Joe Hipp Update

Joe "The Boss" Hipp still has it.  The following excerpts are from the Flathead Beacon newspaper in Kalispell, Montana.  The article, entitled "UPDATE: Browning Boxing Legend Joe Hipp Returns to the Hometown Ring" by Dillon Tabish.  The photo is also from the Flathead Beacon.  The link to the entire article is below. 
By Dillion Tabish, Flathead Beacon, July 14, 2012:

Former world champion Joe Hipp returned to the boxing ring in his hometown last weekend for the first time in seven years.

Hipp won in the fifth round with a TKO against Harry Funmaker in Browning on July 14. Hipp hiked his lifetime record to 44-7 with 30 knockouts. It was his first fight since 2005. Known during his career as "The Boss," Hipp was the first Native American to fight for a world heavyweight championship and also win one. In 1995, he fought Bruce Seldon for the WBA title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. He won the WBF title in 1999. Hipp was inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

"You just never get tired of boxing," he said during weigh-ins at Burton Boxing in Kalispell on July 13. "And my grandkids wanted to see me fight."

Browning's Joe Hipp holding championship belts he won throughout his professional boxing career. - Dillon Tabish/Flathead Beacon

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/vegas_quality_boxing_event_comes_to_browning/28771#.UGmR-uk_GMY.mailto

Joe "The Boss" Hipp

I saw heavyweight boxer Joe Hipp break Mike Cohen’s jaw in 1991. I remember Cohen bent over the canvas spitting out a tooth. I was sitting at ringside at the Executive Inn in Fife Washington as the guest of boxing promoter Brian Halquist. Hipp was 29 for that fight. Later that evening I got to meet him and shake his hand.

(That’s Halquist on the left of the black-and-white photo below. Halquist had been working on a couple of projects involving convicted triple-killer Charles Rodman Campbell and “Seattle Arsonist” Paul Keller, people I’d represented at one time).

Joe Hipp was a professional boxer between 1987 and 2005 (an 18-year career)-- although he is scheduled to come out of retirement to fight on March 7, 2009 in Billings Montana (at the age of 47). In his professional career Hipp has won 43 (29 by KO) and lost 7 (6 by KO) with no draws.

Hipp was born in Montana in 1962 and fought out of Yakima Washington. He is a member of the Blackfoot Tribe. Joe's mother was a Blackfoot and Joe was born on a reservation. Hipp began his professional career in 1987 at the age of 25. He was the first man of Native-American ancestry to box for a version of the heavyweight championship when he fought Bruce Seldon in Las Vegas in 1995.

In 1992 Joe Hipp fought Tommy Morrison (called “The Duke" because he was a grandnephew of Hollywood star John Wayne) in one of the most remembered fights of Morrison's career. Suffering from what was later discovered to be a broken hand and broken jaw, Morrison had to rally late in the fight to score a technical knockout in the ninth round. Hipp described the fight as “A great war! I lost the first 3 rounds when he was trying his best to take me out. But then I thought-- if I'm gonna lose, I'm not gonna lose backing up-- so I stood and traded with him. But the ref stopped it. It was hard fight-- I broke his jaw, he broke my cheek bone.”

Morrison was in the 1990 Movie Rocky V with Sylvester Stallone. In 1993 he fought for the WBO (World Boxing Organization) heavyweight title against legend George Foreman (who was making a comeback) and won that 12-round decision.

Hipp became a favorite and was referred to as "The Boss" by his loyal fans. In 1994 he captured the NABF (North American Boxing Federation) heavyweight title with a points win over Alex Garcia. That gave Hipp a shot at WBA (World Boxing Association) heavyweight champ Bruce Seldon.

Hipp relinquished his own NABF title (held 1994-1995) in order to challenge Bruce Seldon for the WBA title. The 1995 title bout was on the under card of the Mike Tyson v. Peter McNeeley fight, which was Tyson’s first fight after being released from prison for rape. The fight was stopped in the 10th round by the referee after Hipp had massive swelling and bleeding on his face. Hipp and others felt the Seldon fight was another bad stoppage.

Basically, if Hipp was standing upright he wanted to keep fighting. He didn’t want to be pulled out of a fight simply because his sight was being affected by swelling around his eyes. His bravery and willingness to grit his teeth and take the pain were pure Hipp.

Joe Hipp has also spent a lot of time throughout his career going around working and talking to troubled kids. He’s helped raise money for the non-profit All Nations Foundation out of Puyallup Washington. (In 2000 an anonymous arsonist burned Hipp’s Yakima house to the ground. He has no idea who deliberately torched his home. Not even his cat survived the blaze). It’s reported that in December 2005 Hipp was a FEMA worker at the Hurricane Katrina disaster. He joined other Blackfeet who were called upon due to their experience in wildfires and search and rescue missions. In 2007 Hipp was working for his former manager Ray Frye at a Seattle area sweeping company. He’s also co-owned a small construction company.

