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On
the way to his championship years (1927-1929) as a
light-heavy, Tommy Loughran served a spell as chief sparring
partner for Jack Dempsey. Several days before the first
Tunney bout, Loughran outboxed Dempsey by a city block for
three rounds in the champ's final workout.
Afterward, Dempsey asked a friend: "Well, how'd I look
today?"
"Fine," the man said.
"You're crazy!" Dempsey snapped.
"Tommy made me look terrible and you know it! Tunney would
have murdered me today."
Tommy Loughran made a lot of sluggers look terrible. He was a
master boxer. Attesting to his defensive skill, he was
kayoed only twice in 227 bouts--by Jack Sharkey and Steve
Hamas. He fought 14 men who held world titles at one time or
another: Mike McTigue, Harry Greb, Tunney, Johnny Wilson,
Jack Delaney, Georges Carpentier, Jimmy Slattery, Pete Latzo,
Mickey Walker, Jim Braddock, Sharkey, Baer, Carnera and Al
McCoy.
Loughran stood 5 ft., 11 in. and weighed 175. He fought
professionally for 19 years (1919-1937) and started out as a
knockout specialist. The record book credits him with a
lifetime total of only 18 KO's. Eleven of these were scored
in the first two years. "But then I broke my right hand ,"
Tommy said. "I fought most of my career with a broken hand.
Nobody knew anything about it. I could take a guy out with
my left hand, but I always held back, because I knew if I
hurt the left mit I was through. So I stopped going for
kayoes and concentrated on the smart stuff." Between 1926
and mid-1935, Tommy didn't score a single KO.
With no punch to rely on, Loughran developed finesse by
shadow-boxing in front of a full-length mirror to the
playing of phonograph records.
"Those records gave me a perfect sense of time," Tommy said.
"They ran just under three minutes, about the distance of a
regulation round, and I got so I instinctively knew just
when a round would end. Folks were always amazed that I was
always in my own corner when a round ended. Bong! would go
the bell and I'd simply step back and sit down on my stool.
The other guy would have to trudge all the way back to the
other side of the ring--a long way back in a 15-round fight.
Because I knew when the round would end, I'd maneuver myself
around the ring so I'd be in my corner when the bell rang.
It gave me a big psychological advantage. It made it appear
that I was in control of myself and the ring whenever it
happened. It also saved my legs." |
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John D. McCallum
The Encyclopedia Of World Boxing Champions
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