Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

[Cap]

State of the International Boxing Union April 1908...Mitt Slingers Magazine...Covering February and March worldwide...Valerio Ruelas and Angel Rodriguez of Uruguay move their base to Florida amidst the Latin American colony there and bring along their young spar mate Luis Angel Firpo of Argentina. Boxing has spread to South America thanks in large part to exploits of Eduardo Herrera and Heriberto Rojas and the financial backing of a syndicate of wealthy landowners. Gyms sprout up in major cities in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay and likely young prospects are encouraged to take up the sport, many guided by imported instructors from the United States...

The IBU declares Harry Wills to be their number one contender for the title held by Luther McCarty and will press McCarty to defend against Wills this year. At a similar meeting of the North American Boxing Federation Billy Miske is designated the top challenger for champion Fred Fulton after Miske and his manager lodge an official challenge with the board. Fulton is told he must defend his title within six months...

In the US promoter Tom McCarey plans to stage a ten round contest between former world champion Gunboat Smith and newcomer Jack Dempsey at Naud Junction Pavilion...Jim Kennedy matchmaker for the 20th Century Club in New York City signs Bill Brennan to meet big Jess Willard at Madison Square Garden with a loss for either man threatening to plummet them even further in the IBU rankings. In Florida nascent promoter Vance Hoggseth wants to stage a card at Miami City Stadium featuring six foot three Valerio Ruelas and John Lester Johnson of Brooklyn and billed for the heavyweight championship of Florida...

Robbed of a chance to fight Georges Carpentier for the EBU title, Otto Flint and his manager invite visiting American Al Palzer to meet in Hamburg for an eight round bout and a fat purse for the winner. Fellow Deutschlander Ernst Rosemann will provide the semi windup against an opponent to be named later (possibly the big Dane Einar Iversen). In the meantime national amateur tournaments are being held across Europe with the goal of producing a single European amateur champion in each weight class. The UK is reluctantly included....

In Australia visiting North American boxers are set to battle in the last of their contracted series of bouts: Tom McCarty vs Sid Neilsen; George Stanley vs Jim Tracey and Lee Anderson vs George Cook. The ANZBF elects to organize state championships amongst the professionals to boost attendance at the various boxing venues across the country. The only viable opponent for New Zealand's Alec Pooley is 7-5-0 Harry Pauhau of Auckland...

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European Boxing Union heavyweight rankings for Spring 1908...considerable shift from last Summer with several familiar names dropped and the appearance of Denmark's Einar Iversen and France's Marcel Nilles in the top ten...At Hamburg Iversen was chosen as just an opponent to make Ernst Rosemann look good in front of a German crowd but upset the favourite taking a fairly one-sided decision...In the main event Al Palzer entered the ring sporting a piece of sticking plaster above his left eye covering an injury sustained in a sparring session...Otto Flint made it a target in round one but a clash of heads in round two opened the cut which bled profusely, causing the local EBU official to instruct the referee to halt the action and declare it a No Decision...At Whitechapel's Wonderland Scotland's Colin Morrison and Charlie Weinert met in front of a packed house, many of whom had travelled from the north, and put on a thrilling combat over 10 rounds...Weinert took the first round with clever boxing but Morrison began to press him in round two slugging to the body...The next two rounds saw Morrison drive Weinert around the ring with savage rushes...Round five was even and Weinert appeared to take six and eight, with Morrison losing round seven on a low blow...Round nine saw little action by either man, but Morrison came on strong in the last inning, even putting Weinert down for an eight count just before the bell...The Scot's supporters went mad with joy when the referee raised Morrison's hand at the end...The official scorecard read 5 rounds Morrison, three rounds Weinert and two even...Morrison weighed 13st 7lb and Weinert 13st 4lb...Morrison is determined to gain a measure of revenge against Flint for his first round kayo loss in March...At Holborn Stadium Bombardier Wells chalked up another win with a 10 round decision over Birkenhead's Arthur Townley putting him one step closer to a match for the European title...At Brussels Jan De Groot stopped Frank Goddard on a technical knockout in the second round of their ten round contest...After being staggered in the first canto, De Groot came out swinging in the next, and in a wild exchange landed a hard blow that left Goddard groggy and open to a flurry of smashes from the big Dutchman...The fight was stopped at the urging of Goddard's corner...When American Sailor White had to back out of a scheduled fight with France's Albert Lurie because of an injury, Eire's Packey Mahoney stepped in and outworked the Frenchman to take the nod after eight...At Gaumont Palace Marcel Nilles stopped Emile Masson in six fast rounds nearly eliminating the latter from the EBU list...

