The Longest Fights in Boxing History

When it comes to boxing trivia, one of the most popular questions that people want answering is ‘What was the longest fight ever?’  Unfortunately with the complicated history that comes with the sport, it isn’t always as straight forward to answer as it would seem.  There have been numerous changes to the rules and ‘longest’ is quite an inexact term to use in this context.  Whenever I see a fight referred to as the ‘longest’, ‘first’, ‘last’ or ‘only’, I make a note of it and have ended up with a fair sized list of very similarly worded expressions.  These are easily mixed up, usually because some say ‘title fight’ or ‘heavyweight title fight’ and also some may be SCHEDULED for a long time but not last the distance.  Here, I’ve done my best to unravel the definitions and hopefully clear up the confusion (and, dare I say it, have diffused the occasional boxing forum slanging match!)

Most Rounds in a Fight: 276

Before the good old Marquis of Queensbury came along with his 3 minute rounds (actually, he didn’t write the rules, just put his name to them) boxing matches were much more brutal affairs and instead of a fighter getting regular intervals to catch his breath the round ended whenever there was a knockdown.  The decked boxer would then have 30 seconds to make it to his feet and back to the line in the middle of the ring known as ‘the scratch’, hence the term being ‘up to scratch’ meaning to meet a required standard.   Also bouts would usually be fights to the finish and as you can imagine this led to some quite lengthy scraps, so when Patsy Tunney squared up with Jack Jones in Cheshire, England some time in 1825 I doubt either of them bargained on being there four and a half hours and 276 rounds later.  There isn’t any record of who won but I’d imagine even the victor was glad to be done after that marathon.

 

 

Longest Fight with Gloves: 7 hours 19 minutes

On April 6^th 1893 two talented lightweight fighters met at the Olympic Club in New Orleans.  Andy Bowen was a stocky slugger who would stand his ground and sometimes take three or four punches in order to dish just one back out.  He’d fought a 43 round draw against Charley Johnson in 1890 so was no stranger to having long matches.  Jack Burke was lightweight champion of Texas but somewhat less experienced than Bowen.  In the early hours of the next morning the referee Professor John Duffy called the fight a ‘No Contest’ as neither fighter was in a fit state to continue and the $2,500 purse was split.  They’d been at it for 110 rounds and over 7 hours – an incredible feat by any standard.  Burke had broken every single bone in both of his hands during the fight and almost retired afterwards but did carry on for a short while.  He lived until 1942.

Bowen was less lucky and during a bout against ‘Kid’ Lavigne the year after he fought Burke, he hit his head on the wooden ring surface after a knockdown and was killed at the age of 27.

 

 

Most Rounds in a Title Fight: 136

Arthur Chambers was a naval man from Salford, England who began fighting after his retirement from the seas, emigrating to America in 1871 and winning the American lightweight title the following year.  A native of Galway, Ireland, John Clarke had previously been a dancer but decided on making a living with his fists rather than his feet.  The two men met for the first time on March 27^th, Chambers beating Clarke in 136 rounds to defend his title.  They then had a rematch just 4 days later but the police stopped proceedings (probably mercifully) after just 2 rounds and it was called a ‘No Decision’.

               

Most Rounds in a Title Fight under Queensbury Rules: 45

Jack Dempsey successfully defended his middleweight title in 45 rounds against Johnny Reagan in 1887 in just over an hour.  The fight took place after a heavy downpour and was fought in deep mud before having to be moved to a second ring midway through the bout.

2 years later in 1889 Paddy Duffy beat Tom Meadows in San Francisco for his world welterweight title over the same distance.

               

Most Rounds in a Fight under Queensbury Rules: 77

According to boxing folklore, when Harry Sharp fought Frank Crosby on February 2nd 1892 in Nameoki, Illinois the conditions were so harsh that even the referee didn’t last the distance.  After swigging from a flask of liquor, allegedly to stave off a cold, the man who was supposed to be officiating collapsed and the two combatants carried on regardless.  In the 76^th round both men struck simultaneous blows which led to a double knockdown, but Crosby hit his head and was finished off by Sharp soon after.

Most Rounds in a 20^th Century Fight: 49

In April 1909 in Paris, Sam McVea took on Joe Jeanette.  McVea collapsed and was unable to continue the fight at the start of the 49^th round having been knocked down 27 times, although not before managing to knock over Jeanette 19 times himself.

Last Scheduled 45 Round (World Heavyweight Title) Fight: Jack Johnson v Jess Willard (05/04/1915)

Since 1908, when he’d beaten Tommy Burns for the world heavyweight title, Jack Johnson had been a stone in the shoe of the establishment in America.  They simply weren’t ready for a black world champion and did everything they could to make life difficult for him, eventually putting a warrant out for his arrest for violating The Mann Act which prohibited interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes” (the female in question being his wife!)

So Johnson went on the run fighting twice in France and once in Argentina before he was persuaded to take on Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba, in the April of 1915.  In the ferocious heat, an out of shape Johnson took control of the early rounds before being knocked out by the giant Kansas cowboy in the 23^rd round.  Rumours came about that he had thrown the fight (he looks to be shielding his eyes from the sun whilst listening to the count in footage of the fight) but it’s unlikely this was the case.  As Willard said afterwards, “If he was going to throw the fight, I wish he’d done it sooner.  It was hotter than hell out there.”

