Name: Jack Gardner Career Record: click Nationality: British Hometown: Market Harborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom Born: 1926-11-06 Died: 1978-11-11 Age at Death: 52 Gardner won the 1948 ABA Heavyweight title. He also represented Great Britain at the 1948 London Olympic games. http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id 855 5_path 191p982p.aspx Jack Gardner was born in 1926 at Market Harborough, England. He began boxing while in the Grenadier Guards in the British Army during the 1940s and won the Army and Imperial Services Titles in 1948 as well as the ABA Heavyweight Title. Gardner looked tall, but I don't know how tall he was, had to be over six feet. He weighed anywhere from 198 to 221 pounds during his career. He was one of the best punchers in the heavyweight division and was never KO'd during his career (he lost two by TKO, one due to cuts). He made his professional debut in 1948 when he defeated three men on the same night in a novice tournament. Gardner won all three fights by knockout in the first round. He was a slow mover but had a good left hand. Gardner won ten more fights, and he won five fights by KO in the first round during his career. Gardner defeated Johnny Williams in 1950 in one of the most grueling fights ever staged in Britain after both men had to spent a night in a hospital. He won the British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator and the fight was christened the "Bloodbath of the Midlands". Gardner then became a contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1950, even being rated above Rocky Marciano, the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World. Gardner challenged Bruce Woodcock in 1950 for the British and Empire Heavyweight
Championship, defeating him by TKO after eleven rounds. Afterwards, Gardner defeated Jo Weidin on points after fifteen rounds in 1951 for the European Heavyweight Championship. He then lost his European title to Hein Ten Hoff later that year after fifteen rounds and lost his British and Empire titles to Johnny Williams on points in 1952, retiring from boxing. However, he made a comeback in 1954 with a series of victories and Gardner knocked out Williams after five rounds in 1955 in a British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator. However, he was finally defeated in 1956 by TKO after two rounds with Joe Bygraves. He then retired from boxing at age twenty - nine. Gardner had a record of 28 wins, 23 by KO, and 6 losses, 2 by TKO. Jack Leonard GARDNER Height: 6' 1 Weight: 201-221 pounds Title(s): British and Empire Heavyweight Championship; European Heavyweight Championship THE FIGHTING CAREER OF JACK GARDNER Jack Gardner, tall, dark and handsome, standing over six feet tall and weighing over two hundred pounds, was a contender for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. He had the blood of a champion and he was an aggressive fighter. Gardner was one of the hardest hitters in the heavyweight division, if his career would have lasted longer, he would probably be one of the most legendary names in boxing history. Jack Leonard Gardner was born on November 6, 1926 at Market Harborough, England. His father, Len, was a farmer and boxer. He trained the Gardner boys in the art of fighting. Jack Gardner was perhaps the most talented. He served in the British Army with the Grenadier Guards where he began boxing. Gardner won the Army and Imperial Services Heavyweight Titles in 1948, as well as the ABA Heavyweight Title. He represented Britain in the Olympic Games, the first to be shown on television. As the British Amatuer Heavyweight Champion, Gardner knocked out Karl Ameisbichler, of Austria, within 2 rounds, but lost on points to a Swiss boxer named Hans Mueller. Afterwards, Gardner signed a contract at age twenty - two in 1948 and began his career as a professional boxer. Gardner defeated three men on the same night all by knockout in the first round during a novice tournament. His first opponent was KO'd in round one while the other two where TKO'd within round one. Gardner then won ten more fights, all by knockout, four more by KO in the first round and two more by TKO in the first round. The undefeated Jack Gardner, 13-0, with thirteen won by way of knockout, earned his first loss to a Canadian heavyweight, receiving a TKO on cuts, perhaps his only weakness. He lost again
