"Peerless" Jim Driscoll defends his British World Featherweight Title against seasoned challenger, Frank "Spike" Robson, for a second time. This fight would signal the end of Robson's 12-year career. More info below...
Jim Driscoll is considered one of the best little men in the sport. He had turned to boxing as a youngster to fight his way out of poverty and before tunring pro in 1901, is reported to have had around 600 amateur fights in Wales. In his first year as a professional, Driscoll won all 12 of his fights, 9 by KO. He had instantly made his mark on the division. He would remain undefeated for the next 2 1/2 years and racked up a record of 32 wins and 3 draws. In August of 1904 Driscoll suffered his first defeat against Harry Mansfield, losing over 10 rounds, a man whom he had previously drawn with back in September of 1902. Other than a surprising and unexpected loss in 1905 during a 3-round bout with future Welsh Lightweight Champion, Johnnie Owens, Driscoll bounced back strong and in 1906 he won the British Featherweight title by stopping Jack Roberts in 7. In 1908 he added the inaugural Commonwealth Featherweight title to his waist when he beat New Zealander Charlie Griffon, by disqualification. Driscoll was being recognized as a serious contender and was nicknamed "Peerless" as there was nobody in the UK who could match his power and skill. So, in Nov 1908 he travelled State side, and started competing around Philadelphia and Boston against the leading featherweights and lightweights the USA had to offer. After picking up 8 wins in a row, a mixture of newspaper decisions and legitimate contests (only winning one by knockout which happened to be a rematch with Charlie Griffon), Driscoll was paired with arguably the best Featherweight the USA ever produced - Abe Attell. In 1909 Attell was the recognized World Featherweight Champion however his contest with Driscoll was not for the title and after 20 close rounds, a newspaper decision was awarded to Driscoll. Driscoll pushed for Attell to have a rematch and to put the World Featherweight title on the line but, Attell refused. So, Driscoll returned to the UK where because of his newspaper victory over Attell (which is not an OFFICIAL win) European boxing authorities were recognizing him as THEIR World Featherweight Champion. His second defense of his new British World title was against Spike Robson in their first encounter, which Driscoll won by KO in Rd 15. Driscoll returned to the States in 1910 but due to illness his second visit to the USA didn't go as well. He challenged Freddie Welsh for the European Lightweight title in Dec 1910 on US soil but was disqualified after 10 rounds for repeated headbutts against his larger opponent and quickly returned to the UK once again for a rematch with Spike Robson.
Spike Robson had turned pro in 1899 and won various lightly regarded English titles at differing weights between 122-126lbs. In 1905 and 1906 he competed for the vacant British Featherlight title against Joe Bowker and Johnny Summers respectively but he was beaten on points over 20 rounds on both occasions. With a respectable record of 26 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw and 1 NC, Robson travelled to the States to try his luck and he had average success winning 3 newspaper decisions, drew twice and lost once. He returned to the UK in Dec 1906 where he had a rematch with Johnny Summers for the British Featherweight title which he won after Summers was disqualified for hitting Robson while he was down - a shallow victory. For the next couple of years Ronson fought between the USA and UK, vacating the British Featherweight title to do so, but he failed to make any serious impact. His last win of any kind came in 1907 when he knocked out a debuting boxer in the 3rd round but less than a month later his match against Dick Lee was called a no contest because neither man was "giving his all". Robson's career was on the slide... in April 1908, Robson was knocked out in 3 rounds by World Lightweight Champion Joe Gans, the worst defeated of his career. The following month, Robson drew with Terry McGovern in McGovern's final fight. Robson took a 2 year hiatus from boxing but in 1910 he returned to face Jim Driscoll for the British World Featherweight title, getting knockout out in the 15th Round. He entered the rematch with Driscoll holding a total record of 27 wins, 10 losses, 5 draws and 4 no contests.
The rematch between Driscoll and Robson was basically a repeat of their first encounter except it was over much quicker. Robson just didn't have that much left in the tank and didn't appear to have the arsenal to hurt Driscoll although at least he did give it his all. Interestingly, depending on the source material this fight was either stopped in the 7th or 11th round... Boxrec says 7th, this footage says 11th. Either way, a solid win
20 сен 2024