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May 1908...Kid Lloyd's manager suggests a rematch with either Jim Tracey or Colin Bell but Hugh McIntosh rejects the notion regarding neither as profitable gate attractions for Sydney Stadium...Sid Neilson's name is brought up but his two knockout losses the previous year, one to journeyman Bill Heckenberg, dismiss him as a candidate, so Lloyd returns to Melbourne and his family's business...In April British promoter Ray Charrington, who had handled Ern Waddy's UK tour, cabled Donald Wallace, sports editor of the Sydney Herald, inquiring after suitable attractions for his venues. After consulting his colleagues in the boxing fraternity, Wallace replied with a half dozen names, chief amongst them the Queenslander Dave Hawkes...At Charrington's request, Wallace acted as go-between and contacted Hawkes' manager, his mother "Queenie" Hawkes, and submitted an offer to tour Europe and the UK...Queensland promoter Harry Johns had developed contacts with several venues through his travelling boxing troupes and now worked most of the cards showcasing young Hawkes in the state...Upon hearing of the offer from Charrington, Johns encouraged the Hawkes to take it up, citing the bigger paydays available overseas and the boost it would give Dave's marquee value at home and around the country...After the numerous contests staged in the previous months, action slowed in late April and May, the exception being the National Sporting Club's international card in Sydney featuring the three visiting North American pugilists and Sid Neilsen, Jim Tracey and George Cook...It drew a good size crowd despite little ballyhoo by the Club and saw wins by Neilsen and Cook and a hometown draw for Tracey in a mauling brawl that saw Tracey on the canvas in the last round...At Victoria Hall, Melbourne Sid Francis convinced big Bill Turner to seriously consider retirement with his third ugly loss in a row...One interesting new face is the Greek Dimitris Nikolaou (13.1) who last week clearly outpointed the veteran Jack Darcy (13.12)...Nikolaou, who boxed in the amateurs in Athens two years ago now fights out of the Victoria Athletic Club gym in Melbourne...

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Excerpts from The New York Evening World May 11 to 16...At St Nicholas Arena the transplanted son of Erin Jim Coffey looked good through the first two rounds of his fight with Brooklyn's John Lester Johnson, boxing beautifully using his physical advantages to keep Johnson off his game. But when the third round started Coffey seemed to get distracted by the crowd and left himself open to a wicked right-left combination from his dusky opponent that put him down for a five count. He arose quickly and Johnson sprang forward and lashed out with a right cross that sent Coffey tumbling down again. The Irish lad pulled himself up and stumbled into a short left hook that dropped him for the third time in his own corner and forced a call of technical knockout by Referee Patsy Haley...Lou Silbery, prominent fight manager, arrived here last night from Chicago with an unsigned contract in his pocket looking to convince George "Monk" Eastman, the unbeaten novice from the Lower East Side to join his stable of boxers...Eastman, who has been saddled with the sobriquet of "Monk" by a local scribe due to his unfortunate resemblance to the unrelated gang leader of that name, added a fifth win to his record with a decision over New York rival Silent Puryear on the undercard of the Johnson-Coffey fight...Jack Dempsey the Colorado pugilist has teamed up recently with one Jack Kearns to act as his new manager since parting with John Reisler. Dempsey was slated to fight Gunboat Smith in Los Angeles until Reisler got a temporary injunction against his former protege citing large sums of money owing...Rather than scrapping his main event promoter Tom McCarey brought in a late substitute to meet Smith in the form of Willie Meehan the ring-worn Frisco prize fighter...World champ Luther McCarty sat ringside with a mixed party of friends and laughed when it was suggested that Smith might have improved since they met two years previously in Toronto. McCarty said, "The old gob looks like he's slowed down some since I gave him a beating up in Canada. I don't think he'd draw much at the gate."...Down in Florida small-time promoter Vance Hoggseth looks to rescue his headline bout, scrambling to find an opponent for the husky Uruguayan Valerio Ruelas since he was unable to secure a name contender and had to postpone his card...In Boston despite being knocked down for a short count in the fourth round and suffering a cut over one eye, Billy Miske was able to do just enough damage to gain the decision over Bartley Madden after eight hot innings in front of a hostile crowd...At Bayview Park in Toledo, Ohio Jess Willard used his bulk and prodigious strength to overcome the superior ringwork of Bill Brennan and take a close decision over ten rounds...At Chicago Al Reich chalked up his 17th KO putting Jack Thompson away 58 seconds after the first bell...Thompson was coming off an eleven bout unbeaten streak, including a TKO of Carl Morris in March and was being considered for fights in New York...Kid Norfolk needed just a round and a half to put the kibosh on Lou "The Bomb" Moreno at New Orleans. Moreno had run off six kayos in his seven previous bouts and had been expected to extend the Kid...At Turner Hall in Pittsburgh Tom McMahon was fighting before a friendly crowd and was doing all right for himself when Honeyboy Wilson opened up a serious gash between his eyes near the end of round four and his corner was unable to close it before the next round, causing the official to halt the fight mid-round and award it to Wilson...It was McMahon's first loss since losing a nod to Dan Daly last July...McMahon weighed 187, Wilson 184½....

