6. “The Michigan Assassin” Stanley Ketchel 51-4-4, 48 KOs
Photo by Bettmann/CORBIS
Grand Rapids, Michigan welcomed Stanisław Kiecal as its newest resident on September 14, 1886. He was the son to Polish immigrants who traveled to the United States hoping for opportunity. They got exactly as they wished though perhaps not as they expected with Stanley Ketchel running away from home at age 12. He found his way to Butte, Montana and by age 16 he was fighting grown men in makeshift boxing matches for $20 per week. He grew his reputation with a ferocious, swarming style, punctuated with hands seemingly laced with iron.
Ketchel turned professional in 1903 with 38 of his first 39 victories coming by way of knockout. Quickly rising through the ranks he became the Middleweight Champion in 1908 via knockout and defended it twice with the same result before losing it to Billy Papke in the same year. Two months later he was champion again, regaining his title via 11th round knockout in a rematch.
Ketchel immediately tore into the Light Heavyweights which included two victories over Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, the first by 10-round Newspaper decision. So furious was the assault on O’Brien that at the end of the last round O’Brien was on his back unconscious when the final bell rang saving him from a knockout defeat. The same could not be said in the rematch when Ketchel overwhelmed him with slashing punches and stopped him in three, one-sided rounds.
The ever ambitious Ketchel wasn’t yet satisfied and ascended another weight division to challenge the Heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson. It is long rumored that the two agreed to give the crowd an entertaining 20-round fight with a “no blood drawn” caveat.
Ketchel was knocked down and bloodied by the much larger “Galveston Giant” which ignited his usual frenzied attack. Ketchel jolted everyone in attendance, especially Johnson himself, when he unleashed a vicious shot in the 12th round that dropped the champion.
The shock was short lived however when Johnson rose deliberately from the canvas, surprised but unhurt and immediately dropped Ketchel in a heap. Johnson could be seen walking away from him brushing off several of Ketchel’s broken teeth that had embedded in his glove.
Ketchel lost a Newspaper decision to all-time great, Sam Langford (who incidentally recorded only three fewer career knockouts than KO king Archie Moore) before knocking out what turned out to be his three final opponents.
The last was a knockout in four over Jim Smith after which a laughing Ketchel bounded over the ropes in celebration, leaving the ring and disappearing through the crowd. Four months later an employee at a friend’s ranch murdered the 24-year-old Ketchel in a robbery gone awry.
Suggested viewing: Jack Johnson vs. Stanley Ketchel in a true David versus Goliath match.
