Boxing Career
Legend surrounds McCoy's storied boxing career. For example, he was reputed to have lulled the reigning welterweight champion Tommy Ryan into a false sense of security before their non-title match by rubbing flour on his face and pretending to be ill. McCoy was also alleged to have invented the ruse of informing his opponent that his shoe was untied to enable McCoy to strike a blow when the unwary adversary would look down at his feet.
Another one of McCoy's tactics was demonstrated while McCoy was on a tour of Australia and some Pacific Isles. To supplement his income, he would take on all comers. In one unidentified port, McCoy, who scarcely weighed 160 pounds (73 kg), agreed to box a huge native reputed to weigh in excess of 250 pounds (110 kg). McCoy watched him train and noted the man fought in his bare feet. When the fight began, McCoy's corner threw handfuls of tacks into the ring, causing the bare-footed challenger to drop his guard and raise up one foot. As soon as he did so, McCoy lowered the boom on his distracted adversary.
It was thought that the expression The Real McCoy originally referred to him. With regard to this, once again, stories abound. One scenario involves a local tough who bumped into McCoy in a bar. McCoy, who was slight of build and a dapper dresser, did not look like a fighter. The bar room bully reputedly laughed when told the slender fellow he was annoying was Kid McCoy. He then challenged McCoy to fight, and upon reviving from being knocked out allegedly remarked "Oh my God, that was the real McCoy". However, it is believed that the first recording with this spelling occurred in Canada in 1881. In James S. Bond's The Rise and Fall of the "Union club": or, Boy life in Canada, a character utters, "By jingo! yes; so it will be It's the 'real McCoy,' as Jim Hicks says. Nobody but a devil can find us there." Kid McCoy was only nine years old when this was published.
Although slight of build, McCoy captured the world middleweight championship by defeating Dan Creedon. McCoy never defended the title, choosing to abandon the crown to enable him to pursue the world heavyweight championship. Despite his handicap in size, McCoy battled the best heavyweights of his era, and defeated Joe Choynski, Gus Ruhlin and Peter Maher. He was defeated by Tom Sharkey and Jim Corbett. The Corbett fight was the subject of controversy, as the ending was suspect and Corbett's estranged wife claimed the bout was fixed. That became the general opinion among New York sportwriters and another version of the genesis of the expression "the real McCoy" is that in later fights, the writers would invariably question whether "the real McCoy" would be fighting tonight.
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