RIVERS, WOLGAST & THE “DOUBLE KNOCKOUT”

THE MEXICAN MAULER AND THE MICHIGAN WILDCAT

“Mexican” Joe Rivers-Ad Wolgast Lightweight Title Fight.

As early as 7 a.m. on the morning of July 4, 1912, eager fight fans started lining up at the Pacific Athletic Club, even though the box office did not officially open for another 3 hours at 10:00 a.m.  By noon all of the reserved seat were sold out. The demand for tickets to see the world lightweight title clash between the “Michigan Wildcat” Ad Wolgast and “Mexican Joe Rivers had outstripped demand by a large margin.

After purchasing their tickets, the fans hurried to the Arena in Vernon, California, so they could be first in line when the gates swung open, on that hot and humid July 4 in 1912. These were hardcore fights fans. Who intuitively sensed they were about to witness something very special that afternoon.

What the 11,000 fans in attendance didn’t realize is that they were about to become an integral part of prizefighting history. They were as central to the most controversial fight in boxing history, as the fighters themselves. All those present at the Arena on America’s 136^th birthday, remembered until there dying day, every single punch and foul thrown during the still controversial 13^th round between Rivers and Wolgast. The fans were outraged, as was the media and all fair-minded Americans across the nation, with the outcome of the fight and the abrupt manner in which it ended.  The fans especially, had a right to be furious.

The fight was scheduled for 20 rounds. After 12 hard fought rounds in the blazing midday sun, Rivers was well on his way to victory, cruising to what looked like an easy 20 round decision win over the champion. Everyone in the Arena was deliriously happy until round thirteen. What happened during that round, still irks and frustrates fans and boxing historians alike to this day.

Wolgast won the fight. However, more importantly, Rivers most definitely did not lose the fight. Rivers was in fact, pulling away to a dominant, decision triumph. Then, out of nowhere, Rivers had the fight unceremoniously stolen from him in the blink of an eye,  in a crooked fashion; not by Wolgast but by Wolgast’s professional shill, referee Jack Welch. The events which caused the fight to come to a sudden and illegal ending happened so quickly that even some ringside spectators missed what happened. Even the film of the fight, shot from only one angle, makes it difficult to see precisely the order in which the events occurred. Punches were thrown in close and then, both combatants were on the mat simultaneously. 

In order to better understand the first Rivers-Wolgast brawl, we need to take a closer look at boxing during the first two decades of the 20th century and, perhaps even a bit earlier than that. From the 1880’s until about 1923, boxing was basically a no-holds barred, lawless sport. Prize fighting was considered as legitimate as a brothel. A large majority of Americans were against boxing and the sport was outlawed in most states. The clergy, the media, politicians and the medical profession all came out strongly in their opposition to professional boxing. They had no problems with amateur boxing because they believed it provided young men with a healthy way to stay in shape. At least, this was the manure they spoon fed the pubic.

Do you want to know what the real reason was for so many self-righteous professions opposing pro boxing? Money. Doctors, lawyers, politicians, clergymen and the press were happy joining athletic clubs to stay in shape and occasionally watching amateur bouts (exhibitions) for free. Pro fights meant they had to pay for the privilege of watching talented fighters swap leather. This didn’t sit well with them. This is why all those professions mentioned above were never afraid to strongly express their aversion to professional boxing. 

The clergy in particular said that pro fighting was un-American because it meant one man had to emerge triumphant. In other words, they opposed competition. There is nothing more American than competition, in every field, and especially sports. The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWI and WWII all involved American competition at its best and bloodiest. Military industries were competing against each other to provide the government with arms so there army could prove they were the strongest nation on earth; much in the same way boxers were fighting each other to prove who was better man. Fighting is as American as apple pie and first round knockouts.

In the first 20 years of the 20^th century, prize fighting was a rough, nasty, vile, sometimes lethal, and usually illegal, no-holds barred way of making a living. Careers were often short and excessively violent and, the physical and mental damages incurred by its participants lasted a lifetime. Fights were often held in secret locations to escape mass arrests by the local constabulary.

The Marquess of Queensberry rules governing boxing conduct in the ring were codified in 1865 and published two years later in 1867.  They were seldom if ever enforced and did not actually come into effect in the U.S. and Canada until 1889. Bareknuckle fighters for the most part, liked the new rules because it stated for the first time, that al fighters must wear gloves. Bare knuckle fighters usually fought with broken knuckles and fingers and their hands were always in constant pain. 

What is important to distinguish here is that the rules of agreement contained in a contract between two fighters for their upcoming bout, had to be mutually agreed upon. It wasn’t uncommon for fighters to use gloves but still ignore the Queensberry Rules, in favour of an “anything goes” fight. Many of the elite fighters from the first two decades of the twentieth century, subscribed to this option. Men such as Canadian world welterweight champion “Mysterious” Billy Smith, Battling Nelson, Kid McCoy, “Sailor” Tom Sharkey and Ad Wolgast did not hesitate to wear gloves and still employ underhanded tactics, such as thumbing, heeling, elbowing, headbutting, rabbit punching, biting, kicking, and hitting their opponents well below their respective belt lines.

