Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

[Cap]

From the pages of USA BOXING magazine...Joe Jeannette has been given six months to defend his ABA title but is concentrating on clinching a deal for a world title fight with Sam Langford...At Mechanic's Pavilion in San Francisco Gunboat Smith made quick work of Tommy Burns after a bumpy start, knocking him out in the third round of their 10rd non-title fight...Burns shook the Gunner in the first round with a right hander that buckled his knees but was unable to follow it up...Smith made good use of his long left jab but it was a short right uppercut that spilled the Canadian on the canvas...At Oakland's McNaughton Pavilion Sam McVea proved he's still got dynamite in his fists when he knocked out Jeff Clarke barely two minutes into the first round...Luther McCarty, dubbed the Fightin' Cowboy, won every single round of his 12 round battle with Fireman Jim Flynn, capping it off with a knockdown of the bloodied veteran pugilist in the last frame ...McCarty retains his Pacific Northwest championship belt and earns a ranking by the ABA...In Brooklyn Bill Brennan outpointed big Carl Morris over ten rounds of a brutal scrap during which Morris was repeatedly cautioned for foul tactics...On the other side of town Al Palzer stopped Al Kubiak in five rounds after being decked himself in the same round...In Cincinnati Jim Barry forced a stoppage of Cleve Hawkins in the third round when the latter's corner threw in the towel with Hawkins helpless on the ropes...At Montreal's Westmount Arena Sailor White was outpointed over ten rounds by Art Beaudoin and Tom Kennedy lost in similar fashion to Winnipeg's Charlie Robinson in the semi windup...

[Cap]

Excerpt from the weekly British Boxing News...In an elimination for a crack at the European Championship held by the Frenchman Georges Carpentier, Bombardier Billy Wells (13st 9lb) decisively whipped Derek "Battling Beattie" (14st) over 10 rounds at London's Holborn Stadium...Most writers felt referee Eugene Corri was being generous in scoring two close rounds for the Scot who met the canvas twice for nine counts and barely avoided the same a third time, the fall in round ten being ruled a slip...The German Otto Flint entered the rankings with a stoppage of Lucien Grognet of France, thus becoming the first German to make the EBU top ten since Ludwig Schuhmann...Bjarni Thorsen held onto a coveted spot with a come from behind KO of South Afrika's George "Boer" Rodel, after wins over Canadian Danny Whitebear and Ernst Rosemann of Deutschland last year...On the same card in Trondheim, Fredrik "Battling Johnsson" dealt another loss to the second touring South Afrikan when he KO'd Fred Storbeck inside of two rounds...Storbeck narrowly escaped disqualification for blatant low blows in the first round...At Dundee's Caird Hall New York's Jim Stewart survived an early knockdown to win on points over local boy Laurie Cameron after eight stanzas...Cameron's older brother James suffered the same fate at the fists of Soldier Kearns in the semi windup...At Oisin Theatre in Clonmel PO Curran took a technical knockout over Alf Langford the Boston pugilist when the latter's corner threw in the sponge after Langford had stumbled glassy-eyed from a hard trip to the canvas in the tenth canto...England's Wm. Iron Hague fell three rungs in the rankings after climbing off the canvas twice and losing the decision to Danny Whitebear at Newcastle in the last marquee fight of the month...The only active Russian heavyweight Ivan Romanov (born Fedor Lipovsky) has broken European records for consecutive losses at 32 losing to 48 year old Welsh middleweight Tom Griffith...

[Cap]

Center pages of the Annual Report of the International Boxing Union depicting a summary of the organisation's title holders as of December 1903...The Latin American title (UBAL) was being contested for at the time of publication...

