Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

[Cap]

From the morning edition of The Barnsley Earwigger November 1907....The heavyweight elimination tournament promoted by Ray Charrington and Albert Nivelle has resulted in a second round of bouts pitting Hungary's "Charlie" Weinert, now based in England, against Emile Masson of France and Colin Morrison of Scotland against the German pugilist Ernst Rosemann...These fights will be held at Holborn Stadium in England with the winners to be matched against each other in Paris in about six months time...Meanwhile, Otto Flint, the acknowledged number one challenger to Georges Carpentier fought a lethargic scrap with a faded Alphonse Dumoulin, finally scoring a knockout in the eighth round...As for Carpentier, "...In a wonderful display of courage European champion Carpentier, outweighed and out-gunned by ex-world title holder Gunboat Smith, put up a terrific effort in his points loss at Los Angeles, California...They battled on even terms for almost eight rounds before Smith's occipital punch began to take its toll, putting the pride of France down for an eight count in round nine...It closed with Carpentier picking himself off the canvas twice more in the final round..."...In what was probably the best fight in a European ring, Australia's Ern Waddy the Empire champion faced the giant Hollander Jan De Groot at Rotterdam and won in a terrific struggle of skill against brawn...The first few rounds were slow as Waddy took the measure of De Groot, slipping punches, inching closer and countering with straight lefts and rights..."...Waddy assumed control from round four opening a cut inside the eyebrow of De Groot. Fourty seconds into round 9 he dropped the big Dutchman for a count of three and reopened the cut around his eye. De Groot is also bleeding inside his mouth. At 51 seconds the referee waved it off and awarded the win to Waddy." At the casino in Dieppe, Matt Killeen of Eire KO'd Louis Robur at 1:35 of round five assuring him of a few large paydays ahead...

[Cap]

Posters for McCarty-Willard championship fight appear around Los Angeles...

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Wanganui (NZ) Chronicle of November 1907...With the British Navy in port, Hugh McIntosh stages a massive boxing show at Sydney Stadium featuring five heavyweight bouts including one for the Australasian Championship...Plans for champion Jim Tracey to tour America or Europe fell through and he is heavily in debt to his former manager so offered to defend his belt against Alec Pooley of New Zealand...Having previously defeated the number one heavyweight in the country in Albert Kid Lloyd, Tracey is more than a bit cocky as he climbs through the ropes at the Old Tin Shed...Tracey is boxing a treat against his smaller opponent, backing him up with his long left lead, and after the first round the odds are overwhelmingly in his favour...Round two starts off the same with a smiling champion prodding the lad from across the water when Pooley slings a blind shot through Tracey's open guard and clocks him one on the jaw and the long fellow goes down in a heap...Tracey takes a count of nine, lurches to his feet and walks into a whirlwind from an excited opponent until the bell ends the inning...Round three sees a visibly groggy champion stumble into a combination of punches that send him down again...He rises at three, falls against the ropes, and catches a beauty of a left hook on the side of the head at 1:45 and topples over like a stack of poker chips to take the full count...Pooley becomes the first New Zealander since Harry Laing to win the Australasian title...Tracey weighed 13.6 and Pooley 13.2...In the semi windup Colin Bell, back from his North American tour, meets Perth's Bill Walsh in a slam bang stoush...Walsh is down twice in round four, Bell is down in round six, and Walsh visits the canvas in rounds eight and ten...Both men are hanging on when the final bell sounds, but Bell is clearly the winner...In the preliminaries Harold Hardwick outpoints Jack Quinlan in 8 and Gordon Coghill surprises all with a close decision over young George Cook...

