It was while performing at Gus Maisch's Little Casino in 1888, a popular establishment near New Bowery, that he agreed to be a last minute replacement as the night's official ring announcer when the regular man was unable to appear.

Harry Grayson, boxing writer for the New York World-Telegram once wrote, "Joe Humphreys had voice, presence, personality, tact, and razorblade Irish wit".

The movie house failed to catch on in the Chinese-American community, partly due to the ongoing Tong wars, and they eventually sold the property to the New York Rescue Society for use as a mission.

When Tex Rickard began promoting boxing at the old Madison Square Garden in 1925, Humphreys was hired as official ring announcer and was present at many of the top prize fights held at the venue including Jack Dempsey's bouts against Georges Carpentier, Luis Firpo and Gene Tunney.

For example, during the Jack Sharkey vs. Jim Maloney on May 20, 1927, he asked the crowd of 40,000 at Yankee Stadium to stand and observe a moment of silence for Charles Lindbergh who had left earlier that day on his transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.

He was never known to take any special care for his voice, save chewing on a cough drop or when his throat became dry, and was opposed to using microphones when they were first introduced at Madison Square Garden.

However, he was so ill that he was unable to attend the championship bout between Max Baer and James J. Braddock on June 13, 1935, and missed the first major fight in his career.

[1] He spent a month in the hospital and made his in-ring return at Yankee Stadium, welcomed by the 95,000 fans in attendance, to announce Max Baer-Joe Louis fight on September 24, 1935.