page_title: Joe Knight (boxer)
section_title: Career decline and loss to Al Gainer
hierarchical_section_title: Joe Knight (boxer) / Early life / Final attempt at the NBA Light Heavyweight Title, February, 1934 / Career decline and loss to Al Gainer
caption_attribution_description: English: Bain News Service,, publisher. Al McCoy circa 1915 [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915] 1 negative&#160;: glass&#160;; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. Notes: Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards. Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). Format: Glass negatives. Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.15795 Call Number: LC-B2- 3029-5
context_page_description: Joe Knight, was an American boxer born in Cairo, GA. The National Boxing Association awarded Knight the World Light Heavyweight title in 1933.
context_section_description: Winning a decisive seventh round technical knockout over Al Rodrigues on October 15, 1934, Knight showcased his powerful left.  Both contestants fought cautiously in the first four rounds. In the fifth, Knight landed a heavy left to Rodrigues's stomach, then immediately dropped him for a count of nine with another to the jaw, bringing an end to the fifth.  Rodriguez was down again in the sixth for a nine count.  Dazed and beaten in the seventh, Rodrigues's seconds threw in the towel to end the bout.
  Corn Griffin fell to Knight in a fourth round technical knockout on July 4, 1935.  Both contestants continued to battle after the fourth round bell, and the referee immediately stopped the bout, concerning about bleeding from Griffin's eyes.  Still concerned, the referee prevented Griffin from answering the fifth round bell.
  Knight dropped a match to Southpaw and former middleweight champion Al McCoy in Montreal, Canada on September 5, 1935. The bout was for the Montreal Athletic Commission World Light Heavyweight Title, with McCoy winning in a fifteen round Unanimous Decision at Mount Royal Arena. McCoy took eight rounds, Knight three, and the rest were even.
  Knight had a devastating loss to the gifted Al Gainer on June 1, 1936, in a ten round points decision in Millvale, Pennsylvania.    Gainer, who took every round, gave Knight a decisive beating.  Gainer sent Knight to one knee in the third, and staggered him on several occasions.  Beaten and exhausted, Knight remained strictly on defense after the fifth round. Though he would fight on for two more years, he tried to officially retire shortly after the bout.
  Fellow Southpaw Melio Bettina won a decisive ten round decision over Knight at Miami Beach on June 18, 1937.  One reporter noted that Knight had won only three rounds and should consider retirement.  Down for a no count in the sixth, Knight lost decisively on points in the last three rounds.  Never a second rate boxer, Bettina would contend twice for the NBA World Light Heavyweight championship two years later.  Knight would take six months off, and take four more wins before retiring in 1938.  In his final bout on April 19, 1938, Knight defeated Chet Gideon in a ten round points decision in Orlando.  Knight had Gideon down once in the ninth and once in the tenth.
caption: Al McCoy
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