Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

[Hanson Bros]

excellent stuff!

[Cap]

Originally Posted by Hanson Bros

excellent stuff!

Mucho Gravy, Mike. Noteworthy praise from one of the long-time veterans of this forum!

Keep on keeping on.

Cap

[Cap]

European heavyweight rankings published in British Boxing Weekly Nov 1, 1902...EBU heavyweight champion Georges Carpentier cables his friends in Paris that negotiations are almost complete for a world title match with Sam Langford and the Frenchman has begun serious training for late December...Montreal seems the most likely site with three or four open dates at the Forum backed by a promotional combine of Armand Bibaud of the Athens A.C. and Bert Woodhall of New York's Metropolitan Athletic Club...According to JP Metcalf of Boxing Weekly, a goodly number of heavyweights in Britain and the Continent are inactive either because they are under strict new medical suspensions mandated by the IBU or because promoters are apparently shunning them due to an absence of marquee value...In a surprising development, after only his fifteenth pro bout, Tom Cowler the "Cumberland Giant" enters the EBU rankings at No.2, the youngest to do so, based on wins over Chummy Banks, Gunner Moir and Henri Caradec...Managers of other heavies protest this move and the sudden inclusion at No.4 of Eire's Packey Mahoney...When their whinging becomes intolerable an angry EBU chairman advises them to "get your boxers to fight better if they want a higher ranking."...The Union also released the names of those boxers it deems likely prospects for the future: Paul Boerentzen (4-1-1), Gaston Pigot (5-0-1), and Fernand Tresfort (4-0-2) of France; Jan De Groot (5-1-1) Nederland; Colin Morrison (3-0-3) Scotland; and Otto Flint (7-0-0) and Ernst Rosemann (9-2-1) of Deutschland...With Carpentier in North America, French promoter Albert Nivelle offers to match Scotland's Derek Beattie and Lucien Grognet at the Salle Wagram the first week of December with Raymond Berenger on the undercard against a yet to be named opponent...Promoter Ray Charrington schedules a card for Boxing Day at Blackpool headlined by Eire's Mahoney and Mexborough's Iron Hague with Petty Officer Curran and Jack Palmer as a co-feature...Cowler's manager proposes a ten round contest for the Paris Hippodrome with either Marc Gaucher or American Al Kubiak...

[Cap]

From The Australian Star (Sydney) November 1902...Tommy Burns has been seen around local racetracks and frequenting Sydney hotels and eateries so often, he can't be expecting to defend his title any time soon...He looks to be at least thirty pounds over his best fighting weight...Jim Griffin the New Zealand mitt-artist reports he had two ribs broken in the Turner fight and doesn't plan on getting back to the gym for at least a month...Pierre Coetzer the hulking Afrikanner who stopped Jack Whittaker last week, has issued a challenge to George Stirling with a side wager of £100 and the Golden Gate Club has agreed to put it on pending Stirling's signing articles...Bill Turner credits his spate of recent victories with time spent at the Griffo Boxing Academy's Hobart school...Turner is back at the gym training for a possible fight with Colin Bell or Jim Quigley...Former champion Billy McColl is trying to arrange a bout with either Peter Kling or Kelly Mansfield before December but friends are advising him to take a few months away from the ring...At Pretoria's Workers Sporting Club James Gunner Moir met Jewey Smith with 4 ounce gloves and from the start forced the fighting, trying for a knockout... Smith left few openings but failed to mount an effective attack, and at the close of the 10th round the referee awarded the fight to Moir on points, amid great enthusiasm...According to a New York newspaper Bill Lang will return to Australia if he can't secure a fight for the world title before next June...The Australian-New Zealand Boxing Federation has named the top ten contenders for the championship of the two commonwealths: Bill Turner, Jack Howard, George Stirling, Des Quinlan, Jack Whittaker, Colin Bell, Jim Quigley, Jim Griffin, Les O'Donnell, and Peter Kling...

[Cap]

Item clipped from a November 1902 issue of The New York Journal...The big international clash is less than a month away and both men have withdrawn to their respective camps, Carpentier to a lodge in Quebec City and Langford to a friend's downtown gym in Montreal's west-end...The promotional combine has organized a small syndicate to raise a purse of $20,000 Cdn. to be split 65% to the winner and 35% to the loser with another $2,000 for each fighter's training expenses...Thousands have been invested in promoting the contest throughout central Canada, Michigan, New York, and the New England states and early requests for tickets are already coming in...To add even more interest, promoters have arranged an excellent supporting bout between England's new phenom Bombardier Wells and Pittsburgh's Frank Moran along with three short matches featuring local talent...