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Notes from reporters of The Toronto Telegram May 18 to 22...A stormy April kept fans away from the box office for the most part but things picked up considerably in May...On Monday at the Coliseum, Sam Langford tangled with the big Englishman Tom Cowler...With a left swing that started from below the waist and landed almost flush on Cowler's jaw, Langford had Tom slumped in a corner helpless in the final minute of their scheduled twelve round bout for Cowler's Empire title. Referee Francis stepped in and saved the Englishman as Sam was about to apply the sleep inducer. Cowler had found himself on the floor in various positions six times and once through the ropes...On Tuesday evening European champion Georges Carpentier and Australia's Ern Waddy met for ten rounds at Montreal's Mount Royal Arena. Carpentier's manager Francois DesChamps explained Georges' performance against his younger opponent by saying his boy was recovering from a bout of food poisoning he blamed on the local cuisine. Still, Carpentier managed to take four of the first five rounds despite Waddy's dogged work inside. From round six on however, the rugged Australian seized control and swept the second half of the fight, sending the Orchid Man to the canvas once in the ninth and again in the tenth, taking the decision...Wednesday evening a sizeable crowd at the St Denis Street Gym in Montreal saw Wilfrid Gagne face Soldier Jones in a match carded for ten. Jones came out swinging for the fences and tagged Gagne in a wild exchange at ring centre. Gagne gamely fought back but it was clear he was on Wobbly Street. At 2:51 Jones connected with a haymaker and Gagne crumbled like stale bread and took the fatal ten. The crowd was stunned into silence by the sudden demise of their favourite. Jones weighed 181 and Gagne 189¼...On the same night Frank O'Malley squared off with fellow Irish-Canadian Ned O'Mara at the Hamilton Forum. O'Mara the next day felt much the worse for wear following the whipping given him by The Pride of Corktown that night. Frank stopped his opponent in the ninth stanza after making a chopping block of him. It was easily one of O'Malley's best showings...In a brutal slam-bang battle last night at downtown Toronto's Mutual Street Arena Charlie Gage fought unbeaten Bud Gorman of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Both men took considerable punishment for eight rounds but it was a short right uppercut in the ninth that caught Gorman flush and dropped him in his own corner as though he'd been shot...One outspoken supporter of the visiting American cried loud and long that Gorman had been deliberately fouled and the referee had ignored it. No one else saw any low blows from either man...Gage had weighed in at 190½ and Gorman at a sleek 195...On the undercard of the Waddy-Carpentier fight Clyde Parker the East Preston Bulldog won a decisive points decision over Sgt. Harry Rolph in eight rounds. In the first preliminary young Jack Renault took a one-sided win over the veteran Clonie McFadden after six...Last week in Ottawa Wild Bert Kenny outpointed Arthur Pelkey in a bout carded for ten rounds. Kenny just outhustled Pelkey and clinched whenever Pelkey tried to work inside. It was the latter's third straight loss this year...On the other side of the country Magnus Halderson, self-proclaimed Western Canadian heavyweight champion, faced off with Blackie McDonald of Winnipeg for the third time, having stopped him twice before. This time however the tables were turned and McDonald put the boots to Magnuson, forcing a technical knockout in the middle of the second canto...Canadian Press reports indicate that George Stanley has departed Australia with fellow boxer Lee Anderson for Vancouver. Stanley is said to be eager to avenge his previous loss to Halderson...(Ed. Looks like the typesetters at the Telegram were enjoying a drop of the creature and proof readers missed it)

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Excerpts from The Glasgow Sporting News July 6-12, 1908...At Hamburg, local hero Otto Flint put away America's Sailor White in six rounds of lightning exchanges. Flint has finally received official recognition as interim EBU heavyweight champion with the understanding he must fight Georges Carpentier should the latter return...At the same time the EBU championship committee cabled Carpentier in Montreal that if he did not return by October he would be stripped of the heavyweight title...Following the end of the European amateur boxing tournament Phil Scott of England is crowned heavyweight champion and Jack Bloomfield, also of England, is middleweight champion...Bloomfield immediately announced he is unable to continue at the weight limit and will be turning pro in January to campaign in the heavyweight class...Charlie Weinert made hash of the young Dane Einar Iversen, putting him away in the fourth round at White City Stadium. Iversen lacks experience and has a porous defence which Weinert exploited from the midpoint of round one until 2:43 of round four. Repeated rights to the head broke Iversen down and if he is to continue in the fight game, he must correct that flaw...At Dublin Packey Mahoney was well ahead on the referee's scorecard when he walked into a roundhouse right from American Al Palzer that reopened a cut suffered in round two and forced the stoppage of their contest in round eight. Mahoney was devastated...In a strikingly similar incident, Frank Goddard had dominated his fight with Matt Killeen at Blackfriar's Ring, knocking him down four times and nearly closing both eyes, when in desperation the Irish lad slung a punch from his shoe tops that dropped Goddard like a stone. Goddard weighed 14st 6lb and Killeen 14st 3lb...At London's Olympia Arena newly arrived Australian heavyweight Dave Hawkes dispatched Art McLaglen in brutal fashion, opening him up with smashes to the face in round one, drawing blood, then sprawling him on the canvas twice in the next, forcing the referee to save McLaglen as he lay helpless on the ropes. Promoter Ray Charrington has already set in motion plans to have Hawkes challenge the top British and European heavyweights...

[zyberianwarrior]

Cap you do great work with this i know its time consuming as well.

[Cap]

Originally Posted by zyberianwarrior

Cap you do great work with this i know its time consuming as well.

Yes.

