John Gutenko (December 1, 1893 – October 18, 1963) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American boxer of Danish, Ukrainian and Polish heritage who fought under the name Kid Williams and was known as the Baltimore Tiger, he knocked out Johnny Coulon in Vernon, California, on June 9, 1914.

Ironically, the ceremony occurred in Canastota, New York, on June 9, 1996, the eighty-second anniversary of winning the bantamweight title.

[4] Along with his mother, Aniela (born in Barkhagen, German Empire on November 7, 1876 – August 23, 1939), and his two brothers (Ludwik "Louis" and Rudolph) and two sisters (Bertha and Helen), they arrived in Baltimore on September 28, 1904, aboard the SS Breslau.

[5] John’s father, Wincenty Gutenko (born in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 4, 1866 – October 15, 1925), had immigrated earlier in the year.

Now he is broke, and his fighting days are over.”[8] Before he began his boxing career, Gutenko had left school after the third grade and worked as an apprentice typesetter.

It was Sammy Harris who, to garner publicity about his protégé John Gutenko reinvented and created a myth about themselves that the writers and fans were willing to accept since it made for good press.

At Harris’s prompting, Guntenko often told reporters: I sold him a paper, and he gave me half a dollar to get changed.

In the interview, he told John Sherwood, an Evening Sun writer, that he first put on boxing gloves in the empty stock room of Tom the Greek’s candy store on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore’s Fells’ Point.

Then, on October 12, 1912, he met the reigning Bantamweight title holder, Johnny Coulon, at Madison Square Garden.

“Some of the ringside sharps gave the Kid the shade, and all agreed that the Baltimore lad was entitled to a draw at the worst.”[13] The Polish boxer spent the next year and a half trying to force Coulon to a rematch.

Although Coulon only fought three bouts during this time, Gutenko continued to take on worthy opponents, including the English (Johnny Hughes)[14] and French (Charles LeDoux) bantamweight champions.

It may have been former gunslinger turned sportswriter Bat Materson who came up with the moniker as he described Gutenko's aggressive boxing style as like that of a tiger.

[19] Gutenko never recaptured the title, and on September 9, 1929, the Maryland State Athletic Commission “decided for the best interests of everyone concerned, including Williams himself, that the Kid would not be allowed to fight anymore in the State.” The action was taken because “the members of the ring body felt that there was danger of the veteran fight suffering serious injury if allowed to continue.” Thus, revoking his license and ending his boxing career.

[22] The plaque awarded him was later hung “on the Baltimore Civic Center wall.”[23] John Gutenko was not the only member of the family to aspire to a boxing career.