[Cap]

From the sports section of The Chicago Daily News, November 1902...Under increasing pressure from international reformers targeting major contact sports, the IBU mandates that only boxers ranked in the top ten of their respective regional commissions will be permitted to engage in contests of 10 rounds duration...All other ranked boxers will be restricted to bouts of eight rounds or less, with those unranked limited to six rounds or less...The use of gum shields and six ounce gloves will be mandatory in all regions...Reports out of Chicago reveal a deal has been reached with Jack Johnson to voluntarily relinquish any claim to the American Boxing Association title belt leaving a path open for a match in the new year between Gunboat Smith and Jeff Clarke to fill the vacant championship...Al Kaufman is slated to defend his Pacific Northwest title belt in January against fellow San Franciscan Charlie Miller provided promoter Jim Coffroth can secure a suitable venue and a substantial purse...England's Bombardier Wells has begun training for his match next month against Frank Moran the Pittsburgh pugilist on the Langford-Carpentier undercard...Wells says he observed Moran in the ring in Paris and thinks he will present no problem when they meet...For his part Moran brags he "...will put the Limey's lights out in three..." despite admitting he has never seen Wells in action...Last night at the legendary King Street Arena in Coaltown, Sailor Burke met Ross Delaney in a ten round glove contest which ended in the sixth when Referee Hugh MacNeil declared Burke the winner on a foul due to a blatant low blow from Delaney after repeated warnings...

[Cap]

Taken from the sports page of The Montreal Star evening edition, November 1902...In response to editorials in western and eastern newspapers Thomas J. Murphy, MPP for Toronto and newly elected chair of the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation, has declined to recognize the necessity of Calgary's recently created Western Canadian championships, pointing to the already existing Pacific Northwest titles...Last week on a card at Quebec City, Charlie Fraser outpointed Ray Mullins and Frank Laura stopped Ed McKeown, setting up Armand Bibaud's main event next Monday at The Mount Royal Arena featuring the two winners...It was a mixed bag at the Detroit Athletic Club the other day when New Brunswick's Kid Williams was knocked out by Denver Jack Geyer and Toronto's Bob Day mauled his way to a decision over Texas Bob Thompson despite carrying at least thirty pounds over his announced weight...A spokesman for the Dominion Boxing Foundation in Toronto warned the sports editor of this paper not to expect a bumper crop of new prospects in the new year as few of the Academy's current class are shaping up as really top calibre boxers...Coaltown promoter Leo Roberts is trying to sign James "Sailor" Burke and Winnipeg's Charlie Robinson to fill his headliner for Boxing Day at the King Street Arena, and has sent out feelers to Montreal's Art Beaudoin to fight the winner in the new year...Article run in the Calgary Herald repeats rumours George McRay is planning to retire this winter because he is finding it more and more difficult to get into good fighting trim...A cable from Australian promoter Hugh McIntosh to this office informs us of his plan to match Danny Whitebear, the current Canadian title-holder, with Tommy Burns for the latter's Empire title early in the new year, this despite the Cree battler's loss to Jack Howard at Sydney last month...Corbett's betting pools in New York and California have made Bombardier Billy Wells a slight favourite over Frank Moran in their fight next month, with the caveat that if the fight ends early it favours Moran, while a decision victory favours the Englishman...No surprise Sam Langford (30-0-2 /19) is heavily favoured to retain his title next month against the "Orchid Man" Georges Carpentier (22-2-0 /11)...

[Cap]

Taken from a page of the Canadian Illustrated News magazine featuring the upcoming World Heavyweight Championship boxing match at Montreal's new Sports Forum at Atwater and Ste-Catherine streets...Many well known people are expected to attend the prestigious event including Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, Quebec Premier Parent, Montreal Mayor Prefontaine, John C. McCullough Governor of Vermont, Seth Low Mayor of New York City, singer Enrico Caruso, stage actor Lionel Barrymore, hockey stars Archie Hooper and Jack Marshall, world wrestling champion George Hackenschmidt, and numerous leaders of the business community, including J.D. Fournier and M.J. Doheny of the Dominion Boxing Foundation...Demand has been so high, ringside seats are going for $150 with the cheapest seats in the gallery between $15 and $20...The press will be represented by scribes from London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and every capital city in Canada, along with the editor of Mitt Slingers Magazine...Prior to the arrival in this city of the Frenchman Carpentier, local betting parlours had the odds at 10 to 4 with Langford on the long end but this has since changed to 2 to 1 after reports on the challenger's training and conditioning...

