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Fighting Mike: 1908

New York circa 1908. "Mike Glover." South Boston welterweight Michael J. Cavanaugh, shown here around age 18, died in 1917 after contracting "a severe cold" while training for what would be his last fight, a bout with Ted Lewis. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

New York circa 1908. "Mike Glover." South Boston welterweight Michael J. Cavanaugh, shown here around age 18, died in 1917 after contracting "a severe cold" while training for what would be his last fight, a bout with Ted Lewis. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Boxers were a more rugged breed back then

Mike had a total of 94 fights in an 8-year career. Some of the fights were only a few days apart and on at least two occasions he fought twice in the same day. Today, the average boxer probably wouldn't fight more than 35 or 40 times over an 8-year stretch.

[Unofficially he had even more. His obituary says he started boxing when he was 13. It's interesting to note that he won his final (fatal) bout. And that his illness lasted for over a year. - Dave]

World's Champeen

... for less than a month.

Glover beat Matt Wells for the world welterweight title in June 1915 and lost it to Jack Britton before the month was out. According to the boxing history sites I visited, both fights were in Boston, though there's a discrepancy as to the date of Fighting Mike's title defense. Depending on whom you believe, he wore the crown for either two or three weeks.

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