[Cap]

American Boxing Association heavyweight rankings posted in Fall 1907 issue of USA Boxing magazine hits newstands the day before Luther McCarty's defence of his world title against Jess Willard at Los Angeles...Sam Langford, shunned by US promoters, takes on Kid Norfolk at Toronto's Coliseum and stops him in round seven via technical knockout...Norfolk goes down briefly in round one and again in round two, at which point Langford lets up and boxes on the defensive...Sam still does enough damage to Norfolk to force the referee to intervene...At Mount Royal Arena in Montreal Billy Miske survives a knockdown in round seven to come back and KO England's Tom Cowler in the very next inning...Newcomer Jack Dempsey of Colorado is offered a crack at the American heavyweight title belt worn by Harry Wills and turns it down to fight Al Palzer at South Bend Arena in Indiana for a guarantee of $1200...Gene Tunney, the Greenwich Village pugilist, signs to fight Leroy "Honeyboy" Wilson at Philadelphia, but backs out after injuring his hand in the gym...Wilson subsequently fights Porky Flynn and knocks him cold in seven rounds...At Los Angeles in a match for the vacant North American championship, Fred Fulton stops Gunboat Smith in the 10th round after delivering a severe beating from round six on...Fulton immediately issues a challenge to the winner of McCarty-Willard...At Clermont Avenue Rink in Brooklyn, Bartley Madden easily stands off the attack of Frank Moran and inflicts enough punishment to get the verdict after eight rounds...Across town Jim Coffey gets a technical knockout of a past-his-prime Battling Levinsky and at New York's Hippodrome Sailor White upsets the oddsmakers when the referee stops his fight with Bill Brennan as the latter struggles to rise from the canvas in round eight...Most ringsiders say Brennan had not properly recovered from his illness...

[Cap]

From The Burbles Picayune November 21, 1907...Thirty pounds advantage in weight, four inches in height and a reach like the arm of a freight hoist could not win yesterday for Jess Willard from Luther McCarty, who won the referee's decision over 15 strenuous rounds at Los Angeles...Referee Charley Eyton scored it nine rounds for McCarty and only four for the challenger with two even, and the crowd was loud in their agreement. The clever ring work and accurate punching of the champion more than made up for any physical advantages of the so-called "Pottawatomie Giant". McCarty fought a brilliant fight, ducking or blocking Willard's ponderous swings, countering with blistering combinations of blows and clinching when necessary. In the few periods when McCarty seemed in difficulty he always had the ring savvy, the cool head and shifty knowledge to pull him through. The only knockdown came in the 10th stanza when a tiring and frustrated Willard took a hard crack on the jaw and sat abruptly on his haunches for a count of eight. His best round was probably the sixth when he cornered McCarty and landed several short arm blows to the midsection and an uppercut that should have taken McCarty's head off but failed to register. As for the champion, he came closest to a knockout in the fourteenth round when he slammed home two left hooks to Willard's head that sent him staggering across the ring. Willard held and stalled and McCarty whipped his right in, buckling the bigger man's knees, and it looked like game over till the bell sounded to end the round. McCarty weighed 205, Willard 235.

[Cap]

Copied with permission from the new All-Canadian Sports Record Book to the afternoon edition of The Toronto Telegram November 30,1907..."...A banquet was held at the King Edward Hotel downtown last evening and was attended by many of the most prominent names in Canadian professional pugilism. Among those present were former national champions George Godfrey, Bob Day, Danny Whitebear, Art Beaudoin and George Chuvalo, as well as several local politicians including Mayor Coatsworth and members of the Dominion Boxing Foundation and the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation... The highlight of the event was the presentation by Sam Langford of the heavyweight championship belt to the new titleholder Charlie Gage...Visibly moved by the honour, Gage shook Langford's hand and told the assemblage he hoped to be a credit to the title once worn by the Weymouth Wonder Sam Langford...Promoter Tom Flanagan later confided to a Telegram reporter that he had all but signed Gage to defend his title against Chatham's Arthur Pelkey in the new year and hoped to get Wilfrid Gagne and Frank O'Malley's signatures on articles for the semi windup...A splifficated O'Malley confronted Gage later in the hotel lobby and heated words were exchanged, but the fortunate intercession of the Corktown lad's manager prevented blows from being struck...Afterwards O'Malley cornered two sportswriters in the hotel bar and got them to admit that the worst he should have got in his title-losing fight with Gage was a draw. James Macklin from the Toronto World showed O'Malley his scorecard. Like several others he had given both men five rounds each with two even, but it was only Referee Joe Popp's verdict that mattered..."