[Cap]

From The Tacoma Western Courier Dec 29, 1902...Rumours circulated before the fight that Sam Langford would carry his opponent through the distance for benefit of a deal with the moving pictures company filming the event...Georges Carpentier surprised fans of the champion by putting on a heroic effort, eluding Langford's punches for the most part in first three rounds, mounting a brief attack in round four, then scoring well with hard rights to the head in round five...Round six is a big round for Langford as he pursues Carpentier after punishing him to the body...Rounds seven, eight and nine are close as Carpentier gets on his bicycle to evade Langford, stopping long enough to land a few and take a few in return...Round ten is Langford's by a wide margin as he continues to land on the gallant Frenchman's body...Round eleven is dead even as both use it to rest...Round 12 is all Langford as he begins to break down a visibly tiring Carpentier before dropping him in the next round for a count of six...Carpentier somehow just manages to escape further punishment and ties up the champion on the ropes...Round 14: At the urging of his seconds Sam goes in to finish Carpentier working him into a corner before landing a right to the body and left hook to the head at 2:42 dropping him like he'd been shot...Referee Masterson shoves Langford away and administers the full count to the unconscious Frenchman...In the main undercard bout, Frank Moran fails to follow up after dropping Bombardier Wells in round three and gets knocked down himself in the next round...Wells exhibits superior boxing technique clearly outpointing Moran in rounds five through seven, then goes into a defensive shell in the final round to avoid Moran's last gasp assault to earn a close decision...At the Paris Hippodrome, Al Kubiak the Michigan Giant, loses a 10 round decision to England's Tom Cowler after taking the first four rounds on the referee's card...John Kelly, Kubiak's manager blames the loss on his boy's shortened training camp after recovering from the influenza...

[Cap]

Torn from the 1903 Coaltown Journal and Boxing Gazette...

[Cap]

Latest rankings from the IBU appear in the January 1903 issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine...Much of the focus is on the victory of Sam Langford over Europe's champion Georges Carpentier, but there are a handful of other interesting encounters in other regions...Bill Turner of Tasmania, who many thought was well on the road to a meeting with Empire champion Tommy Burns, was upended by lightly regarded Jim Quigley at Hobart Athletic Club when referee Wally Weekes stopped their fight in the eighth round with Turner still on his feet, and awarded a technical knockout to Quigley despite the verbal objections of Turner and his corner...At Buenos Aires, Argentina Eduardo Herrera knocked out American Larry Temple in the seventh round of their ten round fight...Exactly three days later Philadelphia's Battling Levinsky was KO'd in three rounds by Latin American champion Heriberto Rojas at Santiago, Chile...At Blackpool in England, backers of Eire's Packey Mahoney were crushed when he is stopped by England's Wm. Iron Hague in the 4th round after taking two of the first three rounds...Mahoney is knocked down three times in that last round, forcing referee Edward Clarke to halt the contest and raise Hague's hand in victory...The IBU names eight amateur boxers turning professional as likely prospects: Jim Coffey and Bartley Madden of Eire, Angel Rodriguez and Valerio Ruelas of Uruguay, Francisco Segura of Mexico, Al Lambert of Canada, Dave Sonter of Australia and Big Bill Tate of the USA...Sadly, the IBU's prospects committee has a spotty record when picking future contenders...As this magazine goes to press, Gunboat Smith and Jeff Clarke are winding up their training prior to meeting at Hazard's Pavilion for the now vacant American Boxing Association's heavyweight title...

[Tomato Can]

Cap,
I just wanted to let you know how amazed and humbled I am at all of the great detail you put into your post. I have a universe going that has progressed from 1880 to 1948 over the past few years. I know how much time I have spent on mine without posting, which blows my mind when I read through your post. My friend, your work is phenominal!

[Cap]

Thanks. Glad to see it's enjoyed. I have a lot of fun putting the posts together.

Cap

[Waltercito]

Originally Posted by Tomato Can

Cap,
I just wanted to let you know how amazed and humbled I am at all of the great detail you put into your post. I have a universe going that has progressed from 1880 to 1948 over the past few years. I know how much time I have spent on mine without posting, which blows my mind when I read through your post. My friend, your work is phenominal!

I second that. Absolutely fantastic.

