Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

[Cap]

Clipping from The Ballarat Independent - April 1897....Reports cover bouts held over the first weeks of March....Later that month Corrie Sanders went to Perth, WA to box two exhibitions he had previously contracted for....After an easy 4-rd go with fellow South Afrikan Tom Ball he was surprised to find an in-the-pink Bob Fitzsimmons who proceeded to box his ears off and win the crowd's decision at the end of four very fast rounds....Fitzsimmons then challenged the big South Afrikan to defend his Empire title right there or in two months time at Sydney Stadium....In a report in The Referee it was revealed that Billy McColl had had Sanders nearly out in the fourth round when the timekeeper mistakenly rang the bell early cutting the round short by nearly 30 seconds....At Sydney's Gaiety Athletic Hall ringsiders witnessed a much improved form in the work of 20-yr old Sid Russell as he dismantled Bill Costello of nearby King's Cross forcing a stoppage inside five rounds....

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Excerpt from The Chicago Daily News - April 1897....World heavyweight champion Jack Johnson entertained his hometown crowd at Chicago's Tattersall's Arena with a four round exhibition with CC Smith....Johnson seemed a bit out of condition and revealed no plans for future title defences....Tommy Burns dropped off a letter with our editor saying he plans on leaving the country for an extended tour of Australia and New Zealand thanks to a contract with Sydney promoter Des Blakely....Adolphus "Jack" McCabe proved more than a match for Chicago boy John Willie late last month coming away with a clear decision 7 rounds to three according to referee George Siler...Word from Australia that top contender Bill Squires needed just two rounds to put away veteran Bill Doherty at Sydney Stadium....On the same card Owen Sullivan eked out a narrow win over Jimmy Henry of New Zealand....Toronto's John Scholes is said to be contemplating retirement after two quick losses and may join his father in the political game....

[Cap]

Page snipped from Mitt Slingers Magazine April 1897....European champion Raymond Berenger has his manager contact London promoter "Peggy" Bettinson to set up a fight with one of the top North American boxers ranked by the IBU under the auspices of the National Sporting Club....Bettinson agrees but insists Berenger sign a contract to defend his EBU title against Jack Scales in England....Toronto's Jack Stewart tours Scotland and England but can find no one willing to tackle him after his defeat of Joe Beckett despite the inducement of a sizable purse offered by his new manager/trainer George Latham...World Champion Jack Johnson is said to be negotiating with number two contender Gus Ruhlin for a defence of his title belt in Chicago sometime this summer....W.A. Brady manager of former champ Jim Jeffries has tendered offers to Sandy Ferguson, Ray Mercer and Jimmy Bivins for a fight at McNaughton's Pavilion in May....Most insiders expect Bivins to accept if the purse is adequate....Sam McVea "The Oxnard Ox" is fast running out of willing opponents in Southern California and is considering a move to New York or Boston....Corrie Sanders has signed articles to defend his Empire title against Bob Fitzsimmons at Sydney Stadium but many fans are wondering if the big South Afrikan may be overly distracted by the running of his numerous holdings back home as well as a lawsuit brought against him by his Cape Town business partners.....According to a report in The Sydney Sportsman boxing promoter Larry Foley is in receipt of a wire from Tommy Burns, en route to that colony, accepting an offer to meet undefeated New South Wales champion Bill Squires in a ten round glove contest for a split of a purse of 150 sov. in gold [USD$727.50]......(Ed. roughly equivalent to $25,000 Australian today)

