Joe Bowker was a British boxer who was world bantamweight champion from 1904 to 1905.
13 Facts About Joe Bowker
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2.
Chicago bantamweight Harry Harris, who traveled to London in 1902 to fight Pedlar Palmer for the world title, saw the young Joe Bowker spar and was impressed with his style and poise.
3.
Joe Bowker is very quick but he did not impress me as being much of a puncher.
4.
Joe Bowker defeated Harry Ware in London for the British bantamweight championship on 15 December 1902, and successfully defended his title four times, beating Andrew Tokell, Bill King, Alf Fellows, and Owen Moran.
5.
On 17 October 1904 in London, Joe Bowker defeated Frankie Neil of San Francisco for the world bantamweight championship.
6.
In taking the world title from Neil, it was reported that Joe Bowker was the "first foreigner" to win a world boxing championship.
7.
On 20 March 1905, in London, Joe Bowker knocked out Thomas "Pedlar" Palmer in the twelfth round to capture the British featherweight title.
8.
In 1906, Joe Bowker confessed to reporters that he was too heavy at 115 pounds to defend his title.
9.
Joe Bowker subsequently abandoned his world bantamweight title and moved up to the featherweight division.
10.
The match between Attell and Joe Bowker was billed as "one of the most important international events" ever staged in England.
11.
On 7 May 1910, a slimmer Joe Bowker captured his fourth boxing title with an eighth-round knockout of Jean Audouy of France for the bantamweight championship of Europe.
12.
In 2008, Joe Bowker was ranked 74th on the all-time "top 100 British boxers" list, as compiled by Ron Lewis of The London Times.
13.
The error may have originated from a book published in 1986 in which author Denis Fleming recalled a meeting with Joe Bowker that had taken place more than a half-century earlier.