Thomas Joseph Gibbons (March 22, 1891 – November 19, 1960) was an American professional heavyweight boxer.

Life and career

He was born on March 22, 1891 in Saint Paul, Minnesota to Thomas John Gibbons and Mary ( Burke) Gibbons. He had a brother,

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

. Tommy started boxing professionally in 1911 as a

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

. Like his brother he was a master scientific boxer who chose to outbox his opponents. In time, he advanced to the heavyweight boxing class and developed a respectable punch. On May 27, 1916 he married Helen Constance Moga in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His biggest fight came near the end of his career in Jack Dempsey vs. Tommy Gibbons when he met heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey on July 4, 1923 in Shelby, Montana. The local backers and the town of Shelby went broke putting on the fight. The great Dempsey battled through the full fifteen rounds before winning by decision. Dempsey was awarded $200,000, whereas Gibbons received expense money. Tommy Gibbons record was 56-4-1 with 44 no decisions, and 1 no contest. He scored 48 knockouts, and was stopped only once by Gene Tunney on June 5, 1925. The names dotting his record read like boxing's hall of fame. Tommy recorded wins over George Chip, Willie Meehan,

Billy Miske Billy Miske, alias ''The Saint Paul Thunderbolt'' (April 12, 1894 – January 1, 1924), was a professional boxer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. During his tenure as a pugilist he had multiple-bout series with a plethora of all-time greats including ...

, Chuck Wiggins, Jack Bloomfield, and Kid Norfolk. Tommy had no decision matches with George "K.O." Brown,

, Harry Greb, Battling Levinsky, Bob Roper, Chuck Wiggins, Georges Carpentier, and others. Only Harry Greb,

, Jack Dempsey, and Gene Tunney were able to score wins over Gibbons. Following his retirement from boxing, Tommy Gibbons was elected four times as the Sheriff of Ramsey County. He won for six consecutive four year terms before retiring at the age of 68. He died on November 19, 1960 in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Legacy

Gibbons became a member of the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1963, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993, and the

Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame The Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame is a commemorative organization with plans to create a museum. It celebrates the history of boxing in the state of Minnesota by honoring individuals whose achievements within the sport are noteworthy. History Thou ...

in 2010.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbons, Tommy 1891 births 1960 deaths Boxers from Saint Paul, Minnesota American male boxers Heavyweight boxers