By Woodrow Carroll Former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks died last week. Few boxing insiders considered Spinks a ring great. What Spinks did have going for him was fortuitous timing and the ability to make news often for the wrong reason. To say that Spinks was an unknown when he...
A self-described “gym rat all my life,” Harry Koth never had dabbled in the sport of boxing. Hadn’t worked the speed bag, hadn’t tweaked his footwork, hadn’t thrown an uppercut. It wasn’t until a difficult diagnosis, then a revelation in a newsletter, along with the advocacy of actor Michael J....
By Woodrow Carroll Jersey Joe Wolcott, real name Arnold Raymond Cream, was boxing’s heavyweight champion in 1951 and 1952. In championship matches, Wolcott fared rather poorly by losing six of his eight championship fights. Yet, thanks to persistence, luck, and timing Wolcott entered boxing Hall of Fame. Jersey Joe? Camden,...
