Remembering the greatest little champion

5/9/2007

“The tenth round. The champion, Tommy Burns is now definitely in charge. Moir’s face is bloody. Two right-hand blasts by Tommy, and Gunner goes down.
Gamely, the battered challenger struggles to his feet. Burns gets in with a delayed-action punch. Moir crumples. Gunner again struggles to his feet. Not to be denied, Tommy sends the Englishman reeling against the ropes, and unloads a final dynamite right hand. Wham!
Tommy Burns may be small, but he’s the little giant of the heavyweight division. Gunner Moir is in no condition to beat the count. Burns wins by a smashing knockout.”
That was the call on Dec. 2, 1907, when world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns squared off in London, England, against the massive “Gunner” James Moir, then British Isles Heavyweight Champion.
Burns was on a worldwide tour at the time, to solidify his standing as world champion, and he was unbeatable.
He was also a long way from his childhood home near Ayton, right here in far away Normanby Township, where he was born Noah Brusso, on June 17, 1881.
Considering his rough and rowdy early years, and his share of hard and lean later years, Burns lived a full life. He passed away 52 years ago this week, on May 10, 1955.
Noah Brusso was born into an impoverished family of 13 children, and began his prizefighting career in 1900. Four years later he opted for the more Irish-sounding name of Tommy Burns, and never looked back.
When Burns met Marvin Hart for the heavyweight championship of the world in 1906, he was a 2:1 underdog and was given no chance of toppling the champ. He did, and defended his title 11 times over the next two years.
At only 5’ 7” and around 175 pounds, Burns was then, and remains to this day, the smallest heavyweight boxing champion of all time. His unassuming size, however, did not stop him from becoming one of the most dominant fighters of his day. His powerful right hand was a weapon every opponent feared, or felt squarely on their chin.
In 1908, Burns became the first fighter to agree to a title bout with a black boxer, Jack Johnson. Mighty Jack won the fight, when the police stepped in to stop it in round 14.
Burns continued to box occasionally after dropping the title, and suffered his only official knockout loss in 1920 to champ Joe Beckett, one month before his 39th birthday.
After retirement, hardworking Tommy Burns promoted a few boxing shows. He moved to New York City in 1928 and operated a speakeasy, an illegal bar during the dry days of prohibition. Although he was a wealthy man from his boxing days, the Wall Street crash of 1929, and the Great Depression wiped out the bulk of his fortune.
Burns then worked as an insurance salesman and security guard, among other jobs. In 1948, he was ordained as a minister, and became an evangelist, living in California.
Tommy Burns, 73, died of a heart attack while visiting a church friend in Vancouver. Only four people attended his burial, into an unmarked pauper’s grave. A memorial was finally placed on the great champion’s grave in 1961.