Interesting that you mention Irwin & Watson. I've spoken to Irwin & Harry Watson was a friend of mine. I remember Harry telling me a story about Richard not wanting to scuffle with him. And its a funny story too. But you mention the two toughest guys to ever play the game and no one wanted to mess with those two guys. Richard, at 5'10", was not in the same physical category as them. Besides, Watson was a clean player who wouldn't been have enraging Richard anyways. Trust me, Richard was tough. But he was tough when he was fouled and many opponents will attest to that.
There is this famous photo of Irwin & Richard looking menancingly with their sticks up. So, if you've seen it, you would know that the Rocket wasn't scared of anyone when riled.
By the way, Richard did ok against Fontinato in that fight - and Fontinato was a much bigger man.
There is no video of the Howe-Fontinato fight. I've tried to learn as much as I could about what happened. I've talked to an official, Ranger & Detroit players who were on the ice, read the NY Times, the Hockey News and any articles that I could find. There are differing accounts which isn't a surprise. No doubt Howe won the fight but I was intrigued by the legend that the fight became. It wasn't all that one sided.
I've seen Fontinato talk to Brian McFarlane about the fight and Lou treats it as more of a joke now - the fight sort of made him famous. That reflects what Fontinato told Brian.
There are accounts that say that Fontinato landed numerous punches. Its well known that Gordie Howe's one punch did the damage. Remember that the Howe punch was early and Fontinato still kept on fighting.
Its just like the Jonathan-Bouchard fight that Don Cherry keeps talking about. It was one punch that did the damage.
I'm attaching part of the game story from the New York Times that describes the fight.
In my view, Richard was a much tougher player because he would fight anyone that took advantage of him. And he wasn't a big man.
Howe, on the other hand, was a much bigger player and by far the dirtier player who resorted to hit from behind tactics with his stick and elbows.
Richard only went after players who played dirty against him. His knockouts of 'Killer' Bob Dill & the previously mentioned Bill Juzda cemented his reputation as a fighter not to be messed with when riled.
Howe, went after players from behind and cut them for no apparent reason, other than they may have been rookies.
I think that Howe, in comparison to what Richard went through, had a free ride all those years.
Howe was a great hockey player. You can't take that away from him. But he also had more room than most players had. Howe made his rep in fighting on the one fight. Richard made his rep in fighting in many fights against pretty tough guys.
Spitfire11 said:
It's in a book called the Habs. Ivan Irwin and Harry Watson both make the claim. Here's a small piece from Watson: "I had a scuffle with him in Chicago. But I never saw him stand up to anybody. Only once in New York when he stood up to Lou Fontinato. And he didn't stand up too long that time."