WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.149 Picture this. You're stepping into... Well, into 00:00:03.149 --> 00:00:05.950 the visceral, bare knuckle, smoke filled world 00:00:05.950 --> 00:00:09.449 of late 19th century sports. Oh, wow. Yeah. You 00:00:09.449 --> 00:00:11.529 can practically smell the cheap cigar smoke, 00:00:11.710 --> 00:00:14.250 you know, the damp wool of the crowd, the sweat 00:00:14.250 --> 00:00:16.269 of the fighters. This is very specific atmosphere. 00:00:16.570 --> 00:00:20.010 Exactly. And the rules in this era, they are 00:00:20.010 --> 00:00:23.530 treated more like polite suggestions. The men 00:00:23.530 --> 00:00:25.469 stepping into the ring are fighting not just 00:00:25.469 --> 00:00:28.750 for glory, but for sheer survival. Right. Literally 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:31.730 just surviving. So today we are putting a magnifying 00:00:31.730 --> 00:00:34.320 glass. fine glass on one of the most polarizing 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.579 chaotic figures from that entire era we are doing 00:00:37.579 --> 00:00:40.280 a deep dive into a man named william amos smith 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:42.520 a fascinating guy now you might not know the 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:44.359 name off the top of your head but in 2009 he 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:46.719 was actually posthumously inducted into the international 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.899 boxing hall of fame but and here's the kicker 00:00:49.899 --> 00:00:52.880 he is much better known by a significantly darker 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:56.289 title Across the sport's entire history, he is 00:00:56.289 --> 00:00:59.289 widely considered the dirtiest fighter of all 00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:02.850 time. It is an incredible, almost contradictory 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:06.010 legacy. I mean, we have a wonderfully detailed 00:01:06.010 --> 00:01:08.450 Wikipedia article serving as our foundation today. 00:01:08.609 --> 00:01:11.549 And what's so compelling about this text is that 00:01:11.549 --> 00:01:14.010 it documents not just his fighting career, but 00:01:14.010 --> 00:01:16.510 the absolute whirlwind of his personal history. 00:01:16.670 --> 00:01:19.430 Yeah. You really get a sense of a man who lived 00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:21.650 his entire life with his foot just slammed on 00:01:21.650 --> 00:01:23.769 the gas pedal. And the mission of this deep dive 00:01:23.769 --> 00:01:27.489 is to chart that wild journey. We want to understand 00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:30.129 how a Canadian fisherman's son transformed into 00:01:30.129 --> 00:01:34.250 a two time world welterweight champion. And we're 00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:36.930 going to unpack how a guy with a staggering record 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:39.790 of 13 disqualifications for foul play somehow 00:01:39.790 --> 00:01:42.290 managed to become a legendary figure in sports. 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:45.329 Yeah, 13 is just it's unbelievable. It is. And 00:01:45.329 --> 00:01:47.430 to help me synthesize all this historical data 00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:50.040 and really contextualize the. absolute brutality 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:52.799 of the 1890s. I've got a resident expert here. 00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:55.000 I am genuinely looking forward to this one. The 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.140 late 19th century boxing scene was essentially 00:01:57.140 --> 00:01:59.739 the Wild West, and Smith is the perfect lens 00:01:59.739 --> 00:02:02.439 through which to view a sport that was, well, 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:04.560 desperately trying to figure out its own identity. 00:02:05.099 --> 00:02:07.480 Okay, let's unpack this. Because to understand 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:10.460 the chaotic force that he became, you really 00:02:10.460 --> 00:02:12.819 have to start at his incredibly humble beginnings. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:15.900 Right. William Amos Smith was born on May 15, 00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:19.099 1871. This is in Little River Digby, Nova Scotia. 00:02:19.139 --> 00:02:21.400 Up in Canada. Right. And he was the youngest 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:24.780 of six kids. His father, Robert, was actually 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.599 an American -born fisherman, and his mother was 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.639 Adelia. We know from the 1881 Canadian census 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:33.719 that a 10 -year -old William was living with 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.800 his family in Lepreux, New Brunswick. Think about 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:38.960 what it meant to be the youngest of six kids 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.539 in a harsh Canadian fishing town in the 1870s. