1. Joseph William Baksi was an American professional boxer ranked in the top 10 of the heavyweight division during the 1940s.
31 Facts About Joe Baksi
1. 2.
Joe Baksi possessed one of the best iron chins in boxing history.
3.
Joe Baksi was a child of the Kulpmont, Pennsylvania coal mines.
4.
Joe Baksi's parents were Slovakians who emigrated from Austria-Hungary to Pennsylvania, where his father was a coal miner.
5.
Joe Baksi beat nine boxers that year, including the future movie actor Jack Palance at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York.
6.
Joe Baksi campaigned over the boxing circuit for a number of years, until he got his first big match with Tami Mauriello on February 25,1944 at Madison Square Garden.
7.
Tami was floored late in the first round with a left hook by Joe Baksi, and was down for a nine count.
8.
Joe Baksi was the favorite to beat Lee Savold two weeks later at the Garden, having the weight advantage and coming off his victory over Mauriello.
9.
Joe Baksi got off to a slow start, and though he showed advantage in the ninth and tenth rounds Savold boxed his way with left hooks and jabs to win a split decision that night.
10.
Joe Baksi was in better shape that night, and fought a careful fight, out "left-handing" Savold, who was thought to have the best southpaw amongst the heavyweight contenders.
11.
Joe Baksi went on to beat Savold again on August 7,1944.
12.
Joe Baksi had a 25-pound advantage over Oma, and corresponding advantages in height, reach, and punching power.
13.
Joe Baksi made a late comeback in the fight, but lost the fight by a unanimous decision.
14.
Joe Baksi scored easy decisions against Lee Dixie Oliver and Larry Lane, and then fought a thirty-one-year-old Jersey Joe Walcott.
15.
Walcott's dancing and dodging allowed him to escape Joe Baksi's reach, and he was able to get in enough hooks to make Joe Baksi groggy.
16.
Joe Baksi lost his next fight with Jimmy Bell, but then racked up four easy wins before traveling to Europe.
17.
Joe Baksi left for Europe on October 9,1946 to fight the two British champions.
18.
Joe Baksi first defeated British light heavy weight champion Freddie Mills.
19.
Joe Baksi was sluggish in the first round, but Mills suffered a cut in his right eye in the second round, and his left eye in the third.
20.
Joe Baksi then went on to fight British heavyweight champion Bruce Woodcock on 15 April 1947.
21.
Joe Baksi floored Woodcock three times in the first round and twice in the second.
22.
Woodcock made a comeback in the fifth, but Joe Baksi was scoring at will when the referee stopped it in the seventh.
23.
At Hickleton Main Colliery, Joe Baksi was confronted by an angry juvenile, Brian Blessed, who was distraught that the American boxer had defeated his hero, Bruce Woodcock.
24.
Joe Baksi visited Butlin's Holiday Camp at Filey to meet up with Woodcock who was staying there with his wife and they were pictured together.
25.
Joe Baksi presented the 'Baksi Cup' to Sean Mansfield, the boxer putting up 'the best performance of the evening'.
26.
Joe Baksi was going into the ring with 6 straight victories, while Tandberg had been fighting only since 1943, and only against local fighters.
27.
Joe Baksi was still the third ranked heavyweight contender, behind Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles, and ahead of Lee Savold, when he scheduled a fight with Ezzard Charles.
28.
Joe Baksi then made a comeback attempt in 1954, fighting Billy Smith, whom he knocked out in the first round.
29.
Joe Baksi had little to offer except courage and stamina, and lost by unanimous decision.
30.
Joe Baksi then became a teamster and later an ironworker and joined the International Brotherhood of Ironworkers.
31.
Joe Baksi died of a heart attack at Albany Medical Center in August 1977 aged 55.