Let's go back approximately forty-four years and review some of these fights.

      Kushwara Kayoes Wolfe– Iron Mike Kushwara, kingpin of the regional middleweights, proved to the large gathering that he still is the boss of the 160 pounders by corking Jack Wolfe of Oneida with a right to the chin and sending him to the land of pleasant dreams in one minute and one half of the first stanza.
      Wolfe came out of his corner boxing, as Mike ducked about, sticking an occasional left lead to the head. They clinched and shortly after they came out of it, Mike feinted to the body and set a light left to the head. Then, as quick as a flash and with accuracy, the Morea socker left go of his famous right hand blow which landed on the Oneida boy's chin and saw him hit the mat with a thud. The fight was over and as the arm of Kushwara was raised by referee Dewey, a tremendous ovation was extended him.

      The Killer Does His Stuff– Iron Mike Kushwara, the physical culture knockout fiend of Morea made Al Janetti smile all over and the entire audience sing his praises when he flattened Tommy Gleason, of Philadelphia, in less than two minutes of the opening round of the scheduled six round preliminary and the fight held added importance in that Mister Gleason had been approved by the commission after two other fighters suggested by the Mahanoy Club had been ruled out because they were supposed to have been a good match for Michael. Added to that, it marked the first time that Mister Gleason, who is under the management of Max "Boo Boo" Hoff, had even been floored much less knocked out and thirdly, importantly and emphatically it meant that Gleason, who never had a chance to show off his wares, was kayoed just as quickly as anyone else would have been. A right hook to the jaw, sent Gleason to the floor for the full count. Gleason is said to have had the reputation of never having been knocked off his feet.

      Kushwara Knocks Out Rice In 8th Session of Eight– Mike Kushwara had been dubbed the 'Killer" added the scalp of Matt Rice, former Gilberton football star and now of the New York Giants, to his string of trophies which heretofore has been hung with four round knockouts. It took him eight rounds to dispose of Rice who he floored four times in two minutes for the count, but he did it in impressive fashion and established himself as a real mauler when he finally finished the Gilberton all around athlete.
      Kushwara took up fighting as a means of expression. He is a physical culturist of the extreme type and although he works in the mines he takes a routine amount of exercise each day in addition and is a strict vegetarian. He is an ardent exponent of all the McFadden theories and lives a routine and careful life with no indulgence in any stimulation of any kind. For that reason he is above fighting par at all times as was shown last night.
      Matt Rice officially is recognized as the St. Louis Robin of the anthracite prize ring for Matt set a new endurance record for the boys fighting Mike Kushwara to aim at in the future. Matt stayed until the 8th with Mike in their fight under the direction of Frank Hollister, waged down at Charlton Hall, Pottsville, thus breaking the four-round-before-stopped record that heretofore had been in the possession of Georgie Keysock, of Frackville. The hat must be doffed and waved, tilted in an eloquent bow to Mister Rice, as game and courageous a boy as this region ever produced barring absolutely no one. The gay and dashing Matt, the galloping buckeroo was a gallant battler and a valiant foe every minute of his fight with the punching Kushwara. His soul was mighty and his heart was just as big as a mountainside.
      His courage was pumped from that heart, driven through every vein in his body and he fought just as long as his legs stood under him. He drove himself into action, hauled and tugged at himself to lift himself from the floor and went down a battered wreck-and tried to get up until they stopped it. Until the fight with Mike, -Matt's courage had never been doubted. It was an acknowledged fact that he had supreme confidence in himself and in his might at all time. Now, ladies and gentlemen finding the time to read this, his brave heart, gallant soul and valiant action in the face of adverse odds NEVER CAN BE DOUBTED. Matt was tested, right down to the marrow in his bones, and Matt came through the colors, bloody though they were, flying just as highly as ever a human could place them. Courageous? That can't describe it. Daring? Entirely inadequate. Dauntless? Doesn't sound high enough. Valorous? Won't do. Heroic? Getting closer. Out of the muck and the machine guns and mud of a recent Great Fight they brought one word, one word that tells volumes on Matt Rice. Guts! That's Matt Rice, Guts.
      It was only because Matt Rice was a perfectly conditioned athlete, a bull-dog in courage and stamina that he stayed as long as he did. They were knockout punches, the inside punishment and the right to the jaw at the end of the seventh round was the knocking out punch. Matt went up and down, knocked down by typical Kushwara drives and brought up because he doesn't know how to quit and never would quit if he did know how. His head was bloody but unbowed. The spirit was there, but the flesh was hammered into un-feeling insensibility.

      Mike Makes It Unanimous– Before fight time, Al Swilp was the only man in the world who believed he could whip Mike Kushwara. Mike therefore made it unanimous that no one in the world believes Al can whip him by finishing Al in two rounds. Ambling Albert was flattened in the approved Kushwara manner, a right to the chin, and everybody rose and cheered. They cheered Mike's comeback they cheered Mike's kayo and they cheered Swilp who made it a fight by sticking to his guns until he was sent sprawling by the Kushwara dynamite.

