” Foster. Foster, a friend of Jimmy’s father, saw a natural talent in the young man and soon built himself a makeshift boxing gym in the backyard. With McLarnin Senior’s blessing, Foster set about teaching young men the finer points of the trade and before Jimmy turned 16, he held the British Columbia amateur flyweight title. Shortly after, he won his first professional fight in Vancouver.
In 1924, Foster and McLarnin left for California, where much money could be made. Jimmy was only sixteen years old, but he lied about his age (hence his other famous nickname, “Babyface”) and soon found himself competing up to once a week in Oakland and Los Angeles. A dynamic performer with fearsome power, McLarnin racked up nineteen victories in just over a year before suffering his first loss to future bantamweight champion Bud Taylor. Despite the loss, McLarnin got the big opportunity of a non-title fight with current world flyweight champion Pancho Villa. Jimmy scored an unexpected decision over the great Villa (who was suffering from a major dental infection that took his life just days after the fight) and suddenly everyone was talking about this exciting young Irishman with a right hand like a sledgehammer.
By 1928, McLarnin was a seasoned professional with a solid reputation, and his debut at New York’s Madison Square Garden attracted a large crowd. After knocking out ring magician Sid Terris in the first round, McLarnin was carried aloft by the joyous Irish-American fans who adopted him as their own. From that night on, McLarnin was nothing short of a major attraction. He still had to win a world title, but it didn’t matter. When Jimmy McLarnin fought, the crowd came.
Brittle hands became a factor in Jimmy’s career soon after. He broke his right fist twice in 1930, one of those occasions being a loss to “The Fargo Express”, Billy Petrolle. But after a long layoff, McLarnin came back stronger than ever, beating Petrolle twice before embarking on a tough road to a world title shot. A high-profile victory over an aging Benny Leonard in 1932 (which sent “The Ghetto Wizard” into retirement) only added to McLarnin’s status, and the following year he stopped big southpaw Young Corbett III in the first round to claim the crown. undisputed welterweight. . It had taken almost a decade, but McLarnin was finally world champion. Jimmy enjoyed a well-deserved hiatus, waiting almost a full year before defending his title in the first of three highly competitive matchups with the great Barney Ross.
For the sake of historical accuracy, it should be noted that McLarnin, whose other nicknames included “The Jew Beater” and “The Hebrew Scourge” (as well as “The Killer Mick” and “The Belfast Spider”), had his biggest fights most rich women against Jewish boxers. Italians, Irish, Jews, Latinos, Poles – ethnic combat was guaranteed to be profitable at the time, as each fighter’s respective contingents flocked to cheer on their hero. After Benny Leonard, the most beloved Jewish boxer was the extremely tough and cautious Ross, and in the midst of the Great Depression a mob of sixty thousand people flooded the stands of the Madison Square Garden Bowl to watch the first of three close championship battles between McLarnin and Ross, one of the great trilogies of all time. All three fights went the distance and two of the three were split decisions. Ross took the first before McLarnin returned to regain the title from him four months later. A third duel, also very close, followed Ross’s path.
By then, McLarnin and Foster had achieved all of their goals. Jimmy had won world titles and a huge amount of cash which, it should be noted, was not wasted on a luxurious life or a large entourage, but was invested shrewdly. He fought only three more times, splitting two with the great Tony Canzoneri, and then winning a ten-round decision over lightweight champion Lou Ambers. With wins over the trio of Ross, Canzoneri and Ambers, there is no doubting McLarnin’s status as, pound for pound, an all-time great.
There’s also no doubting the wisdom of McLarnin’s next career move: He retired. At only thirty-one years of age, probably with at least two or three more good years ahead of him, he walked away from the fighting world, still in possession of all his ring earnings and his good health. And although lucrative offers came to him to tie them up again, he rejected them and never went through the ropes again. Instead, he opened a successful machine shop, devoted himself to golf and acting, rubbed shoulders with several Hollywood celebrities, and started a family. By all accounts, he was completely happy with his life after boxing; He lived to be 92 years old and bequeathed a considerable fortune to his children and grandchildren. It’s the kind of story we don’t hear often enough in boxing: a happy story, with a happy ending. —Michael Carbert