Joe Hipp is scheduled to come out of retirement to fight March 7, 2009 in Billings Montana with something called the CBA heavyweight title on the line (Carolina Boxing Association?). He’s billed as “Indian Joe.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hipp
http://www.indianz.com/board/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=35738
http://www.insideboxing.com/Local_Scene/North%20Carolina/local_boxing_news_and_informatio.htm

"Seattle Arsonist" Paul Keller (in glasses) and triple-murderer Charles Rodman Campbell (in custody)--

Harry "Kid" Matthews

Beginning in 1964 my family was living in Everett. Later, I got my hands on a used 1963 Chevrolet Corvair. It had four cylinders. Well, there's not much a guy can do to "soup up" a Corvair. That is-- except maybe get louder exhaust pipes. But pipes never go on easily. A guy might have to have some modifications done by a welder. So, that's what I did. I found a welding shop in Everett.




I told my Dad about my plans and he said "That guy was a professional boxer." Huh? "Harry 'Kid' Matthews."





Sure enough, the welder said he was Harry "Kid" Matthews. He said little more than that. He simply fixed the exhaust. I paid him $10 or so. He wrote a receipt. I should have kept it.

Before WWII Matthews came from Idaho and ended up in the Seattle area, where he established himself as a respectable "main event" fighter. He was a contender in the middleweight division. Then he joined the US Army and didn't box again until 1946. Despite winning regularly after the war, Matthews was unable to make much progress with his career.

Meanwhile, Jack Hurley had managed fighters in Chicago in the 1930s, and also promoted fights for the Chicago Colesium in the 1940s. He eventually came to the Seattle area and set up a long residence at the downtown Olympic Hotel.




In 1949 Hurley discovered Harry "Kid" Matthews. Hurley refined Matthews's style and used his cunning public relation skills to build up Matthews. Matthhews appeared on the October 1951 cover of "The Ring" boxing magazine.

Hurley was known as a perfectionist and would drill his fighters to do exactly what he expected of them. As a result, knowledgable people could tell a Hurley-trained fighter from others. http://www.boxrec.com/media/index.php/Harry_(Kid)_Matthews





Hurley kept Matthews busy in the Northwest in 1950 before sending him off to New York City in 1951. In July 1952, Matthews was matched against heavyweight Rocky Marciano in Yankee Stadium. After winning the first round in the eyes of most, he was knocked out by Marciano in the second round.

After that Harry "Kid" Matthews fought primarily in the Northwest. He retired in 1956 with a respectable career (1937 - 1956) record of 90 wins (KO 61), 7 losses (KO 3) and 6 draws. http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=012220&cat=boxer&pageID=1

After his boxing career ended, Matthews owned and operated a welding shop in Everett, Washington. He also began training Everett Heavyweight Ibar Arrington 1978. Born in 1922, he died in Everett in 2003 at age 81.

Benny "Kid" Paret

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, millions watched The Friday Night Fights on "Gillette's Cavalcade of Sports."

The black-and-white television show started with the theme song "To Look Sharp." It had all the right ingredients for a father-and-son "guy's night out" in the living room watching the fights together-- dads, sons, boxing, shaving products and techniques for future shavers . . .



. . . and (for future reference) beer. Beer companies were major sponsors. These images look vaguely familiar.



Then came the last of three championship fights in about a year between Benny "Kid" Paret (shown below) and Emile Griffith. Each fighter had beaten the other once before. Paret became the welterweight champ in 1960, but soon lost the title when Emile Griffith knocked him out in their first fight. Half a year later in their second fight, Paret then defeated Griffith with a split decision to recapture the championship. The "rubber match" was scheduled for March 24, 1962 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was to be televised live on "Gillette's Cavalcade of Sports."



In the twelfth round of the fight, Griffith trapped Paret in the coroner and hit him twenty-nine times in a row when Paret was unconscious against the ropes. The referee came under criticism for not stopping the fight sooner. Paret went into a coma after the fight, and died nine days later in a hospital bed. He had just turned 25 a couple of weeks before the fight. Paret had a lifetime record of 36-12-3 (with 10 KO).



I remember watching the fight with my Dad, and remember him jumping up and yelling something about "getting caught in the corner." I remember more about my Dad's seriousness and concern than much about the images on the television set. I imagine something changed about watching the fights after that, particularly after learning that Benny "Kid" Paret had died a few days later. My Dad told me.

(It was the first time something like that happened on television-- the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby wasn't far behind-- and some results were that boxing wouldn't be seen on television for more than ten years. Reforms were also enacted-- bouts were shortened to less than 15 rounds, and referees began to stop fights more quickly).

I didn't know the following at the time I watched the fight, and only learned of it recently when researching this post, but it's now been reported that at the weigh-in before the fight, Paret called Griffith a "queer" in Spanish. (They were both from the Caribbean). In the sixth round, Paret knocked Griffith down, who was saved by the bell. Paret blew him a kiss as he walked back to his corner. I don't know if that was a major factor in the fight or not.

These are excellent sources for where most of this information comes from:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/17600/ring-of-fire-the-emile-griffith-story/
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/arts/television/16cart.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://profiles.incredible-people.com/benny-paret/

These tragic stores just sort of stick with a guy over the years, but I also think they've served to make a guy more careful and appreciative along the way.