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A cutting from The Toronto Telegram - June 1897....A mixed bag of results for Canada's professional class of boxers in May and early June....Sandy Ferguson journeys to England to confront the idol of France and champion of Europe Raymond Berenger at the invitation of the National Sporting Club and promoter "Peggy" Bettinson....Early on Ferguson is confounded by the EBU champion's swift movement and elusive style but he works his way inside behind a stiff left jab and batters Berenger to the body and head....The Frenchman stands up to it but Sandy's powerful left hooks break him down through rounds five, six and seven...Berenger goes down briefly in round eight and is knocked down for the full count in round nine.... Unbeaten Johnny Jackson has his fight with CC Smith stopped prematurely by an inexperienced referee and a young police constable at ringside who sees blood on Jackson's face from a cut on the bridge of his nose and orders the local man's corner to throw in the towel....Ross Delaney puts up a terrific showing against California's Sam McVea but is put down hard three times in round six forcing referee Charlie White to award the fight to McVea....Down Under Tommy Burns amazes the locals with his stoppage of previously undefeated star Bill Squires....At Sydney Stadium former champ Bob Fitzsimmons regains his lost laurels with a shocking 4th round knockout of South Afrika's Corrie Sanders in a battle for the latter's Empire title belt....After a slow first round Fitz finds a home for a murderous left hook and an unerring straight right that Sanders seems wide open to....On the undercard Owen Sullivan administers a sound whipping to a lethargic Peter Jackson over eight rounds....At Oakland's McNaughton's Pavilion Jim Jeffries returns to the ring in impressive fashion battering tough Ray Mercer before stopping him on a technical knockout with seconds remaining in the last round....At San Francisco young Al Kaufman sends Bob Armstrong into retirement with a second round stoppage that proves to Armstrong his best days are over....

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Portion of a poster for the upcoming Johnson-Ruhlin fight in Chicago....Despite Ruhlin's recent successes, the odds favour Johnson by a wide margin....

[RANGER11JP]

Hi Cap,

I believe you missed your calling as a novelist. Nice work!

On a more somber note, we just put our 13+ year old smooth Collie down. Sweetie was "Quite the Lady" and a neighborhood favorite.They bring us much love, but leave a hole in our hearts when they go.

JP

[Cap]

Originally Posted by RANGER11JP

Hi Cap,

I believe you missed your calling as a novelist. Nice work!

On a more somber note, we just put our 13+ year old smooth Collie down. Sweetie was "Quite the Lady" and a neighborhood favorite.They bring us much love, but leave a hole in our hearts when they go.

JP

Sorry to hear that, JP. Like losing a member of the family. We're lucky we still have Tink around. She loves all the extra attention she gets now her brother and sister are out of the picture.

Cap

[Cap]

Clipped from The Los Angeles Herald - July 16, 1897.....Gus Ruhlin surprised many with his performance as most odds-makers expected he would not last even ten rounds....Jack Johnson at 210 pounds looked a little heavy and some observers hinted he had not trained as vigorously as usual and had expected an easy fight as he had handled Ruhlin with little difficulty in their previous contest in June of 1895....George Siler who acted as referee, later said it was Johnson's lack of peak condition that resulted in the only real scare for the champion near the end of the eleventh round when Ruhlin caught him against the ropes and landed a roundhouse right that had him briefly on queer street....Gate receipts amounted to nearly $65,000 with 60% going to the fighters, 70% to Johnson and 30% to Ruhlin....A scheduled preliminary between local Chicago middleweights was cancelled at the request of Johnson's manager...

[Cap]

Excerpt from The Detroit Tribune - August 1897....Chicago ring veteran Klondike Haynes battles on travelling to Buffalo where he takes on local hero Jim Fitzpatrick and after putting him down 8 times over 10 rounds is awarded the win....Marvin Hart invades Chicago again and puts an end to any world title aspirations of John Willie with a one-sided drubbing and clean knock out twenty-nine seconds into the ninth round....Big Bob Day the "Battling Bobby" entertains the yokels with a 4th round KO of one Sailor Brown of California then issues a challenge to Johnny Jackson to meet him in Toronto for a side bet of $250....San Francisco attraction Joe Millett tacks up another win and offers to fight any man in California for a side wager of $1,000....

[Cap]

Extract from The Australian Star - Sept 1897....Considerable activity amongst the various sporting venues in New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand...Nathan's Athletic Hall sees Bill Lang the Melbourne novice box a fast six rounds with Les O'Donnell of Sydney....At the same club Alf Morgan stops Digger Ed Williams in the first round of their six round go and Soldier Ed Thompkins takes the decision over Jim Scanlon after six....In Timaru Danny Ruenalf "The Maori Warrior" knocks out Dan Creedon in three rounds and Jim Griffin the Greymouth heavyweight KO's Herb Goddard, Joe's brother, also in three....Following his win over Sullivan, champion Billy McColl issues a challenge to new Empire champ Bob Fitzsimmons to meet in Sydney with a side wager of £250 and 70% of their share of the gate receipts to the winner....Young Sid Russell has been taken in hand by noted trainer Albert Griffiths alias "Young Griffo" and is progressing at a fast pace with manager "Duke" Mullins expressing conviction that his charge will soon be topping the bill at all the major venues in Australia....

