Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by Cap

Clipping from The Glasgow Herald - May 1898.....EBU Champion Ludwig Schuhmann puts on a methodical clinic in out-boxing France's Francois Marchand over 12 tedious rounds at Berlin before a large if quiet crowd of several thousand....Following his victory Schuhmann is presented with a gold medal by the former kaiser now citizen Fredrich Wilhelm Hohenzollern and Chancellor Hertling for service to the Fatherland....At Bergen in Norway, Bjarni Thorsen overcomes an early lead by the wily Englander Charlie Mitchell and forces the referee to stop the bout with seconds remaining in the final round with Mitchell taking a shellacking in Thorsen's corner....At Blackfriars Ring in London Jack Palmer and Gunner Hollis box 10 slow rounds to a draw, a decision which is greeted with a smattering of applause and loud whistles.....In the co-feature Frenchman Georges LeRoi delivers a sound beating to Bethnal Green's Jack Scales and is awarded a popular decision after 10 rounds by referee Douglas....Scales' supporters are gobsmacked and only the presence of several burly constables deter them from rushing the ring....At the National Sporting Club James "Gunner" Moir and Tiger Smith put on a lively battle for most of ten rounds with Moir copping the nod thanks in part to three knockdowns scored over Smith in the middle rounds....At the same venue a week later Italy's Roberto Damiani wins a lop-sided decision over "The Woolwich Infant" Ben Taylor in front of a white-tie crowd of swells....Interviewed later Damiani calls for a rematch with Joe Beckett...At Plymouth Salinas Jack Burns decisioned Abdul Malgan "The Mad Turk" in six....At Dublin's Mansion House Jack Stewart knocked out Peter Maher in the fifth round of their ten round fight....

Decided to drop a quick note Cap to just say how amazed I've been over these years as you've run this universe the work and detail you put into it!! Love seeing some here working still hard to keep this forum and TB going as best it can.

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Cleveland Courier - May 1898...Fireman Jim Flynn fought like a wounded badger against the gallant Frenchman Raymond Berenger last night....It was Berenger, however, who shed the most blood in their ten round scrap at the Quebec City arena...Flynn's ferocious assaults offset the dark-haired former European champion's cleverness and forced him to hold and fight on the back foot....A pair of right-hand wallops in the sixth round opened a deep gash in Berenger's forehead and his face was a bloody mess when the final bell rang saving him from a certain knockout...In the semiwindup New England's Jim Duncan earned a ten round decision over "Iron Mike" Boden and convinced the latter to announce his retirement from his dressing room....At Mexico City Jimmy Bivins and Mexican Pete Everett, both seeing their best days behind them, mauled each other for ten rounds at the end of which the referee gave the win to Bivins....At Tattersall's in Chicago Billy Stift avenged a second round knockout loss to Klondike Haynes in January by administering the knockout drop to Haynes in round two of their fight late last week...At Los Angeles one Pittsburgh Jack Kelliher continued his downward spiral with a technical knockout loss to Bob "College Boy" Jones in the 9th round....At Brown's Arena in Brooklyn, New York Promoter Dan Hicks put on a card featuring new faces including New Jersey's Joe Jeannette, New York's Jim Stewart, Missouri's Ralph Calloway, Michigan's Al Kubiak, and others....

[Cap]

May-June 1898....Tickets go on sale for the Jack Johnson-Sandy Ferguson heavyweight championship fight...Marty Muldoon matchmaker for the Marathon A.C., and his cousin Mike "Bung" Malloy of the Cicero Malloys, persuade the management of the magnificent Coliseum to allow them to stage another boxing card...The promotion promises a purse of $30,000 to be divided between winner and loser but Johnson demands $20,000 for himself win or lose and a healthy cut of the gate receipts....Muldoon and Malloy negotiate Johnson down to his original portion of the purse plus a $5,000 guarantee and 5% of the gate or 10% of any film rights....Ferguson agrees to a share of the $30,000 purse but wants a cut of the gate receipts as well....veteran Chicago sportswriter George Siler agrees to act as referee for $500 and a number of front row seats for his friends....Both Johnson and Ferguson have been in training for several weeks and reports are both are in 'really first class' form as their sparring partners can attest...Numerous celebrities will be in attendance according to Muldoon's press agent including His Honor the Mayor John Patrick Hopkins; US Secretary of State John Sherman; Deputy Chairman of the IBU Ciaran O'Doyle; famed stage actors John Drew and Charles Grapewin; Jim Hart owner and president of the Chicago Baseball White Stockings; and a host of other political and sports luminaries....Film companies from Reuters and Pathe News are competing for the rights to record the championship contest....From his lair in California Jim Jeffries denounces the contest as a 'sham and a farce' claiming the fix is in but offers no evidence....Frank Childs and Hank Griffin tell curious reporters they believe Johnson intends to carry Ferguson for the 'kinetoscope cameras' and rumours spread....George Little, spokesman for the Ferguson camp, expresses disgust at the spurious claims of crooked dealings and offers his opinion "Big Sandy will knock that bum out inside five rounds!"....