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:45.099 You had practically zero social mobility. Exactly. 00:02:45.379 --> 00:02:47.639 Your physical labor and eventually your fists 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:49.939 were quite literally your only ticket out of 00:02:49.939 --> 00:02:52.759 a freezing, impoverished life. That geographical 00:02:52.759 --> 00:02:55.300 and economic starting point, it explains so much 00:02:55.300 --> 00:02:58.060 of his later psychology. You have a large family 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:01.240 living a grinding working class existence on 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:03.819 the eastern seaboard of Canada. The options for 00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:06.219 a young man to make a name or even just a reliable 00:03:06.219 --> 00:03:09.659 living were incredibly limited. That is precisely 00:03:09.659 --> 00:03:12.120 why the movement of his family members becomes 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.240 a crucial strategic advantage for him. Right, 00:03:14.379 --> 00:03:17.020 because he had three older brothers, Nelson, 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:20.780 St. Clair and Thomas. And it's Thomas who makes 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:23.159 a massive life -altering move for the family. 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:27.539 He goes west. He does. In late 1887, Thomas Dakin 00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:30.080 Smith travels all the way across the North American 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:32.860 continent to Oregon, eventually settling in Portland. 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:35.800 The city directories and census records list 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:40.419 Thomas' occupation as a buggy washer. Which sounds 00:03:40.419 --> 00:03:42.819 minor. Right. Washing horse buggies sounds like 00:03:42.819 --> 00:03:45.159 a completely minor throwaway historical detail, 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:47.219 but I imagine having a brother out there was 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.340 actually a huge deal for William. Oh, it was 00:03:49.340 --> 00:03:51.919 everything. Historically speaking, having a family 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:54.919 member established in a booming, rapidly industrializing 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:57.800 West Coast city provided a vital familial safety 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:00.580 net. Thomas created an anchor base on the Pacific 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:03.180 for William's future ambitions. It meant that 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:05.159 when William was finally ready to leave the docks 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:07.759 of Canada, he wasn't just walking blindly into 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.219 the unknown. Right. He had somewhere to go. Exactly. 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:13.159 He had a specific destination, a familiar face, 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:16.339 and a roof over his head. That kind of logistical 00:04:16.339 --> 00:04:19.519 support was really rare for migrant fighters. 00:04:19.819 --> 00:04:21.720 It's like having a free couch to crash on when 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:23.639 you move to the big city to become an actor today. 00:04:23.899 --> 00:04:27.000 Precisely. So, William starts finding some early 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:30.000 success back in Canada first. At 19, he's actually 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:32.000 being managed by another brother, St. Clair. 00:04:32.139 --> 00:04:35.069 Keeping it in the family. Always. He fights to 00:04:35.069 --> 00:04:38.990 a draw against Ed Harvey in late 1890 and gets 00:04:38.990 --> 00:04:41.709 a TKO against a guy named Frank Thibault. And 00:04:41.709 --> 00:04:44.050 for anyone listening, not steeped in boxing terminology, 00:04:44.449 --> 00:04:47.550 a TKO or technical knockout means he beat the 00:04:47.550 --> 00:04:51.230 guy so badly that either the referee or the ringside 00:04:51.230 --> 00:04:53.949 doctor had to physically step in and stop the 00:04:53.949 --> 00:04:55.689 fight because it was too dowdrous to continue. 