[Cap]

From The Glasgow Herald January 1903...A lot of activity in many of the clubs and arenas on the continent while the NSC in London and other similar venues gear up for shows later in the month and in February...Colin Morrison has quickly become a fan favourite amongst fight mad Glaswegians, drawing two and three thousand followers to his matches...Derek Beattie seemed unprepared for the mauling tactics of Lucien Grognet and failed to show his true form last week, while our Sandy MacNab took a thumping from tough Alphonse Dumoulin in their scrap at Dieppe...The big upset of the week was the win by points of Private Dan Voyles over Italy's Giuseppe Sciacca in the latter's hometown as Voyles had been imported for the express purpose of providing Sciacca with an 'easy' victory to prop up his waning marquee value...Another unexpected outcome was Belgian Henri Caradec's technical knockout of French idol Marc Gaucher in the main event at the sold-out Salle Wagram last evening ...Gaucher suffered a terrible cut between the eyes in the third round, possibly from an errant elbow, and the gendarmes ordered a halt as Caradec battered him in his own corner...Deutschland has a new attraction in heavyweight Otto Flint, one time amateur light heavyweight champion of that country based on reports of his dismantling of England's Jack Scales two nights ago...Flint could have knocked out Scales as early as the third round but chose to entertain the mob by inflicting a beating on his brave but bloodied opponent...

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Melbourne Age January 1903....When Tommy Burns and his challenger squared off at ring centre the odds not only went up in the champion's favour, they were 3 to 1 it wouldn't go the distance...A perfectly timed right chop to the side of the head sent Danny Whitebear to the canvas seconds into round one and it was obvious to ringrats that the fight would not last long...Whitebear hung on through the remainder of the round and seemed to recover in round two, but a short left hook caught him clean with ten seconds to go and it was all over...Promoter McIntosh was stunned by the quick ending, realizing there'd be little profit from moving pictures and no attraction in the entire country who posed an immediate threat to Burns....One potential opponent, Mike Williams of South Afrika, was eliminated the very next day at the Gaiety Athletic Hall by Wingham plodder Kelly Mansfield via technical knockout...A bright light out of South Australia is 21 year old Ern Waddy (11-0-1) former state middleweight and heavyweight amateur champion who has been coming along first class with wins over Dan Creedon, Jim Hall, Dick Kernick and Billy McColl...He showed brilliant form the other evening at Adelaide Arena with a conclusive points win over Victoria's Jimmy Dunn, taking all six rounds on the referee's card...Negotiations have already begun to bring together Jack Howard and George Stirling at Sydney Stadium for a ten round contest to decide the interim Australasian championship while Bill Lang is on tour in North America...

[Cap]

From The Pittsburgh Messenger March 1903...A series of severe winter storms and bitter cold have put a crimp in fight promotions across the Midwest and eastern seaboard but a few struggle on... In late January Gunboat Smith won the American Boxing Association heavyweight championship with an 11th round kayo of the Joplin Ghost, Jeff Clarke, and immediately began negotiations to meet European champ Georges Carpentier sometime before May...Australia's Bill Lang travels to Toronto to begin talks with Sam Langford for a world title fight and posts a $2,000 forfeit with the sporting editor of the Toronto Telegram*...Langford, for his part, is in no hurry to defend his title belt before the summer...One of the few well attended fights took place at Brooklyn's Clermont Avenue Rink when local boy Soldier Kearns, who bears a striking resemblance to old Tom Sharkey, put out the lights of Boston's Andy Morris in four rounds...At Seattle's Crystal Pool Thad Spencer was robbed of a decision over ring-worn "Texas Bob" Thompson in their eight rounder...Spencer just can't seem to catch a break...Former world champion Jim Jeffries worked the corner of friend and protégé Sam Berger, one time California amateur champion, when he managed a decision over city rival Walter Schulken at Frisco's Alhambra Theatre...Berger was a beefy 210 pounds and didn't look like he had spent much time in the gym...According to The San Francisco Call he had stopped serious training when he learned he was passed over as an opponent for Al Kaufman in favour of "The Frisco Motorman" Charlie Miller...The latter went on to come close to snatching Kaufman's Pacific Northwest title, leading on everyone's card until he ran out of gas in the tenth round and collapsed in the 11th...The Ossian Giant, Al Palzer improved his record to 10-1-0 with 7 KOs when he knocked out New Jersey's Sailor White in the third round after losing the first two by wide margins...White had been unbeaten in his previous eleven bouts and looked well on his way to another win when he ran into a huge right hand seconds into round three...[*Editor's note. It was actually Lang's manager who went to Toronto to open talks with Langford.]

