Colour Line Greats - Larry Estridge

On my Jeff Clarke thread I mentioned I may turn the Colour Line Greats into a series, well on the back of the rip roaring success and sheer volume of responses that particular piece generated how could I fail to follow through on my promise, which brings me onto the next fighter to feature in the series - Larry Estridge.

Dubbed by his fans and journalists as the Black Stanley Ketchel it is a nickname that gives you a decent impression of both Larry's fighting style and the esteem he was held in, however for all his talent and the excitement he frequently generated Larry was also a heavy handed, gifted black southpaw, as many a fighter has discovered in more recent times this can make your boxing career difficult, in the 1920's you would struggle to have the deck more stacked against you.

On the back of a very impressive amateur career Larry turned pro in 1922 and proved that both his form and prodigious power had made the transition from the amateur game reeling off 8 wins in rapid succession with only one fighter making it into the third round! Even early in his career Larry was seen as one to watch and was matched against the similarly touted Alex Kid Gibbons, whilst this step up in class did see Larry go the full 12 round distance he earned plaudits for beating a well regarded foe clearly to close out 1922.

1923 started as 1922 had ended with Estridge ripping through the local talent in New York but with his manager William White failing to secure the bigger names or purses. At this point Estridge attempted to break free of his contract with White to join George Moore, the two potential managers argued back and forth with the upshot being they ended up as co-managers. Against this backdrop Estridge continued to do what he had always done in knocking down pretty much anyone put in front of him until he was matched with the excellent Allentown Joe Gans who was too experienced for Larry and had very much the better of their no decision bout.

However after a few wins to get back on track including a win over Frankie Carbone who's record read like a who's who of 1920's middles Larry was to enter the worst phase of his career. His manager Moore was firm in the belief that the hard slugging Estridge was something of a one trick pony and encouraged him to try and add some guille to the obvious power, however the experiment was less than successful and perhaps proof that some fighters are simply not designed to be stylists and during this period Larry was to drop two decisions and draw one in performances few who witnessed them could understand such was their timidity.

Fortunately Moore decided, through illness to step down as Larry's manager and Larry could return to the all action style that had served him so well and the wins and KO's soon returned which earned Larry a shot at coloured middleweight champion Panama Joe Gans (who will feature in the series in due course). Whilst Joe had almost certainly seen better days few if any had handled him as convincingly as Estridge did, with Larry even managing to deposit him on the seat of his pants in front of a stunned Yankee Stadium.

Larry repeated the win in a rematch as well as winning a number of other fights by KO, what this should have earned Larry was a shot at the world title, what it actually earned him was a fight with the excellent Paul Berlenbach. One cannot overstate how bad a match up this was for Larry. As has been noted Larry was an all action come forward brawler however in Berlanbach he was meeting someone who could do all the things Larry could do but also carried an extra stone in weight and genuine knock out power in his fists, the result was as inevitable as it was tragic with Paul putting Estridge out within two rounds, and whilst Larry did not retire on the back of this robbed of confidence and with a world title looking further away than ever his form began to become extremely patchy and his days as a serious contender were over.

Am sure as this series progresses there will be more talented or better known fighters featured than Estridge but thought he warranted a moment in the sun because for me the Berlanbach fight he was forced to take serves as an excellent microcosm of the challenges and obstacles black fighters had to attempt to overcome in the colour line days because the idea that a modern light middle on the form of his life scoring KO after KO would be pitched in with a muderous punching light heavy is almost impossible to imagine.

Excellent stuff Jeff, I won't pretend to have heard of Estridge before but his story seems typical of so many fighters of that era. The potential to go right to the top but the 'powers that be' deciding that it wasn't to be so. So much talent went to waste.

Great article, thanks for posting Rowley. Perfect little read for my morning coffee at work

Good stuff Jeff. Like Cane, I have never heard of him but feel slightly more educated this morning.

You should never stop learning. Thanks.

Unlike the two boys I already knew all of this but thanks anyway..

Really though hadn't heard of him either. Nice article and an interesting read.

Great work Jeff. Same as above, I'd never heard of him but then again that's hardly something new when it comes to the more obscure fighters. Keep up the good work!

Can't recall anything of Estridge either, Jeff, so this heads up is much appreciated. Can't really add anything else other than saying that this was a top article and, as ever, quite an eye opener, too.

I see he also fought a draw with Italian Joe Gans in 1925, just how many Joe Ganses were there?

Forgot to read this yesterday. Excellent stuff mate. Keep them coming.

Will you be covering John W Haynes also known as Black Hercules or Klondike.

I know he was the first man to beat Jack Johnson but can't find anything else about him apart from what boxrec have on his record. He shared the ring with a lot of the great black fighters of his time with varied success.

Will have a look for him Kev, but whenever I have dug for him in the past I have come up against the same lack of info you have encountered.

The only thing I could find out was that when he did beat Johnson Jack was a 2 fight novice and Klondike took liberties apparently mocking him and taunting him.

When they fought again Johnson was closer to his prime and returned the favour in the way Johnson did and made a fool of him forcing Klondike to quit after 14 round of humiliation.

The stories of the black fighters from this era are fascinating.