Title Town USA Book Review

Posted on | August 19, 2010 | No Comments

By: Darren McElligott

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Every so often, a book that is published seems destined to land on the top shelf of every serious sports enthusiast’s library. “Title Town USA: Boxing in Upstate New York” (History Press; 2010) is such a classic. Author Mark Allen Baker’s introduction begins by stating that “’Title Town USA’ is a boxing moniker that belongs to Canastota.” It is a fitting title for this 160-page book.

It would seem a difficult challenge to fit so much history into so short a book, yet Baker presents a strong case that one cannot understand the sport – including both the fights and the people who made them – without having an appreciation for the role that Upstate New York played. In its early days, boxing appealed to society’s lower classes and out-casts, including the Irish and Italian immigrants who built the canals and railroads. The author details this, along with the period when professional boxing was illegal in New York.

Both serious and casual boxing fans will enjoy Baker’s documenting the great fighters that fought in upstate cities like Syracuse and Buffalo. “Old-timers” such as the great Sam Langford, Harry Wills, Harry Greb, and Charlie Burley are among the more familiar names that are connected to upstate boxing history. Others, such as Thomas William Lawless (1908-1966), may be new to most readers.

Our father started taking my brother and I to the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremonies when I was four. We’ve returned to Canastota almost every year. The drive takes us through the village of Sherburne, where my great-great uncle lived. He had boxed in the New Jersey- New York area long ago, before his employment on the railroads landed him in Sherburne. There, he both trained boxers, promoter fight cards, and continued to box on occasion. Every year, when we pass through the village, Dad points out where “Uncle Pat” lived and where he promoted fights.

On one card, “Uncle Pat” beat Bucky Lawless. I’ve listened to “Uncle Pat’s” sons – now in their eighties – talk about their father’s close friendship with Lawless over the years, but had never read his name in any boxing magazine or book (other than the Ring Record Book). Pat’s sons also talk about Bushy Graham, Carmen Basilio, and others who fought on the cards in Sherburne. Reading Mark Baker’s book is, at times, like listening to our “cousins” John and Bill discuss local boxing history.

In more recent years, Baker writes, boxing legends fought in the upstate region. George Foreman, for example, fought in Utica. Around that same time, heavyweight Duane Bobick TKOed Chuck Wepner in the main event of another Utica fight card. My Uncle Tom made his pro debut on that card, with family friend Carmen Basilio working his corner. Tom would later fight on another Wepner card, this one in Binghamton. For many casual boxing fans, because fighters like Bobick and Wepner were never as successful as a George Foreman, they are known almost exclusively for their loses. But when you talk to a boxing historian, you find out, for example, that Bobick actually beat the great Cuban amateur champion Teofilio Stevenson in the Pan-Am Games, about a year before losing to him in the Olympics.

It’s said that journalists write the rough draft of a history that will continue to be debated for years to come. In that sense, it is boxing historians such as Mark Allen Baker who provide us with the second and third drafts, and bring a sense of objectivity to the debate. I think that this comes through in the interview with Mark and my father that follows.

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