Editing Stanley Ketchel (section)

== Professional boxing career ==
Only a [[middleweight]], Ketchel was also known for taking on [[heavyweight]]s, who sometimes outweighed him by more than 30 pounds (14&nbsp;kg). According to hearsay, before each of his fights, he would imagine that his opponent had insulted his mother, with whom he had a very close relationship; thus, his anger would motivate him to fight with fury.

He started boxing professionally in 1903, at 16, in [[Butte, Montana]]. In his first fight, Ketchel knocked out Kid Tracy in one round. In his second fight, he was beaten by decision in six rounds by Maurice Thompson. He boxed his first 41 bouts in Montana, and had a record of 36 wins, two losses, and three draws during that span. He lost once more to Thompson in their rematch and then controversially drew with him in their rubber match, in a bout that many people thought Ketchel had won. Afterwards, he went on to beat [[Tom Kingsley]], among others, before moving his campaign on to [[California]] in 1907.

There, he won three fights that year, and drew one in [[Marysville, California|Marysville]] against the man many considered the World Middleweight Champion, Joe Thomas. In his next bout, Thomas and he had a rematch and Ketchel won, by knockout in 32 rounds. Ketchel was then recognized by many as the World Middleweight Champion. He finished the year by beating Thomas again, this time by decision.