Mike Casey

Tacoma Assassin: Power Punching Freddie Steele

by Mike Casey - Now here’s one for you. When people sit down to talk about the great middleweights, how come the name of Freddie Steele so rarely enters the conversation? Like a ghost trying to make its presence felt to mortals, Freddie seems to hove...

Physician, Heal Thyself! How Boxing Must Do It.

I do not want to get into Ultimate Fighting. I am too fond of subtlety, shades and hues and deft skill.

Golden Oldie: Dick Tiger’s Autumn Masterpiece

The computer said it and a lot of people believed it. Roger Rouse would beat Dick Tiger and win the light heavyweight championship of the world.

When The Heart’s Not In It: Audley Harrison & The Great Pretenders

A big left hook to the jaw last Saturday night made Audley Harrison hit the deck at the Wembley Arena with only marginally less commotion than a giant redwood crashing to the floor at Muir Woods. It had to happen. It was on the cards from day one,...

Jem Driscoll: Peerless Brilliance

Great fights are never truly forgotten. The unique strength and tapestry of boxing’s jungle wire, coiling down through the decades like a great python, is too rich and enduring to ever permit oblivion.

Joe Gans: Secrets Of The Old Master

Joe Gans was playing it straight and playing it beautifully. There was no ‘arrangement’ on this January day in Tonopah, Nevada, no grubby deals to bind the Old Master’s arms and choke his unparalleled talent. He was out of the cage, in full swing.

The Best at 175? Jack Delaney, said Leonard

The great Benny Leonard, still considered by many to be the supreme lightweight of all time maintained that the finest light-heavyweight he ever saw was the Canadian-born master from Bridgeport, Connecticut, known as ‘Bright Eyes’: Jack Delaney.

Floyd’s London Blitz Didn’t Deter Henry Cooper

Folklore has it that Rhymin’ Paul Simon was on his travels in the sixties when he stopped off at a London gymnasium to watch a heavyweight fighter working out. Inspired by the young slugger’s sweat and toil, Simon was moved to write his famous song,...

Carlos Monzon: Once Upon A Time In The West

The ‘It’ factor, it is often said, can never be truly defined. We simply know that some people have it and others don’t. Identifying and appreciating its components is another matter and can prove a devilishly difficult task.

Philadelphia Jack O’Brien: The Master Puzzler

Our perception of famous people can sometimes be cruel and misplaced, often fashioned by the hasty and not always reliable yardstick of gut instinct.

A Christmas Legend: 798-Fight Shifty Walnuts

On Christmas Eve, 1988, the incredible Chester (Shifty) Walnuts had his 798th and final professional fight after an astonishing career that spanned just five years of frenetic activity.

The Long and The Short Of Young Stribling

Things never fell right for Young Stribling. Bad timing plagued him throughout his career and the hard luck stories were tragically eclipsed by an early death. He was killed in a motorcycle crash, still only twenty-eight years of age. A long and impr...

Jack Dempsey: The Sudden Rush Of Greatness

Suddenly it all clicked. All the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place and Jack Dempsey was flying, ripping and barnstorming his way to a fight with Jess Willard for the heavyweight championship of the world.

Solid Gold Classics: The Saldivar-Winstone Trilogy

Who can beat Vicente Saldivar? That was the question being posed at the outset of 1967 after the tireless, barrel-chested Mexican ace had swept away the challenge of Japan’s leading challenger, Mitsunori Seki.

Stanley Ketchel: The Irresistible Assassin

There is greatness in life and then there is something beyond that. Something indefinable to which we can never assign an appropriate name or description. Willie Lewis was a great fighter. But he was never going to put a serious dent in the Michigan...