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Excerpt from The Barnsley Earwigger - September 1897...France's Raymond Berenger dashed England's pugilistic hopes when he defended his EBU title belt against Bethnal Green's Jack Scales at the National Sporting Club in London and emerged victorious at 1:44 of the ninth round....Scales was 14-0 since a technical loss to Jack Munroe in December of 1893, boasting KOs of Irish Jack Burke (9), Joe Beckett (8), Battling Ed Corcoran (4), George Gardiner (9), Ben Taylor (11), and Roberto Damiani (4)....The Frenchman tipped the scales at 13st 7lbs while Jack weighed in at 13st 9lbs....Berenger is now 19-1-0 while Scales drops to 21-4-2...Top contender Sandy Ferguson worked the corner of fellow Canadian Jack Stewart alongside trainer Fred Barrieau of the Dominion Boxing Foundation's Toronto gym when Stewart put an end to the winning streak of James "Tiger Smith" at London's Blackfriars Ring....At Newcastle Joe Beckett proved the spoiler as he earned an unpopular decision over unbeaten Jack Palmer...At Dublin's Royal Theatre Roberto Damiani made short work of local hero George Gardiner forcing a stoppage by the latter's corner midway through the second round....Germany's Ludwig Schuhmann upped his record to 18-1-0 with a scientific display of the sweet science in outpointing Irish veteran Peter Collins at Hamburg....Schuhmann is now ranked the top contender for the EBU title...

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Excerpt from Mitt Slingers Magazine the October 1897 issue....At a request from US promoters the IBU considers the position of world champion Jack Johnson's next title defence and decrees that because his first had been against then No.2 ranked Gus Ruhlin, Johnson would be permitted to select an opponent from amongst the current top ten....Only two men, aside from Ruhlin, are available if the fight is to be made before winter; Jim Jeffries and the young Oxnard slugger Sam McVea....As Jeffries' manager demands a guarantee of $10,000 and 50% of the fighters share of the gate receipts, Johnson's agents approach McVea and his backers with an offer of 40% of the proposed gate receipts and a 70/30 split of the purse with 70% to the winner....McVea jumps at the proposal with a caveat that both men put up $2500 as forfeit should one man back out....South Afrika's Corrie Sanders vacates the national championship with the sudden announcement of his retirement from the ring....The South Afrikan Boxing Union declares former champion Bakari Olokun the top contender for the Old Buck Belt and opens bids for promoters to arrange a championship match between Olokun and the next best heavyweight in the country....Jimmy Bivins is on a tour of Central and South America where the sport is starting to catch on in a big way thanks to the combined efforts of Texas promoter Sam Chaffey and Mexico City's Humberto Sanchez....

[Cap]

Following a veritable deluge of letters and telegrams Mitt Slingers Magazine grudgingly includes IBU sponsored rankings from the BEBC; NABF and EBU committees. Here is an excerpt showing rankings in those organisations for the heavyweight class:

[Cap]

Clipped from the pages of The Coaltown Gazette - October 1897....On the rumour wire Jack Johnson and Sam McVea have signed articles to meet at the Chicago Coliseum in November with Johnson's title on the line....At San Francisco's Mechanic's Pavilion Al Kaufman administered a beating to what remains of former world champion James J Corbett, knocking him stiff in the seventh round....Another group of boxers have emerged from the Dominion Boxing Foundation's academies, among them Arthur "Art" Beaudoin who took up the gloves after being banned from the Montreal Meteors hockey club of the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada for being too ready with his fists....

[RANGER11JP]

Hey Cap,
I may have asked you this before, but who is that dapper gent in your avatar? You know how the memory is on us older felleas! What's his story?
If he doesn't have one, make one up! You're good at that.
Best regards,
JP

[Cap]

Possibly my uncle who was head of the Canadian Foreign Intelligence Service between the World Wars or my dad who was head of the anti-gang squad of the Montreal Police force in the fifties....

