Joe Bowker

Who is Joe Bowker?

Joe Bowker was a world champion boxer from England who was bantamweight champion of the world in 1904 and 1905. His defeat of Frankie Neil on October 17 in London for the world bantamweight title was heralded as the most remarkable event in the sport in 1904.

Bowker captured four boxing titles in the first decade of the twentieth century: world bantamweight championship, European bantamweight championship, British bantamweight championship, and British featherweight championship. He held the world bantamweight and British featherweight titles at the same time. In 51 professional fights, he compiled a career record of 40 wins, 8 losses and one draw with two no-decisions. Fourteen wins came by knockout.

He was known as a "wonderfully clever" fighter. More than 40 years after Bowker retired from the ring, British boxing historian Maurice Golesworthy wrote of him: "Indeed, there are many authorities who rate Joe Bowker as the most skillful boxer ever produced in this country. That may be an exaggeration, but it is safe to say that there have been few better."