On This Day In Boxing History
1965: Buck “Tombstone” Smith Was Born!
Buck Smith
Born: July 22, 1965
Born: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Residence: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Pro-Debut: August 18th, 1987
Division: Welterweight - Cruiserweight
Alias: “Tombstone”
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5′ 9″
Reach: 68″
Bouts: 229
Rounds: 1079
Career: 1987-2009
Record: 183-20-2, 121Ko’s
Ko’s: 66.12%
Buck Smith (born July 22, 1965) is an American professional boxer in the welterweight division. Although Smith has never been considered more than a journeyman fighter, he is one of boxing's all-time knockout kings with 121 Ko’s.
Smith never had an amateur career. Instead, on August 18th, 1987, whilst sat watching a fight card in his hometown of Oklahoma City, Smith stepped in on incredibly short notice when a fighter dropped out. Smith took the fight, had 15 minutes to get ready, competing in street shorts and basketball shoes lost a four round unanimous decision to Little Rock, Arkansas, Ali Smith (no-relation). Buck was paid the princely sum of $50.
Despite the loss, Smith immediately hooked on the sport, obsessed with becoming a fighter embarked on a 22-0-2 streak, fighting just about every week, albeit against very ordinary opposition in small Midwestern club venues. When questioned on the level of competition he was facing, Smith calmly responded: "I'm not fighting one bum a month, I'm fighting three or four." He would usually drive himself to fights in his red Honda Civic, with his manager (and lone cornerman) riding shotgun. Smith admitted that he used his heavy schedule to his advantage: his theory was that it was better to get paid to fight and beat lesser opponents than to spar against better ones for little or no money.
All in all, Smith is officially credited with having boxed 205 professional boxing matches. Of these he won 183, 121 of them by knockout. He lost 20 and boxed to 2 draws. However, it is possible that Smith had fought even more matches under different names, so it is impossible to truly say how many fights he really had.
Despite his long record, Buck Smith never won any major boxing titles. But while most of wins came against unknown opposition, he did manage a few good results. This included a 7th-round KO over contender and European champion Kirkland Laing (who once beat the legendary Roberto Durán) and a second-round knockout over 1988 Olympic gold medalist Robert Wangila. The win over Wangila got him featured in Ring Magazine, the most prominent of all boxing publications.
Smith has more wins than any fighter since Archie Moore and Willie Pep retired in the 1960's.
However, Smith did not win in his last fifteen fights over a ten-year period. These bouts included knockouts by Antonio Margarito and Julio Cesar Chavez.
It is also notable that Buck Smith once fought twice in one day. On May 19, 1992 he fought Marco Davis in Kansas City and won by KO in two rounds. Less than 3 hours later, he was back in Oklahoma City and won a six-round decision over Rodney Johnson. A similar "iron man stint" by Buck Smith occurred in the month of March in 1993 when Buck Smith fought a total of 12 professional boxing matches. He won all 12, 9 of them by knockout. Such procedures are illegal after the Boxing Reform Act of 1996. By rule, states must honor suspensions, which include a minimum of seven days between bouts.
Smith last fought on June 30, 2007. Fighting far above his best weight, he lost to Marcus Oliveira by second-round KO in a cruiserweight contest. His last win came in a bout with Manuel Esparza against whom he won a 4-round decision in December 1997. That means he did not win a single fight in his last twelve years as a professional boxer. His record stands at 179 wins, 20 losses, 2 draws, and 25 no contests in 226 fights.
Fight Fixing Allegations
Smith is perhaps best known for his role in the government's attempted crackdown on fight fixing in 2004–2005. Smith, along with colleagues Verdell Smith and Sean Gibbons, were called upon to give testimony on fixed fights. The trio of fighters were nicknamed the Knucklehead Boxing Club, and traveled throughout the Midwest making frequent appearances on fight cards. The Knucklehead Boxing Club denied any wrongdoing and stated that they did not participate in any fixed fights.
Note: Smith having battled the likes of Robert Wangila x 2, Kirkland Laing, Harold Brazier, Buddy McGirt, Antonio Margarito and Julio Cesar Chavez was 5-0 versus Indianapolis, Indiana, “opponent” 66-276 -18, 14Ko’s Reggie Strickland five times. An “opponent” boxing family Strickland’s half-brother Jerry Strickland, was 13-123, 0Ko’s, Ko’ed 5 times. Nicolyn Armstrong, 1-6, 1Ko, Reggie's common law wife and 2000 "HBO Real Sports" piece, has also boxed professionally. There is also Strickland's cousin Reggie Strickland, a heavyweight, 0-14 Ko’ed 12 times and nephew (Jerry's son) Jay Strickland, 0-9, Ko’ed 9 times as a professional.
1978: Angelo Jacopucci Passes!
Angelo Jacopucci
Born: December 22nd, 1948
Birth Place: Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy
Residence: Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Pro-Debut: July 8th, 1973
Division: Middleweight
Alias: The Blonde Angel
Height: 6′ 1½″
Career: 1973-1978
Bouts: 36
Rounds: 279
Ko’s: 19.44%
Record: 33-3, 7Ko’s
Died: Age 29, July 22, 1978 - Angelo Jacopucci passed subsequent to falling into a coma after his July 19th, 12th round KO loss to with Alan Minter. A court found doctor Ezio Pimpinelli guilty of second-degree manslaughter in having failed to take proper action after a boxing match that leading to the death of Jacopucci. The doctor was given a suspended sentence of eight months in jail and was ordered to pay $14,000 in damages to Jacopucci's widow.
