As Scottish poet Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) once said, “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” No man is worthier of this encomium than former Canadian heavyweight contender for world title honors, Jack Munroe. John Alexander ‘Jack’ Munroe, born on June 26, 1873 (or possibly 1877), in Boularderie, Victoria County, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, to parents Alexander Angus Munroe and Annabella Kerr Munroe. He only fought professionally for six short years, 1900 to 1906. In In a peripatetic career emblematic of his time period, he engaged in only 20 professional fights plus numerous exhibition bouts. Yet he still left an indelible mark on the sport of boxing and his country.
CAPE BRETON HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDER JACK MUNROE
Munroe was raised in a Presbyterian family of miners. Munroe worked in the mines around Glace Bay and Cape Breton along with his brothers and father until he was 16. He then left to make a name for himself in the Western United States. Munroe had departed Cape Breton with at least a dozen other men, including his older brother and uncle, to mine copper in Montana. In Munroe’s time, traveling back and forth across the American and Canadian borders was very common and not at all difficult. So, when letters arrived from some Cape Bretoners already living in Butte, Montana of a bonanza of jobs available in the Montana copper mining business, Munroe and many others could not hit the road fast enough to head south in search of big money and new adventures.
Munroe’s travels to the United States came at a time when crossing the border in either direction was very easy to do. While living in the United States, Munroe made his professional boxing debut against Hank Griffin on Saturday May 5, 1900, at the Watsonville Opera House in Watsonville, California. According to the Salinas Daily Index newspaper, Griffin scored 20-round decision over Munroe.[1] A pro debut in that era did not mean that it was a fighter’s first fight as a professional. It just signified that it was the first time local newspapers were summoned to come review the fighter’s performance. However, since no records of previous fights have yet been confirmed, this may indeed have actually been Munroe’s debut bout as a professional boxer.
If so, Munroe deserves additional credit, even though he lost by decision, for just surviving the 20-round distance. That is an incredible distance for a rookie pro to endure in his introduction to the pro ranks. Many fighters back then, including Munroe had a handful of pro “debuts”. Whenever they fought in a major city for the first tie, it would be recorded as a pro debut. The fight is listed now as a light-heavyweight contest although the light-heavyweight division did not official come into existence until 1909, under the introduction of the Walker Law in New York.2 (The Walker Law was passed in 1920 at the urging of politician Jimmy Walker, who was the Speaker of the state senate. Largely written by British boxing promoter, William Gavin, it enacted state laws governing boxing. It also made it easier for the Mob to take over boxing. The law made boxing legal in New York State. The law established the New York State Boxing Athletic Commission and allowed for the severe punishment of prizefighters who resorted to foul tactics.3
The Walker Law also firmly established eight weight divisions in boxing. Any fighter weighing anywhere from 168 to 175 pounds was listed as a light-heavyweight. Since Munroe’s very first fight against Hank Griffin took place in the year 1900, before the advent of the Walker Law, it should be correctly listed as a heavyweight contest.4
It’s worth mentioning that Munroe did not really take boxing as seriously as he perhaps should have and that definitely held back his original progress. Munroe looked at boxing as just another lark on the road of life. He was often poorly trained for most of his bouts. His manager was Harry Pollock, who also managed future world light-heavyweight champion, Philadelphia Jack O’Brien. Pollock was a very astute judge of horse flesh and knew how to move a boxer quickly up the rankings towards a world title shot. He deftly used the press to help promote Munroe into the big time. Pollock made only one noticeable mistake with Munroe although it was a major slip-up.
Pollock had hired former world champion Charles “Kid” McCoy to train Munroe. McCoy had been a magnificent fighting machine during his heyday but by the time he started training Munroe, McCoy was an incurable drunk and a terrible trainer. Born Norman Selby in Moscow, Rush Country, Indiana on October 13, 1872, McCoy had won the world middleweight title from the incomparable Tommy Ryan. McCoy could no longer keep his weight down and was forced to compete as a heavyweight. He was married ten times and was later convicted of manslaughter on August 12, 1934, for the slaying of his wife, Teresa Mors. Mors was a wealthy woman who had divorced McCoy. He shot her shortly after their divorce. He was paroled in 1932.
McCoy as you can easily deduce, was clearly the wrong person to train a fighter like Munroe, who did not take boxing seriously to begin with. Fighters need discipline in order to be successful and McCoy was utterly devoid of self-discipline and was wholly incapable of focusing his attention on any one thing at any time other than drinking. He had neither the ability or gumption to train or even advise Munroe. It is more likely that Pollock felt sorry for him and therefore employed him as a trainer just to put some much needed cash in his pocket, after which he would disappear and then come back soused.
Munroe had worked in the mines for many years, which helped him develop a rock hard, chiseled physique. He was enormously powerful throughout his legs and shoulders. He stood anywhere from 5’10½” to 6’ 1”, according to various reports. Munroe’s entry into the punch for pay ranks was not atypical for his time. While working as a copper miner in Butte, he read that world heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries touring company was passing through town offering $250 to anyone who could last four rounds with the champion. Former heavyweight champion Bob Fitzsimmons was also part of the tour. Munroe took up the challenge.
Munroe was not a skilled boxer and even that is being generous. He did not know how to jab his way in to fight at close quarters or how to set a trap for an opponent by feinting them in to a position to be hit. More than anything, Munroe was astoundingly strong and, steady on his feet. He had a good chin and he could absorb a tremendous amount of punishment. In December of 1902, Munroe wrestled and slugged it out with Jeffries at close quarters and somehow, managed to last the four round distance and collect the $250 in prize money. The referee, Dune McDonald, at the conclusion of the fourth round, declared Munroe to be the winner. Jeffries was decidedly unamused. The Munroe bout was just one of a handful of fights that Jeffries had that same day during his tour.
Undoubtedly, Jeffries was not in good shape and had taken the novice Munroe lightly. If Jeffries had been in any kind of shape, the fight would not have lasted even a round. Munroe’s manager Pollock made sure that the news of his fighter’s huge accomplishment leaked out to the press. In less than a day, it was well known throughout North America that an unknown Canadian fighter had “beaten” the great Jeffries over four extremely hard fought rounds. It was Munroe who most certainly fought hard whereas, Jeffries just tried to hold him at close quarters to stifle his offense. Jeffries had not taken the bout seriously at all and that makes perfect sense. There was simply no way a novice could defeat the great Jim Jeffries. In hindsight, the hoopla emerging from this fight was not based on the fact that Munroe defeated Jeffries in a conventional sense but rather, that a novice prizefighter with no formal training managed to go the distance with the world heavyweight champion.
It has been falsely claimed for years that Munroe even managed to floor champion Jeffries with a single punch. This never happened. Jeffries threw a wide left hook that missed the mark and then fell, off-balance, to the canvas. Only the great Jack Johnson managed to legitimately floor Jeffries (three times in the 15th round) in their bout in Reno, Nevada on July 4, 1910.
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