Kid Lavigne
| Kid Lavigne | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | George Henry Lavigne |
| Nickname(s) | The Saginaw Kid |
| Rated at | Lightweight |
| Height | 5 ft 3 1⁄2 in (161 cm) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Born |
December 6, 1869 Bay City, Michigan |
| Died | March 9, 1928 (aged 58) |
| Stance | Orthodox stance |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 83 (21 exhibitions) |
| Wins | 34 |
| Wins by KO | 21 |
| Losses | 6 |
| Draws | 11 (and 10 no decisions) |
| No contests | 1 |
George Henry "Kid" Lavigne (December 6, 1869 – March 9, 1928) was boxing's first widely recognized World Lightweight champion, winning the title on June 1, 1896.
He was born in Bay City, Michigan to French-Canadian parents, Jean Baptiste Lavigne and Marie Agnes Dufort, who immigrated to the area from St. Polycarpe, Quebec in 1868. As a youth he worked in his mother's boarding house and later trained as a "cooper" in a sawmill, building barrels to ship salt, a byproduct of many of the mills in the area that sat upon large salt deposits. The "Kid" got the boxing bug from his brother Billy Lavigne who was tutored in the fistic arts by black heavyweight and local barber, C.A.C. Smith. Billy would later become the Kid's manager through various parts of his professional career. Lavigne began his amateur boxing career by taking on the best bare-knuckle fighters of the logging camps. He had his professional debut as a 16-year-old, fighting under the Marquess of Queensberry rules with gloved fists and timed rounds against Morris McNally. It was a first-round knockout.
Kid Lavigne became a professional boxer in 1886 and was undefeated with 32 wins, 11 draws, 10 no decisions and 1 no contest in his first 54 fights over a span of 12 and 1/2 years. After defeating the local talent of the area in his first 12 fights he fought journeyman George Siddons in two battles of 77 and 55 rounds in a span of two months. The first bout went five hours and nine minutes...the longest fight to date under Queensberry rules. While both were ruled draws Siddons conceded defeat in the second bout and with it Kid Lavigne became lightweight champion of the Northwest.
After fighting several bouts on the West Coast in the early 1890s he landed a bout in 1894 with the lightweight champion of Australia, Albert Griffiths, aka Young Griffo. Griffo was considered by all to be the most gifted boxer of the era whose ability to avoid getting hit was legendary. The Kid managed to get a draw in this eight-round contest and a year later another draw over 20 rounds. In December 1894 he fought the lightweight champion of the south, Andy Bowen, a veteran of the longest fight in the history of modern boxing, a 110-round, 7 hour and 19 minute marathon. It was in the 18th round that Bowen, being beaten badly by Lavigne, was knocked down hitting his head sharply on the unpadded ring surface. He never regained consciousness and died the next morning at 7:00 am. At first Lavigne was arrested for the death of Bowen but was later found to be innocent of any wrongdoing as a coroner's inquest ruled that Bowen's death was the result of hitting his head on the floor of the ring.
...
Wikipedia