Cap

[Cap]

Snippets from The Sydney Sporting Gazette July 12-15...Two of the most gifted mitt artists ever to grace Australian rings, Ern Waddy and Dave Hawkes, are touring North America and Europe respectively, leaving less to choose from in the way of opponents for the current Australasian heavyweight champion Kid Lloyd...Never one to miss an opportunity to part the sporting public from their money, promoter Hugh McIntosh arranged a four-man elimination tournament at Sydney Stadium to provide a challenger for Lloyd and build up fan interest in the eventual title contest...In the first round of the tournament, Colin Bell took a 5-4-1 decision over Bill Walsh largely due to his putting down Walsh for brief counts in round two. In the co-feature Queensland's Young Peter Felix outpointed New Zealand's Alec Pooley six rounds to four on referee Arthur Scott's scorecard. Neither bout provided the excitement for the fight mob guaranteed to boost ticket sales for the final eliminator...Still, Bell was a local favourite and McIntosh had time to stir up the ballyhoo for a clash with the flashy outsider from Brisbane...At Sydney's National Sporting Club promoter John Turnbull staged a fight for the championship of New South Wales between Sid Neilsen and Jim Tracey and managed a crowd of 600 at almost half a quid per head. Neilsen outlasted Tracey in a fast-paced contest, delivering a knockout in the eighth canto after knocking the taller fellow down twice in the previous round...Melbourne Promoter Dick Rafferty was not one to lag behind his rivals and brought together Pat Doran and Dave Sonter to fight for the championship of Victoria in an open air contest at the city stadium and pulled in a nice crowd of some 3,000 punters. Unfortunately for the fans, it turned out to be a one-sided hammering with Doran knocking out Sonter with a series of short-arm punches in the third round. It was the best showing by the big Melburnian since his kayo of Neilsen the previous year and improved his record to 22-10-4 (11)...Bill Turner, the once formidable "Taz Tiger", rejected the advice of his long-time trainer Angus Ross and the pleading of family and friends to sign to fight touring Yank Tom McCarty. In front of a sparse crowd at Hobart Athletic Club Turner took a pummeling from "Cowboy" McCarty, visiting the canvas in rounds five and six, but lasting on his feet to hear the final gong. Referee Barron was generous in giving him three of the eight rounds...The biggest upset in many months saw lightly regarded Gordon Coghill send Sid Francis to dreamland in the seventh round of their eight rounder at Woollahra Athletic Hall. The end came at 1:35 in front of a few hundred Francis supporters who left the hall bitter and much poorer. Few could believe their boy had not taken a plunge...At the Golden Gate Club Harold Hardwick took a close decision in six rounds over South Afrika's George Mtimkulu and later praised his foe's clever ring work and visible improvement since arriving in Australia...In the finals of the Australasia Amateur heavyweight championship, New Zealand's George Modrich defeated Brisbane's Fred Geary on points over four rounds...

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From editions of The Wiscasset Post Dispatch July 12-16, 1908...Thanks to several failed get-rich-quick investments blamed on his training staff, Luther McCarty finds himself forced to sign with promoter Tom McCarey to defend his world title against the IBU's number two contender Billy Miske...Seeing the chances of getting his own shot at McCarty possibly slipping away Harry Wills agrees to fight Sam Langford provided the contest is for twelve rounds and is staged in his home base in New Orleans...The fight starts off slowly with Wills using all his physical advantages to blunt Langford's attack and score big points of his own. Sam begins to find his footing in the fifth round and lands some of his heavy artillery, but Wills continues to pile up points at long range. Near the close of the ninth round Langford catches Wills with a dynamite left hook that leaves him on wobbly legs at the bell. In the tenth Harry is still groggy when he comes out of his corner and Langford rushes in, ducking a right cross and driving a left to the belly that doubles up Wills, leaving him open to a sweeping right that nearly twists his head from his shoulders and deposits Wills in a heap on the canvas where special referee Tommy Burns administers the full count...In a series of odd coincidences that begins with Fred Fulton knocking out England's Tom Cowler in four rounds at the St Louis Arena, four other significant fights that week also end in four rounds each. Angel Rodriguez stops Mexico's heavyweight champion Francisco Segura in four at Miami City Stadium, Georges Carpentier kayos Jim Coffey at Sohmer Park in Montreal, Honeyboy Wilson knocks out Bill Brennan at New York's Hippodrome and John Lester Johnson puts Al Reich away in front of 800 paying fans at St Nicholas Arena...In Kansas City a fighting fit Jess Willard takes on newcomer Jack Dempsey again in a hastily erected arena outside town and despite having a fifty pound pull in weight, takes the worst beating of his career, finally slumping to the floor midway through the eighth round forcing the referee to stop the carnage as Willard struggles to rise...In the main event in Miami the other afternoon Gunboat Smith was awarded the decision on a foul in the seventh stanza from Uruguay's Valerio Ruelas thanks to a low blow only seen by the referee and Smith's corner. A check of the referee's card later showed Ruelas well ahead five rounds to one..At Doyle's Arena in Vernon, California, South Afrika's Boer Rodel stopped journeyman Buster Bergen in seven brutal rounds, ending the latter's string of seven wins...

