Cap's New and Improved Alternate Universe

[Cap]

Excerpts from The Ballarat Independent August 1906...Ern Waddy has improved considerably since his first encounter with Jack Howard some years ago, and his footwork and feints completely nonplussed his opponent...Both men entered the ring at Sydney Stadium in splendid condition prepared for a hard go over the twelve round distance...Waddy weighed in at 13st 7lb without an ounce of superfluous beef, while the champion was a solid 13st 11lb...In the first round no real harm was done on either side, both men sparring, and each getting the measure of the other...Matters took a turn in the second round, when Waddy feinted then landed a terrific right on his opponent's ear, causing him to reel on unsteady legs...Howard seemed to recover and fended off the younger man's assault...The men continued to mix matters in the third and fourth rounds, but it was clear Waddy was landing the more effective blows...The fifth round saw the sudden end as the Adelaide lad forced matters, and after shooting a stiff left to the body, swung his right, which landing on the jaw sent Howard to the canvas...He managed to come up at the end of 8 sec, but a short uppercut jolt to the head put Howard out on his back where referee Arthur Scott delivered the full count, then raised the hand of the new Australasian heavyweight champion...In the only preliminary, Sid Neilsen (Sydney) won on a technical knockout over Bill Walsh (Melbourne) seconds into the tenth round...Neilsen, dubbed "The Great Dane", now has an enviable record of 16 wins, just one loss and two draws, and is now ranked third amongst challengers for Waddy's title, behind only Jack Howard and Empire champion Colin Bell by the ANZBF...At Melbourne Stadium visiting American heavyweights Al Palzer and Joe Bonds lost to Bill Turner and Archie Greaves respectively...At Sydney's Golden Gate Club Pat Doran (13st 9lb) was awarded the win over American Jack Lester (13st 12lb) when the fight was stopped because an accidental clash of heads in round 4 opened an ugly gash on Doran's forehead that bled profusely and forced the stoppage by referee Joe Cullen in round six...An examination of his scorecard caused Cullen to award the fight to Doran on points accumulated prior to the stoppage...At Kalgoorlie Miners Institute, George Cook outpointed veteran Jim Griffin over six rounds and Jim Tracey took the decision over favourite Harold Hardwick over the same distance...Cook looked sharp as a razor but Hardwick appeared overconfident and under-trained...Albert Kid Lloyd won against Jack Darcy last evening but did not look impressive doing it and was panned by the press of his home state for a visibly lackadaisical effort...Lloyd needs to up his game and fight tougher opposition...Dave Hawkes the Queensland newcomer won accolades from ringsiders for his points sweep of the more experienced Bert Russell on Monday last...Hawkes looked the ring wise professional as he easily took all six rounds with fast and accurate punching...

[Cap]

Ticket for the sold out 12 round elimination contest between Joe Jeannette the ABA heavyweight champion and Luther McCarty the NABF heavyweight champion for a shot at world champ Sam Langford...In accordance with the wishes of the IBU, neither title will be at stake...New York referee Patsy Haley will be the third man in the ring...Each participant has been guaranteed $10,000 with the winner to receive 25% of the gate...Estimated attendance is 16,000...The semi windup will pit Jim Coffey "The Roscommon Giant" against Bill "KO" Brennan scheduled for ten rounds...Three six round matches fill out the card...Jeannette is 33 years of age with a record of 34-8-5 (21) and McCarty is 22 with a record of 23-0-2 (11)...McCarty is a slight favourite due to his age advantage...Luther is expected to enter the ring weighing 208lbs while Joe should be roughly 198...

[Cap]

From the sports section of The Los Angeles Herald August 1906...Plenty of controversy this week in boxing circles as two decisions in important contests are hotly debated...Referee Patsy Haley called the Luther McCarty-Joe Jeannette elimination fight a draw and was roundly booed by much of the paying customers at Newark City Stadium...A quick straw poll of reporters covering the bout had a clear majority calling it for McCarty, most had it six rounds for McCarty, four for Jeannette and two even...Joe was down for an eight count in round two and was in serious trouble in round 9...Rumours ran that the promoter had paid Haley to call it a draw so he could stage a lucrative rematch...The other bad call came in the Carl Morris-Jeff Clarke fight on Monday when referee Walter Kelly gave the verdict to Morris, despite the fact Clarke easily out landed him 2 to 1 and had him reeling like a drunkard in round 10...Kelly ruled a knockdown when Clarke clearly slipped in round 2...Kelly left the arena immediately after the verdict was announced amid a torrent of insults from those who had wagered on Clarke...In the main preliminary to the McCarty-Jeannette match, Jim Coffey (202) steam rolled Bill Brennan (204½) who must have left his fight in the gym, as he showed nothing...He suffered a cut in round 6 and another in round 8, and lost round five for an obvious low blow...At Clermont Avenue Rink in Brooklyn Fred Fulton was unimpressive taking a 4-3 decision over Boston's Bartley Madden with three rounds scored even...Fred seemed to lose heart when he couldn't put Madden away in the first four rounds...Fulton weighed 210¼, Madden 189...At Cleveland's Arena big Jess Willard put Alf Langford on the canvas three times in round two to secure the win, and over in New Orleans, young Harry Wills knocked out journeyman Tom Riley inside two rounds...A promoter there wants to match Wills and Willard, but may have to wait in line as promoter Sunny Jim Coffroth wants Willard to meet Tom Cowler here in Los Angeles...In an unusual turn of events the IBU has debuted Harry Wills at No.11 in their world rankings, seemingly on the basis of his 15-0 record since December of 1901...At Tattersall's in Chicago Billy Miske fulfilled a contract in stopping Oakland's Dave Mills in six rounds and expects to head north to meet Canada's Charlie Robinson at Winnipeg...

