Joe Coburn's family emigrated to America during the Great Irish famine in 1850, when he was around fifteen years of age.
25 Facts About Joe Coburn
1.
2.
Joe Coburn's father Michael was a master of manual trade, and Joe grew up to be a bricklayer in New York's Sixteenth Ward.
3.
In time, Joe Coburn acquired and operated his own tavern, known as "The White House" in lower Manhattan.
4.
Around 1856, after Joe Coburn traveled to Boston to meet Ned Price, an English criminal lawyer, the pair met at Spot Pond.
5.
Joe Coburn then defeated Patsy Flynn on August 7,1857, in New York, in an indoor room, in four rounds.
6.
Joe Coburn defeated Harry Gribbin, for a $1,000 a side, in twenty-one rounds on November 19,1857, in Bertie County Canada, and then defeated Western boxer Ben Winkles for another $1,000 stake in only eighteen minutes.
7.
Joe Coburn had recently completed a prison term for a violent offense.
8.
McCoole had as much as a 20 pound weight advantage, but Joe Coburn was the favorite in the early betting.
9.
Joe Coburn was thrown heavily to the ground several times, but in nearly every round "delivered his blows fairly and with tremendous effect against the face of his antagonist without his ever having received a blow in his face".
10.
Joe Coburn had had his bruises and cuts first attended to by ringside attendants.
11.
In late 1865, Joe Coburn challenged Tom King, the reigning English heavyweight, considered by most to be a world champion, but King said he was retiring from pugilism and declined.
12.
Joe Coburn fought at around 190 pounds during his British tour, certainly a heavyweight, and a good bit heavier than he fought in his earlier boxing career.
13.
In 1865, Joe Coburn refused an offer to fight Jimmy Elliott for the Heavyweight championship of America, and instead chose to retire.
14.
Joe Coburn came out of retirement in 1871 against Jem Mace to again fight for the heavyweight championship.
15.
Joe Coburn was furious that Mace had prevented him from participating in the lucrative match, which would have drawn a large crowd.
16.
Joe Coburn was no stranger to struggles with the law, as many of his prize fights were illegal in the states he fought them.
17.
Joe Coburn's exhibition with Sullivan on January 20,1883, was a lucrative arrangement which played to a full house at Buffalo's St James Hall, and featured other pugilists as well.
18.
On May 17,1885, Joe Coburn was arrested on the complaint of Charles Carter that he had robbed him of $950 at Joe Coburn's Saloon on Broadway.
19.
The charges were later dropped when Carter refused to formally file the complaint at the Police station-house and Joe Coburn was immediately released.
20.
Joe Coburn lost to "Professor" William Clark on December 14,1888, in St Louis in three rounds.
21.
In 2013, Joe Coburn was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
22.
In boxing retirement, Joe Coburn continued to manage his Saloon on Broadway.
23.
Joe Coburn had problems with alcohol throughout his life which contributed to his frequent bar fights and crimes.
24.
Joe Coburn died on the evening of December 6,1890, of consumption at his home in New York City, leaving a wife and two-year-old son.
25.
Joe Coburn was penniless due to his conspicuous spending habits.