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Rankings from the Summer 1908 edition of the All-Canadian Sports Record Book issued August 1st...Former Empire champion Ern Waddy arrived at Union Station from Montreal last night accompanied by his North American agent Abe Finkle. Responding to an offer from promoter Tom Flanagan to meet Canadian champion Charlie Gage in an open air card at Maple Leaf Stadium the first week of September, Waddy was met by noted athletic trainer Bill Turley, hired by Flanagan to work with the big Australian. It was the custom in those days for out of town fighters, usually from Buffalo or Detroit to arrive the day of the fight or be put up in a cheap fleabag hotel a few days before. For a high profile boxer like Waddy, Turley took charge and set him up at his place outside Toronto with his wife as head cook. Real training would be conducted at Riverside Athletic Club on 58 Strange Street with public demonstrations of his training stunts at a dime a head. It was Flanagan's intention to use the displays to draw press attention and build up demand for ticket sales. As for Gage, he retired to a friend's farm near Whitby where a training camp was set up and a small staff organized. This was to be Gage's shot at the big time...July was a busy month for Canadian boxers. Promoter Eddie Glick brought together Wild Bert Kenny and Frank O'Malley for a ten round go at Hanlan's Point Pavilion with a promise the winner would fight for the Canadian title. The fight went the distance with O'Malley down twice in round seven and Kenny down twice in round nine. It was a take-no-prisoners battle with punishment handed out by both men but O'Malley emerged the winner on referee Dave Roblin's card six rounds to four...Eight days later at Maple Leaf Stadium Arthur Pelkey took on hard-punching Soldier Jones in front of a large boisterous crowd. At the final bell Pelkey and his corner are stunned when Referee Carroll raises the hand of Soldier Jones. Most at ringside agree that Pelkey should have got the decision. He had outlanded Jones in almost every round and put him down twice. In only one round was Pelkey in serious trouble. In the last stanza both men were fighting on fumes. Pelkey weighed 205 and Jones 182¼...On the undercard Laurie Mackenzie knocked out Frank Osborne in seven rounds...The following weekend at Montreal's Dominion Park Wilfrid Gagne outpointed Winnipeg's Blackie McDonald over ten rounds to secure his spot in the rankings and possibly earn him a fight with Georges Carpentier at Quebec City...At Windsor Park Dai Griffiths the transplanted Welshman took a narrow points decision over Boston's Alf Langford, easily the biggest win of his young career and shooting him up the national rankings...On the west coast Pacific Northwest champion George Stanley exacted revenge on Calgary's Magnus Halderson stopping him in six rounds at Beatty Street Drill Hall in Vancouver. A constable sitting at ringside ordered a halt with gore streaming down Halderson's face from a cut over one eye, a broken nose and a cut inside his mouth. Referee Cappy Smart declared it a TKO...At the national amateur boxing championships held at Ottawa, Edouard Boudreau of the Quebec AC defeated Claude Chartrand of the Montreal club in the semi-finals before outpointing Kitchener's Bill Hanna in three rounds to claim the Canadian amateur heavyweight title for 1908...

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Excerpts from The Barnsley Earwigger September 4 to 8, 1908...At Holborn Stadium Charlie Weinert the transplanted Hungarian, met Bombardier Billy Wells in a bout carded for ten rounds. Wells had been promised a crack at the European heavyweight title should he prevail. Sadly, Weinert proved to be much too good for Billy, but the Englishman fought with great courage until in the ninth inning, when Weinert landed a stiff left hook to the jaw, and Wells went down for eight seconds. He rose manfully, but the referee stopped the contest and declared Weinert the winner..."There was a large attendance when Otto Flint, the EBU interim champion, and Colin Morrison of Scotland, met in the Hamburg Sportplatz last night. Many felt the latter gent was at a decided disadvantage due to his having been knocked out inside a round some months previously by the same opponent. Flint forced the start and soon had a considerable lead on points with sharp combinations of punches. Morrison, however, carried a stronger punch than the German and particularly at in-fighting the Scot had it much his own way from the fifth round on. Flint, discouraged by his inability to hurt Morrison, gamely continued until well through the tenth round, even out-pointing the Scot in the previous round. At 2:42 of the tenth stanza Morrison caught Flint open with a tremendous right hander to the point and down he went. As he struggled to raise his head from the canvas, Referee Alois delivered the full count. Shortly after, Morrison's backers wired the EBU with a petition to have their man declared the official European heavyweight champion"...In the semi windup Einar Iversen the Dane fought England's Arthur Townley and, aside from the first round, was in control for nearly the entire match, even putting Townley on the canvas for five seconds in the last round. In the eight round preliminary contest, Rab Dickson of Dundee stopped Frenchman Lucien Brusque in round three due to a severe cut over his eye...Some days ago Ernst Rosemann battled Jan De Groot on the latter's homeground, and despite giving way nearly two stone, knocked the big Hollander out cold in the seventh round. The unexpected victory undoubtedly has saved Rosemann's career...At the Cirque de Paris promoter Ray Charrington convinced the French promoter to match the Aussie Dave Hawkes with one of the better local heavies Albert Picocelle who sported a 14-6-5 record. Hawkes disposed of the house fighter in jig time, forcing the referee to step in to save Picocelle seconds into round two...