[Cap]

Clipped from the sports page of the Toronto Telegram June 6, 1898...Major international fights coming up in the next few months that are highly anticipated by fans and significant to promoters and managers alike in every center of boxing around the globe....Most prominent of course is the Johnson-Ferguson clash for the world title, but there are a number of others that will impact the sport....Critics of NABF champion Al Kaufman deride his choice of fellow San Francisco resident Joe Millett as a challenger suggesting he is ducking more formidable mitt-artists....Ludwig Schuhmann's defence against popular English heavyweight John L Gardner in London is seen by British observers as a big risk for the German....In Canada an elimination match between Sam Langford of Nova Scotia and Ontario's Johnny Jackson will decide the next challenger for Sandy Ferguson's national title belt....In Australia Des Quinlan, holder of the Australasian title, faces off with newly minted South Afrikan title holder Mike Williams with the winner likely getting a shot at the Empire title belt worn by Tommy Burns....At Chicago Marvin Hart and Mike Schreck meet for the third time having split their previous battles with a win apiece....Returning to the ring after the loss of his championship Billy McColl meets hard-punching Fred Preston while another Aussie export Sid Russell tangles with France's Francois Marchand in the latter's backyard....In Hamilton, Ontario two top ranked contenders for Canadian honours Ross Delaney and Bob Day are slated to bump heads in front of an outdoor crowd expected to number in the tens of thousands....In Paris Australia's Bill Squires will test his mettle against Scots-Canadian Jack Stewart in his first big fight outside his native country....Sam McVea is set to get his career back on track when he meets New York's veteran Ray Mercer in Los Angeles....At Madison Square Garden in New York City visiting Irishman Jack Burke is scheduled to tackle the Akron Giant Gus Ruhlin for ten rounds or less....

[Cap]

Cutting from The New York Evening World - June 18, 1898....The champion takes the first three rounds by slight margins....In round four Ferguson shrugs off another clinch and lands a hook to the body that sends Johnson down for a short count just before the bell....Seconds into round five Johnson lands a left and right to the belly followed by a short right uppercut to the chin that drops Ferguson on his backside where he takes a count of nine before regaining his feet and fending off Johnson's attempt to finish him....Johnson begins to assume control and dishes out punishment to the big New Brunswicker landing three and four blows to his one....

[Cap]

Snipped from page 33 of the July issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine...Al Kaufman disappoints his fans with a sub-par performance against second-rater Joe Millett only managing a draw to retain his North American title....England's John L Gardner walks right through the punches of Ludwig Schuhmann and wreaks havoc inside, breaking down the German's defences eventually scoring a technical knockout to capture the EBU championship...Sam Langford took a round to figure out his opponent then proceeded to demolish Toronto's Johnny Jackson with relentless pressure and pinpoint punches....At Brown's Arena in Brooklyn local favourite Kid Carter hands a beating to a washed-up Jake Kilrain forcing an end in the sixth round by referee Charlie White...In the semiwindup Lionel Butler takes a close decision over Jack "Big Six" McCabe after ten rounds though many thought a draw would have been a more fair conclusion....At Coney Island Larry Temple made short work of Chicago's Jack Beauscholte knocking him cold in the third round....At Sydney Stadium over 10,000 fans saw South Afrikan champion Mike Williams win a close but clear victory over Australasian champ Des Quinlan in ten rounds and immediately demanded a rematch...

