Storyland
1954 to 1959
A collection of links to some of the best boxing stories ever written
This page contains articles from 1954 to 1959
To read stories from other decades, click below:
2000-09 1990-99 1980-89 1970-79 1960-69
Sports Illustrated: September 7, 1959
Despite a journalistic lifetime spent with its dragons, this magazine still believes there is a while knight for boxing
Sports Illustrated: July 20, 1959
He's Jose Becerra, a skinny kid from Guadalajara, who knocked out Alphonse Halimi in Mexico's finest fistic hour
Sports Illustrated: July 6, 1959
Mr. Anderberg's Oddyssey
One of our European correspondents joins Sweden's No. 1 boxing fan
Sports Illustrated: July 6, 1959
The world-shaking victory of Ingemar Johansson, Swedish winner of boxing's heavyweight crown, opened a bright new era for the sport and revived a star-crossed promoter's luck
Sports Illustrated: July 6, 1959
Welcome to the Ingo Era
Sports Illustrated: June 15, 1959
Beginning with the extraordinary story of Jack Johnson, the Negro fighter whose brilliant skill won for his race the first championship of theworld, and for himself a life of spectacular excess and ultimate tragedy
Sports Illustrated: June 1, 1959
Defending his lightweight title, Joe Brown stakes it against Paolo Rosi
Sports Illustrated: May 4, 1959
It seems some smart money went astray when the Honeybear tried to regain his title
Sports Illustrated: April 13, 1959
In secrecy an some confusion, boxing nonetheless seemed to confirm its new vitality
Sports Illustrated: March 2, 1959
Bill Rosensohn, the first of the Ivy League promoters, stumped the country like the last of the oldtime drummers, pricing cities for his heavyweight fight
Sports Illustrated: February 9, 1959
The facts and the law refute the naive cynics who contend that Jim Norris, stripped of Madison Square Garden and his IBC, still will monopolize boxing through his stoogers
Sports Illustrated: July 5, 1959
Some soothsayings on the Supreme Court's IBC decision, two Patterson fights, and Sugar Ray's portrayal of Hamlet
Sports Illustrated: December 22, 1958
After four trips to the canvas, a venerable but gallant Archie Mooe saved his championship by knocking out French Canada's hero, Yvon Durell
Sports Illustrated: December 15, 1958
The Word For Jose Is A Loud Olé
Jose Torres, exciting new middleweight, thrills his Puerto Rican compatriots
Sports Illustrated: October 20, 1958
He is Gustav Scholz, who beat tuberculosis to become European middleweight champion
Sports Illustrated: October 13, 1958
Faraway places and strange-sounding names threaten the presitge of our big boys
Sports Illustrated: September 29, 1958
That master of the devious, Willie the Wisp, may have reached the end of the trail
Sports Illustrated: September 1, 1958
The Fight That Changed Two Faces
Valiant Roy Harris, pride of Cut and Shoot, had his handsome face altered by the fast, hard fists of Floyd Patterson in a fight that also changed the economic face of boxing
Sports Illustrated: August 18, 1958
Unlike most from the Lone Star State, this one is true: the lurid story of Cut And Shoot and its attractive son, Roy Harris
Sports Illustrated: August 18, 1958
Still studying, Roy Harris, a tough galoot from Cut and Shoot, takes on the champ
Sports Illustrated: August 11, 1958
Ignition trouble bothers the champion as he trains for the Roy Harris title fight
Sports Illustrated: June 30, 1958
Light heavyweight Jesse Bowdry is expected to explode against Jerry Luedee at Louisville on July 4, and Ike Logart takes on a West Coast puncher two days before
Sports Illustrated: June 16, 1958
Virgil Akins becomes welterweight champon by finding a fatal flaw in Vince Martinez's otherwise-perfect defense
Sports Illustrated: June 2, 1958
A honey bear who turned tiger meets a very catlike boxer for the welterweight title
Sports Illustrated: May 26, 1958
A champion's kid brother, a French lightweight and a cool heavyweight appraised
Sports Illustrated: April 28, 1958
Nothing but trouble has been the fate of the International Boxing Club
Sports Illustrated: April 7, 1958
A blinded eye made the doughty Basilio fight harder, but he lost a furious battle to the 'Amazing Mr. Robinson'
Sports Illustrated: April 7, 1958
The fabulous Sugar Ray Robinson, the man in the light fuchsia Cadillac, has illuminated 19 brilliant years of boxing history
Sports Illustrated: March 17, 1958
As a wrestler Dan Hodge had no peer, but using his fists is different
Sports Illustrated: January 20, 1958
An appraisal of the champions and leading contenders of 1958 in the six heavyweight boxing divisions -- featherweight to heavyweight
Sports Illustrated: September 30, 1957