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Items from The Ballarat Independent Sept.7-12, 1908...Last month at the offices of the Sydney Herald Colin Bell of Narabri and Young Peter Felix of Brisbane signed articles to meet at Rushcutters Bay Stadium in Sydney for an elimination heavyweight contest to decide who will oppose Albert Lloyd for that lad's championship and the Australasian title belt under the promotion of Hugh McIntosh. Bell, at a heavily muscled five ten and 13st. 10lb. with a lengthy ring record was generally considered the favourite to beat the six foot three 14st. 1lb. Queenslander who was little known outside Brisbane despite a creditable string of accomplishments and his training alongside Jerry Jerome and Danny Ruenalf.
..."It took the Queensland heavyweight, Felix, less than three rounds to knock out the Moree heavyweight Bell at the Stadium last night. Full of confidence, Felix severely punished his burly opponent right from the first gong. He disconcerted Bell by pinning his arms and holding and pushing him about. This was surprising to see, considering that Bell was assumed to be the far stronger man. There were fierce rallies in the first round, which was won handily by Felix. The same transpired in the second stanza with Felix drawing blood from Bell's nose. The men had hardly started the third round when Felix landed a terrific blow on Bell's jaw. Bell dropped to his knees, and when he rose the Queenslander went at him striking him in the head with numerous lefts and right that rocked his sturdy frame. Bell tried to cover but a single right got through to his jaw and he went down and out"...Kid Lloyd watched the fight from a ringside box and reached up and shook the winner's hand...Sid Neilsen of Miller's Point continued back on the road to the top of the heavyweight class with a clear cut verdict by referee Joe Cullen over New Zealand's Alec Pooley. Neilsen weighed 13st. 2lb. and Pooley 13st. 11lb. In the NSC dressing rooms after the fight, Pooley told all who would listen that he broke two knuckles on his right hand in the third round and was lucky to finish the bout as the pain was excruciating...Wednesday evening Kid Lloyd boxed a four round exhibition with Dan McNamee at the Alhambra Theatre in Melbourne and tells friends he plans on opening his training camp in a week or so in preparation to defend his title...Sydney's Gordon Coghill upset numerous backers of the big fellow from Melbourne, Pat Doran when he eked out a decision over him on the undercard of the Felix-Bell fight. It was his third unexpected victory since his disputed loss to Canada's George Stanley in January. It looks likely he will meet George Cook at the NSC in November...At the Golden Gate Club Thursday, one-time Australian middleweight champion Jerry Jerome had to call upon all of his clever ring tactics to avoid being knocked out by Greek ex-pat Dimitris Nikolaou...

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Excerpts from various US newspapers September 1908...

Boston Globe: According to reports from Los Angeles, Billy Miske, who meets champion Luther McCarty in two days is in much better form than some would have you believe. Photos received here in the East show that he looks absolutely fighting fit.

Los Angeles Tribune: After a brief layoff, Luther McCarty and Billy Miske today entered the final stages of light training for their 15-round world heavyweight championship contest scheduled to be decided here the day after tomorrow,

San Diego Courier: McCarty weighed 209 1/2 pounds after his last workout and figures on scaling about 205 at ringtime. Miske who weighed about 190 yesterday is a good boxer, but has failed to show the kind of knockout power that will pose a serious threat to McCarty. His only hope is to out-hustle the big fellow. As for McCarty, he has not scored a clean knockout in four years, though he has managed several stoppages, he has left his victims standing.

Chicago Daily News: Los Angeles' population, if taken by the census bureau today, would rank the place high among the lesser cities of the country. The city has swollen with the addition of thousands of fight fans from all over. At age 24 Billy Miske expects to weigh just under 190. He stands 6 feet 1 inch and has a reach of 77 inches. McCarty, at 23 should weigh in about 205 ringside tomorrow. He stands 6 feet 2 and a half inches tall and has an 80 inch reach. Miske is faster on his feet but McCarty is a splendidly accurate puncher with a solid set of whiskers. Most wagers are on the fight going the distance with McCarty winning,

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Excerpts from several US newspapers September 13-18, 1908...At Hazard's Pavilion, Los Angeles, just over six thousand witness Luther McCarty defend the world heavyweight championship against underdog Billy Miske of Minnesota...The San Francisco Call's Fred Toomey sums up the reaction of many at ringside prior to Billy Jordan's declaration of the result, "...McCarty seems to have done enough to win this fight." Despite having every physical advantage, the big cowboy settled for a 8-5-2 decision from referee Charley Eyton. The only exciting moment in the fight was a knockdown of Miske in round four when Billy took a knee, jumping up at nine. McCarty backed off and boxed on the defensive until the bell. He later told reporters he didn't follow up because the title was too valuable to risk. McCarty weighed 205½ and Miske 188¼...The chief preliminary was a dull eight rounder between South Afrika's Boer Rodel and a soon to be retired palooka named Lee Meadows...At New Orleans Harry Wills needed four rounds to repeat a one-sided whupping of John Lester Johnson in defence of the American title...It took him fourty-two seconds longer than it had in March...In the semi windup Honeyboy Wilson upset the odds by taking a close decision over Kid Norfolk in eight rounds...Sam Langford won seven of the eight rounds in his contest with Bartley Madden in the latter's backyard and capped it off with a knockdown in the last round. Sam was later informed the IBU had designated Fred Fulton as its number one contender for the world heavyweight title...Delorimier Stadium in Montreal is the venue when Jack Dempsey of Colorado stops European champion Georges Carpentier in 2:14 of round three. Carpentier edged out the first round, but Dempsey punished him to the body in the next stanza and put him down twice in round three before referee Pat Rooney called a halt and awarded the fight to Dempsey...At Doyle's Arena in Vernon, California, Gunboat Smith walks through Canada's George Stanley and takes a technical knockout inside two rounds to claim the Pacific Northwest championship...In a crossroads fight at Detroit, Jess Willard earns a 6-1-1 verdict over Jim Coffey from referee Tim Hurst...Willard tipped the scales at 258 pounds and Coffey at an out-of-shape 212¾...

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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...

