Jack Gardner (boxer)

Jack Gardner
Data
Birth Name	Jack Gardner
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	British
birthday	November 6, 1926
place of birth	Market Harborough , England
Date of death	November 11, 1978
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.86 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	34
Victories	28
Knockout victories	23
Defeats	6th

Jack Gardner (born November 6, 1926 in Market Harborough , Harborough , England , † November 11, 1978 ) was a British boxer . At the beginning of the 1950s he was the European heavyweight professional boxer champion.

Career

Amateur career

Jack Gardner was the son of a farmer and began boxing as a teenager in his hometown of Market Harborough. His first coach was his father Len. After joining the British Army with the Grenadier Guards, he increased his training and made rapid progress. He had grown into a handsome young man 1.86 m tall and weighing around 90 kg. In 1948 he won the Army, Imperial Service and British Amateur Boxing Association championships in succession. At the British championship he won in the semifinals over Frank Bell by disqualification in the 3rd round and knocked out Johnny Morkus in the 1st round. In the Olympic elimination for the 1948 Olympic Games in London, which was carried out shortly after the British championship, he won against Ken Wyatt by knockout in the 2nd round and had thus qualified for the games.

In London he won in a preliminary round against the Austrian Karl Ameisbichler by knockout in the 2nd round and lost in the quarterfinals against the Swiss Hans Müller on points. He was therefore without an Olympic medal.

After the Olympic Games, he defeated the Danish L. Petersen by knockout in the 2nd round in international matches in Scandinavia on October 1, 1948 in Copenhagen and the Swede Gunnar Nilsson on points in Stockholm on October 6, 1948 .

These were his last starts as an amateur.

Profile career

In early December 1948, Jack Gardner signed a professional contract with manager John Simpsson. As early as December 6, 1948, he started a beginners' tournament for professionals in the Harringay Arena in London , which was organized by the well-known promoter Jack Solomons. Jack Gardner won this tournament with three knockout victories in a row, each scored in the first round.

In 1949 he won his next ten fights in England, all of them briefly by knockout. These fights were all development fights. There were no known names among them with the exception of Johnny Morkus, his 1948 opponent in the British Amateur Championships. On July 5, 1949, he suffered his first defeat in London against the Canadian Vern Escoe, because he had to be taken out of the ring because of an eyebrow injury in the 5th round.

On October 31, 1949, Jack Gardner became known throughout Europe when he defeated the French heavyweight champion Stefan Olek over 8 rounds in Leicester, clearly on points. On February 13, 1950, the revenge against Verne Escoe took place, again in Leicester, against the only boxer he had lost to in his career so far. Surprisingly, Jack Gardner lost again. Escoe, who was excellently adjusted by the experienced former world-class boxer Larry Gains , avoided all Gardner's attacks with his speed and scored a few effective hits at Gardner through his counterattacks, so that his point success after 8 rounds was deserved.

Jack Gardner went his way despite this defeat. He beat the young Johnny Williams on July 17, 1950 in the final for a championship fight for the British Empire Title over 12 rounds on points and beat Bruce Woodcock on November 14, 1950 in London in the fight for the British Heavyweight Championship and the British Empire Title techn. knocked out in the 11th round. Finally, Jack Gardner won the European heavyweight championship title on March 27, 1951 in Earls Court Empress Hall in Kensington, London by winning points after 15th rounds over the Austrian defending champion Jo Weidin .

On May 5, 1951, Jack Gardner suffered a serious setback while trying to box his way up the world rankings to get into a fight for the world championship. He lost clearly on points in London against the Argentine Cesar Brion .

On September 23, 1951, Jack Gardner defended his European championship against the German champion Hein ten Hoff at the Berlin Waldbühne in front of 25,000 spectators, boxing abroad for the first time . Hein ten Hoff was superior to Jack Gardner in all respects and won this fight, which lasted 15 rounds, clearly on points. On March 11, 1952 Jack Gardner then lost to Johnny Williams by a point defeat after 15 rounds, the British Empire Title and the British Heavyweight Championship.

In the years that followed, Jack Gardner only fought seven fights by the end of his career in 1956. On June 6, 1955, he succeeded in taking revenge against Johnny Williams, whom he knocked out in the 5th round. After a knockout defeat in the 2nd round against his aspiring compatriot Joe Bygraves on April 24, 1956, he ended his career.

After boxing, Jack Gardner devoted himself to the farm inherited from his parents. He died in 1978 at the age of 52.

literature

• Boxing sport. No. 35/1951, p. 16; No. 39/1951, pp. 3-6.

Web links

• Jack Gardner's boxing record