[Cap]

World Rankings appearing in the December 1907 issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine...The IBU is already pressing Luther McCarty to defend his title against number one contender Fred Fulton and several promoters have stepped up with offers. Chief among them are Uncle Tom McCarey and Sunny Jim Coffroth in Los Angeles, Jake Mazer in Detroit and Jim Kennedy and Bert Woodhall in New York City...Harry Wills appears to have signed articles to defend his claim to the US heavyweight title against Gunboat Smith in February in New York or New Jersey. Odds are Smith won't fare any better than Fulton did against the Black Panther..Toronto promoter Tom Flanagan is working with Sam Langford to entice some world rated heavyweight to fight at Mutual Street Arena in the new year hoping to revive his image as a top contender for the world championship. Langford has expressed no interest in fighting for any other title...While EBU champion Georges Carpentier ponders possible future opponents in America, Charlie Weinert and Otto Flint are expected to fight for an interim European title. The planned elimination tournament fell apart when certain boxers declined to participate and others backed out due to injury. No one mentioned money...Australia's Ern Waddy tells British papers he sees no one in the UK worth training to fight so he plans on sailing to Canada to defend the Empire title against Tom Cowler in Montreal for promoter Armand Bibaud. Cowler needs a big win to remain relevant as a premier class contender..Several well known boxers retired from the ring this year. In Europe: one-time EBU title holder PO Matty Curran, Marc Gaucher and Scotland's Derek Beattie; In Australasia: George Stirling, Jack Whittaker and Archie Greaves all of whom sadly failed to reach their potential; In North America: Joe Jeannette, Jim Savage, Jeff Clarke, Dave Mills, and Bill Mackinnon. Only Jeannette and Clarke achieved elite level status...

[Cap]

The IBU issues their lists of the best of the new crop of heavyweights. The Dane Einar Iversen looks like one to watch. Canada has a couple of potential good ones in Parker and Dixon. Dave Nelson out of Brisbane won silver at the last Empire games in Edinburgh and is set to turn pro. The South Afrikan George Mtimkulu is being avoided in local rings and that says something about his skills in the ring with only 3 fights in all of 1907.

[Cap]

Top US prospects for 1908 as predicted by the IBU. The biggest surprise is that of the dozens of US amteurs joining the punch-for-pay ranks only two, Floyd Hayman and Al Roberts are considered impact fighters. Many scouts are waiting to see how the big Argentine Luis Angel Firpo shapes up.

[Cap]

Details from The Glasgow Herald January 10 and 11, 1908...Deutchlander Otto Flint now holds the distinction of interim European heavyweight champion following his third round knockout of London-based Charlie Weinert at Antwerp, Belgium...The end came part way through the third stanza of their scheduled ten, when Weinert dropped his left after a missed jab and took a devastating right to the head...In similar fashion, the following night, Bombardier Billy Wells defied the sceptics and rendered American Al Palzer hors de combat at two minutes thirty-two seconds of round three...Palzer, looking hog-fat, was breathless after pursuing Wells through the first two rounds. In the second he went down to the canvas from a combination of a stumble and the Bombardier's left hook...A short chopping right to the head dumped Palzer on his face...Palzer attempted to rise but could not beat referee Corri's count...At Blackpool Frank Goddard needed just two rounds of slugging to put away the big Frenchman Fernand Tresfort...Fighting before a large crowd at Eindhoven Jan De Groot walked away with a narrow decision over Eire's Matt Killeen after ten innings of close work...At Berlin's Kampfbahn Ernst Rosemann stopped Robert Bayle of France via technical knockout in round nine after Bayle had been down twice in the previous round...At Copenhagen Denmark's Einar Iversen ran his unbeaten streak to thirteen bouts with an eight round nod over Scotland's Laurie Cameron...On the same card Hungary's Sandor Kovac out-pointed England's Art McLaglen at the same distance...Arthur Townley added to England's fistic laurels by thrashing Emile Masson over eight rounds at the NSC, putting the Frenchman on the deck multiple times...