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Mitt Slingers Magazine October 1908 issue hits the newsstands...Tommy Burns announces his return to the squared circle and his intention to recapture the Canadian heavyweight title despite the fact he has not fought since losing the Empire title to Bill Lang three years ago...Upon hearing of Tommy's un-retirement, Jack Johnson has decided he is still better than most of the current crop of heavyweights and at age 38 announces he will challenge for the world title inside one year...Jack hires Joe Jeannette out of retirement to help him shed fifty pounds.

World heavyweight champion Luther McCarty cancels plans to fight Harry Wills after throwing out his shoulder while pitching in a minor league exhibition baseball game...McCarty claimed the injury was compounded by a fastball off his right hand when he was batting in the sixth inning. NABF champ Fred Fulton signs with Jim Kennedy of New York's 20th Century Club to meet Billy Miske with his title at stake...In the same week Gunboat Smith agrees to defend his newly won Pacific Northwest title against that Colorado fighter Jack Dempsey at Hazard's Pavilion...

The European Boxing Union stripped Georges Carpentier of their championship after he ignored their demand that he return home and fight Scotland's Colin Morrison...Morrison was then officially declared champion off his win over Otto Flint at Hamburg...The Scot immediately signed to defend his title against Charlie Weinert at London's National Sporting Club in November...British promoter Ray Charrington arranges a bout between Australia's Dave Hawkes 16-1-1 (9) and Eire's hard-punching Matt Killeen 24-9-1 (18) at Earls Court...The editor of the Dublin Times speculates that Charrington is hoping to eliminate Killeen as a threat to his hold over the new European champion...

In the land down under, Albert Kid Lloyd and Young Peter Felix will trade blows at Sydney Stadium for Lloyd's Australasian championship belt. Lloyd is a heavy favourite but Felix is still considered an unknown quantity by fight fans...The semi windup is expected to pit Colin Bell against Sid Neilsen in a ten round contest...Word from America is Ern Waddy is considering ending his North American trip and returning to OZ in the new year...South Afrika's George Mtimkulu is said to be planning a trip back home to challenge for the title held by Johannes Vorster...

In Canada champion Charlie Gage is expected to start preparing to defend his Canadian title belt against ex-stablemate Frank O'Malley with the fight most likely taking place at Toronto's Mutual Street Arena. The co-feature will be a ten rounder between Arthur Pelkey and young Dai Griffiths...Down East Clyde Parker will headline a main event at the Halifax Forum when he meets Wild Bert Kenny, a heavy favourite. Parker is 12-2-1(4) and Kenny is 19-6-0(11)...Two-time Empire champion Sam Langford will defend the title against Australia's Ern Waddy or South Afrika's Boer Rodel at Montreal's Westmount Arena. In a clandestine meeting at a downtown hotel, Langford meets with an IBU official and a prominent New York promoter and an agreement is reached that if Sam retains the Empire title, Luther McCarty will be forced to meet him with the world title on the line...

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European heavyweight rankings carried by British Boxing News...At the National Sporting Club, London, Colin Morrison 27-9-4 (16) tackles Charlie Weinert 23-6-0 (10) in defence of his newly won heavyweight title...The fight starts off slowly with Morrison on the aggressive trying for the body and Weinert using his ring skills to score points at distance...In the 4th canto the Scot lands hard to Weinert's ribcage and puts him on the backfoot but Charlie rebounds to take the fifth with quick combinations of punches... Weinert is leading in the sixth round when Morrison steps inside and crashes a right off the challenger's head and he goes down. Weinert rises at seven but he looks shaken and only just manages to last out the round...Sensing victory, Morrison goes all out hammering his visibly wobbly opponent and puts him down for a count of three...Weinert pushes himself up but seconds later a roundhouse right sends him down on his haunches where he takes another brief count...Weinert is up and on his bicycle looking to evade a fatal third knockdown, but Morrison is relentless and cuts off the ring, driving him into a corner and landing heavy blows to body and head...Weinert cannot fend for himself...Referee Corri pulls Morrison off of Weinert and he's stopping the fight!! Morrison is the winner by TKO in the 7th round...At Copenhagen, Otto Flint, sporting a record of only one loss in his previous 14 bouts, accepts a fight on short notice with local lad Einar Iversen...Iversen has had only eight days to prepare but he can't let this chance slip away...Amazingly the fight goes the full ten rounds but the result is a foregone conclusion with the much more experienced German taking an easy decision...Flint praises the courage and stamina of his younger opponent and predicts he will one day challenge for the EBU title. Iversen's chief second was one of the few not surprised by his charge's performance..Ernst Rosemann regains a measure of respect from Berlin fight critics when he knocks out France's Marcel Nilles in six rounds after Nilles had swept the first four. The young Frenchman left an opening in round five and Rosemann capitalized on it, hurting him with lightning fast punches. In the sixth Nilles went down from a short left hook and rose too quickly, walking into a right hand that put him down and out...Rosemann improved to 31-12-2 (22) and Nilles dropped to 14-4-1 (8)...Those close to Rosemann had expected him to retire if he had lost...At Earls Court in England Australia's phenom Dave Hawkes dominated Eire's Matt Killeen before putting him away in the seventh round of their eight round contest...As one London paper put it, "...Killeen fell behind early then stormed ahead through rounds 4, 5 and 6. Hawkes boxed on the defensive, saw an opening and sent home a stiff right hand that shook Killeen and he followed it with a short left hook that deposited the Irishman on his backside. Matt got to his feet and was immediately dropped with a left-right combination, and it was all over bar the counting..."

