BACK in 2016, BN assessed the best ever featherweights and ranked Sandy Saddler at primary. At quantity two within the checklist got here Saddler’s nice rival, Willie Pep. I’ve seen many comparable lists through the years, and it’s Pep that extra typically tops the checklist, with Saddler steadily showing behind Henry Armstrong at quantity three.
I concur with the BN verdict, as Saddler beat Pep in three of the 4 contests that the 2 males shared. There isn’t any doubt in any respect that each Pep and Saddler deserve their place, in no matter order, proper on the high of the all-time featherweight checklist.
Pep solely ever fought one British-based fighter. He was stopped in 9 rounds by Hogan Child Bassey, a Nigerian who got here to the UK in December 1951, in a 10-round non-title affair in Boston, USA, in September 1958.
Pep was nicely previous his greatest on the time and Bassey, who was managed by that doyen of the Leicester scene, George Biddles, was the reigning world featherweight champion.
Because the referee counted 10 over the stricken physique of Pep in that ninth spherical, he dominated that he had stopped the competition, and that Pep had not been knocked out. This induced some controversy, however the third man could have merely wished to save lots of the good man from having a KO loss on his document as a result of he, like the remainder of the boxing world, revered Pep a lot.
Sandy Saddler additionally boxed just one fighter from the UK. He had simply misplaced to Pep of their second contest at Madison Sq. Backyard, a combat that the Ring journal named as its ‘combat of the 12 months’ for 1949, when he was invited over by promoter Jack Solomons to participate in a contest on the White Metropolis Stadium, on the undercard of the Freddie Mills vs Bruce Woodcock combat for the British heavyweight title.
His opponent was a veteran featherweight from Lisburn, County Antrim, named Jim Keery. Saddler was on the peak of his powers, and it was fairly a coup for Solomons to tempt the American over right here to participate in a 10-rounder towards a fighter that nobody within the States had ever heard about.
Keery had been a fighter for 17 years when he met Saddler. He began his profession boxing within the small halls of Belfast in 1932. After eight years of battling, he managed to earn a shot on the Northern Eire featherweight title towards the champion, Spider Jim Kelly. Sadly, Keery weighed in half a pound chubby for the competition, and Kelly due to this fact remained the champion, regardless of being stopped in solely 5 rounds by Keery in entrance of seven thousand followers on the King’s Corridor, Belfast. Seven months later, in November 1940, Keery misplaced a 15-round determination to Al Lyttle for the Northern Eire light-weight title.
Keery soldiered on for an additional 9 years as a light-weight earlier than being picked by Solomons to combat Saddler. At no stage had he cracked the British High 10 however, instantly previous to the Saddler bout, he knocked out the main challenger for the British title, Peter Fallon, within the sixth spherical of a 10-rounder at Liverpool Stadium. This bout, coupled with a victory over ex-British light-weight champion Billy Thompson earlier within the 12 months, earned him his White Metropolis alternative.
Inevitably, Saddler was streets forward of Keery on the night time with BN reporting, “Saddler (9st 3lbs) gave away 5 kilos to Jim Keery and knocked him out within the fourth spherical. Keery was not overawed by his opponent’s former glories and attacked strongly within the first spherical. Saddler punches laborious and this was noticeable directly within the opening spherical when Sandy slammed residence a proper to the jaw to ground the Irishman for seven”.
Keery visited the canvas 4 extra occasions in a one-sided contest however had earned his place in historical past in a courageous battle towards the best featherweight of all time. Keery died in 1981, aged 68.