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:58.089 So clearly the kid has heavy hands. Very heavy 00:04:58.089 --> 00:05:00.689 hands. But Canada isn't a big enough stage. In 00:05:00.689 --> 00:05:03.829 early 1891, the 19... year old makes the massive 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:06.129 trip to San Francisco, which is the place to 00:05:06.129 --> 00:05:09.209 be. Yeah. San Francisco back then is this booming 00:05:09.209 --> 00:05:12.410 hub for West Coast boxing. But you don't just 00:05:12.410 --> 00:05:14.769 walk into a San Francisco gym and demand a title 00:05:14.769 --> 00:05:17.110 shot, right? How does a teenager actually survive 00:05:17.110 --> 00:05:19.110 while trying to climb the ranks? That brings 00:05:19.110 --> 00:05:21.870 us to the fascinating economics of the era. You 00:05:21.870 --> 00:05:24.129 couldn't just rely on a slow amateur buildup 00:05:24.129 --> 00:05:27.269 like fighters do today. You had to eat, which 00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:28.990 meant you had to generate revenue immediately. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:32.220 So young fighters like William relied heavily 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:34.660 on exhibition matches. And we see that in his 00:05:34.660 --> 00:05:37.420 early record. He fights at places like the California 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:40.600 Athletic Club, the Wigwam Theater, and the Occidental 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:43.439 Athletic Club. Famous venues. Yeah, and he is 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.839 taking on these exhibition bouts against established 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.040 names. He fights a guy named John Edward Kelly, 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:52.519 who is much better known as Jack Nonpareil Dempsey. 00:05:52.660 --> 00:05:55.180 A legend. Huge legend. Dempsey was actually the 00:05:55.180 --> 00:05:57.100 very first middleweight champion of the world, 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.279 and he was nine years older than William. William 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:01.839 also fights another highly established Australian 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.000 boxer named Billy Shadow Maber. What's fascinating 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.180 here is that these exhibition matches were not 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:09.199 just light practice rounds or friendly sparring 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:13.120 sections. They were absolutely vital marketing 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:16.399 tools. How so? Well, in the late 19th century, 00:06:16.519 --> 00:06:20.120 boxing was pure entertainment capitalism. An 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.100 exhibition match sold tickets, which generated 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:25.920 immediate hard cash for everyone involved. So 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:27.939 it was just a payday. A payday and an audition. 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:31.060 For a young, unknown upstart like William, stepping 00:06:31.060 --> 00:06:33.839 into the ring with an aging, famous, veteran 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:37.199 -like non -prail Dempsey proved to the promoters 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.160 and the betting public that he could hang with 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.220 the big names. It built his brand before he even 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:44.949 had an official ranking. It was an audition with 00:06:44.949 --> 00:06:47.350 live ammunition. He is literally trading punches 00:06:47.350 --> 00:06:50.029 for relevance. And it totally works. He starts 00:06:50.029 --> 00:06:53.069 racking up actual official wins. He beats guys 00:06:53.069 --> 00:06:55.670 like Billy Kelly and Frank Kelly. He puts himself 00:06:55.670 --> 00:06:58.649 officially on the map. But then in April 1892, 00:06:58.889 --> 00:07:00.730 he decides to utilize that anchor base we talked 00:07:00.730 --> 00:07:03.209 about earlier. He's 20 years old and he takes 00:07:03.209 --> 00:07:05.430 a steamship from San Francisco up to Portland, 00:07:05.529 --> 00:07:07.870 Oregon to link up with his brother Thomas. And 00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:10.550 that steamship journey ends up introducing him 00:07:10.550 --> 00:07:13.639 to another crucial figure in his life. Exactly. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.459 He's not alone on this boat. He's traveling with 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:18.379 another up -and -coming boxer, a lightweight 00:07:18.379 --> 00:07:21.199 named George Kidd Levine. Another great name. 00:07:21.379 --> 00:07:23.720 They strike up a deep friendship on that journey 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:26.620 that becomes a recurring theme in his life. They 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:28.779 even travel across the Atlantic to London together 00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:32.180 years later. So William gets to Portland, fights 00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:34.699 a bit, beats a guy named Charles Gleeson, and 00:07:34.699 --> 00:07:37.180 even manages to knock out his old exhibition 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:40.620 rival, Billy Shadow Maber. But he's looking for 00:07:40.620 --> 00:07:42.779 something bigger. Right. He is still hunting 00:07:42.779 --> 00:07:45.720 for that one massive breakout moment. To get 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:47.800 it, he has to head back down to San Francisco 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:51.100 in December of 1892. The fight at the Pacific 00:07:51.100 --> 00:07:53.519 Clove against Danny Needham. This is the turning 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:55.660 point of his entire existence. Here's where it 00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:58.160 gets really interesting. William Amos Smith fights 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:01.519 Danny Needham and he wins. At just 21 years old, 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:04.000 he captures the world welterweight boxing title. 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:06.379 Unbelievable. Suddenly, this rugged kid from 00:08:06.379 --> 00:08:08.980 a Nova Scotia fishing village is a world champion. 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:12.480 Naturally, the press goes wild. The East Coast 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:14.819 reporters, who completely dominate the national 00:08:14.819 --> 00:08:17.509 sports narrative at the time, Want to know who 00:08:17.509 --> 00:08:19.529 this kid is? Of course they do. They ask him 00:08:19.529 --> 00:08:22.490 where he's from. And for some completely inexplicable 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:25.990 reason, William claims he is from Boston. I wouldn't 00:08:25.990 --> 00:08:28.329 call it a master class in public relations so 00:08:28.329 --> 00:08:30.769 much as a symptom of a completely broken information 00:08:30.769 --> 00:08:34.549 system. I mean, in the 1890s, communication networks 00:08:34.549 --> 00:08:38.169 were staggeringly sparse and fragmented. So the 00:08:38.169 --> 00:08:39.929 East Coast reporters look at their local records. 00:08:40.129 --> 00:08:42.389 They have absolutely no idea who this guy from 00:08:42.389 --> 00:08:44.950 Boston is because they have zero record of him 00:08:44.950 --> 00:08:48.009 in their area. The newspapers literally start 00:08:48.009 --> 00:08:50.870 calling him a mystery. The press dubs him mysterious 00:08:50.870 --> 00:08:53.350 Billy Smith. And instead of correcting them and 00:08:53.350 --> 00:08:55.470 proudly claiming his Canadian roots, he just 00:08:55.470 --> 00:08:57.850 leans into it. He adopts the moniker forever. 00:08:58.090 --> 00:09:00.610 It perfectly illustrates the era's information 00:09:00.610 --> 00:09:03.210 vacuum. Think about it. Today, you would have 00:09:03.210 --> 00:09:05.409 an athlete's entire amateur background, their 00:09:05.409 --> 00:09:08.070 birthplace, and their high school records pulled 00:09:08.070 --> 00:09:10.570 up on a smartphone in three seconds. Oh, instantly. 00:09:11.100 --> 00:09:13.779 But back then, a fighter could quite literally 00:09:13.779 --> 00:09:17.620 reinvent his entire origin story just by lying 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:20.779 with a straight face to a single newspaper reporter. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:23.840 And no one could check. Exactly. The East Coast 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.980 press had no telegraphic way to instantly verify 00:09:26.980 --> 00:09:29.679 if he was from Nova Scotia, Portland or Boston. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:32.399 They just ran with what they had. And the mystery 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.159 itself became a highly lucrative brand. And what 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:37.220 a powerful brand to have. He was a champion, 00:09:37.419 --> 00:09:39.679 though holding on to a title back then was a 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:42.389 volatile. constantly shifting business. Very 00:09:42.389 --> 00:09:45.129 volic. He actually loses the world welterweight 00:09:45.129 --> 00:09:48.799 title to Tommy Ryan in 1894. but he refuses to 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:52.639 fade away into obscurity. In August 1898, at 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:55.659 age 27, he wins the vacant world title back by 00:09:55.659 --> 00:09:58.019 beating a guy named Matty Matthews in New York. 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:00.440 A two -time champ. So now he is a two -time world 00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:02.899 champion. But let's pivot, because as successful 00:10:02.899 --> 00:10:05.220 as he was, that's not why history remembers him. 