to the same heavyweight on points, but he still prevailed. On July 17, 1950, the greatest fight of the year involved Jack Gardner. It was the British and Empire Heavyweight Title Eliminator and the experienced Johnny Williams fought him for it. The fight was one of the most grueling, thrilling fights ever staged in Britain. Williams traded punches with Gardner, who hit much harder. The decision was in favor of Gardner and Williams passed out, being taken to the hospital. Jack Gardner was listed as the number 8 contender for the World's Heavyweight Title, even being rated above Rocky Marciano, the number 10 contender who would later hold the title and retire undefeated. Corey Gardner Williams Sneaks Heavy Crown Gardner Made fight, But Lost Verdict Boxing News March 19, 1952 There should be no European, or even more ambitious, title plans for newly-crowned British and Empire Heavyweight champion Johnny Williams, points winner over Jack Gardner After fifteen rough and rugged rounds at the Exhibition Hall, Earls Court. So narrow and so debatable was his winning margin of points an early return with the ex-guardsman should be his first objective. The argument as to who is the better man remains unsolved, even after 27 punishing rounds. On this occasion we gave Gardner eight rounds, Williams six, with one even, and can only assume that Gardner's failure to capture referee Jack Hart's points verdict was due to a large extent on his tactics of puling his man on to rights an offence for which he was frequently warned. But there was only one aggressor: Gardner. Throughout he chased Williams and although a number of his punches were badly directed, especially his right, it was his work that made what little action there was, and on that score alone he appeared to have done enough to gain the verdict. Williams certainly heeded the lesson of their Leicester battle nearly two years ago, when he foolishly started swapping punches with Gardner. Had he fallen into a similar trapon this occasion Gardner would have won inside the distance, so much harder was his punching. Instead, when Williams was hurt he either, back-pedalled and shot out lefts or fell into a clinch, where Gardner, failing to use his weight advantage of 20 lb., showed once again his reluctance to punch away to the body. There was little or no in- fighting and invariably the clinches developed into clumsy entanglements to be broken up by the referee, and thus Gardner's opportunities were allowed to slip away.
Spectators with hopes that this return would be as thrilling as their memorable Leicester fight were disappointed, for they had to be content with fourteen rounds of hard but unspectacular battling and only three minutes of fireworks the last round when Gardner, following up his advantages for the first time, had Williams hard-pressed on the ropes. Bells and hunting horns accompanied the fanfares that greeted first Williams and then Gardner into the ring, and as they came together for the referee's instructions it was plain to see Gardner's advantages in height and reach. Gardner scaled 15st. 4lb. and Williams 13st. 12.11b. The fight took the generally expected course in the first four rounds,with Williams' speed and snappy left leading checking Gardner's attacks. Early in the third a trickle of blood under Gardner's left eye roused him into an attack and the two good left hooks to Williams' head were the best punches thus far. Gardner received a warning for pulling his opponent on to a punch early in the fourth and Williams maintained his speedy left leading for most of the round. Certainly picking up the points and Increasing his early lead, but never once shaking the tough Gardner. The fifth clearly showed Gardners lack of in-fighting. He rocked Williams with a right hook, but when Williams moved in close Gardner fire petered out and the crisis was over. Williams blows although outnumbered by Gardner's were certainly better directed, as was shown in the sixth when he twice hurt Gardner with two good rights as he moved forward,but they failed to halt or even stem Gardner's pressure Rounds seven and eight apart of course from the last were Gardner's best. His right eye was now badly swollen, but he chased Williams all the time, admittedly taking flicking lefts, but handing out some severe punishment in the form of long rights. The initiative swayed in Williams favour in the ninth, when he rocked Gardner with two perfect rights to the jaw possibly the best two punches of the fight. This switch in fortunes was repeated in the tenth, when Williams stabbing left was again prominent and this forced Gardner to vary his attack in the eleventh to straighter punching, with a good deal of success. Gardner bleeding badly from the mouth as well as from cuts near both eyes, forced Williams out of the fight in the twelfth and thirteenth, shaking him badly with a left hook to the law, but once again Williams sought a close-quarter berth and recovered. Conserving their efforts for the last round led to a tame fourteen,with plenty of clinches and the best punch a good right hook coming from Gardner. Then came the fifteenth, with more action packed into that three minutes than the rest of the fight put together. Midway through the round a long right and left to the head drove Williams to the ropes, and Gardner followed up with another long left that made Williams stagger.
As he shot out lefts in an effort to check Gardner's attack. the final bell sounded and without hesitation the hand of a badly shaken Williams was raised.