Boone Kirkman: How good was he?

Seemed pretty tough for his size. A journeyman, might be too small for today. Id like to hear as well Ive only seen the Foreman fight which was not his finest moment.

 

When Boone Kirkman was on the way up, I believe it was Boxing Illustrated that did a feature article on him in which he was touted as "a cross between Billy Conn and Max Schmeling." His manager was Jack Hurley, a then 70-ish throwback to the likes of "Doc" Kearns - shrewd, part showman, and hype artist. My father recalled that Hurley had managed Harry "Kid" Matthews a generation earlier, calling him the next great heavyweight champion. Matthews, of course, was flattened in two rounds by the also up-and-coming Rocky Marciano and Matthews was heard from no more.

Kirkman had built up a successful string of victories, his only setback being to the veteran Doug Jones on a cut, which he reversed in their rematch. He was a good solid journeyman with a reputation for toughness when he came east to face George Foreman on the undercard of the Ali-Bonavena fight. Foreman rushed out of his corner and immediately pushed Kirkman backward onto the deck. Boone never quite recovered from the shock. Foreman was all over him and despite criticism for the push, added Kirkman to his long list of second-round stoppage victims. Hurley dropped Kirkman like the proverbial hot potato.

Boone had some modest success in the years thereafter, although he never attained top contender status. The last I remember seeing him was in George Foreman's Five-Man Circus in Toronto in 1975. He was scheduled for three rounds and did last the three rounds, although he was floored a couple of times. Ali was at ringside with Howard Cosell yelling "C'mon, Boone!"

Were he fighting today, I would expect him to do about the same as he did in his own era. If he could make the cruiser limit, he might do well in that division.

 

Boone was Ok. Not bad not great. What helped him was he was always in fantastic shape but this was negated by the fact that he was plagued by injuries. He was carefully matched and to this day feels like his career was mishandled by Hurley but in reality he likely wouldnt have gone much further without Hurley or the injuries.

As for Harry Kid Matthews I think you are way off. Matthews was a very good fighter. The problem there was that he was a better LHW than HW and he and Hurley went for the money at HW. He would have been better served staying at LHW and going after a shot at Maxim, which he would have eventually gotten. Thats a winnable fight for him.

 

Who gives a ****?

 

I do *****.

I saw him on the cover of 1969 issue of The Ring, it said "Heavyweight Threat Boone Kirkman"

Seemed like a nice dude also.

Respect the history *******.

 

I'm a long time boxing fan and former boxer and I thought pretty highly of Boone, so one answer is me. Why did you come in this forum anyways?

 

I did my schooling in the Pacific Northwest back in a time that true dive bars still existed. I met Al Holstak twice in one of these. In another Kirkman was known to frequent and be friends with some of the old timers. People were still reverent of him and his skill. He was a local legend and true bad ass.

Say what you will of his pro career. A) He was a hell of lot better than you will ever be. B) He cast a long enough shadow that people remembered his name 20 years after his retirement.

 

Boone Kirkman filled the Seattle Center Coliseum to capacity a number of times in the late 60's-early 70's. He was a genuine local sports hero.
He was a small heavyweight by today's stndards (around 206lbs.) and could have made the cruiserweight limit if it had existed then.
Injuries plagued Kirkman and cost him several years during his peak years.
Jack Hurley was a legendary boxing figure by all standards and may have helped him with cunning matchmaking and certainly publicity early but then clearly threw him to the wolves when he brought Boone to MSG versus George Foreman.

 

He was on a roll and a very promising regional heavyweight in the Pacific northwestern states fighting in Portland, Oregon, and the Seattle, Washington, areas.

He kinda got rushed into the Foreman fight which may have ruined him a bit. A more even fight would have been against the Minnesota heavyweight Duane Bobbick or perhaps even his brother Rodney. After Bobbick got smoked by Norton and then subsequently Knotzee and Tate and thought of a white-hope showdown with Kirkman had lost all its luster.

 

A natural match against Jerry Quarry never materialized either......(maybe good for Boone).

More on Kirkman .. http://www.ibroresearch.com/?p=709

 

Always wondered about him myself. Apparently he tried a few times to get a bout with Jerry Quarry but it never came off. He was a decent middle of the road boxer with average to slightly above average power. He seemed pretty fit in the clips and photos I've seen of him too. Might have gone further had he hooked up with the right team and didn't take 3 years off.

 

There was another heavyweight during the Kirkman era from the Seattle area named Ibar Arrington.
There was a lot of noise about matching the two but olike a Quarry fight which would have filled the Coliseum it never materialized.

more on Ibar:

“The Sailor Man” Ibar Arrington, turned pro in September 1974 with a draw against Ed Blytheway. He won his next nine bouts before losing a ten round decision in a rematch with Blytheway. He fought Blytheway a third time, stopping him in the fifth round and followed with eight consecutive wins including defeating fringe contenders Pat Duncan and Jose “King” Roman.

He received $10,000 to travel to London and fight the undefeated European heavyweight champ, John L. Gardner and stopped him with a vicious right hand in the first round.

Arrington found himself on the threshold of stardom on November 5, 1977 when he fought Larry Holmes in the ten round main event at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas before a star studded celebrity crowd that included Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby, Cher, Redd Foxx and several others. “Thousands of fans crowded into the venue and at the end,” he remembers, “they were all on their feet.”

Arrington lasted into the 10th and final round, taking the best that Holmes could dish out while landing plenty of heavy leather of his own. The bout was stopped in the final 30 seconds because of severe cuts over both of Arrington’s eyes. “It was a good fight, a close fight, a real tough fight,” Arrington said, “Holmes was in his prime, he was hitting me as hard as he could, and I was just smiling at him…he didn’t like that…I was arrogant.” Between rounds, Arrington looked over at Ali, and saw him slowly shaking his head with amazement. “I don’t know if he had disbelief that I could take that punishment or disbelief that I wanted to,” Arrington said. His $20,000 purse was, by far, the largest of his career. Seven months later, Holmes defeated Ken Norton to win the WBC world heavyweight title, in a classic encounter.

Arrington fought on, winning some and losing some and retired after losing a ten round decision to Gerrie Coetzee in 1978, in South Africa. He made a comeback in 1982, picking up a draw and two more victories before finally retiring for good. His ring record was 28-7-2, with 21 K.O.’s.

After boxing, Arrington worked as a car salesman, then at a shingle mill, and later as a deputy sheriff in Island County. He proceeded to take additional law enforcement training and became a federal police officer which lasted for almost 17 years.

(Originally published in THE BOXING WORLD, December 2012)

 

Good story, but Holmes was not in his prime in 1977. He was only approcahing it against Norton the next year. Boxers like most all of us tend to interpret things in ways favorable to our egos.