Mike Gibbons By George D. Blair
When I was very young, I found out that my dad used to be a boxer back in the glory days of the sport in the Minnesota, and that he had around a dozen fights. Listening to him talk about boxing back then perked my interest and it never waned. I also heard him talk many times abut a boxer from his era who he called he greatest boxer that Minnesota ever had. He said he used to marvel at the boxing genius of this man as he watched him spar during training sessions at the gym. Of course, I never had the chance to see him in action live, but just one time I did see a rare old film which showed a few rounds of one of his fights, and it was enough for me to confirm my father's belief about the man's ring genius.
His name was Michael J. Gibbons and they called him "The Phantom", and for very good reason. It was Mike Gibbons who established St. Paul as a boxing capitol in the decade before 1920 and the many who followed, patterning their style after him. A master of the art of scientific boxing, which he later taught for years, he would influence boxers of the future who probably never heard of him or knew who he was. IN some quarters, the master boxer is still said to fight the "Gibbons Style". Nat Fleischer, the man who started Ring Magazine back in 1922 and ran it until his death, rated Gibbons as the #9 middleweight on the all-time list. Yes, Mike Gibbons was a true all-time great, and the best fighter the state of Minnesota ever produced.
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