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Excerpts from The Kalgoorlie Sun November 1908...At the Sydney Stadium last night the contest for the heavyweight championship of Australia and New Zealand, between Albert Kid Lloyd (holder of the title) and Young Peter Felix took place. The announced weights were Lloyd 13st 3lbs.; Felix 14st 1lb. Although Felix put up a good stoush, it really was for the most part, a fairly one-sided victory for Lloyd. Most credit the Queenslander with at least three of the twelve rounds, but he was well out-boxed by the champion. Lloyd was exceedingly fast, and often during the early part of the battle his footwork got him out of awkward positions. There was a side wager of £100 and about 10,000 persons were in attendance. Of the "gate" Lloyd received 30 percent, Felix having agreed to 15 percent...Colin Bell and Sid Neilsen furnished the semi windup last evening, with Bell a slight favourite with the crowd going in. They gave the mob a great exhibition of fighting fury and both are to be congratulated upon their gameness under the give and take of punishment. Bell seemed to fade at the very end, and was forced to take a count on one knee, but rose to deliver awful whacks to Neilsen's body that would have cooked a camel. When time was called with both men on their feet, Arthur Scott declared it a draw and few could complain...At Melbourne's Crystal Palace former champion Jack Howard overcame an early lead by Dave Sonter to earn a draw and the applause of the crowd. It was probably a last minute knockdown of Sonter that closed the gap on points for Howard...Seven hundred followers of the fistic science witnessed the closing chapter of Bill Turner's ring career at Victoria Hall when Dimitris Nikolaou, one-time Greek merchant sailor, ended things in three furious rounds Thursday night. Only Turner's bullish strength enabled him to last even that long. In the only preliminary Melbourne's Pat Doran lost a six round decision to newcomer Jack Grindal and apologized to his supporters from the ring...New Zealand's Alec Pooley pleased the home folk at Auckland Arena taking a convincing decision after eight rounds with Jack Darcy the Sydney pugilist. A loss would have dropped Pooley from the ANZBF top ten ranks and the paydays that go with it...An overseas cable informs us that Ern Waddy sent Jack Johnson back into retirement with an eighth round knockout at Chicago's Tattersall's Arena. A left to the body followed by a right uppercut to the jaw proved to be the finisher. Johnson weighed in at nearly 17 stone...

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Notes from The Pittsburgh Messenger November 11-14, 1908...Dan Daly of New Castle, PA, the giant prize fighter, knocked out George "One Round" Davis of New York in three rounds last night at Turner Hall. Daly had the advantage in every round. Davis was easy prey for the big man though did show considerable durability. The New York fighter was unable to withstand Daly's hard left hand jabs...Fred Fulton, holder of the North American heavyweight title belt and still aspirant to the world championship, defeated St. Paul's Billy Miske in a 12 round NABF title bout at Doyle's Arena in Vernon, California last night. Though he won convincingly according to referee Charlie Eyton, Fulton's showing was a disappointment as he had promised to win by a knockout, though he did come close in the ninth round when he had Miske down twice but could not close the deal...Previously unheralded western glove fighter Jack Dempsey is the new Pacific Northwest heavyweight champion following his dismantling of veteran Gunboat Smith at Hazard's Pavilion on Thursday. Dempsey stopped the Gunner in the sixth round of what was carded as a 12 round bout. Referee Ed Graney stopped the fight to save Smith from a certain kayo. Dempsey had the advantage from the start and only Smith's ring savvy allowed him to avoid an earlier knockout. Dempsey tipped the beam at 186 and Smith at 181½...At Detroit John Lester Johnson halted the winning streak of Philly's Honeyboy Wilson, forcing a TKO in the second round of their 10 round contest...New York's Hippodrome witnessed a grueling eight round match between Jess Willard and Kenosha's Bud Gorman that ended in a draw, much to the relief of both men...Georges Carpentier of France lost another one when he dropped a decision over 10 rounds to England's Tom Cowler after being floored in the first round. Neither man distinguished himself as championship material...At Toronto's Coliseum, Sam Langford snatched victory from sure defeat when he landed a wild swing on the chin of Harry Wills in the sixth round of their ten round match. Wills had been using Langford's head for target practice and looked to be winning comfortably when disaster struck. The thunderous blow broke Harry's jaw and sent him to the canvas. When he regained his feet the referee asked him if he wished to continue and Wills shook his head...Bill Brennan needed just two rounds to knock out Boston's Bartley Madden at New York's Pelican Club arena on Wednesday. It was the first time Madden had been unable to go the distance since suffering a technical loss to Joe Jeannette two years ago. Madden's corner blamed a fast count by the referee...Rising prospect Al Ballard, dubbed the Cincinnati Giant at six feet seven inches tall, suffered his first KO defeat at the hands of journeyman George "Kid Cotton" at Harrison, New Jersey...On the undercard of the Fulton-Miske fight Carl Morris "The Oklahoma Brakeman", was given a gift decision over South Afrika's Boer Rodel after eight rounds that was almost as punishing to the referee as it was to the fighters. Rodel had had Morris on the canvas three times during the bash-up and Morris had only been saved by the bell in a short seventh round...Kid Norfolk KO'd Lee Anderson in one round at Cleveland, and Al Reich came within seconds of polishing off ex-Navy champion Phil Schlossberg at Coney Island, settling for a one-sided decision...