THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
was already hackneyed. But that didn’t stop fighters from using it. “Most every one of the minor boxers is called Kid,” wrote a Pennsylvania sportswriter in 1912. “This is an inexpressive title and by constant use has become stale and unprofitable and, therefore, monotonous.” As outdated as it may have already seemed in 1912, the name only increased in usage. The name had swagger and bite. It just sounded good, with its promise of speed and youth. Maybe it seemed a bit threatening, too, conjuring images of Henry McCarty, aka William Bonney, aka the gunslinger known as Billy the Kid, or such notorious New York gangsters as Abe “Kid Twist” Reles of Murder, Inc. One of the earliest instances of the Kid nickname in boxing was a bareknuckle fighter from New York known as Barry the Kid, who fought Young Siddons in December 1865. Battling by candlelight in a hotel ballroom near Flushing, Long
Island, Siddons won, giving the kid a beating that the Brooklyn Union dubbed “shocking to contemplate.” And Siddons didn’t look so hot, either. The Kids kept coming as if no other nickname would do. There was The Alabama Kid, who had nearly 300 fights, and The Alligator Kid of St. Louis, who fought only once. There were a dozen Kid Dynamites, a dozen Kid Maxwells, about 20 Kid Logans, and even more Kid Fosters. There were close to 40 Kid Morgans, and more than 100 Kid Kellys. Before Jack Dempsey got famous, he was Kid Blackie. There were enough Kid Murphys to fill out the rosters of four Major League Baseball teams, including one, a New Jersey-born dynamo named
Peter Frascella, who fought as Kid Murphy and was a claimant to both the American “paperweight” title in 1906, and the 110-pound title in 1907. His son fought in the 1920s and was also known as Kid Murphy. There were multiple Zulu Kids, but the most famous was a New Yorker named Mike Fleming. He used the name in the 1910s and had over 100 fights. During those same years, there was also Brooklyn’s Giuseppe Di Melfi, who fought as Young Zulu Kid, the Fighting Newsboy. There was the great Mexican welterweight Kid Azteca and two knockoffs known as The Aztec Kid, one of whom hailed from Michigan. There was Kid Rattlesnake and the Butter Krust Kid and the Cactus Kid, and quite a few Coca Cola Kids. There were five Kangaroo Kids, none of whom were from Australia. There were numerous Panama Kids, Arizona Kids and Colorado Kids. There were two
Light heavyweight contender William “Kid Chocolate” Guthrie outpointed John Kiser in 1996.
Featherweight king Hogan “Kid” Bassey poses with his Ring championship belt in 1958.
54 RINGMAGAZINE.COM
RINGMAGAZINE.COM 55
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker