Terrible Terry McGovern (March 9, 1880 – February 22, 1918) was an American professional boxer who held the World Bantamweight and Featherweight Championships.

After the death of his father Joseph, he tried to help support his widowed mother by peddling vegetables after the family moved to South Brooklyn the year after he was born.

He defended the World Featherweight Title at least five times against Joe Bernstein, Tommy White, Aurelio Herrera, and twice against Oscar Gardiner.

He lost it to Young Corbett II who defeated him in World Featherweight Title fights on two separate occasions.

[3] In his first 36 better-publicized bouts before taking the World Bantamweight Title, McGovern won an astounding 30, losing only to Johnny Snee and Tim Calahan.

McGovern won the vacant World Bantamweight Championship on September 12, 1899, in a first-round knockout of British boxer Pedlar Palmer before a crowd of 10,000, using a series of heavy body blows.

The winner was to receive $7,500, and the loser $2,500, both sizable purses for the period, but far less than boxers would make for a World Title fight a decade later.

[3][9] On November 18, 1899, he defeated New Yorker Patsy Haley in a first-round knockout in Chicago at Tattersall's in a non-title match.

On July 16, 1900, in an important bout, McGovern defeated World Lightweight Champion Frank Erne in a third-round technical knockout before a crowd of 13,000 in New York's Madison Square Garden.

[10] On December 22, 1899, McGovern defeated Harry Forbes in what was billed by some sources as a World Featherweight match, but the bout was not widely recognized as one.

[3][11] McGovern moved up in weight from Bantam and captured the World Featherweight Championship from George Dixon on January 9, 1900, by scoring a technical knockout in the eighth round at the Broadway Athletic Club in New York.

Some controversy existed among bettors when the officials ruled the fight a knockout when it technically was not, as no ten count was completed against Dixon.

[13][14] On June 12, 1900, McGovern defeated Tommy White at the Seaside Sporting Club in a decisive third-round knockout in Brooklyn, New York.

[17] McGovern scored a knockout over the legendary Black boxer Joe Gans in a non-title match on December 13, 1900.

[19] On April 30, 1901, before a crowd of 8,000, McGovern defeated Oscar Gardiner at the Mechanics Pavilion in San Francisco in a fourth-round knockout.

[21] On March 14, 1906, McGovern lost a lightweight match to Battling Nelson at the National Athletic Club in Philadelphia in a six-round newspaper decision.

The bout could not have a referee ruling on points, but the Minneapolis Journal and four local Philadelphia newspapers gave Nelson the advantage.

Two months prior to his death he was visiting Camp Upton, a WW I military port of embarkation on Long Island when he took ill.

He died of pneumonia and Bright's disease, a kidney ailment in the charity ward of King's County Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, on February 22, 1918, at the age of 37.