Stanley Ketchel
| Stanley Ketchel | |
|---|---|
c. 1910
|
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Stanisław Kiecal |
| Nickname(s) | Michigan Assassin |
| Rated at | Middleweight |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Reach | 70 in (180 cm) |
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
September 14, 1886 Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| Died | October 15, 1910 (aged 24) Springfield, Missouri |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 64 |
| Wins | 51 |
| Wins by KO | 48 |
| Losses | 4 |
| Draws | 4 |
| No contests | 1 |
Stanisław Kiecal (September 14, 1886 – October 15, 1910), better known in the boxing world as Stanley Ketchel, was a Polish American professional boxer who became one of the greatest World Middleweight Champions in history. He was nicknamed "The Michigan Assassin." He was murdered at a ranch in Conway, Missouri at the age of 24.
He was born in 1886 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Tomasz Kiecal and Julia Kiecal (née Olbinska), whose family immigrated from the village of Sulmierzyce in Piotrków Trybunalski Guberniya in modern-day central Poland.
He avoided school, instead falling in with a gang of street kids and often getting into fist fights. At twelve years old, he ran away from home, becoming a child hobo. As a teenager he lived in Butte, Montana, where he found employment first as a hotel bellhop and then as a bouncer. This profession obviously led to many scraps that established his reputation as the best fist fighter in town. Soon enough sixteen-year-old Stanley was performing in backroom boxing matches with older locals for twenty dollars a week. He began traveling throughout Montana, offering to take on any man brave enough to face him. Between 1903 and 1906, he lost just twice in thirty-nine contests and, in 1907, moved to California, where he knew most of boxing's big names and big fights waited for him.
Only a middleweight, Ketchel was also known for taking on heavyweights, who sometimes outweighed him by more than 30 pounds (14 kg). Ketchel used a very unusual method in his fights. He had a very close and loving relationship with his mother. It is rumored that before each of his fights, he would imagine that his opponent had insulted his mother; thus, he would be fighting with almost insane fury.
He started boxing professionally in 1903, at 16, in Butte, Montana. In his first fight, Ketchel knocked out Kid Tracy in one round. In his second fight, he was beaten by decision in six rounds by Maurice Thompson. He boxed his first 41 bouts in Montana, and had a record of 36 wins, two losses and three draws during that span. He lost once more to Thompson in their rematch and then controversially drew with him in their rubber match, in a bout that many people thought Ketchel had won. Afterwards, he would then go on to beat Tom Kingsley, among others, before moving his campaign on to California in 1907.
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