Fastest rematch in history?
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| Freddie Mills |
On 14 October 1936, a 17-year-old middleweight named Freddie Mills stepped into the ring at Bournemouth’s Westover Ice Rink for his seventh pro fight. Later, he would win the world light-heavyweight championship, become a household name and die tragically in mysterious circumstances, aged 46.
As the bell clanged, Mills swarmed over his opponent in customary style, pounding out a first-round knockout win over the UK-based American Jack Scott. But Scott had only just failed to beat the count and some in the crowd voiced their disapproval.
When Mills went to pick up his purse money, the promoter Jack Turner told him if he wanted to get paid he would have to fight Scott again – not in a month’s or even a week’s time, but that very night! Quite how Scott felt about meeting fearless Freddie again is unclear, but presumably he was obliged to if he wanted his cash.
After waiting for a couple of other fights to end, the pair duly re-entered the ring and the result was the same – another first-round KO win for Mills.
Most rematches ever?
Bournemouth’s Westover Ice Rink was also a site for what is arguably the keenest ring rivalry in history. London pros Mike Sweeney and Danny Cripps fought there on 16 March 1914, but they also faced each other many other times – in Oxford, Manchester, Reading, Bath, Bristol, Canterbury, Aberdeen and numerous London halls.
Ring historian Miles Templeton – a guru of boxing record-compiling – has traced 64 other contests between the pair between 1906 and 1921. We can guess that by the time they retired, they knew each other’s styles pretty well.
Lewis-Britton rivalry
The prize for the most rematches between world-class men probably goes to America’s Jack Britton and Britain’s Ted Kid Lewis. They fought each other 20 times between 1915 and 1921.
Many of these were ‘no-decision’ fights, peculiar to America at that time. The barring of pro boxing in many US states meant the referee could not give a verdict, but knockouts and stoppages were okay. The results of bouts that went the distance – eagerly awaited by gamblers and casual fans alike – were decided by sportswriters in the next day’s papers.
When they entered the ring for their first world-title contest, Britton refused to fight because of Lewis’s use of a gum shield (Ted is thought to have been the first boxer to use one). To Lewis’s disgust, the referee ordered him to remove it. After a heated exchange, he spat the gum shield out, shouting, ‘All right – let’s start the fight!’ The same dispute arose in their last fight, in 1921, with Britton again getting his way.
Before another of his bouts with Britton, Lewis fell seriously ill with yellow jaundice. His manager, Charley Harvey, pleaded with him to postpone the fight, but Lewis wouldn’t listen. Against doctors’ orders, he dragged himself out of bed, insisting he would win.
‘His stamina and will to win were amazing,’ Harvey told veteran fight scribe James Butler. ‘He took a licking because he was too weak to raise his arms, but he would not quit. I’ve never seen his equal!’
Article © copyright Alex Daley.
This piece by Alex Daley (first published in Boxing News on 12 November 2015) is one of 132 articles featured in the anthology Boxing Nostalgia: The Good, the Bad and the Weird. You can find our more or buy a copy here.
