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Excerpt from The Australian Star November 1898...Tommy Burns has signed a contract with Sydney Stadium's matchmaker Hugh McIntosh to defend his Empire championship in December if a suitable opponent can be found...Several clubs have signed on to a plan formulated by McIntosh to stage a series of bouts to provide just such a candidate...Frans Botha who recently defeated Owen Sullivan at Sydney must surely be part of the mix...Ballarat's Pat McIntyre added another victory to his unbeaten record with a KO in eight rounds of Jack Blackmore and is another certain to be included in any tournament...Nathan's Athletic Hall in Melbourne staged three excellent bouts recently, the feature being a six round clash between Bill Lang of that city and "Aussie Billy" Smith the ex-champion heavyweight...Lang knocked out Smith in four rounds of heavy bashing...George Stirling of Cobar knocked out Ted Fowley inside the first round and Peter Kling stopped Digger Noonan with seconds to go in the sixth and final round of their bout...Des Quinlan was fortunate to get the nod over Jimmy Henry as their articles of agreement had called for an immediate rematch in the event of a draw....