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:07.340 We need to talk about why he earned the title 00:10:07.340 --> 00:10:09.639 of the dirtiest fighter who ever lived. Right, 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:11.799 getting into the really dark stuff. When you 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:14.240 look at him, the physical stats are almost deceiving. 00:10:14.379 --> 00:10:16.559 He was five foot, eight and a half inches tall. 00:10:16.779 --> 00:10:19.759 Isn't that a joke? No. He's described as a two 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:22.080 -fisted battler with incredibly quick hands who 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:24.759 entered the ring ready to wage absolute war. 00:10:25.299 --> 00:10:27.759 But his defining characteristic wasn't his speed. 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:30.720 It was a blatant, almost theatrical disregard 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.600 for the safety of his opponents. When you look 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.159 at the historical records of his fights, the 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:39.840 tactics are appalling. We are talking about elbows, 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:44.730 intentional headbutts, knees to the groin. And 00:10:44.730 --> 00:10:47.269 biting. Biting. Biting. Imagine you were stepping 00:10:47.269 --> 00:10:49.830 into a ring today expecting a boxing match and 00:10:49.830 --> 00:10:51.870 the guy across from you treats it like a back 00:10:51.870 --> 00:10:54.110 alley street brawl to the death. It's terrifying. 00:10:54.409 --> 00:10:56.409 And this wasn't just a one -off moment of lost 00:10:56.409 --> 00:10:59.289 temper. The statistic that blew my mind in this 00:10:59.289 --> 00:11:01.990 deep dive, Smith was disqualified 13 times in 00:11:01.990 --> 00:11:04.860 his professional career. 13. Yeah. That is more 00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:06.980 than any other boxer in the history of the sport. 00:11:07.139 --> 00:11:09.539 That number is staggering when you contextualize 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:11.639 how much you actually had to do to get disqualified 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:14.539 in the late 1800s. Referees let almost everything 00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:17.320 slide back then. They just let them fight. Bloodshed 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:21.899 was expected. So to cross the line 13 times means 00:11:21.899 --> 00:11:25.120 he was engaging in sustained excessive violence 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.220 that shocked even the most hardened, bloodthirsty 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:30.240 crowds of the era. Let's look at some of these 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:32.059 specific bouts because they read like violent 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:35.559 fiction. In January 1900, he is fighting a guy 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:38.240 named Rube Ferns at the Hawthorne Athletic Club 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:40.820 in Buffalo, New York. It's a massive fight for 00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:44.100 the welterweight title. Smith knocks Ferns down 00:11:44.100 --> 00:11:48.919 15 times. 15 knockdowns. Wow. But Smith still 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.440 manages to lose the fight and the title because 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:53.840 he gets disqualified for relentlessly fouling 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:55.720 him. I mean, if you've knocked a guy down 15 00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:58.639 times, you clearly have the upper hand. Why are 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:00.679 you still resorting to blatant fouls? It speaks 00:12:00.679 --> 00:12:03.440 to a complete lack of impulse control. Or perhaps 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:05.700 it was a psychological intimidation tactic that 00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:07.740 just went too far. The referee was forced to 00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:09.779 step in and the result was... so chaotic and 00:12:09.779 --> 00:12:12.379 contested that both men actually claimed to be 00:12:12.379 --> 00:12:15.440 the legitimate champion afterward. And his behavior 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:18.740 only gets worse as he gets older. In January 00:12:18.740 --> 00:12:22.980 1902, he fights Al Neal in Portland. Smith literally 00:12:22.980 --> 00:12:25.940 kicks Neal during the boxing match and then bites 00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:28.259 him on the shoulder. Disqualified again. Disqualified 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:31.460 again. Jump forward to July 1911. He's fighting 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:34.379 Jim Cameron in San Francisco. Disqualified for 00:12:34.379 --> 00:12:37.039 excessive wrestling and holding. He just fundamentally 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.360 could not stop himself from breaking the rules. 