[Cap]

Notes from the desk of Frank Allnutt, senior sports reporter for the Toronto Daily Star September 1908...No one gave Charlie Gage (189¼) a chance against the Australian Ern Waddy (191). Gage was 23-1-1 with ten KOs going in, Waddy 30-3-3 with seventeen knockouts against top international opponents. Most pools had Waddy a 6 to 1 favourite after his win over Georges Carpentier last July. In the words of one noted Toronto sports expert, Gage didn't "have a hope in hades" of beating the former Empire heavyweight champion...Gage disappointed the books, beating Waddy at Maple Leaf Stadium by a score of 6-4 on referee Joe Francis' card...Fight had some good heated exchanges, but was marred often by excessive clinching when the fighters came to close quarters. There were no knockdowns but Gage fought the last round with one eye almost completely swollen shut...Charlie had the final rally in the last stanza, staggering Waddy...The Aussie threw more punches but missed many thanks to a brilliant defence by Gage, particularly in rounds six, seven and eight...Waddy had held a slight lead midway through the fight according to most observers, but Gage surged in the second half...It was later revealed that Gage and his chief trainer had attended Waddy's losing effort against Tom Cowler in January and had watched film of his win over Carpentier at Montreal...When asked if his future plans included challenging Sam Langford for his Empire title, Gage smiled and said no. He went on to say his next fight would be a mandatory defence of his Canadian title belt...The twice rain-delayed card in the open air at Sohmer Park in Montreal featured two Quebec-based boxers against two from Ontario. Sadly for Montreal promoter Armand Bibaud, his two headliners lost. Frank O'Malley, The Pride of Corktown, took all of thirty three seconds to starch Gaspe's Soldier Jones, slipping a long right hand and crashing a right of his own on the Soldier's chin. In the co-feature, Arthur Pelkey emerged the winner on the referee's scorecard after ten fast rounds with Wilfrid Gagne. A very unpopular verdict. All three French language dailies present, Le Devoir, La Presse and Journal de Montreal, scored the fight overwhelmingly for Gagne. Even the Anglo papers said Gagne should have got no worse than a draw. The referee had to be escorted from the ring by police...Wednesday afternoon at Wanderers Pitch in Halifax, Bert Kenny rebounded from a loss in July to force a stoppage of Ned O'Mara in five rounds...In a preliminary, young six foot four Johnny Gillis of Cape Breton knocked out the veteran Frank Osborne in six brutal rounds...Gillis weighed a beefy 221½ and Osborne 203...Gillis' chief second told reporters his boy was still learning and would come into his next fight in better trim...Nova Scotia top prospect Clyde Parker alias The East Preston Bulldog, was held to a draw by Frank Laura at Windsor's Sports Hall in a slow mauling fight that saw referee Frank Carroll repeatedly warn Laura for holding and caution Parker for hitting on the break. Parker dropped Laura for a short count in the fifth round and threw him down in the seventh, for which he was penalized...