[Cap]

From the July Mitt Slingers Magazine....Jim Jeffries is regarded as the outstanding challenger for Jack Johnson's title having disposed of the dangerous Sam McVea, but no promoter is interested in staging another rematch yet...Al Kaufman goes back to the gym to correct mistakes he made in the fight with Joe Millett while his manager eyes a proposed match with Mike Schreck....Joe Woodman, new manager of Sam Langford approaches Sandy Ferguson's camp about a possible rematch for the Canadian title and has the backing of both the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation and the IBU and at least one prominent Toronto fight promoter.....Five men who don't crack the IBU's top twenty are: Ross Delaney, Johnny Jackson, George McRay, Mike Williams and Des Quinlan....

[Cap]

From the July 31 issue of The Barnsley Earwigger....The EBU released their top ten: 1) Raymond Berenger; 2) Roberto Damiani; 3) Ludwig Schuhmann; 4) Bjarni Thorsen; 5) Joe Beckett; 6) Gunner Moir; 7) Jack Palmer; 8) Francois Marchand; 9) Jack Scales; 10) Battling Ed Corcoran....John L Gardner travelled to IBU headquarters in Brussels where he was presented with a newly crafted championship belt to replace the one stolen from his hotel room....Raymond Berenger wired the EBU to inform them he'd be remaining in Canada for the rest of the year to fulfill the remainder of his contract with Montreal promoter Armand Bibaud....

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Australian Star (Sydney)....Owen Sullivan seems intent on forcing his way back into title contention though a victory over the aged Jim Hall, however decisive, may prove to be inadequate to impress the championship committee....The unbeaten Pat McIntyre, on the other hand, is poised to assault the pugilistic mountain-top with his string of victories culminating with his dismantling of the once dangerous Joseph Goddard....Jimmy Henry followed his narrow win over Ned Ryan with a boxing seminar over the old defensive wizard Mick Dooley but his failure to again demonstrate any real heavy artillery would seem to place him in the rear of the pack of young contenders....Despite carrying a roll of fat around his middle the one-time Empire champion Bob Fitzsimmons had more than enough speed of hand and fire-power to dispose of one Tom Parks a part-time roof thatcher....Two newcomers to keep an eye on are Bill Lang of Melbourne and George Stirling of Cobar....

[Cap]

Just received a wire from Joe O'Herlihy at our Los Angeles desk (Hey! One of you guys flip that kid a nickle will ya!)...it reads.."Jim Jeffries has signed to fight Denver Ed Martin STOP Expect them to meet at Los Angeles in two weeks or less STOP" The rest is gobbledygook, something about sending him cash to cover his hotel bill and food for his starving grandmother....

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by Cap

Just received a wire from Joe O'Herlihy at our Los Angeles desk (Hey! One of you guys flip that kid a nickle will ya!)...it reads.."Jim Jeffries has signed to fight Denver Ed Martin STOP Expect them to meet at Los Angeles in two weeks or less STOP" The rest is gobbledygook, something about sending him cash to cover his hotel bill and food for his starving grandmother....

Cap, I wish I had the creative ability you have to write!!

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Coaltown Gazette....Vancouver boy Ross Delaney, now fighting out of Toronto, takes on Alberta's favourite son George McRay at Mutual Street Arena and nullifies the latter's shifty footwork with steady pressure and body punching, putting the Westerner down three times for nine counts and easily taking the decision....At Hazard's Pavilion Jim Jeffries breaks through Denver Ed Martin's long-armed defence to force a stoppage by referee Ed Graney with Martin helpless on the ropes taking multiple unanswered punches....Dan 'Porky' Flynn fends off the clumsy attack of former Pacific Northwest champion Fred Russell and knocks him out cold a minute and a half into round one....Flynn improves his record to 8-0 with 4 KOs while Russell is now 26-20-0....Maritime amateur middleweight champion turned pro Bill Mackinnon ekes out a close decision over New England's Joe Dundee in a heavyweight contest....

