Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

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Carefully snipped from the front page of the Los Angeles Herald....Young James Jeffries fresh from a win over Peter Maher at Doyle's Arena in Vernon hurls jokes and insults from his ringside seat at Mexican Pete Everett...Not far away in the office of the Maritime Telegraph Company Gus Ruhlin has his manager wire Bob Fitzsimmons with an offer of $2,000 to meet for a ten round contest at the Pacific Athletic Club...James J Corbett confronts Joe Goddard at his San Francisco hotel and offers to fight him right there but cooler heads prevail and the men are separated before any real damage is done...Kid McCoy still smarting after his humiliating loss to Fitzsimmons sends his manager around to see Tom Sharkey with a bank draft for $1,000 if he agrees to fight him in a six round contest in New York....

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Clippings from the New York Clarion and Hartford Town Crier.....Kid McCoy ends up with same result earned previously in Eire as Tom Sharkey uses him for punching bag....Gus Ruhlin hits another obstacle on way up the ladder in the form of Bob Fitzsimmons who takes everything Ruhlin can dish out and breaks him down with short hard punches to the body....Sandy Ferguson wins a gruelling slugging match with Big Joe McAuliffe that goes full ten rounds and leaves him with broken arm likely out of action for months...Denver Ed Martin looking to avenge loss to Klondike Haynes at Chicago may also fight Hank Griffin in Los Angeles...George Godfrey reports he has signed to defend his Canadian championship against Jack Munroe in Halifax...

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First real test for Jeffries....

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Sports page from the Coaltown Gazette still only two cents a copy subscription available knock twice ask for Rory...When interviewed Gus Ruhlin admitted Fitz won fair and square...."...I had him down in the third round but I couldn't finish the job before the bell. I missed my chance right there..."...Jim Jeffries could offer no explanation for his poor performance in New York while Bob Armstrong praised the young man and said it was one of the toughest fights he'd ever had...Alec Maclean the manager of Sandy Ferguson reports his charge has seen a physician and expects to be out of action for some weeks but will do what work he can to stay in shape...George Godfrey and Jack Munroe are both in training camp preparing for their upcoming bout...George Dixon who trains both men has decided on a coin flip to work Godfrey's corner but has engaged the services of former Canadian lightweight champ George Latham to work Munroe's corner...George Chuvalo said he'd be in the pink of condition when he stepped through the ropes to face Jerry Quarry again...

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George Chuvalo and Jerry Quarry battle to a draw allowing Chuvalo to retain his title belt...Most out-of-town sportswriters are of the opinion that Canadian referee Joe Francis should have given the decision to Quarry...Chuvalo clearly took the first two rounds but Quarry took the next three and then they traded back and forth until the 11th round when Chuvalo sustained a cut over one eye and had the other eye closing from Quarry's jab and left hooks...In the 12th round Chuvalo stumbled but did not go down and finished with a brief attack of his own forcing a tired Quarry into the ropes....

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April 1892 World Rankings in Mitt Slingers Magazine....Main article in this issue discusses Sailor Tom Sharkey's chances of taking the IBU belt from Peter Jackson in the upcoming battle in San Francisco...Contributor George Siler speculates on the future of Bob Armstrong and other East Coast boxers....James J Corbett shares his opinion of the young crop of heavyweights and his own career in the ring and on stage....

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Pictured here is John L Sullivan at his training camp outside Boston preparing to meet South Afrika's Corrie Sanders...Sullivan's chief trainer has quit or been fired after heated disputes over Sullivan's willingness to get into fighting trim...Sullivan boasts to visiting newspapermen, "I'm in amazing shape. Just tremendous. Never better. This fellow Sanders doesn't stand a chance."...Concerned supporters can't help but notice the roll of fat around the Boston Strongboy's middle....Sullivan claims he weighs only 195 pounds but will get down to 185 by fight night....Most believe he weighs closer to 225 pounds and has been training on beer, beans, sausages and pies....Sanders, who is a head taller than Sullivan, appears to be in good condition and in a fighting mood...One New York wag joked, "I complimented Sullivan on the roll-neck sweater he was wearing. He said 'Sweater? Wot sweater?"[NY Sun]...