[Cap]

From The Halifax Herald August 1906...At the Old Forum Sailor Burke got the wrong end of an eight round decision last evening, losing to the Frenchman Wilfrid Gagne six rounds to two...many at ringside scored those two rounds even...Over in Coaltown Dan MacDonald made a quick meal of Montreal's Phil Miller forcing a stoppage less than two minutes into round one...A good sized mob at Collier's Field in Sydney saw Bert Kenny win a technical knockout over Roddie MacDonald thanks to cuts over both of Roddie's lamps and one inside his gob...It was seven rounds of the most vicious fighting ever seen in these parts...A proposed match between Winnipeg's Charlie Robinson and Billy Miske of the US has been called off after Robinson was knocked out by Frank O'Malley the other day...Al Lambert, the Moncton fighter who fought in the semi windup of that card has issued a challenge to O'Malley to meet him in Halifax with a purse of $500 winner take all and a side wager of $1,000 put up by his backers...Lambert's brother has already posted Al's $100 forfeit with the Herald's sports editor...Halifax promoter Willie MacLellan is scouring the hills and dales for new headliners saying,"The public is tired of seeing the same old faces in the ring. They won't shell out for minor talents imported from the States either. Looking over the new boys coming out of the Dominion Boxing Foundation's academy I don't see much there frankly. There's one amateur prospect though who could be something special if he decides to turn pro. His name is Johnny Gillis and he's a big lad. He hails from the same coal mining district that produced Roddie MacDonald, Jack Munroe and Mickey MacIntyre. He's a rough diamond but no less an authority than George Byers says he could be a future champion." Gillis, the youngest of four brothers and five sisters, is 17, stands just under six feet four and weighs in at about 198, though his current trainer expects him to put on more muscle in the next few years...

[Cap]

Excerpt from Mitt Slingers Magazine September 1906...The IBU has mandated a rematch between Luther McCarty and Joe Jeannette and opened it up for bids...The likeliest outfit will be the 20th Century Club and Madison Square Garden...Sam Langford will be touring the East coast and may stop in Boston to defend his title against someone from the IBU's top ten rankings...Tom Cowler's name came up but he is reportedly contracted to meet Jess Willard at the Naud Junction Pavilion...Jim Coffey the big Irish lad is a possibility as he was supposed to box Carl Morris in Newark but had that fight cancelled due to an undisclosed injury sustained by the Oklahoman in training...Bill Brennan has apparently agreed to meet Harry Wills the New Orleans pugilist sometime this year...Georges Carpentier is petitioning the EBU to force Charles Weinert to give him a rematch and considering the fact there are no other serious contenders, he's liable to get it...Colin Bell, current Empire champion, is looking to invade Canada and the USA this Fall and has had several serious offers including one to fight Arthur Pelkey at Montreal...Bell is also said to be mulling over an invitation to return to Australia to take on Ern Waddy the new Australasian champion...Following his disastrous effort against Carpentier, Gunboat Smith is taking a bit of a holiday and weighing offers to fight Frank Moran in Paris or some poor English sod at the National Sporting Club...Mike Collins manager of Fred Fulton the Rochester Plasterer, has returned his boy to the friendly confines of his gym in Minnesota to "work on a few things" after his sub-par performance against Bartley Madden two weeks ago...Retired this year are Art Beaudoin, Les O'Donnell, Des Quinlan, Morris Harris and Sandy MacNab...

[Cap]

Notes from ringside at the National Sporting Club October 9, 1906...At 2:10 of round three (Colin) Bell landed what (Gunboat) Smith's manager later called "The luckiest punch I ever saw!" and Smith collapsed like a house of cards. Bell was directed to a neutral corner by referee Corri as previously agreed, and the count tolled over Smith. At "10" the lanky American lurched to his feet and tried to resume hostilities...Round one started slowly but ended with violent exchanges in Smith's corner. Round was even. In round two Bell forced the action and Smith countered. Round for Bell. Then came the fatal third...Prior to the match Smith told reporters "Bell will wish he stayed down under. After I put him away I want another go at Carpentier."...As for Georges Carpentier, he discovered that his loss to Charles Weinert last July was no fluke and he fared even worse the second time, sustaining an ugly gash that forced the referee to stop the action and award the win to the Hungarian in the 9th round...Referee Alois scored five of the first eight rounds for Weinert and many in the press felt he was being generous to Carpentier...At Glasgow Derek Beattie made a fight of it for roughly two minutes of the first round before Colin Morrison took over and handed him a one-sided thrashing before putting him down twice in round three, at which point the referee stopped the fight at the request of Beattie's corner...The German lads Otto Flint and Ernst Rosemann needed a total of three rounds to dispose of Jan De Groot and Fernand Tresfort and now loom as the two biggest threats to the current European champion...Last evening Bombardier Wells appeared a little gun-shy after his loss to Frank Moran and boxed cautiously throughout, never leaving himself open to Robert Bayle's counters, and making it a close thing...Famed music hall entertainer Sir Harry Lauder sat ringside and felt Wells should have pressed his attack when he had Bayle wobbly in the eighth round. "Och! One good straight right hand would have put the Frenchman awa."