MAULED BY THE ‘TOY BULLDOG’
Staged 90 years ago this week, Walkermilligan was the first world title fight Britain witnessed in the 1920s
EVERY once in a while a fight comes along that captures public imagination to a degree where other sporting events pale into insignificance. Benn–mcclellan, Hatton–tszyu, Joshua–klitschko in modern times. For 1920s Britain, Mickey Walker-tommy Milligan was one such fight.
Mickey, a New Jersey native nicknamed the “Toy Bulldog”, was one of the toughest, bravest and most formidable fighters of all time. Remarkably, he fought from welter to heavyweight at world level though only 5ft 7in. In 1922, he beat Jack Britton for the world welterweight crown and held it for four years. Audaciously, though then only a welter, in July 1925 Mickey challenged Harry Greb for world middleweight honours, conceding half a stone. Greb rightly got the decision, but 17 months later Mickey took the 160lb title from Harry’s successor, Tiger Flowers.
For his first middleweight defence, Mickey’s manager, the ultra-shrewd Jack ‘Doc’ Kearns, agreed for him to come to London. But the bout’s promoter, theatrical impresario Charles B. Cochran, had to offer a massive purse to get him there (reports of exactly how much vary).
The man chosen to tackle Walker was Scotland’s Tommy Milligan, the reigning British middleweight ruler. Milligan was noted for his boxing skill, punch precision and workmanlike performances. He’d won the British, Empire and European welterweight titles from the great Ted Kid Lewis in 1924, and captured the middleweight versions of all three after moving to 160lbs the following year. Fine wins over domestic rivals George West and Ted Moore, and reigning British light-heavy ruler Tom Berry, made Tommy Britain’s worthiest aspirant to the 160lb world crown.
Though ridiculous with hindsight, UK opinion of Milligan was so high that he was a two-to-one bookies’ favourite. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kearns bet Walker’s whole purse on the outcome.
To prepare for the fight, Milligan bought an old army hut and turned it into a gym at Craigneuk near his home. By contrast, Walker’s training quarters were deluxe. He set up camp at Tagg’s Island, a pleasure resort for the ultrarich in the River Thames, near Hampton Court. Visitors had to be ferried there on small boats. Mickey trained in a ring pitched outside the island’s opulent hotel and entertainment complex.
The match took place at Olympia on June 30, 1927. Milligan boxed cleverly to win some early rounds and going into the sixth may even have had a slight lead. But in that round Walker cashed in on the body shots he’d been landing, which had slowed the Brit up. Several hooks to the jaw had Tommy in trouble but the bell saved him. In the seventh, Milligan looked dazed and was floored twice, but somehow he rallied in the eighth and survived another two counts in the ninth.
By the 10th, however, the Scot had nothing left but his courage. A right put him down and he got up only to be felled again by a vicious Walker combination. The referee counted to ‘10’ but needn’t have bothered. Tommy was flat on his back.
“He made a mess of me,” the Scot said afterwards. “He’s a wonderful fighter, and that left hook of his is deadly.”