To use a well worn boxing cliché pound-for-pound Lionel Gibbs was one of the best boxers of his era.
The man-eater might have skipped a few pages in the boxing manual in the area of punching but he certainly didn’t neglect his home work when it came to the fancy-dance stuff.
Lionel Fitzgerald Gibbs was born on May 25, 1906.
He spent several of his boyhood days playing cricket and football.
In football he played in the half back position for St Barnabas FC in competitions during the early years of the club’s existence.
Gibbs was built powerfully with wide shoulders, tapered hips, long arms and stocky legs.
When he was 14 he was a member of a local boxing club and he gave exhibitions with older men.
One day Gibbs was introduced to an American ship-owner and promoter named J. O Haley.
According to what has become part of the legend, Gibbs was standing with Haley on the bridge of Haley’s ship in the harbor when a gangway man suddenly bounded onto the deck and tried to club the ship’s captain.
There had been an argument between the two men but Gibbs jumped in and before the gangway man could act, Gibbs hit him to everyone’s surprise.
The man reeled across the deck, crashed into the bulkhead and lay unconscious.
“Did I do that?” the amazed Gibbs asked.
“I should say you did,” Haley replied.
Buoyed by the obvious potential in the young lad they took him down where the great bantamweight champion of Guyana, Dave Walker trained.
Gibbs subsequently made his debut in the rugged business of having a `bash for cash.’
His first bout took place on March 24, 1924 at the Gaiety Theatre against Cyclone Clarke and went the full distance of three rounds.
The result – a no contest.
Over the next couple of years Gibbs reeled off six wins before he got his big break on July 19, 1924 when he knocked out a boxer by the nickname of `Striking Henry’ in six rounds to win the welterweight title of British Guiana.
By this time Gibbs was well nigh unbeatable.
He was destroying everything that came in front of him that is – until he fought Trinidad’s `Fearless Freddie’ on May 24, 1928 for the West Indies welterweight championship.
The Guyanese drew first blood in the first round when he opened an old cut over his opponent’s left eye with a left and a right combination to the face.
The fight was rough and `Fearless Freddie,’ the experienced and famed Trinidadian, put out all his great speed like a whirlwind.
His gloves went pell mell at the small head of the local man but in the ninth round Gibbs succeeded in flooring Fearless Freddie with a hard left to the jaw.
This further enraged the Fearless One who got madder and madder and, by dint of extra ordinary exertions he caught up with Gibbs in the 12th round and knocked him to the floor.
Quick stage play followed and the curtain went down on the fight.
When the dust settled the crowd looked up only to behold the referee Dr C. Whitney holding `Fearless Freddie’s’ right hand aloft.
The crowd looked on dumb with surprise for a moment as `Fearless Freddie’ was announced the winner by a unanimous decision.
What followed next was a certain degree of pandemonium and referee Whitney had to be escorted from the ring by the British Guiana Police from the infuriated crowd.
Following his loss to `Fearless Freddie,’
Gibbs defeated `Kid Jack’ on points.
He then challenged Albert Ortega of Cuba.
They met on Aug 31, 1932 at the GFC ground and, because this bout was very important to both boxers, canvas was used for the first time in Guyana to cover the boards in the ring. The Cuban, who was the favourite and the destroyer of `Fearless Freddie’ and Hilario Martinez, was wiped out by the British Guiana champion over 12 rounds and claimed the welterweight title of the West Indies.
The fight was rated the best ever seen here at that time.
However, Gibbs in his first appearance before the Trinidadian fans at the Woodbrooke Stadium on January 30, 1933 lost his West Indian title when he was defeated by Frankie O’Ben over 12 rounds.
But, before the decision was announced the judges and the referee argued for about eight minutes before finally, the referee raised O’ Ben’s hand in triumph.
Gibbs had to travel a long, hard way en route to the ultimate British Empire title that he so wanted and started his drive towards that goal with back-to-back victories over his old rival O’Ben whom he defeated on points in the first and scored a two-round knock out in the second in his home town of Caracas Venezuela.
