Edward "Gunboat" Smith
heavyweight contender, active 1909 - 1921

 

 

EDWARD J. SMYTH
b. February 17, 1887
d. August 6, 1974

Heavyweight contender and "great white hope" Gunboat Smith has nicely signed this photo in dark blue fountain pen ink... The photo is sepia toned by Apeda and pictures a very young Smith in the prime of his career... The obtainer of the autograph has labeled the time and place the photo was signed on the reverse, Harrow 20 July 1914... A very early signed item!!

measures: 3.5 x 6.5"
condition: fine

sold

 


July 20, 1914

  
     
 


example: signed shortly
 before his death 1973

  
     
 
 
Smith was lean and scrappy and a very good boxer; He moved well and hit sharply with both hands

From March 23, 1912 when he knocked out Jack Brooks until he lost to Jim Coffey on November 29, 1915, he was a "hot item" in the heavyweight division. His list of opponents reads like a "Who's Who of the Teens"; Among those he defeated during his career were Jess Willard, Sam Langford, Battling Levinsky, Carl Morris, Frank Moran, "Fireman" Jim Flynn, "Bombardier" Billy Wells, Jim Stewart, Jim Savage, Tony Ross, and George "Boer" Rodel

He won the White Heavyweight Championship in 1914 when he knocked out Arthur Pelkey; Six months later he lost the title to Georges Carpentier on an "ill-called" foul

After he retired from the ring, he became a referee; Smith was a White Hope of the teens		  
 


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