Peter Kane

By David Martinez / Boxing Historian / dmboxing.com

One of England’s greatest flyweight boxers was certainly Peter Kane.  He was born in Heywood, Lancashire on February 28, 1918, but actually grew up living in Golborne, Lancashire.

Kane began his professional boxing career in December 1934 at the age of sixteen, winning by fifth round knockout over Joe Jacobs, in Liverpool, England.

He went on a winning spree of forty-one consecutive bouts, thirty-four by knockout, which propelled him to a world flyweight title fight with Benny Lynch on October 13, 1937, at Shawfield Park in Glasgow, Scotland.  More than 40,000 fans attended as Lynch retained the title by a thirteenth round knockout.

Kane would fight Lynch in a fifteen round title bantamweight rematch bout on March 24, 1938, with the result being a draw.

When Lynch retired in 1938, that left the title vacant. Kane and top contender Jackie Jurich met on September 22, 1938, in Liverpool for the vacant title with Kane winning a fifteen round decision to become champion.

Kane retained his title until June 19, 1943, when Jackie Paterson won by a sensational first round knockout in Glasgow.

After serving his country during World War II for two years (1944-1945), Kane had an operation performed for a detached retina. He made a comeback in August 1946, and after a string of victories, he won the European bantamweight championship on September 26, 1947, with a fifteen round decision over Theo Medina in Manchester.

After one successful title defense in December 1947, Kane lost the title to Guido Ferracin on February 20, 1948, in Manchester. He fought twice more before meeting Ferracin in a rematch, losing by a fifth round stoppage.

In what was thought to be his last fight, on November 19, 1948, Kane lost a twelve round decision to Stan Rowanbut. However, he would add one more fight to his resume two and a half years later when, on April 23, 1951, he scored a third round knockout victory over an unheralded Johnny Conn (an interesting note is that Conn was making his debut and that bout turned out to be the only fight of his boxing career).  

Nat Fleischer, founder of Ring magazine and legendary boxing historian, rates Kane as the #9 greatest flyweight of all time. On my list he is #10, following (in order) Jimmy Wilde, Pascual Perez, Pancho Villa, Fidel La Barba, Miguel Canto, Frankie Genaro, Benny Lynch, Midget Wolgast, and Pone Kingpetch. Of note is that highly ranked flyweight Ricardo Lopez is also #1 on my greatest strawweight list.   

Kane is ranked #10 greatest flyweight by the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO), in a vote from the fans.

Personally, I am dumbfounded that he isn’t an inductee of the International Boxing Hall of Fame or the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Kane had a professional ring record of 89 wins, 8 losses, 2 draws, and 1 no-contest, with 54 wins by knockout.

Upon retirement, Kane worked as a blacksmith in Lowton, Golborne, England. He died on July 23, 1991, at the age of 73.

One thought on “Peter Kane

  1. Another shame that Kane isn’t in Canastota! A stupid criteria thst they have is that if your name remains on the ballot for so many years, I believe 5, without being voted in your name is removed for consideration! This has left many greats of boxing history screwed!

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