Gibbs’s next stop was the BGFA ground on November 15, 1933 when he came up against Joe Ralph.
Ralph was born in Suriname but had campaigned in Antwerp, Belgium.
He went by the moniker the `Belgian Terror.’
Ralph had earned that sobriquet having previously terrorized and then destroyed
O’Ben and Amando Best.
Ralph, though, was himself terrorized by Gibbs and failed to come out for the third round after taking a beating from the BG champion.
He was declared blind 12 days after the bout took place by Dr J. A. Browne, the government opthalmogist who certified that Ralph was completely blind in the right eye while the left eye was impaired.
Over the proceeding 12 months Gibbs had stopped Jack Montel for the WI middleweight title and Llewellyn Haynes for the vacant middleweight title of British Guiana.
Montel, in a return bout, drew with Oxley Agard and knocked out Haynes also in a return bout retaining his British Guiana middleweight title. It took a year before Gibbs at the BGFA ground battled with Henry Edmond of the USA.
Edmond was a seasoned campaigner of over 55 bouts who had swapped punches with the likes of `Cocoa Kid’, Andy Callaghan and Pancho Villa.
But his experience and his `slam bang’ technique, proved of no avail against the polished ring craft of Gibbs.
And, with the British Empire title on his mind, Gibbs left BG on September 24, 1938 on the SS Amakura for England where he teamed up with the Veiro brothers who also managed Kid Tanner.
For the next 12 months Gibbs fought 16 bouts mostly at The Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside, defeating Henry Craster, Mac Lavanay and Billy Hunte.
His next test was against Ernie Rodrigues the British and European champion with over 95 fights defeating men like Frankie Mc Farlane, Jack Kidberg, Arthur Danahr.
They met on October 5, 1939 in Liverpool, five months after Rodrigues challenged the great Henry Armstrong for his welterweight title losing over 15 rounds.
The old master Gibbs was not match for Rodrigues and lost over 10 rounds.
Gibbs returned home on December 4, 1939.
He next stopped in the ring on April 1, 1940 against a young and strong young Jack Johnson for his light heavyweight title of BG at the BGFA ground.
Gibbs was also defending his middleweight title.
Johnson weighed in at 157 pounds and Gibbs 147.
Gibbs fought a masterly fight and although he was tiring towards the closing stages he never seemed to be in difficulties winning a decisive decision on points and by doing so Gibbs remained the first and only Guyanese boxer to hold three titles simultaneously.
Gibbs took a one year lay-off after the Johnson bout and came back on May 6, 1941 where the up and coming youngster by the name of Joe Hyman relieved him of his welterweight title after he (Gibbs) was disqualified in the ninth round for holding and elbowing.
He retired losing one title, the welterweight but he had the middle and light heavy titles.
He retired in 1942 and became a professional boxing referee.
His last ring appearance was on May 29, 1947 when he officiated in a preliminary bout on Young Joe Raplh versus Stinging Ants for the featherweight title of British Guiana.
Gibbs died in 1947.
It was stated that he was working as a gangway man on the SS Diamond Hitch when he fell 36 feet into the hatch below and sustained serious head and body injuries.
He died one week later.
Gibbs was one of the biggest boxing families in the history of Guyana.
Boxers such as Lennox Blackmore, won the Commonwealth title that he (Gibbs) wanted so badly,
His son Glendon Gibbs was a boxer and cricketer.
Glendon, an opening batsman played one test for the West Indies.
Lance Gibbs, Clive Lloyd, Neidrick Simmons, Joseph Primo, `Cyclone Pats’ Gibbs, Ivan Primo, Freddo Simmons, James Bernard, Fitzroy Whyte, Troy Blackmore (son of Lennox) Adrian Dodson, former WBA, WBO world light middleweight champion Ivor `Baba’ Simmons and Ravalon Gibbs were all related to Lionel.