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:48.560 If we connect this to the bigger picture. How 00:12:48.560 --> 00:13:11.639 so? Right. Modern rules. Mm -hmm. hadn't fully 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:14.080 caught up to that refined rulebook. Old habits 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:16.899 die hard. Very hard. For fighters like Smith, 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.720 who grew up fighting for scraps in harsh environments, 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:24.019 raw survival and sheer physical dominance completely 00:13:24.019 --> 00:13:26.820 trumped the civilized concept of sportsmanship. 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:29.899 He fought like a man who genuinely believed that 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:32.360 adhering to the rules was a fatal vulnerability. 00:13:33.049 --> 00:13:35.350 You'd think a guy fighting that violently, constantly 00:13:35.350 --> 00:13:37.769 throwing his entire body into illegal elbows 00:13:37.769 --> 00:13:40.029 and head butts would burn out his energy by the 00:13:40.029 --> 00:13:42.250 second round. You would think so. But Smith was 00:13:42.250 --> 00:13:45.289 an absolute machine. In fact, to truly understand 00:13:45.289 --> 00:13:47.909 his terrifying level of physical endurance, we 00:13:47.909 --> 00:13:50.629 have to follow him across the Atlantic. In March 00:13:50.629 --> 00:13:54.830 1896, when he's 24, mysterious Billy Smith travels 00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:57.889 to London with his old steamship buddy, Kid Levine. 00:13:58.009 --> 00:14:00.649 The London trip. Yeah. On March 5th, he fights 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:03.610 not one, not two, but three men in a single day 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:06.110 at a hall in Westminster. He took on Trooper 00:14:06.110 --> 00:14:08.610 Ham, Jack Bryan, and Arthur Morris back to back. 00:14:08.730 --> 00:14:10.450 He knocks out the first two, Trooper Ham and 00:14:10.450 --> 00:14:12.490 Jack Bryan, in the very first round, and the 00:14:12.490 --> 00:14:14.909 third guy, Arthur Morris. He beats him in the 00:14:14.909 --> 00:14:17.629 first round, too, via, you guessed it, disqualification. 00:14:17.909 --> 00:14:19.929 Wait, Smith got disqualified? again. Actually, 00:14:20.509 --> 00:14:22.610 Morris was the one who was disqualified. To be 00:14:22.610 --> 00:14:25.129 clear, not Smith for once. Oh, a plot twist. 00:14:25.450 --> 00:14:28.750 Right. But fighting three trained men in one 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:31.830 single afternoon is an absurd level of physical 00:14:31.830 --> 00:14:35.830 stamina. Yet, as wild and aggressive as his in 00:14:35.830 --> 00:14:39.070 -ring career is, his life outside the ropes seems 00:14:39.070 --> 00:14:41.850 just as chaotic and relentless. The documentation 00:14:41.850 --> 00:14:44.470 of his personal life is fascinating, especially 00:14:44.470 --> 00:14:46.570 regarding his alleged ties to the underworld. 00:14:46.690 --> 00:14:49.120 Yes. Okay, so I'm reading through the historical 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:52.139 data, and there is an entire heading specifically 00:14:52.139 --> 00:14:55.299 titled Criminal Activities. The introduction 00:14:55.299 --> 00:14:57.899 mentions he became infamous for his involvement 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:00.019 with criminal elements in Portland in the early 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:03.360 1900s, and it notes that he ran a saloon there 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.960 called the Champion's Rest. Sounds like a mob 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:08.419 front. Right. So I immediately jumped down to 00:15:08.419 --> 00:15:10.299 the criminal activities section to get all the 00:15:10.299 --> 00:15:12.600 juicy details of his underworld mob ties, and 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.059 the section is completely empty. Completely empty. 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:16.659 It's totally blank. There's just a placeholder. 00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:19.840 tag that says, this section is MD, you can help 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.580 by adding to it. His criminal history is quite 00:15:22.580 --> 00:15:25.120 literally a mystery. It is wonderfully ironic 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.559 for a man nicknamed Mysterious to have his rap 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:31.840 sheet lost to history. But even without the criminal 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:34.399 records, his personal life, particularly his 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:37.200 romantic life, paints a very clear picture of 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.659 a man who lived at a breakneck, impulsive speed. 