[Cap]

Wednesday January 15th, 1908

Crystal Palace, Melbourne VIC. Meeting for the third time, Pat Doran and Bill Turner were expected to go the distance until Turner entered the ring obviously hungover. Doran forced matters from the opening gong. Turner grew frustrated at his inability to land squarely on Doran and was gassed by the end of the fourth canto. Doran landed repeatedly with uppercuts to Turner's head but his blows lacked weight. A combination of exhaustion and punishment to the head finally brought Turner to his knees in round five and he took the full count.

National Sporting Club, Sydney. Harold Hardwick showed he has improved considerably in the past few months in a brilliant performance against the veteran Jack Howard. Referee Harry Dawson was kept busy prying Howard loose from his young opponent from the third round on as Hardwick's straight left made it's impact felt. The seventh round opened with a sharp exchange, then a feint by Hardwick followed by a short left hook and a right hand from the shoulder that put Howard on his back for ten. In the semi windup Young Peter Felix 10-2-2 went eight fast rounds with Sid Francis 9-9-3 and had to settle for a draw from Referee Sam Grimwood though most of the press had Felix the winner.

Thursday January 16th, 1908

Auckland Arena, New Zealand. Australasian heavyweight champion Alec Pooley survived a knockdown in round one and another in round three to eventually gain the upper hand and a close decision over unranked Jack Quinlan before a sold-out audience of 1500. Pooley received 20 sovereigns for his efforts, Quinlan 45 shillings. In the only preliminary George Cook added another notch to his belt with a points win over local lad Dan McNamee.

Friday January 17th, 1908

Sydney Stadium. A better than expected crowd, augmented by the mob from the nearby football pitch, filled the stands at Rushcutters Bay this afternoon to witness the elimination match between our own Colin Bell and the Victorian lad Albert Kid Lloyd. Both contestants shaped in fine form Lloyd at 12.12 and Bell 13.10 with Lloyd a shade taller. A roar came from one section of the audience when Lloyd's seconds unfurled a large Victoria state flag and followed their man through the ropes.

When battle was joined it soon became clear Lloyd was the faster man, both with his hands and his footwork. Bell rushed his foe trying to make a fight inside but was unable to sustain this attack, and took considerable punishment from hooks, jabs and crosses as he closed. For every blow he landed the Sydney man took two in return. There were no knockdowns, but both bore marks of the stoush on their minces and bokos. At the gong ending the tenth canto Referee Arthur Scott placed his hand on Lloyd's shoulder indicating he had won.

Gaiety Athletic Hall, Sydney, NSW. Dave Hawkes the highly touted youngster from Queensland needed just under two minutes to end matters with Jim Tracey this evening. There was a brief bit of sparring then Tracey tried a lazy left jab. Hawkes was in like a flash and drove a short explosive right to the tall fellow's jaw and he folded like a child's paper doll. Referee Cullen stepped to and began his count, sweeping his arm over the prostate fighter, but Tracey beat it by a single stroke, dragging himself upright by the ropes. Hawkes moved in to finish his work and Tracey tried to clinch. A cracker of a left hook caught him flush and he dropped to his knees, Cullen rushing to administer another count. Tracey drew himself up and wobbled into a neutral corner whereupon Cullen determined he had seen enough and declared Hawkes the winner on a technical knockout.

Woollahra Athletic Hall, NSW. The All Australian Sporting Club staged an international boxing card this evening featuring touring North Americans pitted against some local pugilists. In the principal event George Stanley of Canada won a decisive victory over Gordon Coghill of Kempsey after eight thrilling rounds of heavy exchanges. In the preliminary contests Tom McCarty, a former American cowboy, stopped Joe Costa in the seventh round of a scheduled eight, and Lee Anderson bested Fred Alford in eight rounds.

