Sparring For a Living: What I learned Boxing With The Stars
By Bert Ikin (Stoke-on-Trent heavyweight) - August 1937
For the past four years I've been in demand as sparring partner by the heavyweight big shots. It's a hard life, but a happy one. I sparred with Jack Petersen for many of his big matches - his three fights with Len Harvey, his three meetings with Walter Neusel, and his matches with George Cook and Jock McAvoy.
For the Petersen-Harvey fight I reckon I set up a record for sparring partners. I sparred with both boxers. A month before the fight I was working with Petersen. I was then 21, weighed 14 stone, and stood 6 ft. 2 ins. One day Jack came along, thanked me for helping to get him fighting fit, and said that he wanted to finish his training with a "smaller" boxer. This was so he could get the right length for his punches and leads for a man of McAvoy's physique. I went home, and my manager, Tal Ford, sent to Cardiff a scrapper of the size Petersen required.
McAvoy's Contrasting Style
At home I found an invitation to join the McAvoy training camp at Belle Vue, Manchester. I did, sparring with Jock for a week before the contest. I found a big difference in McAvoy's style and that of Petersen. Jock went in by crouching, bobbing, weaving, and hooking with both hands. Petersen attacked by standing "straight up" and flinging out straight lefts and right crosses. Like Petersen I found that McAvoy could dish out punishment like a kicking mule. He is one of the strongest two-handed hookers I've ever come up against. But after sparring with Mac I got the idea that Petersen's straight punches carried more dynamite than McAvoy's hooks.
My Impressions of Petersen
I was 18 when I was first given a job as sparring partner to Petersen. I was a big lad for my age then, weighing 13 st. 6 lb. And standing 6 ft. 1 1/2 ins. I had been boxing in a Wembley competition. "Pa" Petersen saw my show and afterwards approached Tal Ford. Shortly afterwards I was packing my grip for the "Lyne," Petersen's gym in Cardiff. The gym is the poshest outfit I've seen. Vapour baths and sun-ray outfits are among the gadgets which help to make the boxer's life enjoyable.
The first thing that struck me about Jack was the reserved and cultured way he has with him. More like a medical student than a man in the fight game. In my first spar with him the first thing that struck me was a straight left. He connected with several more before the two-rounder was finished, and I landed once or twice. After the bout Jack said that he was satisfied with me. I felt like first prize-winner in a sweep-stake.
Sparring with Jack soon began to improve my own boxing. My defence and footwork came on a ton. I had to step lively to keep out of the way of Jack's dynamite right. I developed a better left hand, and learned to get a right cross over in something like the Petersen style.
I always got a laugh in the Petersen camp on Saturday mornings. For an hour Jack would act as coach to a tribe of youngsters anything from five to 12 years of age. Jack used to show the kids how by getting on his knees. His favourite pupil was a five-year-old kiddie who was always ready to knock holes out of lads twice his age. Jack called him Tiger.
Talkative Foord
I'd had two or three spells as sparring partner with Petersen when the Petersen v. Ben Foord fight for the British Empire title was fixed. Straightaway I got invitations from both boxers. My manager made arrangements for me to spar with Foord. One condition was that I got a fight on the same bill. When I reached Foord's camp at Desborough (near Leicester) I was attracted by the sportsmanship of Ben and manager Walsh. I was never asked any questions about Petersen. I wouldn't have given anything away in any case.
Out of the ring Foord is different to Petersen. Where Jack is reserved Ben is talkative and full of wisecracks. In the ring the styles are much the same. Ben has a good left hand and a deadly dig in his right. I stopped a good few in my three weeks' stay at the camp. The only flaw in Ben's right hand was that he sometimes cocked it in such a way that I knew what was coming and was able to counter or get out of the way in time. I also sparred with Foord for his scrap with Walter Neusel at Harringay.
See a clip of Bert Ikin sparring with Ben Foord (58 secs in)
Neusel Nearly KO'd Me
After being sparring partner to Petersen and Foord in preparation for four fights against Neusel I was given a sparring date with the "Blond Tiger" himself. The German was preparing for his fight with Tommy Farr at Harringay this year. Shortly after things had been fixed up for me to go to Windsor for training a wire came from Danny Davies. "Can you join Farr at Blackheath?" Danny was Petersen's trainer for Jack's last contest with Neusel, and he'd apparently recommended me to Farr. But it was too late. Quiet, unassuming; the perfect gentleman in civvies, I found Walter a killer when he put the gloves on.
Towards the end of a round in one spar he caught me with a terrific right to the nose which sent me as near to dreamland as I've ever been. I hung on for grim death until the gong went. Examination showed that I had suffered a damaged bone near the bridge of my nose. Neusel isn't quick on his feet, but his punches have "knockout" written all over them. Not only that but he punches with a speed exceptional for a heavyweight.
Knowing how well Farr uses his left hand, Snowey Buckingham, Neusel's trainer, told me to sling as many fast lefts as I could at the attacking Neusel. I did, but it was like trying to stop a train. Walter could send over a lightning counter and drive me before him with hefty wallops until I'd find myself hemmed in a corner or on the ropes. I reckon Neusel is about the strongest counter-puncher in the game.
Sportsmanlike Carnera
Neusel was big and powerful but I had a bigger sparring partner when I was only 16. Primo Carnera. In those days I was a six-footer and weighed 13 stone. I was training with Jim Braidley, former heavyweight, at a time when Carnera was giving exhibitions up and down the country. Primo came to Stoke-on-Trent and wanted partners for the exhibition. Jim, who had sparred with Carnera before, was picked for a job, and he recommended me to a local promoter.
The upshot was that I was booked too. What punches I did land in that exhibition bounced off the Italian's body like rubber balls. I must have given a pretty good show, because I was fixed up to box another exhibition with Carnera at Leeds shortly after. I also boxed exhibitions with him at Dublin and Belfast. Carnera was a grand sportsman. In the Belfast exhibition when I missed two of his swings by ducking, Carnera immediately stopped boxing to congratulate me.
All the men I've sparred with have been earnest in their work; little quarter has been shown. But it's been fine experience. I'm now 22, and feel sure I can make the championship trail.
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