Harry Matthews (December 9, 1922 – February 21, 2003) nicknamed Kid Matthews was an American

Professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1937 to 1956. He climbed to a top contender rank and scored 90 victories, lost 7 times, drew 5 times and 1 no contest. His most impressive wins were over former champions

Al Hostak Albert (Al) Paul Hostak (January 7, 1916 – August 13, 2006), nicknamed "the Savage Slav," was an American middleweight boxer who fought from 1932-1949. Hostak twice held the National Boxing Association Middleweight title between 1938 and 1940. H ...

Bob Murphy Robert, Rob, Bob or Bobby Murphy may refer to: Sports Ice hockey *Robert Ronald Murphy or Ron Murphy (1933–2014), Canadian ice hockey player * Bob Murphy (ice hockey) (born 1951), Canadian retired professional ice hockey player *Rob Murphy (ice ...

and

Ezzard Charles Ezzard Mack Charles (July 7, 1921 – May 28, 1975), known as the Cincinnati Cobra, was an American professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion. Known for his slick defense and precision, he is often considered the greatest light heavywei ...

. He lost to

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the only ...

in 1952, who went on to becoming World Champion less than two months after their fight. There were plans to cut weight and fight

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...

but the fight didn't happen.

Background

Harry Matthews was born in

Emmett, Idaho Emmett is a city in Gem County, Idaho, United States. The population was 6,557 at the 2010 census, up from 5,490 in 2000. It is the county seat and the only city in the county. Emmett is part of the Boise− Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistic ...

. He moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

where he started working out and training.

Boxing career

He fought and managed to beat

Eddie Booker Hilton Edward Booker (November 5, 1917 – January 26, 1975) was an American boxer who was active during the 1930s and 1940s. Booker was one of the famous " Murderers Row" group of black boxers, along with the likes of Charley Burley, Holman Will ...

and former champion

before being recruited into the

American Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

for World War 2. This made him stop fighting for a while due to fighting a war. After returning from the war he went on a long winning streak, including beating ''Irish'' Bob Murphy. Matthews and his manager wanted the heavyweight division title, but there were also plans of cutting weight and fighting with Sugar Ray Robinson. The fight however didn't end up happening. After beating

Freddie Beshore Freddy or Freddie may refer to: Entertainment *Freddy (comic strip), a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1955 to 1980 *Freddie (Cromartie), a character from the Japanese manga series''Cromartie High School'' *Freddie (dance), a short-lived 1960 ...

Danny Nardico Daniel Richard (Danny) Nardico (July 3, 1925 – November 22, 2010) was an American professional boxer who was once ranked the fifth-best light heavyweight boxer by '' The Ring'' magazine. He was the only fighter to knock down Jake LaMotta. ...

and

Rex Layne Rex Gessel Layne (June 7, 1928 in Lewiston, Utah – June 7, 2000) was a former heavyweight professional boxer. Sometimes termed the "Lewiston Larruper," the top rated Layne never fought for the heavyweight title, but notched victories over su ...

, with Rex a top contender, he ended up in a fight against other top contender (at the time) and future world champion Rocky Marciano. Both men had impressive winning streaks. Marciano was unbeaten and had a high knockout percentage while Matthews had no losses since he returned from WW2. Rocky Marciano won by knockout with a vicious double left hook. Matthews scored wins over Ted Lowry, Harley Breshears and Ezzard Charles, but lost to

Don Cockell Donald John Cockell (22 September 1928 – 18 July 1983) was an English boxer. He fought for most of his career as a light-heavyweight and became the British and European champion at that weight. Later in his career he moved up to heavyweight a ...

. Matthews was managed by promoter

Jack Hurley Jack Hurley (December 9, 1897 – November 16, 1972) was an American boxing promoter. Working in boxing for over 50 years, he was well known and appreciated both in the sport and by journalists, although he never managed a champion.(18 November 19 ...

.(18 November 1972)
Jack Hurley Dies; Boxing Manager
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

After Boxing

Later in life, Harry Matthews was also a trainer of professional boxer

Ibar Arrington Ibar may refer to: People * Ibar of Beggerin (died 500), Irish saint * Íbar of Killibar Beg, Irish saint * Hilmi Ibar (born 1947), Kosovar academic * José Ibar (born 1969), Cuban baseball player Places * Ibar District, a division of the Serbia ...

. He died on February 21, 2003, in Seattle at the age 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Harry 1922 births 2003 deaths American male boxers United States Army personnel of World War II