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Pittsburgh Messenger January 1908...Did Harry Wills carry Gunboat Smith for the movie cameras? Aside from the sixth round which some gave to the Gunner, Wills took every round by a wide margin. More than once he had seemed to have Smith in serious trouble and backed off. Spurred on by bored fans, Wills stepped up in the last round and looked to put Smith away, knocking him down twice, the second time at the two minute fifty second mark. After the halfway point in the fight it was obvious Smith was there simply to stay the limit...Wills weighed 208 and Smith 182...At New Orleans Kid Norfolk opened with guns blazing and caught Jack Dempsey by surprise putting him down in round two and beating him around the ring until the bell...Dempsey came back in the third and dropped Norfolk twice in the fourth and twice more in the eighth, the last time for the full count...The Kid's corner leapt into the ring and claimed their boy had been back on his feet at ten but referee John Eckhardt just turned his back and raised Dempsey's hand...At Kansas City Jim Coffey (202½) did just enough, including a knockdown in round three, to get the nod over the favourite Jess Willard (243) after 10 rounds...Willard looked like he had expected to walk over Coffey and failed to train to go the distance with a roll of fat around his middle...At Boston John Lester Johnson easily outpointed Bartley Madden, putting him down for brief counts in rounds five and nine...Referee Flaherty scored it six rounds for Johnson and four for Madden and was being generous to the Irishman...Madden (189¼) was badly cut about the face while Johnson (184¾) was virtually unmarked...At Woodward's Pavilion Leroy "Honeyboy" Wilson dealt a drubbing to Willie Meehan, sending him to the canvas multiple times before the referee stepped in to call a halt in the sixth inning...It was Wilson's twelfth straight win since February of '06 and only the third stoppage of Meehan in 45 bouts...After the fight the press swarmed around Luther McCarty who had taken in the contest in the midst of preparing for his title defence against Fred Fulton in February...The champion stated the fight with Fulton would not come off unless the promoter ponied up half of his guaranteed $20,000 in the next fourty-eight hours...

[Cap]

First week of January Georges Carpentier accepted an offer from Montreal's Athens Athletic Club matchmaker Armand Bibaud to headline a card at Mount Royal Arena but rejected the suggested opponent...A local booking agent connected Bibaud with leading Canadian contender Arthur Pelkey and, offered more money, Pelkey declined an offer to challenge the current Canadian champ to meet EBU champion Carpentier...The Frenchman sparred Pelkey for two rounds to the delight of the many females in attendance then proceeded to send his right hand crashing into the husky local man's prominent jaw with explosive effect...down went Pelkey...three times in quick succession...and the fight was over...Some days later Sam Langford stepped through the ropes at the CNE Coliseum in Toronto to meet number three ranked contender Billy Miske...Langford had been reliably informed that Miske would come at him straight away looking for a knockout, but the info was wrong...Miske used the entire ring to punch then evade, clinch and hit to the body, block Sam's dangerous left hooks and strike short arm blows trailing his elbow to the head...By the time Langford had Miske figured out it was too late to make up lost ground and then the final bell sounded...As Sam's cornerman dabbed at the cut over Sam's eye referee Joe Francis raised Miske's hand...The scorecard read Miske 6 rounds, Langford 3 and one even...In the semi windup favoured local boy Frank O'Malley slugged it out over eight grueling rounds with 235 pounds of Carl Morris "The Oklahoma Brakeman"...The official call was a draw, but the Toronto Daily Star and the Telegram both scored it six rounds for O'Malley and two for Morris...Referee Francis left the ring a very unpopular man...The last big card of the month took place at Commonwealth Arena in Toronto's East End just days ago and featured Charlie Gage defending his Canadian heavyweight title against late substitute Wilfrid Gagne of Montreal...In their one previous meeting last April, Gage had stopped Gagne on a technical knockout in ten innings, but this time the Montreal pugilist was in far better condition and Gage was a tad overconfident..."In a thrilling match that captivated the sell-out crowd, Charlie Gage and Wilfrid Gagne faced off in the ring, showcasing their exceptional skills and determination. Both fighters exchanged powerful punches, demonstrating their agility and strategic prowess as they moved deftly around each other, looking for openings. Gage's quick footwork and sharp jabs were met with Gagne's solid defense and counterattacks, creating a back-and-forth battle that kept spectators on the edge of their seats. As the final bell rang, it was clear that neither fighter had gained a definitive advantage, leading to a hard-fought draw that left fans eager for a rematch."...In a few days time Empire champion Ern Waddy of Australia will defend his title against England's Tom Cowler at Ottawa's Memorial Arena...Coming off his whirlwind tour of Europe Waddy is the overwhelming favourite...