[Cap]

Taken from The Buffalo Evening Courier - Sept 1898.....After a brutal struggle in which both men are left battered, bruised and bloodied Fireman Jim Flynn manages to avoid disqualification by referee Hiram Cook and retains his American heavyweight title against Jack "Big Six" McCabe stopping him in the eleventh round at Hazard's Pavilion....Three nights later in the same ring Sam McVea wears down big Ray Mercer in a terrific slugfest that sees the latter down five times before the fight is stopped midway through the 8th round....At New York's new Madison Square Garden 8,000 patrons are shocked to see Gus Ruhlin (196) knocked out cold by Irish Jack Burke (182) after dominating the fight through the first four rounds....France's Raymond Berenger draws a huge crowd to Montreal's Sohmer Park, many of them women, to see him box rings around an over-confident and slightly out of condition Mike Schreck for ten rounds to gain the referee's decision....World champion Jack Johnson refutes claims he is stale and out of shape by boxing three rounds each with two local amateurs at a Chicago gym....Johnson tells reporters he is in negotiations to defend his title early in the new year most likely at Chicago's Coliseum....

[Cap]

From recent edition of The Cape Town Times....In a special 12 round fight held at the Metropolitan A.C. in Sydney, South Afrika's Frans Botha [15-10-3] lays out local lad Owen Sullivan [19-6-1] for the full count in a see-saw battle in front of 3,000 well-heeled fans of the squared circle....Botha is coming off a technical knockout victory over ex-champion Bakari Olokun in June....At the Joberg Ice Rink Australia's Fred Preston (13st 2lbs) wins in convincing fashion over former police constable Fred McMullen (13st 12lbs) earning the referee's decision after ten hard and fast rounds of boxing....In a bout scheduled for eight rounds Japie Smit needs just a minute and thirty-eight seconds to finish off England's Bill Winslow with a left to the body and right to the jaw...

[Cap]

From the October 1898 issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine....Just days before the IBU is scheduled to release their monthly rankings the newswire reports two significant results which delay the release....At Mutual Street Arena in Toronto Sam Langford stops Sandy Ferguson with seconds left in the twelfth round to take the Canadian heavyweight championship...After two rounds Sam began to elude Ferguson's pole-like left jab and work the big man's body with wicked hooks that fans could hear up in the gallery....One explosive right in the ninth round cracked at least one of Sandy's ribs nearly bringing him to his knees....In the next inning a looping left hander split open the giant's left optic splattering the referee with blood...Ferguson landed a few solid blows to fend Langford off in the eleventh but caught a punch to the liver in the last round that dropped his guard leaving him open to three unanswered chopping blows to the neck and head that had him helpless in his own corner forcing the referee to intercede....At Sydney's Golden Gate Club Billy McColl likely put an end to the storied career of Bob Fitzsimmons with a knockout after five one-sided rounds in which the old warrior was repeatedly sent to the canvas....Many at ringside were calling to the referee to end the fight earlier but Fitzsimmons refused to quit on his stool and went out on his shield....At San Francisco Al Kaufman tells reporters he plans on defending his North American title belt against Cincinnati heavyweight Mike Schreck in November....

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Australian Star November 1898...Tommy Burns has signed a contract with Sydney Stadium's matchmaker Hugh McIntosh to defend his Empire championship in December if a suitable opponent can be found...Several clubs have signed on to a plan formulated by McIntosh to stage a series of bouts to provide just such a candidate...Frans Botha who recently defeated Owen Sullivan at Sydney must surely be part of the mix...Ballarat's Pat McIntyre added another victory to his unbeaten record with a KO in eight rounds of Jack Blackmore and is another certain to be included in any tournament...Nathan's Athletic Hall in Melbourne staged three excellent bouts recently, the feature being a six round clash between Bill Lang of that city and "Aussie Billy" Smith the ex-champion heavyweight...Lang knocked out Smith in four rounds of heavy bashing...George Stirling of Cobar knocked out Ted Fowley inside the first round and Peter Kling stopped Digger Noonan with seconds to go in the sixth and final round of their bout...Des Quinlan was fortunate to get the nod over Jimmy Henry as their articles of agreement had called for an immediate rematch in the event of a draw....

