Jimmy McLarnin

Jimmy “Baby Face” McLarnin was an Irish-born Canadian welterweight who boxed orthodox, stood 5ft 6in with a 66.9in reach, and carried a deceptive menace behind a boyish face. Born on 19 December 1907 in Hillsborough, County Down, he was taken to Canada as a small child, grew up in Vancouver, and learned his boxing in the hard, competitive school of West Coast gyms. He finished with 55 wins, 11 losses and 3 draws in 69 recognised contests, scoring 21 knockouts, and became a two-time world welterweight champion in an era that gave a fighter nowhere to hide.

McLarnin turned professional on 19 December 1923 in Vancouver, debuting at Hastings Gym against Young Fry and winning by first-round knockout. From the outset, he was guided by Charles “Pop” Foster, and by his late teens, McLarnin’s reputation was built on speed, a quick, accurate jab, and a right hand that arrived with real force even when thrown compactly. He could fight at a brisk tempo and still punch clean. Still, his ring craft was more than aggression: he was economical when he needed to be, good at stepping in behind the left and bringing the right hand straight through the middle, and he understood how to turn pressure into mistakes rather than simply into exchanges.

He forced the sport’s attention by taking serious fights rather than collecting soft ones, and his rise included a notable Madison Square Garden win over the great Benny Leonard in October 1932. This result carried weight even in Leonard’s later years. The championship breakthrough came on 29 May 1933 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, when McLarnin blasted out Young Corbett III in the first round to win the world welterweight title. This violent, emphatic finish made the belt his in minutes. The defining thread of his reign was the trilogy with Barney Ross, fought under fifteen-round terms in the sport’s biggest outdoor arenas. Ross took the title from him on 28 May 1934 at Madison Square Garden Bowl. McLarnin regained it with a split-decision win over fifteen on 17 September 1934, and Ross won the decider at the Polo Grounds on 28 May 1935, ending McLarnin’s time as champion.

He retired young and close to the top, still capable of beating elite men. In 1936, he boxed Tony Canzoneri twice at Madison Square Garden—losing the first, then winning the rematch—and closed his career on 20 November 1936 with a ten-round unanimous decision over Lou Ambers, a strong finish against a reigning lightweight champion that underlined his class and durability. After boxing, he settled in California, became known as an avid golfer, and is reliably reported to have avoided the comeback trail that swallowed so many of his contemporaries. McLarnin died on 28 October 2004, aged 96, remembered as a champion who married speed and timing to knockout power, and who proved himself repeatedly against the very best of his time.