[Cap]

From The Ballarat Independent March 1904.....Bill Lang's reign as Australasian heavyweight champion comes to an end before a large mob at the Stadium when referee Paddy Basto calls a halt to his fight with Jack Howard with Lang trying desperately to regain his feet, blood seeping from cuts over both eyes...Howard (13st 13lb) was ahead 6 rounds to 4 over Lang (14st 11lb) according to Basto's scorecard at 2:44 of round 11...From the opening gong both men put up a brutal stoush with little thought of defence...Lang was down twice and Howard three times and few ringside thought it could last five rounds with the punishment both were handing out, and at one point at the end of the tenth round, it appeared Howard's chief second was prepared to throw in the sponge but for a last second rally...Howard's record improves to 21-6-1 (16) while Lang's goes to 26-6-4 (20) and he drops in the international rankings...At Sydney's Golden Gate Club Jerry Jerome's march to a title shot is halted with a clean knockout by Cobar's George Stirling in the 4th canto of their headline bout...In the co-feature American Morris Harris loses a close decision to Jack Whittaker over 8, marred by excessive clinches and mauling...At Hobart Athletic Club Bill Turner "The Taz Tiger" batters Californian Charlie Horn to a sixth round technical knockout after putting Horn down five times for various counts...Turner outweighs Horn by almost a stone and a half...New Zealand's young phenom Alec Pooley needs less than two minutes to extinguish the lamp on Pat McIntyre after which debacle Pat decides to hang up his mitts and retire to his farm...In what promoter Hugh McIntosh had staged as a title elimination match at The Old Tin Shed, Colin Bell (13.8) and Ern Waddy (13.3) boxed to a draw after 10 uneventful rounds...The weekly periodical The Referee remarked that "...the contest had few fireworks despite the urgings of arbiter Arthur Scott and sporadic booing from the punters"...Waddy later confided to his brother that his left hand had not healed completely from an injury suffered in training and he was unwilling to risk further damage on Bell's tough nut on a split of a £50 purse...

[Cap]

From the sporting pages of The Montreal Daily Star March 1904....The annual national amateur boxing championships, usually held in February were delayed due to internal disagreement over the involvement of certain figures of questionable character within the Dominion Boxing Foundation, namely one Martin "Big Mick" O'Brien, Coaltown "financier"...Sixty-four participants were signed up by the CAAU, six in the prestigious heavyweight class, and over three nights this total was whittled down to sixteen young men of varying ability but commendable enthusiasm...Bill Doleman, winner of last year's light heavyweight title and now in the professional ranks, was drafted to present the heavyweight championship trophy to Charlie Gage former flying wing of the University of Toronto's rugby team and current provincial boxing champion...Gage has announced his intention to join boxing's punch-for-pay ranks next year under the auspices of the Dominion Boxing Foundation's King Street gym in Toronto...Promoter Willie MacLellan's Maritime Region tournament ended not with a bang but a whimper, as Bill Mackinnon, one of two finalists, was injured in his fight with Dave Sawyer and unable to meet Moncton's Al Lambert, winner over Dan MacDonald, for the tournament's final..."...No final means no winner...",declared MacLellan, "...so no championship prize money!" Pressured by the DBF, he eventually relented and paid Lambert half of the $1,000 with the provision Lambert would return to meet Mackinnon when the latter was fit to lace up the gloves...In the meantime Lambert signed to box on Armand Bibaud's card in Montreal...Over in the old country, Danny Whitebear took an impressive points win over Wm. Iron Hague at Newcastle then exchanged cables with the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation about granting him an extension to make a defence of their title belt while he continues his tour of Europe...The IBU is considering a suggestion by the CPBF to stage a match between Arthur Pelkey and Art Beaudoin for the "Interim" Canadian championship while Whitebear is overseas...

[djday45]

Hey Cap,
First time I have logged in ages, thought I would say hi.

Dean

[Cap]

From the March issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine...Gunboat Smith nabs top spot in World Rankings with his knockout of British Empire champion Tommy Burns while Burns drops below EBU champion Georges Carpentier...England's Bombardier Wells goes from No.10 to No.7 thanks to his win over Scotland's Derek Beattie with Jeff Clarke advancing to No.6 following Bill Lang's unexpected loss to fellow Aussie Jack Howard which pushes him out of the top ten...Joe Jeannette and Sam McVea hold onto rungs in the top three, while Bill Brennan, Howard and Luther McCarty vault into the last three top IBU spots...Every move up the ladder increases a fighter's potential earnings...Sam Langford has reportedly signed with Canadian promoter Tom Flanagan to defend his title belt in April either in Toronto or Montreal the opponent to be determined...Similar announcements have been made by matchmaker Bert Woodhall of the Metropolitan Athletic Club of New York and promoter Tom McCarey of Los Angeles' Hazard's Pavilion...Langford's manager Joe Woodman will only confirm that there will be a title defence sometime this year, probably before summer...

