[JCWeb]

Pleased to report that 1909 is in the books with alot of exciting action and numerous changes of titles, etc. First report, as usual, concerns the HW division.

WBA Title Fights:

Tommy Burns CH (28-5-2) vs Jack Johnson #1 (57-4-2)

A rematch of the 1906 title bout but this time Burns is the defender and Jack the challenger, but Johnson is still a 2-1 favorite. Both fighters start on the outside, and the first few rounds are fairly close. Burns is a bit more aggressive in round 3, but Johnson's defense is rock-solid. Round 4 sees some good action as Burns tries to work his way inside. Burns able to clearly win round 5, also on the inside. Lil' Arthur shifts to fighting inside while Burns takes a more defensive posture in rounds 6 and 7, and by the end of round 7 Johnson has the upper hand. Burns spends the next two rounds working on the outside again, and both men begin to tire. Burns stuns Jack with a strong hook in round 10 to keep the bout close. Tommy continues to press the attack in later rounds but the sting is gone from his punches. Stifling defense by the better-conditioned Johnson in the later rounds is enough to insure a victory--Johnson regains title by UD 15 (147-137, 145-139, 144-140)

Jack Johnson CH (58-4-2) vs Phila Jack O'Brien #1 (46-4-2)

Rematch of the late 1907 title bout that cost Johnson the title -- Jack comes out determined to change things this time around. Opening rounds are close, slight edge to the champ. In round 4, Johnson gets too cute, losing the round by being too defensive-minded. A strong jab by JJ befuddles the challenger, who tried his luck from the inside in round 5. Johnson is able to open a cut under the left eye of O'Brien in round 6. Johnson continues in an aggressive fashion, backing the challenger up and causing swelling around O'Brien's left eye in round 7. Johnson carries a big lead into late rounds, tries to sit on it while a tiring O'Brien remains the aggressor. The scorecards show the challenger came from behind to win rounds 12 to 14, with Jack winning the final round to salvage a draw and his title. Draw (144-142 JJ, 144-142 O'B, 143-143)

Jack Johnson CH (58-4-3) vs William "Iron" Hague #14 (10-2)

Johnson travels to the UK to take on the British champion, White Hope "Iron" Hague. A flash KD of the Champ by Hague in round 1 stuns Johnson and the crowd. Emboldened, Hague moves inside in round 2 but the champ's great defensive ability holds him off. In round 3 both fighters develop some swelling due to the punishing blows being landed. Johnson lands the heavy leather from a defensive posture in round 4, Hague recovers to do well in round 5, but after that Jack takes charge, landing numerous unanswered blows to dominate round 6. Hague battles back again to make round 7 a close one. Johnson retreats to a defensive posture in rounds 8-9 as the challenger tires. Johnson builds on his lead in rounds 10-11 and finally fells the game Hague with a short shot to the rib cage in round 12. Johnson by KO 12.

Lesser Title Fights:

NABF: Phila Jack O'Brien takes the crown from James Jeffries early in the year in a controversial SD 12; Jeff is more than ready for the rematch, in which he KOs O'Brien in 3 to take back the title.

USBA: Also changes hands during the year. First Sam McVey takes the crown via a TKO 5 over Bob Armstrong for the title vacated by Johnson who won the WBA Title. Then Joe Jeannette steps up with a UD 12 to take the crown from McVey, defending versus Denver Ed Martin (also UD 12).

CBU: Former champ Tommy Burns ends Bill Squires' title reign with a convincing KO 3 victory and defends versus Gunner Moir (TKO 6).

GBU: Hague defended twice versus TCs Ray Farquahr (KO 1) and Victor Stafford (KO 4).

Jan 1910 Rankings (pp and change from prior year in parens):

Champ: Jack Johnson 59-4-3 (46) (1268) (up 1)
1. James Jeffries 48-6-3 (42) (1163) (up 1)
2. Phila. Jack O'Brien 47-5-3 (25) (1072) (up 1)
3. Joe Jeannette 26-1 (20) (1030) (up 1)
4. Tommy Burns 30-6-2 (24) (999) (down 4)
5. Sam Langford 30-5-1 (25) (987) (NC)
6. Sam McVey 27-6-1 (19) (870) (NC)
7. Bob Armstrong 38-19-1 (31) (581) (NC)
8. Jim Barry 12-4 (9) (549) (new)
9. Al Kaufmann 22-6 (14) (468) (-1)
10. Denver Ed Martin 24-15-1 (20) (452) (-1)

British Champ Hague checks in at #11 with a 10-3 (9) mark and 424 pp; the one casualty from last year's Top Ten was John (Klondyke) Haines, who hit his post-Prime year and promptly lost three in a row to Kaufmann, Squires and Langford to fall to #15. Of the Top 10, Armstrong and Jeff will be at Post-Prime in 1910, Barry still at Pre-Prime. Marvin Hart, who stands at #14 in the rankings, also hits Post-Prime in 1910. Irishman Jem Roche hit Post Prime after only 10 (!) bouts. Top ranked TC is Brit Ray Farquahr who is #24 weith a 16-12-4 (5) mark and 53 pp.

Of the top contenders, O'Brien is likely to return to the easier pickings in the LH ranks in 1910. Jeannette who now has won 9 in a row is looking for a WBA title shot, Jeff may be just hanging on, Langford has a streak of 7 bouts without a defeat as is possibly looking at a CBU title shot versus Burns. Armstrong has now lost two in a row (as has Kaufmann) and top 10 newcomer Barry, who scored a MD 10 over Armstrong, slipped back after a loss to O'Brien.

No retirements in 1909 and noone that close. Top prospects: The Joplin Ghost, Jeff Clarke, is 13-0-1 (all 13 by KO) with the only blemish a 6-round draw with Battling Jim Johnson. Frank Moran had rung up 11 wins in a row before losing a SD to Denver Ed Martin and his mark now stands at 13-1 (9). Jim Savage is 8-0 (6) and Gunboat Smith at 6-0 (4). Andy Morris rolled up 4 wins to go 4-0 (3) in his first year.

1910 will see a plethora of "talent" arriving in the division, mostly in the form of "Great White Hopes" such as Brits Tom Cowler and Bombadier Billy Wells, Canadian Arthur Pelkey, and Carl Morris, to name a few.

Overall stats for the division going into 1910:

Total boxers: 102 (52 real-life, 50 TCs)
Real-life breakdown by Career Stage: 14 Beginner, 16 Pre-Prime, 16 Prime, 6 Post-Prime, 0 End
Rated: 28
800 or above: 7
500 or above: 9
200 or above: 21