So Long, Harry "Kid" Matthews
Bernie McCoy
22.03 - The headline was over an AP story datelined March 13. Nothing unusual about the content of the headline or the story, eighty year old men die every day. In fact when you get up around that age, it can be fairly said, you're not only on the "back nine" of life, you're probably putting out on 18. What got my attention about the headline was that it concerned a fighter named Harry Matthews. The headlline read "Harry 'The Kid' Matthews, boxer who fought Marciano dies at 80". It took me a moment, but I soon realized what was troubling. Harry Matthews was never know as "The Kid", he was Harry "Kid" Matthews and he was much more than a "boxer" who had once fought Rocky Marciano. Thus, sadly, at the end, Harry Matthews was eulogized by an AP writer who probably never heard of him and that's a shame. Worse, probably most of the people reading the story didn't recognize the name Harry Matthews and that's an even bigger shame. A shame, but understandable, because Harry Matthews was from a different era.
It was an era where a career in boxing really deserved the name. Harry Matthews fought for over twenty years, beginning in 1936. He climbed into the ring 104 times and won 87 of the fights, 61 by KO. Today, those type of stats would represent the combined careers of three, maybe even four top fighters. Harry Matthews' era was a time when a fighter would sometimes fight fifteen times a year, often within two or three weeks. It was an era when there were only eight championship belts, and the title "champion" meant exactly that; the fighter was the champion of all the fighters at a given weight at a given time. Harry Matthews was from a different era.
It was an era that when you moved from one weight division to another, it was a major move, not some excursion from "junior" to "super". In 1952, while still one of the prime lightheavy weight fighters in the world, Matthews moved up into the heavyweight division with the goal of challenging Rocky Marciano, one of the "holy trinity" of fierce champions in that division, along with a young Mike Tyson and Jack Dempsey. After a brief campaign as a heavyweight, Matthews got his shot at Marciano. They fought in the storied old Bronx ballpark, Yankee Stadium, on a July night and after taking the first round, Matthews, possibly with a bit of Billy Conn brio, tried to trade punches with the Brockton slugger and didn't finish the second round. As part of his "training" for Marciano, Matthews took a fight with a ranked heavyweight contender. Seven weeks prior to the title bout, Matthews went ten tough rounds with a very good Salt Lake City heavyweight, Rex Layne. Tell me the last modern day fighter who, with a title fight on the line, takes a tough fight seven months, never mind seven weeks, before the bout. Harry Matthews was from a different era.
It was an era in 1951, when Matthews, still campaigning as a 175 pounder fought a bout with one of the hardest hitters in the division, a devastating southpaw knockout artist from San Diego, Irish Bob Murphy. It was early in the year, in the mecca of boxing at that time, Madison Square Garden in New York and it was a part of the Friday Night Fight series on national television. I remember being allowed to stay up to watch the fight since Murphy was a particular favorite of my father. I also remember several things about the fight: the two fighters hit each other from the opening bell and didn't seem to stop until ten rounds were complete and never, not once, in ten rounds, was there a clinch. I also vividly remember the annoncer on TV, one Jimmy Powers, actually lost his voice, in the latter rounds, as he attempted to convey the electric intensity of the fight and was forced to shout above a frenzied Garden crowd, which only sat down between rounds. Matthews won a decision and Murphy was never the same fighter after that bout. Joey Maxim, the lightheavy weight champion, had been scheduled to fight the winner. He took Murphy instead in August of that year and easily won over 15 rounds. Harry Matthews never did get a title shot at Maxim. Harry Matthews was from a different era.
It was a era where fighters continued to take on the top flight opposition right to the end of their careers. In 1954, as his time in the ring was coming to an end, Matthews fought the highly regarded Englishman, Don Cockell, not once but twice, within the space of five weeks, losing both times, once by decision and once by a late KO. Harry Matthews had been fighting for over 18 years when he fought Europe's best heavyweight twice in just over a month. Harry Matthews didn't go easily into the "good night" of retirement. Harry Matthews was from a different era.
So that was why the headlline brought me up short. It was disappointing to see the Associated Press get it wrong as far as Harry Matthews' last story was concerned. Harry "Kid" Matthews deserved to go out with a better last mention from a national news agency that got his nickname wrong and defined his career by one fight in a grand old ballpark in New York. Harry Matthews really was from another era. He was from, and of, a long gone era in boxing that we'll never see the like of again. It was an era when fighters like Harry "Kid" Matthews were know as "pugs". On reflection, there should have been a much better name for them.