[Cap]

From The Detroit Tribune November 1898....Jack Johnson and his latest manager George Little meet in secret with Fireman Jim Flynn and his manager Jack Curley at a Chicago hotel to try and negotiate articles of agreement for a title fight in January or February....ABA Champion Flynn is 19-1-2 with 16 KOs, is ranked the No.3 contender in the world by the IBU and since turning pro in 1894 has beaten top men such as CC Smith, Mexican Pete Everett, James J Corbett, Lionel Butler, Klondike Haynes, Frenchman Raymond Berenger, "Big Six" McCabe and Ray Mercer, with only Berenger staying the distance...Flynn wants the fight held in the friendlier confines of Los Angeles while Johnson favours Chicago but bends when he is reminded his last fight in his hometown didn't draw as well as he had hoped and West Coast fans would flock to see a heavyweight championship contest....A report that Jim Jeffries is considering Sam Langford as a possible opponent sparks much criticism from sportswriters who point out Langford is too small to have any chance against the big ex-boilermaker and has not met any top calibre opposition aside from a fading Sandy Ferguson.....Robert Edgren of the New York Evening World suggests Mike Schreck the new NABF champion would make a more credible adversary off his recent demolition of previously unbeaten Al Kaufman along with a fairly impressive record against other top ringmen....Schreck for his part says he will fight Jeffries after he has taken the world title from Johnson....Promoter Jimmy Cafferty has lined up Sam McVea and Oakland Al Brown for the marquee matchup at McNaughton's Pavilion in December and reports he is trying to lure Denver Ed Martin back from the east to fight Jack McCabe or Al Kaufman....Joe Jeannette the young Newark phenom seems poised for greatness off his splendid showings in recent months over veterans Fred Russell, Philadelphia Jack O'Brien and Tom Sharkey....

[bob_bask]

Reading this again after a break. It is great. Well done Cap.

[Cap]

From the sports section of The Chicago Daily News December 1898...Jim Jeffries has signed articles to fight Sandy Ferguson for a 70/30 division of a $13,500 purse provided by the Pacific Athletic Club with the battle to be held at Hazard's Pavilion in Los Angeles in early January....Meeting at the prestigious Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, Jack Johnson and Fireman Jim Flynn put their signatures to the articles of agreement confirming their 15 round world championship fight to be staged in Los Angeles in February the most likely site is Hazard's Pavilion...Off the wire comes a report that Tommy Burns has agreed to defend his British Empire heavyweight title belt against the winner of an elimination between Billy McColl of Australasia and South Afrika's Frans Botha as the proposed tournament has fallen apart following bitter disputes amongst Sydney and Melbourne sporting clubs.....NABF champion Mike Schreck is reportedly considering a defence of his title against either John Willie or Sam Langford due to the speed with which he has gone through the money he earned in winning the title....

[Cap]

Finally rec'd a copy of The Glasgow Herald from my news-dealer, a trifle late but well received by our staff....EBU champion John L Gardner came from behind to halt Italia's Roberto Damiani in the fourth round....Damiani looked well on his way to a comfortable victory when Gardner landed a desperation left hook (that may have drifted a wee bit low) and a roundhouse right on the dark-visaged challenger's temple to send him stumbling into the arms of Referee Eugene Corri...Had Corri been officiating outside the ring as was often the custom, Damiani would surely have fallen....Gardner charged in and settled the (derogatory slang expression) with a barrage of punches to the head and neck forcing Corri to halt proceedings...Australia's Bill Squires thrilled the patrons of Holborn's Central Hall with a 4th round knockout of visiting yankee Salinas Jack Burns improving his record to 22-1-0 with 17 KOs, the three most recent in England and France....In Manchester Norway's Bjarni Thorsen was awarded a victory on a foul by Joe Beckett when the referee declared Beckett had struck his opponent low after being warned....The Scots-Canadian Jack Stewart was as surprised as anyone when his bout with Ludwig Schuhmann in Dusseldorf ended with his hand raised instead of Schuhmann....Referee Alois had to be escorted from the stadium...Backers of the touring son of Erin "Irish Jack" Burke were dismayed to read the wire report of his defeat in New York by a little known heavyweight from Maine by name of Jim Duncan....Glasgow punters are heartened by the recent victories of Scots pugilists Laurie Cameron, Derek Beattie and Sandy MacNab....A faction in British boxing is fomenting a protest within the IBU regarding the holding of the British Empire title by a colonial, to wit one Tommy Burns and his apparent disdain for offers to defend the championship in England; with some demanding he be stripped of the belt so two worthy Englishmen may compete for it....