Fact or Fiction?
Willie Pep vs. Jackie Graves
Did Willie Pep really win a round without throwing/landing a single punch?
If you’re a boxing fan the odds are good that sooner or later, you’ll hear about the legendary boxer from Connecticut, Willie “Will o’ the Wisp” Pep, and the day he squared off against Minnesota Boxing great Jackie “The Austin Atom” Graves.
Willie Pep is widely regarded as one of the best featherweight fighters of all time. Some of his honors include:
- International Boxing Hall of Fame - inductee class of 1990
- Ranked 6th on Ring Magazine’s list of the “80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years” back in 2002.
- Ranked 5th on ESPN’s “50 Greatest Boxers of All Time” in 2007.
- Ring Magazine’s ‘Fighter of the Year’ in 1945
- Voted as the Greatest Featherweight Ever by the Houston Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014.
Jackie Graves honors include, but are not limited to:
- World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee
- Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame inductee
- Ring Magazine correspondent for many years after his fighting career ended
Boxing fans regularly cite Willie Pep as having once won a round without throwing a single punch. The fight they’re referring to was against Jackie Graves on July 25th, 1946, in Minneapolis, MN, at the Auditorium. Although sadly, most boxing fans who cite this Willie Pep fun fact couldn’t tell you who Pep was fighting against nor that the fight was held in Minneapolis. That included me up until last night as well.
So, what happened last night? Well I ran across some fight fans debating this infamous issue of whether Pep really won a round without throwing a punch last night on Facebook. I kept out of the debate since I was ignorant to most of the facts. Although upon reading the back and forth and I learned that the fight Pep supposedly did this was against Minnesota boxer Jackie Graves. I knew Graves was in the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame, but not much else about him. Now I had the urge to know more about this guy nicknamed “The Atomic Atom” and whether or not Pep had really won a round without throwing a punch.
Researching boxing is really fun and to be honest I’ve gotten really sucked into this story. I’ve been enjoying learning more about MN fighter Jackie Graves, but also learning more about the amazing Willie Pep as well.
However, rather than try to make a case on whether the story is actually true or not I thought I’d simply compile as much info, photos, and links referring to this urban legend as possible.
Then present them here on my blog all in one place for the fight fans to have easy access to. Hopefully you’ll learn something new about boxing or just have fun reflecting on some history of the sweet science.
One thing all fight fans should all agree on is our love of the sport of boxing. Whether you believe the legend about Pep winning punch less round or not it’s created a fun buzz and started conversations, sometimes heated, and stoked the fire for fans love for the sweet science.
Have fun viewing the links below and let’s keep the fights in the ring.
Interview with Jackie Graves - by Jake Wegner
http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w0403-jw.html
Honoring Jackie Graves by Daily Herald
https://m.austindailyherald.com/2011/07/honoring-jackie-graves/
John Thomas “Jackie” Graves
ESPN article: ‘Little Big Men: Willie Pep’ by Bert Randolph Sugar - Oct. 10th, 2006
ESPN article: ‘Could Pep have won a round without landing a single punch?’ by Don Stradley - Aug.6th, 2008
http://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3522638
Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame bio on Jackie Graves - MNBHOF induction class of 2011
Willie Pep’s Boxrec link:
Jackie Graves Boxrec link:
‘Boxing Legend Gets Tombstone’ by Jason Schnoonover - May 1st, 2012 - Albert Lea Tribune
Don Riley obit. Pioneer Prrss article by Jaime DeLage Jan.1st 2016 - Riley was 92