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From the pages of the Chicago Daily News....

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The much anticipated grand international battle for the heavyweight championship of the world...Fight takes place this weekend in San Francisco...Tom Sharkey expects to win inside the distance to take the decision out of the hands of the referee who has still to be determined ....Peter Jackson has kept himself in good trim since his last fight and is easing his workouts to avoid over-training....Sportsman Bud Renaud is putting up $50,000 to back Jackson at odds of 2 to 1....Morse Ganse the "independent financier of Sheepshead Bay" has $15,000 ready to place on Sharkey...Harry Corbett's favours Jackson over Sharkey 10 to 8....Eastern sports are reminding all how good Sharkey looked in beating Kid McCoy who many think a much more clever boxer than Jackson....

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Business is brisk at Corbett's Poolroom this week leading up to the big fight....Some $200,000 is estimated to have been taken in as wagers in the numerous books across San Francisco...A syndicate of California sporting men has put up a purse of $18,000 for Jackson-Sharkey with 65% promised to the winner....Supporters of both men have put up an additional $5,000 in side money for the winner....

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Big fight tomorrow....Odds have shifted slightly with a flood of Sharkey money and the news that Hiram Cook has been agreed to as referee by both men...The Pacific Athletic Club has added more than three hundred seats to its hall to accommodate the sudden demand for tickets....The final purse is expected to be in the neighbourhood of $15,000 and each man has agreed to a 60-40 split of 65% of the gate receipts with 60% going to the winner....Tom Sharkey weighed in at Corbett's this afternoon and was listed as 180 even....The Champion is expected to tip the scales at 198....

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Clipped from front pages of San Francisco Call and Los Angeles Herald...Good fight....not as one-sided as most expected....Sharkey was a badger inside, rushing Jackson constantly and working the body with vicious blows....Referee took one round from Sharkey for using his head and could have taken another for low blows....Jackson pounded Sharkey coming in with straight punches with all his weight behind them...Several head-butts and looping left hooks had the champion's right eye swelling up and Sharkey suffered a cut under his left eye from Jackson's uppercuts....In fact ringsiders were surprised by the number of uppercuts thrown by both men....Walt Sanders of Mitt Slingers Magazine counted 84 from Jackson and 69 from Sharkey....Referee Hiram Cook scored 11 rounds for Jackson two for Sharkey and two even....Maritime Wire Service report had it much closer with 8 rounds Jackson 6 rounds Sharkey and 1 even....

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From the Halifax Chronicle....George Godfrey (12st 8lbs) took Jack Munroe (14st even) too lightly as an opponent and failed to train properly ignoring the sage advice of his trainer George Dixon...Munroe, on the other hand, was in the best shape of his life and took the fight to the smaller man from the opening bell using his greater bulk and strength to his advantage....A hard right hand in the sixth round opened a terrible cut over Godfrey's left optic which no amount of ministration would close....Munroe often took two or three blows to land one of his own but was relentless in his work and would not be denied his victory....In the ninth round with Godfrey's face and chest covered with blood Referee Hugh MacNeil waved Munroe off and raised his arm...After the fight Godfrey had nothing but praise for the efforts of his opponent as he handed him his coveted Canadian championship belt at ring centre...

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Article from the Los Angeles Herald....Jim Jeffries returns from the East and takes on tough Joe Kennedy at Woodward's Pavilion....The fight lasts two and a half minutes and has every last customer on his feet as the two big men elect to slug it out at ring centre....Kennedy staggers Jeffries with a terrific uppercut but the big Californian shrugs it off and lands big shots to the Irishman's body and neck...Winding up a hay-maker Kennedy cops a dynamite right on the jaw that sends him down and out at the feet of Referee Ed Graney...In the preliminaries Frisco boy Jim Jeffords stops Frank Mahan of Chicago in 5 and Jeffries' brother Jack draws in three with Joe Dineen the Brooklyn tavern brawler....Gus Ruhlin signs to meet Peter Maher at the Mission Street Arena for ten rounds with six ounce gloves...

