East Side Boxing
Throughout the history of boxing there have been hundreds
of stories of tragic persons in the sport of boxing, Somr have
died as a result of ring tragedies such as BENNY KID PARET,
DAVEY (the Springfield Rifle) MOORE, and JOHNNY OWEN.
Others have died in tragic accidents such as ZORA FOLLEY,
EDDIE HADDAD, ROCKY MARCIANO and JACK JOHNSON.
Others have been killed by the violence of murder, suicide
or under strange circumstnces. Then there was the 1980 USA
boxing team tragedy when a plane crashed and exploded in
Poland. \
DAVEY S. MOORE - Featherweight Champion
Some lived after a ring death but paid a price with regret
such as GEORGIE SMALL- EMILE GRIFFITH - MAX BAER.
EMILE GRIFFITH - Welterweight and Middleweight Champion
Selected by "Boxing Illustrated" - The Best of the Sixties
Emile was fighting Benny Paret for the welterweight title in 1962
when it ended in tragedy. Despite the inner turmoil, Griffith
continued to defend the title, then after a victory over Texan
MANUEL (Manny) GONZALEZ, Emile faced and defeated
Middleweight Champion DICK TIGER.
ZORA FOLLEY, EDDIE MACHEN, SONNY LISTON
and OSCAR BONAVENA who would have guessed that tragedy
would hit all four.
EDDIE MACHEN (1932 - 1972)
I first remember EDDIE MACHEN from his 12-round bout with
former heavyweight champion FLOYD PATTERSON in July 1964.
It was interesting looking back in old magazines about the
boxing journey of Edward Mills Machen of California.
Then in 1972 came the announcement
that he died from a fall in San Francisco.
During the late Fifties and Sixties, Eddie was a fine boxer
and fought many of the top boxers including a bout with
the soon to be heavyweight champion SONNY LISTON.
Despite and injury, Eddie was able to go the distance with
Sonny. Another of his opponents a couple of times was
another tragic boxing warrior named ZORA FOLLEY.
May 1981 in the "Big Book Of Boxing" published by
G. C. London Publishing Group, publisher Stanley Weston
included a story about the late Eddie Machen titled:
"EDDIE MACHEN: THE SAD LIFE OF A
HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDER
(remembering one of the '60's best).
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