{"id":16183,"date":"2024-11-22T09:24:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T14:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/?p=16183"},"modified":"2024-11-22T09:24:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T14:24:45","slug":"gaines-the-boxer-who-gambled-away-his-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/eternal-gaines-the-boxer-who-gambled-away-his-success","title":{"rendered":"Gaines \u2013 The Boxer Who Gambled Away His Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>He was feared and respected, supported and hated, exalted and envied, cheered for and hoped against, writes <a href=\"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/uk\">itoronto.info<\/a>.&nbsp; Such a spectrum of emotions surrounded Lawrence Samuel &#8220;Larry&#8221; Gaines, a renowned Black Canadian boxer of his time. A Canadian champion and one of the greatest heavyweights of his era, the gifted athlete won nearly all his bouts. His strategy, strength, and confidence left his opponents with little chance of victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, Gaines never achieved the title of world champion, as Black boxers were barred from competing for this distinction at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, this did not overshadow his success or stop him from becoming a multiple-time winner in various matches. Gaines demonstrated his prowess both on Canadian and international rings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This article, based on&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sportshall.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sportshall.ca<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/boxrec.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">boxrec.com<\/a>, introduces one of Canada\u2019s most accomplished and formidable boxers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69ff051013169\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69ff051013169\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/eternal-gaines-the-boxer-who-gambled-away-his-success\/#The_Beginning_of_a_Boxing_Career\" >The Beginning of a Boxing Career<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/eternal-gaines-the-boxer-who-gambled-away-his-success\/#A_Life-Changing_Decision\" >A Life-Changing Decision<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/eternal-gaines-the-boxer-who-gambled-away-his-success\/#A_Professional_Boxer\" >A Professional Boxer<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/eternal-gaines-the-boxer-who-gambled-away-his-success\/#A_Period_of_Misfortune\" >A Period of Misfortune<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/eternal-gaines-the-boxer-who-gambled-away-his-success\/#Personal_Life\" >Personal Life<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Beginning_of_a_Boxing_Career\"><\/span>The Beginning of a Boxing Career<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaines was born on December 12, 1900, in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He developed an interest in boxing at the age of 20, training at the Pr\u00e6stamus Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Life-Changing_Decision\"><\/span>A Life-Changing Decision<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When his amateur career proved remarkably successful, Gaines decided to pursue boxing professionally. He traveled to Britain, making his debut in London in the summer of 1923.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Subsequent matches took place primarily in France and Germany. On February 28, 1927, Gaines earned the heavyweight championship title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Professional_Boxer\"><\/span>A Professional Boxer<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1930, Gaines moved to England, where he fought most of his bouts in the following years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks to his remarkable agility, Gaines knocked out Phil Scott in 1931 in front of an audience of 30,000 spectators, securing another prestigious title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, Gaines became the second Black fighter to box at the Royal Albert Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was regarded as the best heavyweight of his time. However, strict regulations prohibited Black boxers from participating in the British Championship or the World Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Period_of_Misfortune\"><\/span>A Period of Misfortune<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaines&#8217; life took a downturn in 1934 when his earnings from boxing significantly dwindled. By 1937, financial struggles led him to declare bankruptcy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1930, he began serving as a physical training instructor for the British Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaines fought his last bout in June 1942, which ended in defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the age of 40, he officially retired from boxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over his professional career, Gaines participated in 143 fights, winning 115 of them. Five matches ended in draws. Most of his losses occurred during the later years of his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaines reported earning approximately $500,000 throughout his boxing career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, a significant portion of this money was lost to gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the end, it can be said that Gaines gambled away the success he had earned in the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Personal_Life\"><\/span>Personal Life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaines was more fortunate in his personal life. He married once and had four children with his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the summer of 1983, one of Canada\u2019s most successful boxers passed away due to a heart attack while visiting family in Germany.Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegoodestate.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thegoodestate.com<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.standard.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">standard.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He was feared and respected, supported and hated, exalted and envied, cheered for and hoped against, writes itoronto.info.&nbsp; Such a spectrum of emotions surrounded Lawrence Samuel &#8220;Larry&#8221; Gaines, a renowned Black Canadian boxer of his time. A Canadian champion and one of the greatest heavyweights of his era, the gifted athlete won nearly all his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":526,"featured_media":13012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4820],"tags":[7785,7798,7794,7206,7801,7797,7802,7795,7799,7789,6003,7796,7800],"motype":[4825],"moformat":[88],"moimportance":[32,35],"class_list":{"0":"post-16183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sporty","8":"tag-athlete","9":"tag-boxer","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-duel","13":"tag-fight","14":"tag-ring","15":"tag-sport-3","16":"tag-supernik","17":"tag-title","18":"tag-toronto-3","19":"tag-victory","20":"tag-visible-athletes","21":"motype-eternal","22":"moformat-copywriting","23":"moimportance-golovna-novyna","24":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/526"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16184,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16183\/revisions\/16184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16183"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=16183"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=16183"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itoronto.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=16183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}