[Cap]

From The Barnsley Earwigger April 1904...In front of a white tie assemblage at London's National Sporting Club Georges Carpentier defended his EBU heavyweight title with a devastating 3rd round knockout of England's ballyhooed prospect Bombardier Billy Wells...Appearing in his twentieth contest the Ealing lad showed obvious signs of nervousness as he sat in his corner before the bell and started off slowly behind a long left, clinching when the Frenchman tried to close...In round two Wells landed a hard right and sent Carpentier to the canvas for a count of nine but the champion went immediately to the attack...The end came in the next canto, Carpentier boring in following a big left hook with a right uppercut, both to the head which crumpled up Wells like stale bread...Wells can be fairly criticized for not taking advantage of at least two openings in the second round when Carpentier appeared dazed...The English spectators took some consolation in the results of the semi-windup when Tom Cowler whipped France's Marc Gaucher in four and a half minutes of fighting...A short right hander when they were in tight snapped Gaucher's head back and he sank to his knees taking the full count..Dutch heavyweight Jan De Groot was given a gift decision over Claude Tirelli after eight rounds as most at ringside felt Tirelli had landed two to one on his opponent...Norway's Bjarni Thorsen surprised his American opponent Alf Langford with a sterling effort dominating the first three rounds and crowding him along the ropes...In round four Langford took several unanswered blows to the head prompting the referee to step in and award the win to Thorsen who had said before the bout that a loss would convince him to retire...A sold-out hall in Dublin was bitterly disappointed when the fight between PO Curran and Canada's Danny Whitebear was ended with a No Decision call when a clash of heads resulted in a nasty gash on Curran's forehead seconds into round five...Police in attendance ordered the fight halted as Curran's cornermen entered the ring to tend to their fighter...Two exciting Irish prospects extended their win streaks at Clonmel's Oisin Theater, Jim Coffey of Roscommon taking every round from veteran John L Gardner and Dublin's Bartley Madden doing likewise with Stepney's Slounch Dixon both over six rounds...At Dundee Scotland's hero Derek Beattie needed a last minute rally in the eighth round to earn a decision over New York's Jim Stewart...

[Cap]

From The Chicago Daily News April 1904....Promoter Tom Flanagan has put together a blockbuster deal with Sam Langford defending his world title against Joe Jeannette at Montreal's open air arena in Sohmer Park and a guarantee to North American heavyweight champion Gunboat Smith of a world title fight with the winner...Yet another American Hope tournament was staged in a suburb of Chicago, initially made up of 32 aspirants but whittled down as some dropped out or were eliminated by the promoter for varying reasons...In the end only eight burly lads were assembled, one of whom, Al Palzer, emerged the winner with a 5th round kayo of Wisconsin's Ned Carpenter...At Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles Luther McCarty (210 1-2) defended his Pacific Northwest title belt with a one-sided drubbing of Jim Jeffries' protégé Sam Berger (208 1-4), referee Ed Graney stepping in to rescue Berger with seconds remaining in the 4th round...Berger had been unbeaten in his previous 13 contests...Fighting in front of his home crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Carl Morris met a crushing defeat at the fists of Frank Moran the Pittsburgh heavyweight in a scheduled 10...The fight turned in the fifth round when Moran landed his money punch nicknamed "Mary Ann" high on the left temple of the local behemoth, putting him down for an eight count...Morris survived a thumping in that round and the next but was fighting on meanness alone, refusing to quit...In the seventh canto Moran dropped Morris twice more for counts of nine when referee Ollie Pecord intervened and waved the scrap over, raising Moran's arm as winner...Battling Jim Johnson made the best fight of his career with a points win over big favourite Bill Brennan at Brooklyn's Clermont Ice Rink...For his part, Brennan looked terrible and just couldn't avoid Johnson's left or get off his own leather...Some of his backers suspect he threw the fight to collect on the huge odds in his favour...North of the border Winnipeg's Charlie Robinson won on a foul by Fireman Jim Flynn, a deliberate low blow in the seventh round of a fight Flynn seemed to be losing...Jeff Clarke (181) scored a decision over Latin American champion (UBAL) Heriberto Rojas (190 1-2) at the stadium in Mexico City before an enormous crowd who had paid to see Rojas win...

