Canadian cruiserweight hope Ryan Rozicki is looking ahead to his fight with Chris Billam-Smith on Saturday but well aware of what has gone before him in boxing.
Rozicki is fascinated by boxing history; not his place in it, but the old-timers between about 1910 and 195 more specifically.
Sure, he might talk to you about James Toney or Mike Tyson, but the passion isn’t the same as when you go back into the black and white era.
And he remembers where it all came from, seeing Jack Dempsey brutalise poor Jess Willard in one of the most one-sided heavyweight routs of all time.
“That was the first boxing match I’ve ever seen on film,” Rozicki recalls.
“That’s what sparked my interest in old-school boxing and Dempsey in particular. I thought when I started boxing that boxing was for sissies because they wore gloves. I had to box; I was put into boxing from the youth justice system. I didn’t want to do it, but when I saw that particular fight, I was like, ‘Oh, well, this is not. He’s not a sissy. This is serious.’”
It was in 1919 that the ‘Manassa Mauler’ mauled Willard, leaving the ring with what reports listed as a broken jaw, a broken cheekbone, broken ribs, a partial loss of hearing in one ear and a damaged set of teeth.
“’This is violent,’” Rozicki thought. “That’s what drew me to boxing. He [Willard] was knocked down seven times. There was actually nine knockdowns. There was a couple that weren’t counted, but seven times in the first round. Everything I saw Dempsey do in that fight, it drew me to boxing because I know from experience outside the ring, get someone from behind, they can’t see it coming. That’s the best way to get somebody.”
Of course, all those years ago, there were stories of illegal tactics in the old days, from loaded gloves to gloves that had had padding removed.
“Listen, I don’t know. Dempsey, I’m sure he probably took some padding [out],” Rozicki smiled.
“I would never say it to his face if he was here, but Dempsey would do anything to win. Like you said, the way he went to go around Willard’s back [to punch from the side], he’s the reason that there was a neutral corner rule put in place. It was because he didn’t give opponents a chance to get up. He was there to finish the fight. Dempsey would do anything to win. Look at the fight against Jack Sharkey. Hit him low, as soon as he looks to the ref to complain, knock him out.”
Rozicki is usually pretty deadpan but the fire in his eyes lights up at the mention of Dempsey. He’s devoured almost all he can on the former heavyweight star.
Rozicki would be around Dempsey’s size if the former heavyweight was boxing today but he has enough reverence to not talk smack about fighting the great Dempsey.
“Wouldn’t be good for me,” he said, had they shared a ring. “I don’t think it would last very long, but I would, yeah. He’s definitely in my top 10 [heavyweights] of all time.”
But didn’t he dodge a lot of opponents?
“No, I don’t think he did,” Rozicki argued.
“I think his handlers kept him away from certain fighters because they knew that Dempsey was coming at you. He might have been the first one to actually have a world championship that was only 10 rounds. They knew he was like dynamite in those first few rounds but then, if you look at his late [rounds] fights, didn’t do so well.”
Talking about how Dempsey crossed into the mainstream, with a Hollywood bride and celebrity fans, the Canadian was quick to add: “Got a nose job… Once he got to New York, he never wanted to go back.”
But while Rozicki was a fan of the brutal Dempsey, he also has the capacity to appreciate the artistry of, yes, someone like Pernell Whitaker, but going back far further, Willie Pep.
“I give them all the credit,” he said of the defensive wizards. “Although particularly, I watched the ‘50s back, I still do,” he said.
“Willie Pep, Will o’ the Wisp, he was the only fighter in history to win a round without throwing a punch. I actually watched a little bit of Pernell. He was unbelievable. I go through periods where I’ll watch it [old fights]. Eight hours straight. I’ll get into a fighter and then I want to learn everything about them and I’ll watch every fight I can find. I got actually, I haven’t said this yet, but I have a collection of fights that have never been seen before that are on VCR that was recorded by my old coach. He just died last year, but he was in his 90s.
“He was really close with Charlie Goldman and Rocky Marciano’s trainer. He used to tape all the fights back in the day. I have these fights that I can sit there for months watching these fights that have never been seen.”
Rozicki understands the theory posed by some that Harry Greb could be the greatest of them all, even though no fight footage exists of him. But has he looked through all of the tapes to see if there’s a Greb match on there?
“I’m not going to say that if it’s there because people will be coming looking for it,” he smirked.
But Marciano, incidentally, was underrated defensively, and that is something Rozicki hastily agrees with.
“100 per cent, Marciano’s a good example, yeah. It’s just people today that just don’t get it because they think everything is a certain way and if they see this, they think it’s just sloppy brawling or something, but they just don’t understand the subtle things that these guys are doing. They don’t understand that the gloves are smaller, so you couldn’t block punches. You know, there’s other ways to defend against punches.”
And while modern boxing might not be Rozicki’s thing, he does appreciate the sentiments of Zuffa Boxing – who he fights for this weekend – in their efforts to install one set of rankings and one champion in each weight class.
Unsurprisingly, that rings true with the old school Rozicki.
“Yeah, I’m all for it,” he said. “I’m here for it. It’s something I always said to myself, not out loud, but what they’re doing and their plans is, I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
“That’s the way it used to be. One champ and he had to fight the next best guy. He loses, he fights the next best guy. It’s very simple. That’s the way it should be.”
(Photo: Zuffa Boxing)