The Chittenango Choo Choo, Carmen Basilio, had a rough ride -- but he sapped the strength of an aging champ and captured Robinson's middleweight title
Sports Illustrated: September 16, 1957
It is Mr. Carmen Basilio's left, which Sugar Ray may find gloved in iron when the two meet for the middleweight crown
Sports Illustrated: September 2, 1957
But before he did, Vice President Rademacher of Youth Unlimited staed nearly six rounds with heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson
Sports Illustrated: July 29, 1957
Calm Before The Battle
Sports Illustrated: July 1, 1957
Ruling for the People, a federal court judge this week ordered boxing's dirty business cleaned up now
Sports Illustrated: May 6, 1957
It was a fabulous era, and the great promoter, through success and scandal, played it like the gamber he was
Sports Illustrated: April 29, 1957
Trying to regain the title he has already won three times, Sugar Ray Robinson faces champion Gene Fullmer in a return bout at Chicago
Sports Illustrated: March 18, 1957
With rare and human insight, Russell Hoban re-creates in words and a painting the bright moment when young Floyd Patterson changed forever and became heavyweight champion of the world
Sports Illustrated: March 18, 1957
The courts have caught up with the boxing monopoly of James D. Norris
Sports Illustrated: February 11, 1957
An ex-Army sergeant named Spike Webb joined the Navy in 1919 -- and taught the budding admirals how to fight
Sports Illustrated: January 14, 1957
Not without honor, Sugar Ray Robinson surrender3ed his title to bull-strong Gene Fullmer in a battle of wit vs. brawn
Sports Illustrated: December 10, 1956
When Floyd Patterson knocked out Archie Moore to become history's youngest heavyweight champ, it was more than a ring triumph -- it was also a defeat of the boxing monopoly
Sports Illustrated: August 20, 1956
On the moon in the year 2056, the kid looked like a great fight prospect, but the machines said he'd never win on earth. Then...
Sports Illustrated: July 9, 1956
A championship at 23, a big car, fame -- it was all an illusion for the Johnny Brattons, who never had a home life and who today face a tragedy
Sports Illustrated: May 21, 1956
Another thrilling chapter in the continued story of Floyd Patterson, who know looms as the man who
Sports Illustrated: May 7, 1956
There are days on which the sportnig sun goes down and leaves behind a sense that an age has passed into history
Sports Illustrated: April 30, 1956
In 1951 Vinnie Ferguson and his father set out to win a 1956 Olympic boxing berth. Step No. 1: an NCAA title
Sports Illustrated: April 30, 1956
A $10,000 check is variously explained, a judge does his homework,a code is studied and a worm wriggles
Sports Illustrated: April 23, 1956
Here, for the first time, SI presents the government case in the attempt of the Department of Justice to break up the boxing monopoly of James D. Norris
Sports Illustrated: March 26, 1956
Welterweight champ Carmen Basilio outfought and outpunched Johnny Saxton, but he had no chance in Chicago Stadium, where favorites are fated to lose -- as the smart money knows by now
Sports Illustrated: January 30, 1956
A lithe young Brooklyn Negro named Floyd Patterson, star of the '52 Olympic Games, threatens Rocky Marciano's crown
Sports Illustrated: December 19, 1955
Short months ago, middleweight champion Bobo Olson was considered so skillful that he was being matched, on paper, with heavyweight king Rocky Marciano. But on Friday he ran into the fists of Sugar Ray Robinson, 35. The fight, and very likely Bobo's career, ended in round two
Sports Illustrated: December 5, 1955
A.J. Liebling
Sports Illustrated: October 3, 1955
A Champion Proves His Greatness
Rocky Marciano has never met a cleverer, more determined, more dangerous opponent than Archie Moore. In battering, wearing down and finally breaking his challenger, he established himself as a man of incomparable virtues
Sports Illustrated: September 19, 1955
Challenger Moore tells in his own words how he expects to win the world heavyweight champion from Rocky Marciano
Sports Illustrated: July 4, 1955
After disposing of most of the heavyweight contenders, Archie Moore licks a middleweight and earns a shot at the title
Sports Illustrated: June 20, 1955
The rugged man who rules boxing has taken command of Madison Square Garden, leading to en masse resignation of its board chairman and five other directors
Sports Illustrated: June 13, 1955
SI's expert fantasizes that Jim Norris takes the stand and talks like a man who really cares about boxing
Sports Illustrated: May 30, 1955