[Cap]

From The Winnipeg Free Press April 1904...Reminding Danny Whitebear that he has not defended the Canadian title belt since July of last year, the CPBF has warned him he must return home before the end of the year or risk being stripped of his title...Art Beaudoin has been recognized by that body as the interim residential champion off his victory at Windsor over Arthur Pelkey...Promoter Armand Bibaud applied to the CPBF for recognition of a championship contest between Beaudoin and Winnipeg's Charlie Robinson after the latter's win over veteran Fireman Jim Flynn two weeks ago...Bibaud has plans to stage the fight the day before rival Tom Flanagan's world championship event between Sam Langford and Joe Jeannette...The current unseasonably warm weather will allow the show to be put on in an open air ring at Lafontaine Park with seating for almost 6,000 so the contest will require promotion in all the local newspapers and the mass distribution of handbills leaving some question as to whether the promoter will make a profit...Winnipeg's Orpheum saw a battle of goliaths when former amateur champion hammer thrower Hector MacDougal (228 lbs), accompanied by his personal piper, climbed through the ropes to meet Regina's 6' 5" Doug Packhouse (239 lbs)...After a sloppy first round, MacDougal started landing his heavy overhand right on Packhouse's cranium, and did it often enough in the next three rounds to wear him down and force a technical knockout...On the undercard of the Laura-Osborne fight at Toronto's Massey Hall, two top prospects met in a six rounder with Toronto's Frank O'Malley taking a points win over Alberta's Bob Patterson...In another prelim Bill Doleman KO'd Winnipeg's Jack Adams after falling behind on the referee's scorecard...

[Cap]

Excerpt from the afternoon edition of The Pittsburgh Messenger May 1904...The big fight at Sohmer Park came off after a few weather-related delays and was a sell-out with thousands turned away and hundreds attending unofficially...Three preliminaries featuring local boys ended quickly, but a heavyweight bout showcased a tall ebony-hued lad from New Orleans via Chicago by the name of Harry Wills who shows great promise...Wills has been employed in a railroad yard in that city for a few years and during that time most of his spare moments have been taken up boxing in local clubs...He weighs in the vicinty of 220 pounds, stands six feet two inches and has a record now of 10-0 after making a punching bag of another Chicago import...Sam Langford was in the best shape seen in many months tipping the scales at just over 180 and he skipped around the ring like a youngster...Joe Jeannette earned his sobriquet of The Jersey Adonis, coming in at 191 without an ounce of excess fat on his powerful frame...Langford says he'll be taking a few weeks off before accepting the challenge offered by Gunboat Smith the lanky NABF titleholder and former US Navy champion...

[Cap]

Two glove contests commanded the attention of the sporting public in Australia and New Zealand in early May of 1904...Jackie Matthews, matchmaker at Sydney's Metropolitan A. C., looked to stage a series of bouts featuring former champion Bill Lang with the goal of building demand in the public for a return go with Jack Howard and so matched him with Cobar's George Stirling...Sporting a record of 25 wins and 8 losses, Stirling was expected by many to give Lang a decent scrap before losing inside the distance, though he had won his previous three fights...'The best laid plans often go astray" says the poet, and Lang was on the receiving end of a real scragging that night, losing almost every round by a wide margin...Stirling was in rare form putting together two and three punches through Lang's feeble defence, working the body in the early rounds then shifting to the head as Lang tired...In the end Referee Harry Dawson scored six rounds for Stirling, two even and just two for the Melbourne lad and most ringsiders felt Dawson was being generous...The second match of consequence was the rematch between local hero Ern Waddy and "The Moree Mountain" Colin Bell at Adelaide Arena...It was a 'pick-em' fight with an equal number of supporters on both sides and even most experts unable to predict a winner...Bell entered the ring at least a stone heavier than Waddy and was considered the bigger puncher but most insiders estimated Waddy the superior when it came to ring craft...The first three rounds were fairly even with Waddy dominating at ring center and Bell controlling the action on the ropes...In the fourth Bell went down but it was ruled a slip and Waddy took a short count from a left hook to the head...From that point on Waddy seemed to take over, landing two and three blows to every one landed by Bell...In close Waddy smothered Bell and he used his straight left with telling effect when space allowed...Bell seemed to get a second wind in the ninth stanza, but it was too late to counter Waddy's lead...Referee Harry Nathan scored it five rounds for Waddy three for Bell and two even, but remarked later had the fight gone two more rounds Bell seemed the fresher of the two and might have stopped the local man...The three touring Americans suffered defeat last week, the giant Dan Daly being stopped in 5 rounds by Bill Turner; Charlie Horn knocked out in six by Peter Kling and Morris Harris dropping an 8-rd decision to Jerry Jerome...