      Sir Michael Kushwara, Knight of the Devastating Punch– Sir Michael Kushwara, Knight of the Devastating Punch and ranking popper of chins as far as our fistic talent is concerned, hit Wally Sears, the Minersville boy, all of two punches last night. The first staggered Sears and the second a slick little left to the chin ended the bout just two minutes and thirty seconds after the opening bell had sent them on their way.
      That left hand, travelling not more than four inches, dumped Wally on his tail right in the center of the ring and Joe Perry's entry, jarred from the top hairs of his head down to the soles of his feet, couldn't get up. Completely out and not hearing the count or the roar of the crowd, Wally just sat there with a dazed expression on his face and even after he was taken to his corner, it took more than five minutes work to bring him around. It was, to all intents and purposes, a one-punch victory for Kushwara and it came after Sears had given him an artistic trimming up to the knockout point.

      Iron Mike Kushwara Stops Delp in the 8th Round– Iron Mike Kushwara, added another knockout to his rapidly swelling list when he stopped Jimmy "Red" Delp, of Reading, in the eighth round of their scheduled ten round bout at the Lakewood Park ballroom last night and in so doing, the thumper from the hilltops turned in his third successive knockout win since enrolling under the banners of Albertus Sagacious Janetti, the Wilkes-Barre charmer.
      The end came when Delp, blinded in one eye and the recipient of a terrific body beating, was unable to raise his hands and Referee Jack Walton, of Scranton halted the proceedings one minute and fifteen seconds after the eighth round had opened. At the time Delp was a reeling, sprawling wreck as a result of terrific body blows that had chugged into him almost from the beginning of the fight and ringside fans, seeing his condition, kept calling to have the bout stopped. The knockout was somewhat more messy than a typical Kushwara affair but Sir Michael again demonstrated what paralyzing power is concealed in those broad shoulders.

      Kushwara Kayoes Lavin In Very First Round– Iron Mike Kushwara, making his fistic debut in circles other than this immediate territory knocked out Willie Lavin, of Buffalo, in the first round of their bout at Wilkes-Barre last night, a crushing, typical Kushwara punch dropping the Buffalo battler for the long count while a frenzied house, one of the largest of the indoor season at Wilkes-Barre, screamed for the mountain top mauler.
      Brushing away a three punch attack of his antagonist in Primo Carnera manner, Mike, before the first minute had ticked away, hammered Lavin with two body punches and then smashed home a bone-crushing right hand punch to the jaw that brought the entire house to its feet. Lavin, completely out and dead to the world never stirred a muscle as he headed toward the canvas, and the big crowd that had been warned by Al Janetti to look for fireworks let out a roar as the referee reached ten in his count with Lavin still dead to the world.
      It was a complete and satisfying debut for Kushwara in Wilkes-Barre, and the official timer let it be known that the knockout occurred thirty seconds after the bell opened the fight. Though it might have seemed longer, due to the fast action, Kushwara's clean cut verdict came in less than a minute. Janetti leaped into the ring in nothing flat and displayed more affection for his battler after that collision of glove and chin than a newlywed husband for his wife. He hugged the homely Mike, he kissed him and did a dance that was half black bottom and half shimmy from sheer joy, but the reason for all his happiness was better understood when the inside story of what happened in the dressing rooms was made known.
      The inside story was: Kushwara was supposed to fight Eddie Lee, a young sparring partner from Wilkes-Barre but on the night of the fight Willie Lavin was brought in and "Janetti yelped like a wounded hound when he learned that Lavin had been substituted for Lee. He threatened to pull out Mike and as late as eight o'clock had not yet agreed to go through with the match. But the pleadings of the Armory A.C. officials melted Janetti's stony heart and he acquiesced. The result is history."

      Morea Mauler Adds to String One Round Wins– Mike Kushwara, the Morea Man Mauler, added another single round knockout to his list when he slapped Roland Henning, of Palmerton, kicking in the initial round of their scheduled six-round bout at Pottsville last night. Henning crumbling to the floor before the power-house blows of Kushwara. Kushwara, who, according to the records advanced by his followers, now has scored seven one-round knockouts in as many fights, went into action in the same business-like manner that he has been displaying in all his bouts. He was out of his corner with the bell, plodding and surging into Henning and taking everything the Palmerton boy cared to sling at him with the rapidity of a stenographer pounding a typewriter.
      Mr. and Mrs. Kushwara have four children: Maryann, R.N. at Yale Medical Center; Barbara, R.N. Supervisor of special surgery at New York Hospital; Michael, graduate of St. Joseph's College, employed at Willow Grove; Regina,, R.N. married to Kenneth Evans of Weston, Mass., who have two children.
      After ending his fighting career, Iron Mike played and captained a baseball team for St. Michael's in Frackville. In the Frackville City League they played against the Kaier Club and he had four hits in six trips to the plate, including a double. They won that one 19 to 9 before an overflowing crowd of 5,000 fans at the Plane Field. He was also Neighborhood Commissioner of Boy Scout Troop No. 91.
      Mr. Kushwara worked at the Morea Breaker until 1936 and then received a position with the Barrett Detective Agency of the Reading Anthracite Company as a private detective. In 1962, he operated the Kushwara Detective Agency and retired on September 1, 1970. He died December 6, 1970.