Terry McGovern-Original Terrible Terry

[BoztheMadman]

Terry McGovern was one of the hardest hitting featherweights ever. He captured both world featherweight and bantamweight title in his career. He was a destroyer in the ring, but still he had his weaknesses and after ruling as the featherweight champion of the world for a while, ran into the man who was his Kryptonite: Young Corbett II. He scored 44 knockouts in 59 victories and retired young at the age of 28. Unfortunately, after his boxing career ended he developed mental problems and spent some time in various sanitariums. He died at only 37, while being in army during world war 1. He was one of the original inductees in the boxing hall of fame in 1990. He was a puncher and offensive fighter who didn't like fancy stuff. Therefore he rightly was called Terrible Terry, the first famous fighter with that nickname.

 

Born Joseph Terrence McGovern in Johnston, Pennsylvania, 9 March 1880, McGovern grew up in Brooklyn and worked as a newsboy and later as a labourer in lumber yard. Standing only 5'3, he nevertheless handled himself well in fights with others who picked on him, because of his natural punching power and his boss eventually encouraged him to start boxing. He turned pro in 1897, aged 17. Within two years, he was a contender for the world bantamweight title. He lost his first fight by disqualification but then won 16 and drew 3, before he again was disqualified against Tim Callahan for hitting in a clinch. He knocked out Callahan in 10 in the rematch. In July 1899, he faced Johnny Ritchie in a fight billed to be for the American bantamweight title and knocked him out in 3 with a single left hook. He then received a chance to win the world title against Pedlar Palmer, who was 23-0-1, and knocked him out in 1 round. It was the first world championship fight under Queensberry Rules to end in a first round ko. He vacated the title shortly thereafter to move up to featherweight. There he scored 9 straight knockouts before receiving his world title shot against George Dixon, 9 January 1900. Dixon was busier in the early rounds but McGovern came on strong in the fourth round and hurt the champion. Dixon rallied back in the fifth and put him down for the first time in his career with an uppercut and a left hook. McGovern beat the count and continued banging away to the body, as he had done from the start, which drew blood from the champion's nose. In the eight, McGovern finally pounded Dixon to the canvas and that was it. He was now a two-time, two-division world champion.

 

He had a couple non-title fights before making his first defense by KO 3 against Oscar Gardner. He was down in the first round, for the second time in his career and first grabbed Gardner's leg before he was able to get away and the ref started counting. He got up but that would remain a controversial knockdown. He then put Gardner three times in the 2nd and once in the 3rd to end the fight early in that round. After a few more non-title fights, he again defended the title against Tommy White. Remarkably, though White weighed in 2 pounds over the 126 limit, McGovern didn't require him to lose the excess weight, saying "What's the difference in a pound or two either way?" He then knocked White out in 3 rounds. He won the rest of his world title defenses by ko, beating Joe Bernstein by KO 7, re-beating Oscar Gardner by KO 4 and finally undefeated Aurelio Herrera by KO 5. Herrera claimed he was doped before the fight later, by one of his seconds. Between the Bernstein and Gardner fights, he also defeated legendary Joe Gans by KO 2, but Gans later claimed he threw the fight. Gans weighed in at 133 while McGovern was 124, making it a lightweight vs featherweight fight. His reign came to an end 28 November 1901, when he took on the Denver fighter called Young Corbett II. The two fighters were even in age and also ferocity. Corbett also previously beat George Dixon and Oscar Gardner, but he was considered an underdog for this fight. Before the fight, Corbett who was out to prove he wasn't scared of Terrible Terry, banged on the champion's dressing room door and yelled "Come out you Irish rat and take the licking of your life!" Early in the bout McGovern backed up Corbett, who answered with a right that made McGovern step back. This proved to be the way to fight and beat McGovern, as he himself stated before the fight that he could only be beaten by a fighter who fights his fight, agressive brawler. In the second round, McGovern again drove his opponent backwards but Corbett fired back again and then landed a right which decked the champion. Terrible Terry rose and then flung himself at Corbett, landing a left which in turn decked Corbett. Corbett arose, but hadn't lost none of his fire and then after a brief exchange, landed a right hand that dropped McGovern flat on his back, where he stayed until the count was over. Game over for Terrible Terry.

 

It was one of the biggest upsets of the era. McGovern returned 3 months later and first had a difficult fight against Dave Sullivan which he eventually won by a TKO in the 15th. He again beat Joe Bernstein by a newspaper decision in 6 rounds and knocked out Billy Maynard in 4, before landing a rematch against Corbett. This time the fight was considerably longer, but Corbett again got the best of McGovern and ultimately stopped him in the 11th after knocking him down and out. McGovern was also down in each of the first two rounds. After the fight was over, his supporters swarmed the ring in protest because they felt that their fighter had beaten the count and the police had to interfere. McGovern himself refused to admit he was beaten and said that he was the better man all the way and that he wasn't knocked out. He would continue fighting for a few more years but was never so successful as before. In 1906, he lost against Battling Nelson by a newspaper decision in a 6-round fight. He also knocked out the upstart Harlem Tommy Murphy in 1 round right before that, which would be his final knockout and victory. In October '06 he had his rubbermatch against Young Corbett, no longer a world champion. It was a brutal fight and Terrible Terry was knocked down in the 2nd, but lasted the distance and in the end earned a draw after 6 rounds. He drew his last 2 fights also before he retired in 1908. His "ordinary" record is 59-5-4. His newspaper record is 6-1-5.

 

Terry McGovern was serving as a referee in a boxing match in the army during World War I when he collapsed and died shortly thereafter, on 22 February 1918, aged 37. Cause of death was pneumonia and kidney ailment. As mentioned, he had been suffering from mental problems also. His brothers Hugh and Phil were also professional boxers. He has been rated among four greatest featherweights of all time by several historians and Nat Fleischer ranked him as the nr.1 featherweight of all time. Charley Rose ranked him as nr.1 bantamweight of all time. The Ring ranked him as the 18th greatest fighter of the 20th century.

Edited September 27, 2015 by BoztheMadman

[gaborr]

Re: Terry McGovern-Original Terrible Terry

 

Thank you very much.