[Cap]

Flash bulletin on Reuters News Service....

[Cap]

The lead story in almost every major English daily was the return of Bombardier Billy Wells and his superlative display of superior ringcraft in his victory over William Iron Hague at the National Sporting Club. Gilbert Smith of the Stepney Morning Star saw it thusly, "...The pugilistic fraternity assembled in considerable numbers at the National Sporting Club on Monday evening last to witness what promised to be a most capital encounter between Bombardier Billy Wells, that stalwart son of the Artillery, and the redoubtable William "Iron" Hague, whose cognomen speaks eloquently of his constitution. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation as these two worthy exponents of the noble art squared up beneath the calcium lights, Wells displaying his customary scientific approach whilst Hague adopted a more belligerent stance. From the opening bell, the Bombardier exhibited his superior boxing knowledge, landing telling blows with mathematical precision upon his opponent's person, though Iron Hague proved true to his sobriquet by absorbing punishment that would have felled a lesser man. The contest proceeded with admirable vigour for the better part of five rounds, Wells' superior technique gradually telling against Hague's raw determination, until a perfectly timed right cross from the military man sent his adversary to the canvas for the full count. The assemblage rose as one to acclaim Wells' victory, a triumph of science over brute force that did credit to the manly art of self-defence...". In the sole preliminary contest, Frank Goddard delivered a clear knockout to France's Robert Bayle and showed he has come to the fore amongst the current crop of our heavyweights...At Eindhoven, England's transplanted Hungarian Charlie Weinert bounced back from his defeat at the hands of Deutschland's Otto Flint to thoroughly dominate the giant Dutchman Jan De Groot and force a technical knockout in nine stanzas...De Groot suffered a severe cut inside his left eye in round two and had it reopen in round four obscuring his vision to the unrelenting salvoes of punches from Weinert...At the Salle Wagram in Paris young Arthur Townley shocked onlookers with his stoppage of highly rated Ernst Rosemann via three knockdowns in the 8th inning of their scheduled 10 round main event...not to deny Townley his dues but Rosemann has not looked in top form for at least a year...

[Cap]

March 11th is the scheduled date for Uncle Tom McCarey's promotion of the world championship fight at Naud Junction Pavilion between the champion Luther McCarty and the IBU's number one contender Fred Fulton...Here is an excerpt from an article that appeared in last month's issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine...

[Cap]

Ringside observations of the world heavyweight championship fight at Naud Junction Pavilion between Luther McCarty and Fred Fulton...Fulton takes round one with his potent left jab but McCarty eludes it in rounds two and three and lands hard punches especially to Fulton's body...Fulton's blows land with greater effect, opening a cut over the champion's eye but McCarty is landing cleanly two to one...In round eight McCarty lands a terrific hook to Fulton's right side causing an audible groan from the tall Minnesota fighter...Fulton fights on landing one really hard shot to McCarty's jaw that staggers him...In round ten McCarty is scoring with combinations of blows and Fulton appears to weaken...At 2:47 with just 13 seconds left in the stanza referee Ed Graney stops the action and declares McCarty the winner much to the surprise of many at ringside...McCarty weighed 206 and Fulton 211...In the chief preliminary Jess Willard (236) coming off an embarrassing points loss to Jim Coffey meets Jack Dempsey (188) of Colorado...Willard, in the best shape of his career, fends off the attack of young Dempsey with his punishing straight left and uppercuts, but the tigerish newcomer works inside and slings explosive punches to the giant's ribs, neck and head...From round five onward it is obvious Willard is just a walking stumbling heavy bag and only his great strength and stamina allow him to go on round after round...One eagle-eyed ringsider later claims Dempsey lands over 300 punches before Willard finally goes down in the tenth round...A minute thirty one is the official time of the knockout...In the first preliminary George "Boer" Rodel knocks out big Charlie Miller at two minutes five seconds of round two...Gate receipts amount to just over $28,000 with 45% going to McCarty and Fulton to be divided evenly, the remainder going to the Pacific Athletic Club and Tom McCarey with a portion going to the prelim fighters...

