Latest Pickups

[G1911]

I don't know much about value of these, but this one was on eBay for $65 and I got it. That seemed fair to me. Coburn's brother Joe was a significant fighter, a claimant to the Heavyweight title for a time. There's very little about Mike (any other heavyweight champions have a bantamweight sibling that boxed?) out there though, and I'm not finding much. I can't think of another card Mike appeared on.

[Exhibitman]

Boxing's version of Tommy Aaron...

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Boxing's version of Tommy Aaron...

They even had a third brother, Jim, that was a professional boxer. I don't think he was around for long. Boxrec doesn't seem to know of him.

[D. Bergin]

Cyberboxingzone has a decent fight record shown for Mike Coburn.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

They even had a third brother, Jim, that was a professional boxer. I don't think he was around for long. Boxrec doesn't seem to know of him.

Here's brother Jim Coburn in his later years, seconding forgotten 4th brother Charlie in an underground fight.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Here's brother Jim Coburn in his later years, seconding forgotten 4th brother Charlie in an underground fight.

You usually have the answer when there's some question of boxing history I don't know, but I'm pretty surprised you were able to unearth such high quality color film of the 19th century!

CyberBoxingZone was the most I could find on him from a web search. Much of the site is broken and it appears it hasn't been updated in many years. I hope it doesn't go offline, it's a great general resource for the old days. I like cards of new guys I don't have one of, as it's an excuse to go research the less big names of the period.

[wicker56]

Speaking of lesser known boxers. I recently acquired this Jack Taylor card, which I’m assuming is an Italian issued card. I found I have two other Jack Taylor cards a Comet and a Ammatller, both of which are chocolate cards. I looked online and Boxrec had a bit of info and Taylor actually beat Max Schmeling early in his career. I’m confused by the info on the card due to what I found online stated Taylor was from Nebraska. Was Taylor originally from Cuba or was he actually a champion in Cuba.

[wicker56]

Ok. I may have answered my own question. It looks like Taylor fought in Cuba and won Six fights, then he lost his last two fights. If he was a Cuban champion it had to be just for a couple of months. These cards normally date from the 20’s or 30’s and he was fighting in Cuba in 1914.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

You usually have the answer when there's some question of boxing history I don't know, but I'm pretty surprised you were able to unearth such high quality color film of the 19th century!

It's amazing what modern technology can do to bring this old footage back to life. Here's what the original footage looked like, before Industrial Light and Magic got involved in the restoration process.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

It's amazing what modern technology can do to bring this old footage back to life. Here's what the original footage looked like, before Industrial Light and Magic got involved in the restoration process.

Seriously now, it's amazing how well some of the old video has been preserved and improved with time. It's a ton of fun to put on some of the old video when sorting through a stack of T or N cards while seeing these guys in action. Baseball and boxing have the best and longest histories of the sports, but unlike baseball, boxing mostly forgets its past. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock are about all that get mentioned before Ali.