[Cap]

USA heavyweight rankings as of first week of March 1903 published in the monthly USA BOXING magazine...Managers are scrambling to get their fighters ranked in the top ten to secure larger purses for them and a bigger payoff for themselves...IBU instructs ABA committee to allow Gunboat Smith to put off defending his title against number one contender Joe Jeannette to pursue a fight with EBU champion Georges Carpentier with the stipulation Smith must then defend against the ABA number one challenger this summer... Jack Johnson is making a half-hearted attempt to get into shape for a return to the ring this year with a notion of taking another run at the world title...In Paris Battling Jim Johnson has cabled his agent in New York to arrange a fight for him there with either Jim Stewart or Soldier Kearns for June or July...When asked to name young fighters to keep an eye on George Siler of the Chicago Tribune listed in no particular order Dan Daly (9-0-3); Bill Brennan (10-0-0); Tom Kennedy (9-1-2); Jim Cameron (14-3-2); Sailor White (15-3-1); Carl Morris (13-0-2); Alf Langford (13-1-0) and Al Palzer (10-1-0)...Of those, Siler said to pay special attention to the Iowa lad Palzer..."He's got the makings of another James J Jeffries and just needs the proper guidance and a good trainer like Tommy Ryan or Billy Delaney to reach the top ranks of the heavyweight class."...

[Cap]

Excerpt from the weekly British Boxing third week of March 1903...Bombardier Billy Wells' unexpected win over American Frank Moran in Canada was enough to allow him to vault over Scotland's Derek Beattie to the top spot of EBU challengers...Beattie holds on to the second rung despite Bjarni Thorsen's spectacular come from behind knockout of unbeaten Tom Cowler thanks to his questionable hometown verdict over Battling Jim Johnson at Glasgow...Candidate for upset of the month was South Afrikan tyro Fred Storbeck's decision over well-travelled Scot Sandy MacNab at Marseilles...MacNab weighed in at 13st 8lb, Storbeck 13st 12lb....At Rotterdam 6'3" Jan De Groot 6-1-1 [2] earned a lopsided victory over England's Ben Taylor 32-17-3 [21] and British Boxing's selection as March's top heavyweight prospect...Brighton's James "Gunner" Moir no doubt regrets his tour of South Afrika after taking the full count a minute and a half into the first round to George "Boer" Rodel at Cape Town...Rodel, now 11-2-2 [7], accepts a cabled offer from London promoter Ray Charrington for a three fight deal including £50 to meet Hackney's John L Gardner...Touring American Al Kubiak (14.4) toppled another well thought of European pugilist, outpointing Belgium's Henri Caradec (13.12) at Antwerp...The win follows his 3rd round technical knockout of Wm. Iron Hague last month...EBU champion Georges Carpentier says he plans on returning to France after he defeats the American Gunboat Smith...

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Ballarat Independent March 23, 1903....Betting done quietly in town during the previous couple of days was 2 to 1 on Burns, but at ringside on Saturday afternoon 3 to 1 was offered with few takers...Weights were announced in the ring as: Tommy Burns 12st 13lb and Jack Howard 13st 11lb...It was one of the fastest and hardest fought boxing contests Sydney has had for a very long time....The champion set a torrid pace from the first tap of the gong but his stout challenger was more than willing to try his best to match it...The only knockdown occurred in round five when the Canadian landed a sharp combination of blows that caught Howard rushing in...Howard, who towered over his opponent, had trained to go the distance and was still strong at the end and most gave him that inning...Referee Scott scored it 6 rounds Burns and 4 rounds Howard with the 3rd and 10th stanzas even...The local fighter had one round deducted for use of his elbow and was looked over by Scott in the 11th round after suffering a nasty cut from a left hand swing that wobbled him...In a preliminary match Colin Bell took a decision over Archie Greaves of Melbourne...At the Metropolitan A.C. on Friday Peter Kling won on points over favoured Kelly Mansfield after 10 rounds...Former Victoria state amateur champion Pat Doran improved his record to 7-1-0 with 5 knockouts when he stopped Ballarat's Jimmy Dunn with a minute remaining in round six of their fight at Melbourne...At Invercargill Theatre, New Zealand Jerry Jerome (12.6) forced a stoppage of Jim Griffin (12.8) at 2:02 of round six of their eight rounder...Jerry is now 16-5-4 since deciding to campaign as a heavyweight...Les O'Donnell is looking for a rematch with South Afrika's Mike Williams after their draw last month...Crushing news from America as Australasian champion Bill Lang was knocked out in seven rounds by California's Sam McVea at Hazard's Pavilion in Los Angeles...Lang had taken the fight while waiting for a shot at Sam Langford with a chance to split a purse of $5,000 in US gold double eagles...