[Cap]

Notes of recent pugilistic contests...Dave Hawkes (13-1-1[6]) of Queensland and Bill Turner (29-14-6 [22]) of Tasmania boxed at Wallhalla Hall, Toowoomba on Wednesday last for 10 rounds to a decision. In the first five rounds Hawkes was always leading and the bull-like Turner was frequently driven to the boards. Round six saw the finish of the fight. Turner came from his corner looking very groggy, and a right swing to the jaw sent him to the canvas. The referee had counted eight when the towel was skied in by his seconds amid deafening cheering. Promoter Pal Richardson immediately cabled Pat Doran to meet Hawkes in Brisbane at an early date...At Maitland Stadium Colin Bell (14st 12lb) met Canadian import George Stanley (13st 9lb) in the main event...There was little science. Each just simply waded into the other and slammed. Smote hip and thigh is a fitting phrase, because hip and thigh were indeed smitten, as well as arm, elbow, shoulder and back. Clinches occurred often in every round. In the end Bell's arm was raised heaven-ward in victory...In preceding bouts America's Tom McCarty took a close nod over the Sydney beanstalk Jim Tracey and "The Great Dane" Sid Neilsen out-slugged American Lee Anderson over eight...Sydney Stadium played host to the heavyweight championship contest between New Zealand's Alec Pooley (13.1) and Victoria's Albert Kid Lloyd (13.3)...Among the dignitaries at ringside in the champion's corner was New Zealand's PM Sir Joseph Ward and his son Vincent...Though younger by a year, Pooley was the more experienced boxer but Lloyd was the slicker more polished fighter with greater hand speed...Pressing the action, Pooley put up a brave effort but Lloyd was just too quick for him...A lightning fast right cross laid out the New Zealand lad on his back for the full count in round nine...Pooley left the ring with cuts over both eyes, a split lip, and cuts to his cheek and ear. After eight rounds Referee Arthur Scott had had Lloyd ahead five rounds to three...At Brisbane Sports Club 7th ranked Young Peter Felix started off at a slow pace but quickly dominated Wally Evans to take an eight round decision...Hearing reports of the fight, Dick Rafferty matchmaker of the Crystal Palace in Melbourne wired Felix with an offer to meet South Afrika's talented newcomer George Mtimkulu in early May...At Melbourne Boxing Club yesterday evening Dimitris Nikolaou (12.11) formerly of Athens Greece now fighting out of Melbourne stepped up to take a technical knockout in the fourth inning over Soldier O'Grady (12.9) Adelaide...

[Cap]

