Although Mike Gibbons never won an official world boxing title, he is considered one of the top welterweights and middleweights of the first 50 years of the 20th century.
In 133 professional fights, during a career that spanned from 1908 to 1922, he lost only eight times and won 38 by knockout.
Gibbons, who was born in St. Paul and was called the "Phantom" because of his ability to avoid punches and counter punch, never won a title because, the Minneapolis Tribune wrote in 1956, the "holders of the title refused to fight him."
Boxing historians rank Gibbons as one of the all-time best. BoxRec.com, a boxing website, ranks Gibbons as the No. 18 middleweight of all time, while Nat Fleischer, the founder of The Ring Magazine, ranked him as No. 9.
The International Boxing Research Organization rated Gibbons as the No. 17 middleweight of all time boxing historian Bert Sugar ranked Gibbons No. 92 among his Top 100 Fighters.
Gibbons retired from boxing at the age of 35 because of vision problems. After retiring, he was a member of the Minnesota boxing commission for 10 years.
In 1950, the Minneapolis Star named him Minnesota's greatest boxer of the previous 50 years.
He was named to the Helms Foundation Hall of Boxing Fame in 1952. He was elected to the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1958, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010.
Gibbons' younger brother Tommy, a heavyweight, is also a member of the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame.
MIKE GIBBONS
Class: 1958.
Sport: Boxing.
