Jackie Graves, alias The Austin Atom, (September 12, 1922 — November 15, 2005) was a featherweight

Featherweight

Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...

 boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 from Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Boxing career

From 1944 to 1956 Graves compiled a career record of 82 wins (48 KOs) and 11 losses with 2 draws. He won the Minnesota State Featherweight Title in only his seventh professional fight, and before his career was over he had fought such luminaries as Willie Pep

Willie Pep

Guglielmo Papaleo was an American boxer who was better known as Willie Pep. Pep boxed a total of 1956 rounds in the 241 bouts during his 26 year career, a considerable number of rounds and fights even for a fighter of his era. His final record was 229-11-1 with 65 knockouts...

, Lefty LaChance, Glen Flanagan

Glen Flanagan

Glen Flanagan was a featherweight professional boxer from Minnesota.-Personal life:Glen Flanagan was born and raised in St Paul, Minnesota. He and his wife Betty had six children, and Glen went on to have a successful career in insurance and real estate...

, Jackie Blair, Miguel Acevedo

Miguel Acevedo

-Professional career:Acevedo's professional career began in March 1940 and ended in June 1951. Acevedo's official record at his retirement was 50 wins and 20 losses, although it is not known how many unsanctioned fights may have been excluded from his official record...

, Del Flanagan

Del Flanagan

Del Flanagan was a middleweight professional boxer from Minnesota.-Personal life:Flanagan was a native of St Paul, Minnesota. Del Flanagan and his brother Glen were known as the Fighting Flanagan Brothers...

, Corky Gonzales, Redtop Davis

Teddy Davis (boxer)

Teddy "Redtop" Davis, alias Murray Cain , was a featherweight professional boxer from South Carolina.-Personal life:...

, and on August 23rd, 1948, the dubiously named, "Willie Cheatum."

Against Willie Pep

Graves is named as the foil against whom Willie Pep

Willie Pep

Guglielmo Papaleo was an American boxer who was better known as Willie Pep. Pep boxed a total of 1956 rounds in the 241 bouts during his 26 year career, a considerable number of rounds and fights even for a fighter of his era. His final record was 229-11-1 with 65 knockouts...

 won a round without throwing a punch. This occurrence is sometimes said to have taken place in the third round of a fight between the two. Contemporary reports, however, clearly indicate that Pep threw punches in the third round.

After Boxing

Graves was a correspondent for Ring Magazine for many years after his fighting career ended.