Summary of notable ring battles...At the St Louis Arena Gunboat Smith (182½) managed to pull off a bit of an upset by taking a points win over Kid Norfolk (181¼) who had been expected to outwork the Gunner...Norfolk took three of the first four innings but Smith turned the tide in round five and galloped home edging out Norfolk in the second half, even putting him down for a brief count in round seven...The bout had originally been scheduled for ten rounds but was shortened by the promoter at the last minute...US champion Harry Wills 21-0-0 (10) was in a foul mood going into his title defence with Harlem's John Lester Johnson 22-4-3 (13) the other night thanks to the reluctance of higher ranked fighters to take up generous offers from his manager...Johnson was brought in by a local booking agent and signed after receiving a hefty guarantee, part of which came out of Harry's purse money...Wills steamrolled the smaller man before knocking him out cold fourty-two seconds into round four...Wills soon parted ways with his agent and placed his future in the hands of Paddy Mullins the New York handler of top flight talent who also brings along the doyen of boxing trainers Welshman Dai Dolling...New York's Irish diaspora were equally divided in their support when Jim Coffey "The Roscommon Giant" and Bill Brennan "The Battling Bartender" met to decide matters at St Nicholas Arena last weekend (few realized that Brennan's real monicker is Wilhelm Schenck and is about as Irish as knackwurst.)...Coffey looked good early on, using the stiff left jab that had stymied big Jess Willard two months ago... In fact Jim was well ahead on points after 4 rounds, but Brennan staggered him with seconds left in the 4th, then lay into him with vicious combinations of punches in round five. Coffey hit the deck early in round six, got up and took more punishment, opening a big cut over his left eye and went down again from two right handers. He climbed back up on shaky pins at five but Brennan stormed in and was beating him badly when referee Joh stopped it at 2:32 of round six...Wisconsin's Bud Gorman sent Frank Moran into retirement when he bundled him into a corner in the fifth round and landed left and right to the head and watched him flop down and roll over on his back...It was Moran's fourth straight loss...Clarence "Honeyboy" Wilson was robbed of a decision in Boston when referee Moffit Flaherty called his fight with Bartley Madden a draw...Most out-of-town writers had Wilson winning easily...

[Cap]

Notes from the desk of Frank Allnutt, senior sports reporter for The Toronto Daily Star...Looking to bounce back from his loss to Billy Miske, and needing a win over a world-ranked opponent, Sam Langford accepted an offer from Toronto promoter Tom Flanagan to meet Empire heavyweight champion Tom Cowler at the Coliseum in May...Armand Bibaud, Montreal promoter and matchmaker for the Athens A.C. has signed Australia's Ern Waddy to articles to oppose EBU title holder Georges Carpentier with Mt Royal Arena as the venue in six weeks...Carpentier has proven to be a nice attraction in La Belle Province...When Charlie Gage agreed to a three fight deal with Tom Flanagan, the search began for a suitable opponent for his first fight set to be held at either Maple Leaf Stadium or Hanlan's Point Pavilion in mid-May or early June...A number of suggested opponents were rejected by Gage and his manager, and when New York Irishman Jim Coffey was approached he flatly refused to fight in Canada again. They then contacted Pat Callahan, manager of Wisconsin newcomer Bud Gorman and he jumped at the chance and a guarantee of six hundred dollars...Nova Scotia's top fight promoter Willie MacLellan has begun pushing young Clyde Parker of East Preston as a potential headliner following his decisive win over veteran brawler Roddie "Big Pay" MacDonald on the undercard of the Twin Sullivan-Al Mahoney card at the Halifax Forum. At the same time MacLellan eyed New Waterford's Joe Burke and Dartmouth's Sam Dixon as likely card fillers and future opponents for Parker...Hamilton A.C. matchmaker Eddie Glick failed to pry Gage away from Flanagan but offered an open date at the 3,800 seat Barton Street Arena to Arthur Pelkey with Bert Kenny or Al Lambert opposite...When Wild Bert Kenny and Soldier Jones tangled at Westmount Arena last week it turned into a wild free-for-all with referee Yvon Beauchamps taking almost as much punishment trying to separate the fighters as the fighters inflicted on each other. In the end Jones found himself face-first on the canvas in the sixth round wondering what train had hit him...A spokesman for the Dominion Boxing Foundation said they had high expectations for young Jack Renault (nee Leonard Dumoulin) of Montreal and felt several amateurs in their academies were ready to join the professional ranks, namely Bud Hallat of New Glasgow; Kentville's Dave Chisholm; Montreal's Jack Delaney and Jack McAuliffe of Saskatoon...The DBF plans a big amateur card for Montreal in late August to avoid conflicts with provincial championships earlier this summer...