Boxing’s Greats of the States | Indiana: Tiger Jack Fox

Boxers come from every corner of the globe. Sometimes, fighters are products of their environment, favoring styles prevalent in the country or state from which they hail. Various regions of the United States are considered factories for great fighters, though that certainly is not the case with each state. In this weekly Sherdog.com series, the spotlight will shine on the best boxer of all-time from each of the 50 states. Fighters do not necessarily need to be born in a given state to represent it; they simply need to be associated with it. For example, all-time great heavyweight legend Joe Louis was born in Alabama, but he is identified almost universally with Detroit.

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When it comes to all-time great light heavyweights, several names immediately spring to mind: Archie Moore, Bob Foster and Roy Jones Jr., to name a few. For a man with 90 knockouts to his credit, one would think Tiger Jack Fox would receive a little more recognition.

Born on April 2, 1907, Fox recorded the second-highest total of first-round knockouts in the long history of the Sweet Science and was voted one of the 100 hardest punchers ever by The Ring magazine. He got his start as Young Stribling’s sparring partner in Georgia before finding his way back to Indiana, where he blossomed as a boxer.

Fox, whose career spanned four different decades, never captured a world title but did score two thrilling victories over Jersey Joe Walcott. While he will not be considered one of the true greats, his 139-23-12 record is nothing at which to sneeze. Fox died in 1954 at the age of 47.

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