Boxing's news moved off the sports pages and onto the front pages last week -- all because three governors decided to do something to clean up a dirty business
Sports Illustrated: May 23, 1955
Most Britons were unwilling to back a native son seeking Rocky Marciano's title, even at 6-1 odds
Sports Illustrated: April 11, 1955
A jeer for Saxton and a tear for Graham
Sports Illustrated: March 28, 1955
In 1923, a light heavyweight title bout between Young Stribling, just 19, and champ Mike McTigue sparked one of the loudest controversies in the history of the sport
Sports Illustrated: March 28, 1955
Though never intended as such, the Golden Gloves has become a rich training ground for pro boxers
Sports Illustrated: March 28, 1955
Amateur boxing's giant elimination draws 25,000 young hopefuls a year, but only eight can become champions
Sports Illustrated: March 21, 1955
Everyone but Carmen Basilio gets a crack at the welterweight title
Sports Illustrated: January 31, 1955
Boston has Valenti and violence, Detroit offers Piazza and Finazzo, Philadelphia has Blinky and Muggsy, and Los Angeles has Babe, who isn't even the real McCoy
Sports Illustrated: January 24, 1955
An independent manager who develops a good fighter must "cut up" his boy or lose him -- or both
Sports Illustrated: January 17, 1955
A careful examination of the fight game and it's current custodians
Sports Illustrated: December 27, 1954
The 1954 Fighter of the Year and his manager, Sid Flaherty, are in business for money; they've earned respect, as well as dollars, but their new tie-up with the IBC may cost them both
Sports Illustrated: November 29, 1954
The founder of the Association for the Protection of the Poor Put-upon Fight Fan welcomes new members and asks them to cry for an overdue delousing
Sports Illustrated: November 15, 1954
Boxing's crowds are silent and the Carbos and Cocos are still doing fight fans and televiewers right in the eye
Sports Illustrated: November 1, 1954
Light heavyweight champ Archie Moore waited 18 years before boxing's monopoly let him appear at The Garden
Sports Illustrated: October 11, 1954
In TV boxing, there's too much turkey on the menu, and someday wised-up fans may just turn off their sets
Sports Illustrated: August 23, 1954
At 37, the world light heavyweight champion fights for the first time in Madison Square Garden
Sports Illustrated: August 16, 1954
These jockey-size sluggers would look mighty big on a TV screen
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THE VIEW FROM PRESS ROW Current boxing news from all over the world
THE ICEHOUSE Excerpts from 'The Iceman Diaries,' memoirs of former boxer & renowned trainer 'Iceman' John Scully
Inside the Ropes with Travis Hartman Articles & interviews by active pro boxer & boxing writer Travis Hartman
The Young Oracle Alden "The Kid" Chodash, 14, is boxing's No. 1 pound-for-pound expert.
Storyland A collection of links to some of the best boxnig stories ever written
Linda Rodriguez's Training Table Nutritional advice from one of the most-respected advisors in boxing
The Roughhouse Our readers share their own tales of schoolyard scraps, bar room brawls & alley fights
The Bare-Knuckle Legend The amazing story of Bartley Gorman, 'King of the Gypsies'
PUGILISTIC PARADISE The original broadcasts of classic, full-length fights
BLOOD 'N' GUTS THEATRE Video of some of the most-spectacular rounds in boxing history
"The Funhouse!" Quirky clips from the humorous and unusual side of the boxing world
THE GYM Rare workout footage of some of the legends of boxing, including all-time greats sparring with each other
BOXDOX THEATRE Compelling boxing documentaries in their entirety
HIGHLIGHT HEAVEN Spectacular highlight reels of the greatest boxers of all time
HARD KNOCKS Clips of some of the most-brutal knockouts in boxing history
GENERATION '09 A section dedicated to the young guns of the sport
THE INTERNATIONAL BOXING HALL OF FAME Bios and classic photos of every boxer in the IBHOF
THE ART GALLERY A showcase of the world's most-beautiful boxing paintings
BLACK & WHITE TV A wayback machine dedicated to great fighters from bygone eras
DANGEROUS CURVES A room reserved for the world's greatest female boxers
SMACK TALK Rare, classic interviews and volatile press conference footage
short-attention-span theatre The best moments from some of the best fights of all time
THE BIOGRAPHY PAGE The life stories of hundreds of boxers, past & present
PROFESSOR RINGSIDE Boxing history and trivia in the form of an ever-evolving quiz
fIND A Boxing GYM A resource for anybody looking for a gym or club
BEFORE THEY WERE STARS Seldom-seen amateur footage of the biggest names in boxing
SLIGHTLY NAUGHTY HOTTIES Photos, slideshows and video of smoking-hot ring card girls