1. Jack Sharkey took his ring name from his two idols, heavyweight contender Tom Sharkey and heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, to gain acceptance in the Irish-dominated boxing world of Boston.
11 Facts About Jack Sharkey
1. 2.
Jack Sharkey won an important fight in 1926 over black heavyweight contender Harry Wills, but his first big year was 1927, when he defeated former light heavyweight champ Mike McTigue in twelve rounds and Boston rival Jim Maloney in five.
3.
For six rounds Sharkey engaged in fierce infighting with Dempsey who had a slight lead on the scorecards.
4.
Between leasing the Carl Fisher mansion on Miami Beach as well as the George Washington Hotel, the latter of which was equipped for the press with a 24-hour bar, the Jack Sharkey-Stribling fight at the old Flamingo Park drew 40,000 fans, including 423 writers, and did $405,000 at the box office, an amount unsurpassed in the South until television receipts for Clay vs Liston in 1964 managed a richer gate.
5.
Jack Sharkey was disqualified in the fourth round after delivering a punch that landed below Schmeling's belt.
6.
In October 1931, Jack Sharkey defeated Italian heavyweight, Primo Carnera and was then given another chance to fight for the title.
7.
Jack Sharkey lost the title on June 29,1933, in his second fight with Primo Carnera.
8.
Jack Sharkey's distinction is noteworthy as Schmeling and Carnera were, respectively, only the third and fourth Europeans to win the world heavyweight championship.
9.
Jack Sharkey took a year off, fought four mediocre fights, and then fought Joe Louis on August 18,1936, losing by knockout in the third round.
10.
Ex-world heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey refereed the world light heavyweight title defense by Archie Moore against Yvon Durelle on December 10,1958, at The Forum, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, one of boxing's first championship televised bouts.
11.
Jack Sharkey refereed the rematch at The Forum, in which Moore knocked down Durelle four times in the third round before knocking him out on August 12,1959.