Stanley Ketchel vs Billy Papke IV

Middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel goes the full 20 round distance with former champion Billy Papke in their fourth and last fight.

Highlights of rounds 1, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19 & 20

Ketchel in the black trunks
Papke in white

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• stanley
• michigan
• assassin
• ketchel
• billy
• illinois
• thunderbolt
• papke
• old
• school
• boxing
• boxer
• ko
• knockout
• tko
• wrestling
• slugging
• slugfest
• brawling
• brawl
• jack
• johnson
• dempsey
• sam
• langford
• middleweight
• title
• champion
• defense
• win
• loss

[chunkyscotty]

Boxers didnt seem as good in those day compared to now. They seemed to do more clinching and wresteling than punching. I realize they had to fight that way to conserve energy in the long fights. But I dont think they would do very well against the likes of Hagler, Leonard, Hearns etc.

[TheGreatA]

To be fair both of them broke their hands early on in the fight.

Watch another old fight I posted between Mexican Joe Rivers and Willie Ritchie to see some better action.

[Cezanne]

Stanley Ketchel is my idol. He was a beast with a tricky style that befuddled opponents.

[Hank1974]

@chunkyscotty Wrestling takes far more energy than throwing punches. That was just the style back then because it wasn't that long before, during bare-knuckle fights, you were allowed to throw opponents to the ground (which would signal the end of a round).

I also disagree that fighters from that era were worse than today's. Boxing's the one sport where I think past champs translate well over time. They went 20+ rounds. Nobody could do that now.

BTW, Ketchel = P4P top 10 all time.

[coxscorner]

This was one of the most dispappointing fights of both of their careers. The was clearly the worst of their series, here they are both hurt and going through the motions. It's a shame really that this is the one with a surviving film.

[PureBoxerP4P]

lol talk about a tan line.

[MrBumboclart]

@ronnietsu to distract their opponent

[ronnietsu]

how come they would show their ass back then

[AllanWellsfanclub]

Ketchel gave Philly Jack O'Brien a torrid time in an ND bout and KO'd him in three in a rtn bout. he deffo had skills.

[MADMAC572]

@chunkyscotty It was early in the development of the sport and athletes didn't have the advantages then of modern training methods. So no, fighters then were not as technically proficient as they are today. Today they have the advantage that they can learn from the development of generations preceeding and have modern medecine, modern dieticians, etc. to make them more competetive.

[marcxopoco]

The speed is too fast--standard problem for many youtube videos.

[marcxopoco]

@chunkyscotty is a self proclaimed youtube boxing "expert."

LOL

[Hoosiercorporal]

@JGmartinezJr In the late 1890s and early 1900s, boxers often wore those type of trunks that were cut very short, and left part of the buttocks exposed. Surprising, considering that was the tail-end of the Victorian era, isn't it?