00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:41.960 It is an absolute whirlwind. Let's track the 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:43.779 marriages, because this is a roller coaster of 00:15:43.779 --> 00:15:46.909 its own. Let's do it. First marriage, July 1892. 00:15:47.210 --> 00:15:50.529 He is 21 years old and he marries a 17 -year 00:15:50.529 --> 00:15:53.289 -old girl named Minnie Valentine Merchant. Now, 00:15:53.309 --> 00:15:55.909 Minnie is the daughter of a very wealthy, prominent 00:15:55.909 --> 00:15:58.169 carpenter in Portland. They actually crossed 00:15:58.169 --> 00:16:00.590 state lines into Washington to get married. Okay. 00:16:00.730 --> 00:16:03.009 But tragically, just 10 months later, in May 00:16:03.009 --> 00:16:06.509 1893, 18 -year -old Minnie dies in Massachusetts. 00:16:06.929 --> 00:16:09.230 The records note the cause of death as either 00:16:09.230 --> 00:16:12.710 food poisoning or blood poisoning. It is a devastatingly 00:16:12.710 --> 00:16:14.460 abrupt end to his first marriage. marriage. And 00:16:14.460 --> 00:16:17.159 it happens right as his boxing career is accelerating 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:19.360 on the national stage. Fast forward a few years 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.639 to 1898. He's 27. He marries his second wife, 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.559 Mary Mame Cavanaugh, in Queens, New York. And 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:27.740 the historical census data from 1900 includes 00:16:27.740 --> 00:16:30.919 this bizarre, amazing little detail. William 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:33.700 Amos Smith, the dirtiest, most violent brawler 00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:36.559 in boxing history, is officially listed by occupation 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:39.539 as an actor. Which, given his incredible flair 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:41.259 for the dramatic in the ring and his ability 00:16:41.259 --> 00:16:44.100 to invent a Boston origin story. completely out 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:46.460 of thin air, might not be entirely inaccurate. 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:48.759 That's a good point. He understood that professional 00:16:48.759 --> 00:16:51.840 sports were, at their core, a form of theater. 00:16:52.019 --> 00:16:54.500 He was a showman who knew how to play the villain. 00:16:54.580 --> 00:16:57.419 He absolutely played the villain. But the marriage 00:16:57.419 --> 00:17:00.399 to Mame doesn't last either. And here is the 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.960 ultimate punchline to his romantic saga. On June 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:08.119 7, 1907... Mamie officially divorces him. The 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:11.940 very next day, June 8, 1907, he marries his third 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:14.859 wife, Josephine Hofstadter Bard, in Oregon City. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.900 A 24 -hour turnaround between a divorce and a 00:17:17.900 --> 00:17:19.799 new marriage. It perfectly mirrors his fighting 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:22.660 style. Relentless, lacking any pause or hesitation, 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:25.180 and aggressively moving forward regardless of 00:17:25.180 --> 00:17:27.480 how it looked to the outside world. So what does 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:30.200 this all mean? We have a man who fights his way 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:32.279 out of Canada, completely fakes his hometown 00:17:32.279 --> 00:17:34.240 for marketing purposes, bites his opponents, 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:37.359 fights three men in a single afternoon, cycles 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.160 through marriages at lightning speed, and supposedly 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:43.160 runs a criminal saloon. How does a story like 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:45.400 this finally end? Eventually, the human body 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:47.559 simply cannot keep up with that level of sustained 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:50.400 chaos and physical trauma. The final bell rings 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.859 for his career in 1915. He is stopped by a fighter 00:17:53.859 --> 00:17:56.220 named Jack Root at the Rose City Athletic Club 00:17:56.220 --> 00:17:58.480 in Portland. He officially retires from the ring. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.059 It is. He focuses on running his saloon, the 00:18:02.059 --> 00:18:04.359 champion's rest, and he eventually passes away 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:08.000 on October 15th, 1937 at the age of 66. He's 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.460 buried in Portland. And when we look at his final 00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:12.920 career numbers, officially he had 94 fights. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.859 That's a lot of mileage. A ton. But because of 00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:17.539 the bizarre way fights were judged back then, 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.839 his unofficial record stands at 37 wins, 25 losses, 00:18:21.059 --> 00:18:24.250 27 draws, and five no contests. And for anyone 00:18:24.250 --> 00:18:27.170 listening wondering what a no contest is, it 00:18:27.170 --> 00:18:29.650 means the referee basically threw his hands up, 00:18:29.690 --> 00:18:32.009 stopped the fight, and declared neither man a 00:18:32.009 --> 00:18:34.289 winner, often because both fighters were breaking 00:18:34.289 --> 00:18:36.670 the rules or the crowd was rioting. Just total 00:18:36.670 --> 00:18:39.569 chaos. Exactly. And his record includes something 00:18:39.569 --> 00:18:42.130 called newspaper decisions. For those who don't 00:18:42.130 --> 00:18:44.970 know, a newspaper decision was an incredibly 00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:48.009 quirky rule back then. If a fight went the full 00:18:48.009 --> 00:18:50.230 distance without a knockout, there were no official 00:18:50.230 --> 00:18:53.519 judges ringside to score the bout. Instead, the 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:55.619 local sports writers who were watching the fight 00:18:55.619 --> 00:18:57.700 would literally vote on who they thought won 00:18:57.700 --> 00:18:59.839 and they would publish the winner in the next 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:02.759 morning's paper. It is a heavy, grueling ledger 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:05.240 of a life spent absorbing and inflicting incredible 00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:08.380 amounts of damage. But the ultimate paradox of 00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:11.019 William Amos Smith's story is how he is remembered 00:19:11.019 --> 00:19:13.480 by the institutional boxing establishment today. 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:16.000 Right, the Hall of Fame induction in 2009. How 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:18.380 does a guy whose primary claim to fame is breaking 00:19:18.380 --> 00:19:21.180 the rules, biting people, and being officially 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:23.940 labeled the dirtiest fighter in history end up 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:27.019 enshrined alongside the sport's greatest, most 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:29.980 honorable heroes? This raises an important question. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.539 As time passes, does history eventually forgive 00:19:33.539 --> 00:19:37.329 or even reward the villains of sports? When the 00:19:37.329 --> 00:19:39.809 physical bruises fade and the contemporary outrage 00:19:39.809 --> 00:19:42.990 of the crowd dies down, do we ultimately value 00:19:42.990 --> 00:19:46.769 a chaotic, wildly entertaining legacy over a 00:19:46.769 --> 00:19:49.589 purely honorable by the book one? That's the 00:19:49.589 --> 00:19:52.470 real question. Smith wasn't a saint, and he certainly 00:19:52.470 --> 00:19:55.170 wasn't a clean fighter, but he was undeniably 00:19:55.170 --> 00:19:57.430 unforgettable. And in the long -term business 00:19:57.430 --> 00:19:59.690 of sports entertainment, being unforgettable 00:19:59.690 --> 00:20:01.769 might just be the most valuable trait of all. 00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:04.279 Next time you watch modern sport and find yourself 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:06.579 complaining about how incredibly strict the rules 00:20:06.579 --> 00:20:08.799 are or how many penalties the referees are constantly 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:11.940 throwing, just remember mysterious Billy Smith. 00:20:12.180 --> 00:20:14.500 It really makes you wonder, are the complex, 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:17.420 multi -page rule books of modern sports actually 00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:19.799 designed to protect the abstract integrity of 00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:22.079 the game? Or were they just written line by line 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.660 to restrain men exactly like William Amos Smith? 00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:28.019 Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. Keep 00:20:28.019 --> 00:20:30.299 questioning the legends you read about and keep 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:30.720 exploring.