[Cap]

This just in on the overseas cable...Mattius Obopu makes the 4th successful defence of the South Afrikan heavyweight championship since winning it from Jimmy Carr in April of last year....

[Mark42661]

I've been enjoying following your boxing "universe" since way back in the olden days!
You do such a great job making it immersive and fun to follow. Your fight results are epic!
Please keep it up!

Mark

[Cap]

From the afternoon edition of The Boston Crier September 1904....Sam Langford returns to Toronto after a visit to his folks in Nova Scotia and a tour of his properties there and in Montreal...Some newspapers make more of his injuries in a motor car wreck than were actually sustained...Gunboat Smith has already begun his training camp, having been inactive since his thrilling win at Madison Square Garden in June over Frank Moran the Pittsburgh slugger...Many US experts have dubbed that fight for Smith's NABF title the best of 1904 for sheer action...Many promotions may have failed to materialize this summer, but Hazard's Pavilion in Los Angeles saw a good punchup between Luther McCarty "The Fightin' Cowboy" and big Al Palzer of Iowa...McCarty easily outpointed Palzer over 12 rounds but the burly farmboy kept trying and was virtually unmarked at the final bell...Palzer's manager is looking for a rematch this fall...Fighting at Manhattan's Brown's Arena, Carl Morris delivered a terrific beating to Art Beaudoin the Montreal pugilist...The handsome French Canadian was hampered by a damaged left paw and Morris' extra thirty pounds...Repeated blows to the nether regions didn't exactly help Beaudoin's situation...Referee Charlie White was castigated in the Montreal press for turning a blind eye to Morris' illegal tactics...

[Cap]

Page from the October 1904 issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine...Much of this issue is devoted to the upcoming world championship contest between Sam Langford and Gunboat Smith at the newly renovated 12,000 seat Mutual Street Arena in Toronto...The champion has agreed to a 55-45 percent split of the purse and a similar split of the gate receipts and left the choice of the referee to the promoter Tom Flanagan...Flanagan in turn has consulted with the Ontario Sports Commission and the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation and agreed to call upon the services of veteran Toronto referee Joe Francis to act as third man in the ring despite objections from the Americans who had pushed for California's Ed Graney...

[FlexD]

Enjoy these Cap!

[Cap]

World Rankings supplied by the IBU prior to the Langford-Smith championship contest...Gunboat Smith's manager Jimmy Buckley demands an American referee and refuses to allow his fighter to enter the ring without one...The Ontario Sports Commission which sponsors the event informs Buckley and Smith they would be in breach of contract and subject to arrest and fines should they refuse to accept the OSC's appointment, and the IBU's representative supports them and tells Buckley his fighter will be banned by the IBU and stripped of his NABF title unless they comply...Buckley backs down but protests to the assembled US press...As the two camps wound down it is reported that besides Buckley, Smith will have Frank Moran and Kid McCoy working his corner and Sam Langford's seconds will be Jimmy Walsh and George Dixon...In the various betting pools across Canada and the US, Langford remains the favourite but Smith money is coming in from the west coast...From England Tommy Burns sends a cable to his friend Sam with a message of support...Burns is still being celebrated in England for his defence of the Empire title over Scotland's Derek Beattie...

[FlexD]

Looking forward to the Smith/Langford fight, all things point towards Langford here, the only thing going for Gunboat is his size advantage, if he can stay outside and fight a smart fight he has a chance, if this fight is fought inside, Gunboat has a tough row to hoe, I see Langford retaining his title.

[Cap]

In real life they fought twice with Smith outpointing Langford the first time and Langford knocking Smith out in 3 rounds the second time. If Smith boxes and keeps Sam on the end of his jab and doesn't get cocky, he has a good chance. Sam has to look out for the Gunner's dynamite right. This could be close.

Cap