Eddie Palmer was an African American boxer who held the
World Colored Welterweight and
World Colored Middleweight titles. Born in
in 1892, the 5'9" Palmer fought at a weight of between 142 and 156 lbs. out of Philadelphia and New Orleans between 1910 and 1925. He moved to Philadelphia in August 1911 and fought out of the City of Brotherly Love for two years.
While based in Philadelphia, he twice fought future world light-heavyweight champ
Battling Levinsky
Barney Lebrowitz (June 10, 1891 – February 12, 1949), better known as Battling Levinsky, was an American boxer who was the world light heavyweight champion from 1916 to 1920. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Levinsky as the #12 ran ...
in 1912, scoring no decisions in both fights. In the later part of his career, he fought future world middleweight champ
Tiger Flowers
Theodore "Tiger" Flowers (August 5, 1895 – November 16, 1927) was an American professional boxer. Nicknamed "The Georgia Deacon", he rose to prominence in the early 20th century, becoming the first African-American World Middleweight Boxing ...
in 1922, losing both fights.
Palmer declared himself the
World Colored Welterweight Champion in 1912 after fighting Young Tommy Coleman to a no-decision in a six-round bout in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on 26 September 1912. They had met four times since 3 October 1911, when Coleman won a
newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club o ...
in a six round bout in Philadelphia. Palmer had won their second match while their third match was reported variously as a draw and a newspaper decision for Coleman. When they met for a rematch four days later on September 30 in
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...
, the ''Wilkes-Barre Times Leader'' gave the decision to Coleman.
Later that year, in an exhibition held on December 9, he killed Kid Harris in the ring. He only fought twice in 1913, but fought 11 times in 1914. He successfully defended his colored welterweight title on 4 March 1914 against Kyle Whitney in New Orleans, winning on points in a 20-rounder. His next defense was on 15 February 1915 in New Orleans against
"The Fighting Gorilla, who out-pointed him in their 20 round contest. In his next fight, on 1 May 1915, Palmer won the
World Colored Middleweight Championship The World Colored Middleweight Championship was a title awarded to black boxers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the only recognized middleweight championship available to blacks prior to Tiger Flowers (5 August 1895 - ...
by K.O.ing Willie Langford in the 14th round of a scheduled 20-round bout in New Orleans.
Palmer successfully defended his Colored Middleweight Title twice against Young Kid McCoy, once in 1915 and once in 1916, winning both fights by
knock out
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
. He continued to fight regularly until 1922, when he lost two fights to Tiger Flowers. He made a comeback in 1925, but lost both of his fights. Another comeback attempt in 1928, in which he fought USA Arizona State light-heavyweight title holder Owen Phelps in
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the
Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Buil ...
, ended in a loss.
In 1929, he fought in New Orleans, winning the first three of his four fights that year against lightly regarded opponents. He retired after losing his last fight to a welterweight with a career record of 45 wins (21 by K.O.) against 23 losses (K.O.ed five times) and two draws. He had 24 newspaper decisions, winning 14, losing five and drawing five.
External Links
*
References
{{s-end
African-American boxers
Welterweight boxers
Middleweight boxers
World colored welterweight boxing champions
World colored middleweight boxing champions
American male boxers
Place of birth missing