The Cape Breton Miner Who Boxed The Heavyweight Champion And...

With the largest pay-per-view boxing match of all time happening tonight with boxing's lb-for-lb champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and MMA's champion Irishman Conor McGregor, I found myself thinking about the history of boxing in Cape Breton.

In so doing, I stumbled upon a story of a man called "The Cape Breton Miner" with an interesting legacy in the fight world. He was born in 1877 and managed to fight two heavyweight champions. Boxrec.com says some historians suggest the first champion he fought, James J. Jeffries "The Boilermaker", was "the single greatest heavyweight in history".

Jack Munroe was somewhat of an unlikely man to fight for the heavyweight title. In fact, it's suggested he may not have known much about how to even throw a proper jab, though he was tough enough to slug it out.

What he did know well was how to work hard and street fight. He grew up in Cape Breton, likely had his share of fisticuffs, and worked hard in the mines. Before meeting the champion, he had fought in 13 bouts. They were all in the United States. He won 11 of them, had a draw in two, and lost only his first fight by points.

While working at a rock mine in Montana, the heavyweight champion came to town and offered $250 to anyone that could last four rounds with him. Munroe stepped up, went toe to toe with the champ, and earned his $250. However, in somewhat of a Rocky-like plotline, that exhibition match landed him a title shot against the champ in San Francisco in 1904. When the newspapers took an interest in that exhibition match and Munroe's performance in it, there was enough buzz about what happened to make the official bout a reality soon thereafter.

Jack lost quite decisively against the champ, knocked out in Round 2 of a scheduled 20 rounds.

Some speculated that he might have been drugged. That is, of course, impossible to verify, though hardly improbable given the shady background of boxing and its relationship to the gambling world.

Munroe wasn't done with boxing after the loss. Just four fights later, he would go on to fight the legendary Jack Johnson, the first black man to win the heavyweight title, in a time in the United States history filled with racism. Johnson himself was the child of slaves who gained their freedom in the American Civil War.

Newspaper entries suggest Munroe went the distance of the 6 round match with Johnson, though in a losing effort.

The Cape Breton Miner had fought two of the most important heavyweights in the history of boxing. Though he didn't win either, he finished with a career record of 21-3-4, winning 10 times by knockout, and losing by knockout himself only once... 

His losses came at the hands of two boxing legends, and the other during his very first fight. 

Not bad for a tough guy from Cape Breton.

Source: boxrec.com

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