In his last big fight of his career Miller lost to Sammy Angott.
Miller fought Tommy Paul six times, the most of any boxer he faced. Miller’s record against Tommy was 4-2-0.
Miller was married in 1931 to his wife, the former Louise Somhorst.
From 1954-1962 Miller worked for a field engineering crew at Hamilton County Courthouse near Cincinnati. He was one of the few boxers of the depression era who was believed to have invested his boxing earnings wisely. He died at only 51 in the early morning of May 8 1962 of a heart attack at Cincinnati’s Good Samaritan Hospital, after having been observed for several weeks for heart problems. He left his wife of 31 years, Louise, a daughter, and two grandchildren.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997. Revolvy online article
[8.5] JIM DRISCOLL 77-58(39)-3-6-4: Welsh Boxers online -
‘Peerless’ Jim Driscoll (1880-1925) is regarded as the finest proponent of the classical, upright style of boxing and a fighter who is always mentioned in lists of the greatest pugilists never to have won a world title.
He was born into poverty in Cardiff Bay to two Irish parents, but his father was killed by a train soon after he was born.
A young Driscoll helped the family’s finances by working as a printing apprentice at the Western Mail newspaper, and also by boxing in the booths. It has been estimated that he had fought over 600 such bouts before he turned professional in 1901.
By 1906 he had lost just once as a professional, and his eye-pleasing style had made him a firm favourite with boxing’s movers and shakers at the National Sporting Club.
It was at this venue that he challenged for his first major title, the British featherweight crown, and the Welshman won the belt with a 15-round points verdict over champion Joe Bowker.
He continued to reign supreme at domestic level, and in 1908 returned to the NSC to win the Commonwealth featherweight crown against New Zealander Charlie Griffin.
Greater challenges awaited across the Atlantic, and in November 1908 he was greeted in New York by a boxing press and public who were sceptical of both his frail appearance and his British style, the locals favouring the all-action US fighters.
That soon changed when they saw the skeletal-like Welshman fight.
He boxed nine times in the north-eastern US, winning seven with two no contests, and the quality of his displays left even the garrulous US press corps struggling to deliver enough hyperbole. Famous US columnist Bat Masterson gave him the ‘Peerless’ nickname.
World featherweight champion Abe Attell stepped forward to take on the all-conquering 28-year-old foreigner in the last fight of his US tour.
The bout at the National Athletic Club, New York, was fought under the no-decision rule, meaning that Driscoll would have to knock out his opponent to win the world championship.
Attell, 24, was from San Francisco, but had built a formidable reputation in America’s boxing heartland of New York. The ‘Little Hebrew’ – like Driscoll a future Hall of Famer – had first become champion in 1903, had reclaimed the belt in 1904, and would reign as champion from 1906-12. But Driscoll had so amazed the boxing public that he started as favourite, and his classical straight left dominated from the outset, leaving Attell unable to get close to the Welshman.
The champion was in serious trouble in the fourth, and the general consensus at the end was that Driscoll had won seven of the 10 rounds, with two scored even.
It was enough to see Driscoll recognised as world champion in Europe, but the no decision rule meant he never officially wore the crown.
The Welshman’s manager, Charlie Harvey, knew the clamour that could be built for a rematch under Championship rules. But Driscoll boarded a ship for Britain the day after the Attell fight in order to perform his annual piece in a charity show for Nazareth House Orphanage, Cardiff.
‘I never break a promise,’ was Driscoll’s simple reply to Harvey’s howls of dismay, and the fighter received a hero’s welcome in Wales.
Driscoll was at the peak of his powers in 1909, but they waned under the onslaught of his unhealthy, party-loving lifestyle.
He claimed two wins in London in 1910, but illness hampered the build-up to his US return against Pal Moore in Philadelphia and he dropped the newspaper decision.
Driscoll would never again fight in America, returning to Britain and a huge fight with Freddie Welsh in Cardiff in December 1910.
The media spotlight was intense and the atmosphere in the packed American Roller Rink in Cardiff was bouncing, but the fight itself proved to be something of a damp squib. Driscoll’s classical style failed to gel well with Welsh’s American-style brawling, and – after a fractious, dirty nine rounds – Driscoll was disqualified in the 10th for a series of blatant head-butts.