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Page from the Detroit Tribune....Jack Root is considering moving to America if he is unable to get a rematch with George Gardiner for the European championship...Peter Jackson has met all obligations imposed by the IBU and will be taking temporary leave from the ring to appear on stage at $500 a week...Jim Jeffries has signed to meet Big Joe McAuliffe with the winner expected to challenge James J Corbett for his American title....Denver Ed Martin and his manager Billy Madden have begun negotiations with George Chuvalo to fight for the latter's North American Boxing Federation title...

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From The Australian Star and The Los Angeles Herald....Harry Laing "The Maori" is set to challenge Australia Billy Smith for his ANZBF championship....Jim Jeffries easily disposes of another large obstacle in the form of 'The Mission Boy' Big Joe McAuliffe...Sandy Ferguson is back in harness and looking for his manager Alec MacLean to line up a suitable opponent as soon as possible....Having won the Canadian title belt Jack Munroe is ready to profit from it and is planning to use it as leverage to get a shot at British Empire champion Joe Goddard...

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From the sporting pages of the Montreal Daily Star....Several open-air fight cards rained out and re-scheduled....Peter Jackson said to be contemplating retirement from the ring to concentrate on his investment properties in England...Joe Goddard saves his Empire heavyweight championship by a late rally against Jack Munroe before a black-tie crowd at London's National Sporting Club with the Prince of Wales in attendance...

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From the Chicago Daily News....At the Los Angeles Athletic Club Jerry Quarry eked out a decision over Hank Griffin after 10 rounds and will likely face Bob Armstrong some weeks from now...Bill Doherty the Coolgardie Cyclone is next in line for a crack at Australia Billy Smith's ANZBF heavyweight title and has closed up his shop to begin training...Peter Felix stopped Sydney lad Jim Fogarty at Melbourne in four fast rounds....Jimmy Bivins is back after recovering from an undisclosed illness and put a quick end to Jack Stelzner at Miami...."College Boy" Bob Jones turned the tables on Dave Sinclair at Philadelphia's Alhambra A.C. the other night winning six of eight rounds convincingly....The gross receipts of the Chuvalo-Martin fight were $18,251. Chuvalo got $2,500 for his bit and this amount was guaranteed him, win, lose or draw. Martin got a percentage of the gate and pulled down $3,500 plus training expenses. Chuvalo's victory gave him $17,500 clear, figures as follows: $15,000 in side bets and $2,500 in cash....

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From the Halifax Chronicle....At Sydney Stadium before a crowd of some 15,000 Bill Doherty came within a knockdown of snatching the Australasian championship from Australia Billy Smith. Doherty gave away the first five rounds, evened up the sixth before giving Smith a shellacking in rounds 7 to 10. Smith came back enough to edge round 11 but Doherty steam-rolled the last round almost putting the champion through the ropes....In what was surely the biggest upset in an Australian ring this year Steve O'Donnell met the touring Frank Slavin at Melbourne and knocked him out in two rounds....World champion Peter Jackson continued his exhibition tour with 4 round bouts in Dublin and Paris....

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From the October 1892 issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine....Peter Jackson's manager Parson Davies writes from their digs in London he has wired the managers of both Jerry Quarry the Bakersfield heavyweight and Joe Goddard the "Barrier Champion" with proposals to defend the world championship against one or the other sometime next year....Billy Madden Goddard's American agent reports his boy is still in England and ready to meet Jackson anytime he finds suitable....George Chuvalo has offered to fight Bob Fitzsimmons in Toronto later this year for a $3,000 purse winner take all and has posted a $500 forfeit with a Toronto sports editor....Corrie Sanders the big South Afrikan has declined an offer to fight Tom Sharkey in New York in favour of a proposed match with James J Corbett in sunny California....This just off the trans-Atlantic wire from England, Jack Munroe knocked out Joe Beckett in five rounds at Belle Vue Arena in Manchester.....