Patrick McGuigan Boxer

Patrick McGuigan (1868–September 13, 1938), commonly known as "Paddy" McGuigan, was an American boxer, promoter, entertainer, business man, and sports figure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A member of the NJ Boxing Hall of Fame, he is considered one of the best and fiercest fighters of the era and was a beloved figure among sports fans in New Jersey and across the Eastern US, considered by many to be "The Pride of New Jersey." He became the NJ Lightweight Champion in 1890 and won the Interstate NY/NJ Lightweight Championship in 1892. Fighting in both the bare-knuckle and gloved eras, he met virtually all of the world's top boxers in his class, however despite the fact, none of his fights were world title bouts. At the height of his career he traveled the country with William Muldoon's athletic carnival, "meeting all comers" in each city they visited. Once he retired from boxing professionally, he became a promoter and opened a fight club and a saloon in Harrison, NJ. He has been credited as one of the men responsible for boxing's rise to affluence in New Jersey after it was legalized in 1918 under the Hurley Law, being the first individual in the state to secure a license to legally host boxing matches. Paddy "must be chronicled as one of the greatest ringmen who ever lived," according to sportswriter Anthony Marenghi, and has been described by Hall of Fame manager Tom O'Rourke as the greatest fighter he had ever seen.