Cap

[Cap]

Excerpt from New York Evening Courier - October 1897....Shortly after the loss to Jeffries Ray Mercer signed to fight tough Jack "Big Six" McCabe at New York...Both men were coming off KO losses but Mercer had, in the last year, beaten Jack Stewart, Larry Frazier, Jimmy Bivins and Jack Munroe...After the win over McCabe, Mercer signed up as chief sparring partner for world champion Jack Johnson as he prepared for Sam McVea...Former Western Canadian amateur champion George McRay had been riding an unbeaten streak (14-0-4) as a pro against average opposition when he signed to meet Pittsburgh Jack Kelliher (21-6-0) in front of a partisan crowd in Calgary's Sherman Rink....Jim Jeffries picked Philadelphia Jack O'Brien as his next opponent figuring the wily defensive boxer would be good preparation for a hoped for rematch with Johnson and told reporters he expected an easier go the second time round now he was in top fighting trim....Kentucky's Marvin Hart had only one loss on a foul and a narrow points loss to Mike Schreck since May of 1896 when he tangled with Larry Frazier in Seattle....Frazier, although past his best, was 7 and 1 in his previous 8 with all his wins coming by way of knockout....Denver Ed Martin's career is back on track now with three decent wins in a row following his crushing losses earlier in the year to the ring worn George Godfrey and Oxnard's McVea....Making his pro debut on the undercard of the Russell-Ryan fight in Boston is young Vincenzo Ferrante of Worcester, Massachusetts fighting as "Joe Dundee"....

[RANGER11JP]

Originally Posted by Cap

Possibly my uncle who was head of the Canadian Foreign Intelligence Service between the World Wars or my dad who was head of the anti-gang squad of the Montreal Police force in the fifties....

Cap

Hi Cap,

I just caught an old movie that involves the Montreal Police in the fifties. It's called "A Bullet for Joey" with Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. You might get a kick out of it.

[Cap]

Ripped from the pages of America's Boxing Weekly - October 1897....Not included here: Bakari Olokun Vs Tom Ball at Durban City Hall, South Afrika, 12 Rounds for the vacant South Afrikan heavyweight title; Crystal Palace, Melbourne, VIC - Tommy Burns (Can.) Vs Peter Jackson (Aus.) 10 Rds.; Salle Wagram, Paris - Jean Auberge Vs Georges LeRoi 10 Rds,; Auckland Town Hall, Auckland, NZ - Jimmy Henry Vs Des Quinlan 10 Rds.; Sydney Stadium, Sydney, NSW - Bill Squires Vs Ned Ryan 10 Rds.; Ballarat Athletic Hall, Ballarat, VIC - Pat McIntyre Vs Jim Quigley 10 Rds.; Metropolitan A.C., Sydney, NSW - Sid Russell Vs Frank Slavin 10 Rds. All booked for November or December.....The Kaufman-Flynn fight is considered a pick'em by local books as both are unbeaten....Bob Jones is a slight favourite over Texas Bob Thompson as is Klondike Haynes over a past-his-prime Tom Sharkey....Johnny Jackson and Mike Schreck is another pick'em as Schreck has an edge in experience and will be carrying more weight but Jackson is a slick boxer with a decent chin and has a reach and height advantage...Sandy Ferguson and Roberto Damiani, both big men, should be explosive and most expect a knockout win for the New Brunswicker if he has not been doing his training in beer parlours....The Norseman Bjarni Thorsen will finally be unleashed by his handlers who have imported England's Tiger Smith to assess his progress....

[Cap]

Excerpts from The Chicago Tribune November 1897...Johnson and McVea both declare they are in top form after final training stunts and road work.... Neither man expects their fight to go more than 10 rounds....Ticket sales have been brisk and only the cheap seats in the gallery of the vast Coliseum remain...Johnson has been made a 10 to 6 favourite by the pools with McVea money coming in slowly....The opinion among the fans and experts seems to be that McVea, known in California as the Oxnard Cyclone, has to rush Johnson from the opening gong and fight inside.....Constant pressure to force the champion out of his defensive shell....Johnson has never shown any aggressiveness or what some call a true fighting spirit.....His fights have shown him to be one who never leaves himself open to a decisive blow....This has doubtless detracted from his popularity....