1998: Broadcaster Don Dunphy Passes
Don Dunphy, born on July 5, 1908, in New York City, was a standout track and field athlete at Manhattan College before beginning a career in sports media. He started out as a sportswriter for New York newspapers and soon transitioned into radio broadcasting. In 1937, he became the Sports Director at WINS in New York, where he began gaining experience covering various sports, including football and minor league baseball.
Dunphy’s broadcasting legacy truly began in 1939 when he started announcing local boxing matches. His major career breakthrough came in 1941 when he won an audition held by Gillette to announce their nationally syndicated Friday Night Fights. That same year, he made his first network boxing broadcast, calling the famed Joe Louis vs. Billy Conn fight, which gained tremendous national attention. Over the next two decades, Dunphy became a household name, calling fights on radio for Gillette every Friday evening from 9:00 to 10:45 p.m. from 1941 to 1960. His fast-paced, enthusiastic blow-by-blow commentary helped earn him a reputation as the “Voice of Boxing.” He is estimated to have called over 2,000 matches during his career — including over 200 title fights and 50 heavyweight championships.
In 1960, Dunphy transitioned to television, continuing to call fights for ABC. He brought his excitement and expertise to a whole new audience, covering some of the most iconic bouts in boxing history. Among these were the trilogy of fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, including the classic “Fight of the Century” in 1971, which Dunphy considered the greatest sporting event of all time. He also provided commentary for other historic events such as the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” between Ali and George Foreman, and the tragic 1962 fight between Emile Griffith and Benny "Kid" Paret. His final full fight broadcast was the 1981 Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns showdown.
Though he retired from network television in the 1970s, Dunphy continued to host closed-circuit telecasts of major fights until 1981. Beyond boxing, he also covered other sports, including New York Yankees baseball, the Cotton Bowl, track and field, basketball, bowling, and horse racing. Dunphy also made acting appearances in several boxing-related films, often portraying himself. Notable cameos include Bananas (1971), The Greatest (1977), Raging Bull (1980), and much later, The Fighter (2010).
His contributions to sports broadcasting were widely recognized. In 1982, he received the Sam Taub Award for Excellence in Broadcasting Journalism. He was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in its inaugural class of 1984, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 1986, the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1988, Dunphy also made a memorable appearance providing commentary in Martin Scorsese’s film Raging Bull, calling every fight scene with his trademark style.
Don Dunphy passed away on July 22, 1998, at the age of 90 in Roslyn, New York, following heart surgery. His legacy remains one of the most significant in sports media history—his passion, sharp insight, and iconic voice became synonymous with the golden era of boxing. His two sons, Don Dunphy Jr. and Bob Dunphy, also pursued careers in the television industry, with Don Jr. becoming a producer for Eyewitness News on WABC-TV in its early years, and later serving as Vice President of News Services at ABC.
July 22nd
1916: Marcel Cerdan was born in Sidi Bel-Abbes, Algeria
1931: Mickey Walker D15 Jack Sharkey
1937: Ceferino Garcia TKO9 Bobby Pacho
1955: Sugar Ray Robinson W10 Rocky Castellani
1956: Michael Spinks was born in St. Louis, Missouri
1961 Cassius Clay W10 Alonzo Johnson
1963: Sonny Liston KO1 Floyd Patterson
1965: Buck Smith July 22, 1965
1978: Angelo Jacopucci passed subsequent to falling into a coma after his July 19th, 12th round KO loss to with Alan Minter. A court found doctor Ezio Pimpinelli guilty of second-degree manslaughter in having failed to take proper action after a boxing match that leading to the death of Jacopucci. The doctor was given a suspended sentence of eight months in jail and was ordered to pay $14,000 in damages to Jacopucci's widow.
1979: Orange, New Jersey’s, “Two Ton” Tony Galento passes age 69!
1987: Rene Arredondo KO6 Tsuyoshi Hamada
1988: Javier Castillejo age 20 debuts W6 Angel Diez
1991: Future heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, then fighting as Cassius Clay, won a 10-round, unanimous decision over Alonzo Johnson
Desiree Washington files a complaint with police accusing Mike Tyson of rape
James Smith TKO3 Kimmuel Odum
1995: Nate Miller KO8 Orlin Norris
Nigel Benn KO8 Vincenzo Nardiello
Alimi Goitia KO4 Hyung Chul Lee
1998: Broadcaster Don Dunphy Passes
1999:Ike Ibeabuchi arrested in Las Vegas charged he sexually assaulted a women in his hotel room.
2000: Felix Trinidad K 3 Mamadou Thiam
Felix Machado W12 Julio Gamboa
Ener Julio WSD12 Randall Bailey
Will Grigsby W12 Nelson Dieppa however, Grigsby's post-fight urine sample tested positive for marijuana and Grigsby was stripped of his newly won title. The result of the bout was changed to a No Decision.
2006: Carlos Baldomir KO9 Arturo Gatti
Nobuo Nashiro KO10 Martin Castillo
2017: Isaac Dogboe RTD6 Javier Nicolas Chacon
Print