Quote Originally Posted by Lyle


Stanley Ketchel: Great middleweight, fought a fucking MONSTER of a heavyweight in Jack Johnson....drank a lot, was a womanizer, and was eventually murdered.
Man boxing is definitely a sport of characters. Ketchel was a crazy guy. He was good friends with the legendary author Jack London. London hated Jack Johnson and so did Ketchel so the two kind of came together in that regard. They spent a long time together right of the road here in The Valley of the Moon in Glen Ellen, California. During that time London got Ketchel hooked on this drink that mixed cocaine (cocoa leaves at that time) and bourbon. While on it, he would go on "barn storms", basically just driving to a farm or a plantation and beating the hell out of whoever challenges him. Crazy guy

While I'm on it, I would suggest the book "The Killings of Stanley Ketchel." I haven't read the whole book just excerpts but it's been very well received and while it's not an exact tale of Ketchel's life, it's a very good novel on him. It mainly revolves around the premise that he lived his whole life like he was an old west outlaw. And that he even went on murderous sprees in the west even during his prime. I've read a few reviews and it really sounds like a good book. Just throwing it out there.