N.B. Notice the words ‘World Heavyweight Title’ in brackets as it was the last scheduled 45 round match of any kind, it just happened to be for the world heavyweight title.

               

Last 20 Round Title Fight: Mike McTigue v Battling Siki (17/03/1923)

A Dublin cinema plum in the middle of the Irish Civil War when gunfire could be heard in the streets outside doesn’t sound like an ideal venue to stage a world title bout, but that’s what happened on St Patrick’s Day 1923.  The bout was, by most accounts, a fairly dull encounter with McTigue winning on points.

Last Fight to the Finish: Sam Langford v Jim Savage (31/03/1923)

The squat, barrel chested and rangy Langford is often said to be one of the greatest fighters never to claim a world title.  In 1923 the 40 year old whose sight was hugely diminished still took the Mexican heavyweight title in 3 rounds.

 

 

Last 10 Round Title Fight: Gene Tunney v Jack Dempsey (22/09/1927)

When the defending champion Dempsey had faced Tunney for the first time in 1926, the New York Boxing Licence Committee refused to give Dempsey a licence to box in the state unless he fought Harry Wills, the mandatory challenger first.  So it was decided to move the fight to Philadelphia where, due to the fragmented nature of the sport at the time, boxing matches were limited to 10 rounds.

 Tunney outthought and outfought Dempsey and took the title on points leaving the door open to a return match the following year.  Better remembered as ‘The Long Count Fight’, for years it was argued that Dempsey had Tunney on the canvas in the seventh for way over 10 seconds after he put together an eight punch combination that floored Tunney for the first time in his career.  But due to new rules stating a boxer must move to a neutral corner if they knock their opponent down, the referee had delayed his count until Dempsey had done as he was told.

But I digress.  This was the last 10 round world title fight in boxing history and they would get a lot longer before they’d get shorter.

Last 20 Round Fight: Max Baer v King Levinsky (04/07/1932)

The clown prince of the heavyweights, Max Baer beat King Levinsky in Reno, Nevada on July 4^th 1932.  Independence Day boxing matches were quite a big tradition in the first half of the 20th century but it seems to have gone by the wayside in recent times.

 

 

Last Scheduled 20 Round Heavyweight Title Fight: Joe Louis v Abe Simon (21/03/1941)

Supposedly Abe Simon’s trainer brought in Jack Johnson to impart some of his ring wisdom during training for his first of two bouts with Joe Louis who was into the fourth year of his championship tenure.  It seems that it all came to nothing though as The Brown Bomber knocked Simon out in the 13 round.

 

 

Last Scheduled 25 Round Fight: Bill Poland v Eddie Blunt (27/08/1941)

This is one fight I didn’t know about until very recently when I laid my hands on a copy of Nat Fleischer’s Ring Record Book from 1967.  Poland, a protégé of Jack Dempsey’s former manager Jack Kearns, got off the canvas to beat Blunt in the 4^th round.

 

 

Last 17 Round Fight: Bobby Ruffin v Bobby McIntyre (17/03/1943)

This New Orleans featherweight contest was scheduled for 20 rounds but Ruffin finished it in the 17^th.  It remains the last fight to ever go past 15 rounds.

Last Scheduled 20 Round Fight: Brian Kelly v Alonzo Harris (01/06/1971)

Promoter Pat O’Grady was able to schedule this bout for 20 rounds in Oklahoma which made for an excellent sales gimmick.  It made it to the halfway point with the referee stepping in to save Harris in the 10^th.

Last 15 Round Heavyweight Title Fight: Larry Holmes v Michael Spinks (19/04/1986)

Depending on who you believe, the switch from 15 rounds to 12 rounds was either brought about to improve the safety of the sport following the death of Duk Koo Kim when he slipped into a coma and died after being knocked out by Ray Mancini in the 14^th round of their November 1982 match….OR it was noticed that more money could be made if a match could be fitted into a one hour television slot.  I’ll let you make your own mind up on that matter.

Either way, in April 1986, history was made when a heavyweight title match went 15 rounds for the last time.  Michael Spinks had sprung a massive upset when he became the first reigning light heavyweight champion to beat a reigning heavyweight champion, aswell as destroying Holmes’ undefeated record the previous year.  This time around Spinks was put under a lot more pressure but the outcome was the same and he won by decision.

Last 15 Round Title Fight: Samuth Sithnaruepol v In-KyuHwang (29/08/1988)

With the IBF minimum weight title at stake, Samuth Sithnaruepol  beat In-KyuHwang in Bangkok, Thailand by unanimous decision.  It was the last time a belt for one of the four major sanctioning bodies was contested over 15 rounds.

Last 15 Round Fight: Jose Alfredo Flores v Eric Holland (07/07/1997)

And so, on the grounds of safety, just 15 short years after the death of Duk Koo Kim, Jose Alfredo Flores defended his World Boxing Board middleweight title against Eric Holland in New Mexico by split decision and the door was shut on the era of the 15 round boxing match.  For good?....