Today Episode is about a former World Champion boxer, who fought from Welterweight all the way to Heavyweight and an Early Hollywood actor. He was controversial in and out of the ring. And frankly, I think he liked being like that.
From his invention of the “corkscrew punch” (a punch that added a twist to the moment of impact which made for an excellent way to slice and open up opponents’ faces)to his 10 marriages to eight different woman, conviction of manslaughter and eventual suicide. McCoy was always known as someone who loved to play tricks inside the ring, for example, he lulled the reigning welterweight champion Tommy Ryan into a false sense of security before their fight by rubbing flour on his face and pretending to be ill. McCoy was also alleged to have invented the ruse of informing his opponent that his shoe was untied to enable McCoy to strike a blow when the unwary adversary would look down at his feet.
He also would sometimes stop in the middle of a fight to convince his opponent to check out the pretty lady in the front row and when this worked, the distracted opposition was met with a McCoy right-hand. Furthermore, He appeared in films, including a scene fighting Wallace Reid in the 1922 film, The World's Champion. McCoy was also friends with many movie stars of the day, including Charles Chaplin and director D.W. Griffith, who directed the 1919 silent film, Broken Blossoms, Selby's second film as actor.
