Yvon Durelle: the man who nearly got to Old Mongoose

[BoztheMadman]

Yvon Durelle was never a world champion or among the best fighters of his time, yet his name is familiar to many who know something about boxing history. Why? Because, on one night he came close to accomplishing two great things: becoming a world champion and stopping the incredible Archie "Old Mongoose" Moore, which is something few men had done previously. Unfortunately for him, he failed but would be remembered and respected for that performance forever. Called "The Fighting Fisherman" for that was what he really was, Durelle was a man who loved a real scrap and never failed to bring a good fight for the fans. He has also fought Floyd Patterson and George Chuvalo in his career and retired with a record of 88 wins with 49 ko's, 24 losses and 2 draws.

 

He was born in Baie-Sainte-Anne, a small fishing village in New Brunswick, Canada, on 14 October 1929. He was one of fourteen children and left school at an early age to work on a fishing boat. He started boxing while still a fisherman, fighting on weekends in prize fights. His brother Bernie also boxed professionally. The young Yvon debuted professionally in 1948, still aged 18. He won his first five fights before losing via disqualification in the sixth against Billy Snowball. He first boxed as a middleweight and won his next 17 fights, including the Eastern Canadian middleweight title which he won by KO 5 against Bernard McCluskey. All of his early fights were in New Brunswick. He then lost a fight against Roy Wouters on points before he fought his own brother(!) Bernie and won by TKO 8 next. After that he had a quadrilogy against Cobey McCluskey, who beat him in the first two fights on points, the third fight was a no-contest and Yvon then won the fourth fight by TKO 6, after McCluskey withdrew with a broken hand. He then lost to journeyman Hurley Sanders on points but then beat him in the rematch, also on points. He had his first fight outside New Brunswick when he went to Calgary to defeat Jimmy Nolan by UD 10 in 1952. In May 1953 he won the Canadian middleweight title by a TKO 12 against George Ross. He defended it once by SD 12 against Harry Poulton before he vacated it to move up to light heavyweight. He won a few fights before he fought Gordon Wallace for the national title and won by UD 12. He made one defense of the title against Wallace before he lost it to Doug Harper by SD 12. He attempted to reclaim it in the rematch but he got knocked down three times in the second round and in the end the fight was deemed a draw. 15 February 1954 he went for the first time outside Canada and fought none other than Floyd Patterson at Eastern Parkway Arena in Brooklyn, New York. It was a rather close and hard fought 8-rounder where Patterson got a point deducted due to a rabbit punch but still held on to win by unanimous decision. Durelle returned to Canada and reclaimed the Canadian title with a UD 12 in the rubbermatch with Doug Harper. In his next fight however, he was knocked out for the first time in his career by Paul Andrews in a fight in New York, which ended in the fifth round. He then had three fights abroad to round out the year and lost all three: first by UD 10 to Gerhard Hecht in Germany, then by UD 12 to Art Henri also in Germany and finally by DQ 3 to Ron Barton in London.

 

Next year he faced Patterson again, this time in Newcastle, New Brunswick. He got a bad beating for 5 rounds and couldn't answer the bell for round 6. He then scored a satisfactory comeback win over Billy Fifield, knocking him out in 1 minute 10 seconds with an overhand right in a defense of the Canadian title. He then got stopped twice, first by Jimmy Slade by TKO 8 and then by Yolande Pompey, a top contender from Trinidad and Tobago, who would go on to fight Archie Moore for the world title. He dropped him twice in the 7th before knocking him out in a fight in London. Things didn't get any better soon as he was disqualified in his next fight against Artie Towne for rabbitpunching. He then mounted a comeback in 1956, which culminated in him winning the Commonwealth title, again beating Gordon Wallace by KO 2 in 1957. He went to Detroit to fight Tony Anthony for the first time, a hard hitter. Durelle was knocked down in the 6th round but fought bravely and lasted the 10-round distance, ultimately getting a draw. In September that year he got his first important victory over Willi Besmanoff in a heavyweight fight. Besmanoff outweighed him by almost 12 pounds but Yvon was aggressive from the start while Besmanoff backpedaled too much and in the end the smaller man became the aggressor, constantly shaking Besmanoff with uppercuts and scoring with hooks and overhand rights at will. Besmanoff lasted the 10-round distance because of the weight advantage but lost a clear and unanimous decision. Next year Durelle had a rematch with Anthony in Madison Square Garden but things went less well this time: despite getting off best and dropping Anthony in the first thirty seconds with a left to the body followed with a left to the head, he was dominated for the rest of the fight, knocked down in the 6th and stopped early in the 7th round. He then defended his Commonwealth title in an exciting fight with Mike Holt of South Africa; he dropped Holt in the 7th and was himself dropped in the 8th for a flash knockdown. Holt however quit due to exhaustion after the 8th round. Durelle said later: "He gave me some working over. He broke my nose and some of my teeth. That fight took the best out of me. I couldn't get my mind into the game after that. I started to be afraid for the first time. That man could fight-he was the worst that I met!"

 

This fight finally got him a long-awaited shot at the world title that Archie Moore held. The fight happened on 10 December '58 in Montreal. Supported by 8, 000 home fans, he would go on to produce the performance that would make him immortal. After the relatively even first two rounds, he exploded in the third, sending Moore to the canvas three times. The Old Mongoose looked close to getting stopped but somehow came out of that round. Yvon also made a mistake by not going straight to his corner after the first knockdown, thus giving Moore more time to recover. In the fifth Moore again went down and the home crowd was going wild, as the victory seemed within reach for their countryman. However, the resilient Moore weathered the storm and came back strong, ultimately putting the home favorite down four times before the ref stopped the fight in the 11th round. The fight was voted by members of the Canadian Press as the sporting event of the year. He was given a rematch next year but before that could happen, a tragedy struck: 35 fishermen from his village died in June after being swept by 40-foot tidal waves. Durelle was in grief and distraught over losing so many of his friends, so he didn't focus on the rematch with Moore which happened in August and as a result he was easily destroyed by Moore in 3 rounds, again being knocked down four times in the last round before the stoppage. He then decided to move up to heavyweight, which, at 5'10 and with a 70 inch reach he was clearly small for. He won his first three fights at the new weight before he signed to fight the compatriot and legend George Chuvalo for the Canadian title in November 1959. Durelle put on a brave fight but was overmatched and outweighed by almost 25 pounds against the 8 years younger Chuvalo, who put him down five times before finally stopping him in the 12th. After the fight, Durelle stated: "I'm all finished. My legs are gone. Completely finished and won't be coming back no more." He announced his retirement and pulled out of the scheduled fight against Bobo Olson but then he changed his mind and continued fighting only six months later. He would win five more fights, all within the distance and lose two on points before finally retiring in 1965, aged 35.

 

Yvon Durelle was known as a gentle and a modest man, despite his profession. His nickname among friends was "Doux", meaning soft. After his fighting career was over he opened a bar in his home place but in the 70's an event happened that would profoundly effect him: he was attacked by a man and shot and killed him in self defense. He was charged with murder and had a trial, where he was acquitted. The trial received massive coverage in the medias, which only made Yvon retire to his fishing village and live a secluded life, but still receiving fans who came there to see him. In 1981, his biography came out, titled The Fighting Fisherman-Life of Yvon Durelle. Durelle died on 6 January 2007, due to a stroke. He had also contracted Parkinsons disease before that. He was succeeded by his wife. He had been a true ring warrior and a gentleman. Although he never won a world title, he still has an important place in boxing history. He was one of the most popular and beloved boxers ever in that tough and gritty sport, one of its true nice guys.

Edited April 8, 2015 by BoztheMadman