The Official Boxing Card Thread

Not sure if there are any other boxing card collectors on the board but thought I would start a thread sharing some of my collection and hopefully others can chime in and share some of theirs as well.

Guess I'll start with Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis, as Dempsey is the fighter that got me hooked on boxing cards and Louis is, in my opinion, the greatest fighter ever.

~1925 Lurati Chocolate
A difficult card from Italy, 4 examples are known to exist. Haven't been able to pin down the exact release date yet as they're blank backed and there's no known album to examine.


1933 R308 Tattoo Orbit
An interesting set, consisting of self-developing cards. Issued over the counter with each purchase of Tattoo Orbit gum, celebrities are known to account for numbers 1-100, then it skips ahead to the baseball cards which start around #155 I believe. These cards are scarce. Both celebrities and baseball players checklists are incomplete, with around 7 baseball cards still left undiscovered and around 60 of the 100 celebrities cards unknown. The photo used is Dempsey as referee from the 1932 film The Prizefighter and the Lady.


~1930 Comet Chocolates
From Spain, the set depicts both local SPanish fighters and fighters from around the world. Also known with a J Esteva Murcia branding on the back.


1922 Felix Potin Collection
From France. There's an ongoing debate among boxing collectors over what constitutes a fighter's "rookie card." I consider myself loose in terms of what I collect but when it comes for the rookie card designation I should believe the example should be numbered (or part of a set) and issued as an insert for another product (gum, candy, bread, tobacco, etc). Under those qualifications, that puts this Dempsey as his rookie card. It presents much nicer than the 2 PSA gave it because of back staining from being stuck in an album.


1940 Kemmel Chocolate
Another tough card from France and another PSA 2 that presents much nicer than it's grade due to back staining.


1935 J.A. Pattrieoux "Sporting Events & Stars"
Not much debate to this one. There's no known material for Joe Louis prior to 1935 (he won the heavyweight title in 1937) and this British tobacco company included him in their 1935 release. A pretty popular photo, it was used for other cards of Louis in subsequent years.


1937 Globo Chewing Gum "Champions tous Sport"
This multi-sport set from France consists of 64 cards, 37 of which depict fighters. It's a very difficult set that I've only seen examples show up for sale a handful of times. The fighter selection was quite good, with fellow IBHOF members Dempsey, Carpentier, Schmeling, Braddock, John Lewis, Marcel Thil, Criqui, Canzoneri, "Panama" Al Brown, and Lou Ambers included on the checklist, as well as popular Jewish fighters Kid Francis and Young Perez. Amid the other cards are Jesse Owens and Johnny Weismuller (an Olympic swimmer who went on to play the original Tarzan).


I can post many more if anyone is interested and feel free to share your own cards as well. Thanks!

Arthur

Here's some more toughies.

1955-56 Figuritas Deportitas Rocky Marciano (from Argentina)


1967 Crack Campeon Cassius Clay


1980s card from Argentina of Mike Tyson


1901 Ogdens Guinea Gold General Interest (Australian issue) Peter Jackson. Maybe 2-3 known copies.


Arthur

Alright, alright, everybody settle down! I'll post some more.

In the late 1950s, Topps began to issue licensing rights to companies in other countries to produce their product. In Argentina, the company was Stani and they made a slew of Topps nonsport sets in Spanish. I haven't been able to find out if Crack was a subsidiary of Stani yet so I don't know if this design was pirated or was used with permission, but vintage Topps football collectors should recognize the design, modeled after the 1960 set.

Pascual Perez was a popular fighter in Argentina and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He's got other cards from the late-1950s on but I always liked this one.

1965 Crack Golazo Pascual Perez



Arthur

Here's a 1951 AJ Donaldson Sugar Ray Robinson


A 1951-52 Denia card of Sixto Escobar. One of the few (if only) "playing days" cards for this IBHOFer. The set is from Puerto Rico and has some expensive baseball cards in it as well.

I thought I would forego posting some more boxing cards temporarily in order to show the Jack Dempsey/Jess Willard fight from 1919, in which Dempsey became the heavyweight champion of the world. I should warn you though, the fight is nothing short of brutal. Despite coming in at a half-foot taller and 50 pounds heavier than Dempsey, Willard -- who had never even been knocked down in a fight before, and who had won the title from the great Jack Johnson -- was absolutely destroyed in one of the most brutal rounds of boxing ever seen. Willard was knocked down seven times in the first round alone. The final tally? One of Willard's cheekbones had caved in, his jaw was broken, his nose was broken, he had 4 broken ribs, had many teeth knocked out, and had lost the hearing in one of his ears.

Dempsey had fought with an immense fear, as Willard had approached his manager Doc Kearns prior to the fight requesting legal immunity in case he killed Dempsey in the ring. Dempsey later said that he was convinced that Willard was going to try to kill him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyj1JKKiBT8

I have a complete set of the 1937 Churchman issue.

When put up against yours, that's like comparing a 1985 Tom Brunansky and a T206 Wagner!

Great cards...thanks for sharing them.