Disqualifications certainly happened in those days but they were rare, even for the worst miscreants. Smith took immense pride in being considered the dirtiest fighter on the planet. Usually, dirty fighters suffered no adverse consequences (other than the opprobrium of the fans) for employing such repugnant tactics. By the way, Battling Nelson’s birth name was Oscar Matthew Battling Nelson. Battling was his real name.

Oscar Matthew Battling Nelson losing his title to Ad Wolgast

In that “Wild West” era, boxing was more of a renegade sport. It was  marginally legal in small parts of certain states.  Even then, the local police and judiciary had to be paid off for a fight to be stage at an undisclosed location. The site of many fights back then was often released about forty minutes prior to the beginning of the first round. Fans still turned out in large masses, such was their love for fighting.

Irrespective of how truly egregious a fighter’s fouls were, only after a significant number of rounds had passed would the referee contemplate disqualifying the offending brute. Sometimes the referee’s decision as to whether or not to disqualify a fighter depended entirely on the mood of the crowd.  If the crowd had wagered heavily on the dirty warrior, the referee would often let it go. It made no sense for a ref to imperil his own life just to enforce a set of rules.

Referees often warned certain offenders many times during the first ten to fifteen rounds of a bout, although usually to no avail. The problem for the referee and for boxing was that the fans paid their hard-earned money to see a fight and as far as many of them were concerned, everything was considered kosher inside the squared circle. Stopping a fight early due to a foul sometimes caused a riot by disgruntled fans who felt they had been cheated out of their hard-earned money. It was just smart business to ignore some fouls. The fans needed to get their money’s worth.

Many fighters whose names became synonymous with fighting dirty,  were undisputed world champions such as, “Mysterious”  Billy Smith, Ad “The Michigan Wildcat” Wolgast, Battling Nelson, “Sailor” Tom Sharkey, “Harlem “Tommy Murphy, Abe Attell, Fritzie Zivic, Harry Greb, and later on, Sandy Saddler. These offenders would resort to foul tactics to retain their prestigious crowns. A world title meant big purses.

Often, during the early part of the 1900’s, these rule breaking champions were aided in their foul-filled slugfests by corrupt referees who, were often on their personal payrolls.  Such corruption was well known and written about nut nothing was every done to curb its existence.

Having a ref in your pocket ensured that your fouls would be overlooked. Most offending boxers only suffered mild rebukes at best. As a rule, world champions and top contenders got away with committing fouls.

Disqualifications were rare in that time period but they did happen.  “Mysterious” Billy Smith was disqualified a whopping 11 times in an 82 bout career. Ironically, he also won several fights via disqualification as well. Suffice it to say, Smith got away with murder in the ring. He probably should have been disqualified at least 20 times or more but, referees were rather lenient, for various reasons, in that time period.

Throughout boxing history, referees and other ring officials have been paid handsomely by promoters and managers to ignore overt fouls. This is one of pro boxing’s terrible legacies. Such blatant indiscretions  cost the promoters bigtime at the gate because fans  would stay away from fighters where one or more of the participants  was known to be crooked. Were these fixed fights? No but, you could tell definitely tell which way the promoter was leaning which you can still do today.

THE WOLGAST-RIVERS DOUBLE KO DEBACLE

The Wolgast-Rivers double knockout debacle is still talked about and argued over 112 years after it occurred.  What happened in that fight was, in a sense, predictable because similar outcomes involving Wolgast and his employee, referee Jack Welch, had happened before. In fact, precisely one year earlier to the exact day, at the Eighth Street Arena in San Francisco, in the exact same 13^th round, Wolgast deliberately hit challenger Owen Moran very low, leaving the challenger writhing in agony on the canvas. The time of the “knockout” was 33 seconds of the 13^th round. Was the low blow deliberate? Absolutely. And, guess who the referee was?  That’s right. None other than Jack Welch!

Referee Jack Welch to the left of Jess Willard.

Rivers had been present at the Wolgast-Moran bout and he was not perturbed at all by the illicit manner in which Wolgast retained his crown. Moran’s downfall did not in any way dissuade Rivers from wanting to go up against Wolgast for the undisputed world lightweight title.  There may be some who would label Rivers a fatalist. That would be wrong. He was, in every practical sense, a realist. He knew there was nothing he could about the underhanded manner in which Wolgast had stopped Moran. He could only focus on how he would handle, or man-handle Wolgast.

Owen Moran down from a deliberate Wolgast low blow a year to the day prior to Wolgast fouling Rivers in the same manner, while Welch counts him out.

A good question to ask here is why weren’t regularly dirty fighters suspended or banned altogether? Well, in the first part of the last century there were no state boxing commissions or sanctioning bodies to issue such suspensions or bans. Wolgast’s boxing purses after 1912 suffered a steep decline, but not because of his fouling tactics. Wolgast’s career dwindled specifically because he suffered a quick, tragic decline in his cognitive abilities, rendering him incapable of fighting in his trademark whirlwind style.