Contemporary newspaper reporter James Butler said: ‘It was the only time I saw Driscoll not in control of himself in the ring. So bitter was the hatred by the 10th round that the finest boxer this country has ever produced was rushing in red-eyed like a man gone berserk.’
A distraught Driscoll burst into tears, saying: ‘The referee allowed Freddie to butt me till I couldn’t stand it any longer. I thought I’d let him see that I was a better goat than he was.’
Back on his favourite NSC stomping ground in 1912, the Cardiffian claimed the European featherweight title with a win over Jean Poesy.
But Driscoll’s career was interrupted for six years as he signed up to fight in World War I the much-loved champion boxing many exhibitions for the troops and working tirelessly as a personal fitness instructor.
He defied failing health to return for three more fights, using his skills to keep him out of trouble before ending his career with the bravest of defeats to Charles Ledoux in December 1919.
Driscoll died of pneumonia on 30 January, 1925, at the age of 44, and over 100,000 lined the streets of Cardiff for the funeral. Welsh Boxers online article
[8.5] TERRY McGOVAN 80-65(44)-6-8-1 [Lightweight & Featherweight & Bantamweight]: Cox’s Corner online -
Terry McGovern: A Little Like Tyson: The name Terry McGovern might not mean much to boxing fans today, but in his youthful prime he was one of the most awesome hitters in boxing history. His punching power put fear into the hearts of fighters from bantamweight to lightweight. McGovern was like a little Mike Tyson destroying opponent after opponent during his short, but devastating reign of terror.
Stylistically there are many similarities between Terry McGovern and Mike Tyson. Both were stocky built, swarming style hitters who came in low and wrecked their opponents with sharp and powerful counter punches. Like Tyson, McGovern had a seek and destroy mentality from the opening round.
Prior to the coming of Terry McGovern fans did not like to watch fights that ended almost as soon as they began. The boxing crowd and the gamblers who ran the sport liked to see drawn out boxing exhibitions that featured sparring for openings, masterful defense, and a relatively slow pace until an opponent made a mistake. The longer a fight went the more money that could be placed on bets by the gamblers and the fighter’s financial backers. It was common to see the elite fighters carry an opponent to cash in on the stakes. McGovern cared nothing for that. He came out of his corner like a hungry lion who was ready to feed and attempted to devour his opponents in the shortest amount of time. When McGovern exploded on the scene he electrified the crowds with his fast attacks and devastating, shocking early round knockouts. No-one had seen anything quite like him before. McGovern scored 23 of his 44 career knockouts in 3 rounds or less.
The National Police Gazette characterized him thus: ‘Terry’s style of fighting was a never ending source of delight to the thousands who saw him for the first time in a ring engagement. He was as fast as a streak of lightning, and the large crowd was amazed at his great footwork … Terry has wonderful control of himself in a mix-up and never gets rattled. He would go in like a steam engine and slip away like a snake. This was one of the most notable features of his work in the contest. He was always fighting but never let his opponent hit him to any extent’.
McGovern was a hand held high, ducking, slipping, and short armed puncher much like heavyweight Tyson. ‘Iron’ Mike was known for his defense, slipping and countering to get inside. McGovern fought much in the same manner, the Gazette reported, ‘McGovern’s defense was perfect and his delivery fast and furious’.
After his fight with Billy Rotchford the Gazette described McGovern with the following: ‘He hooks fast and punches straight and has a remarkably swift punch, moving over the shortest possible space, and both hands are capable of working evenly, smooth and fast as two pistons. The position in which he had his mitts drew up his shoulder and protected his chin and neck. The elbows were ready to drop to stave off rib blows, and the hand, either right or left, prepared to slip inside any swing or wide hook an opponent might deal up’.
When Tyson was ‘on’ he was a strong body puncher as in the Jesse Ferguson fight, but Tyson was never the pound for pound puncher to the body that McGovern was. Historian Barry Deskins wrote, ‘Short blows to the body followed by a viscous straight right is McGovern’s strongest asset, particularly his work to the body’. Old time fight announcer Joe Humphreys said, September 1936 The Ring magazine, ‘McGovern was a lightning fast feinter and a terrible hitter. He was a great body puncher, an art that seems to be lost to the present generation’.
Harry Lenny, an old time fighter and trainer who served as a sparring partner for lightweight champion Joe Gans and worked Joe Louis corner agrees with this assessment saying, ‘McGovern was a very powerful man, who hurt you with every punch. He was a great body puncher.’