1914-04-07 George Chip L-KO1 Al McCoy [Broadway Sporting Club, Brooklyn, NY, USA]

1914-04-08 New-York Tribune (New York, NY) (page 9)

CHIP KNOCKED OUT IN FIRST ROUND
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Obscure Boxer Named Al McCoy Springs to Fame in the Ring.
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ONE BLOW PUTS A CHAMPION TO SLEEP
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Man Who Is Credited with the Middleweight Crown Counted Out in Brooklyn.

A new middleweight champion of the East, and of the world, if there is any basis to the contentions of George Chip, was crowned at the Broadway Sporting Club of Brooklyn last night, when Al McCoy, an obscure middleweight of Brooklyn, knocked out this same George Chip, of Newcastle, in 1 minute and 41 seconds.

A left hand uppercut, the first real blow, that travelled about three inches, but which carried all the dynamic power of the Brooklyn lad's muscular body, landed flush on Chip's chin, and all was over save the formality of a count that was entirely unnecessary.

For eight seconds the Newcastle miner never moved a muscle. Then the fighting instinct sounded a call which a dazed brain endeavored to enforce over numbed muscles. Chip lifted his head and tried to drag himself to his feet. As the referee shouted "nine" in his ears he raised his shoulders clear of the mat, but the effort was too much. The iron fist of McCoy had struck the vital spot, and Chip collapsed, to rise no more until helped to his feet by the referee.

A more unexpected, sensational climax to a fight which on the surface had looked one sided was never witnessed in this city. Beside it the one-punch victory of "Terrible Terry" McGovern over "Pedler" Palmer paled, and the tenth-round triumph of Stanley Ketchel over Jack O'Brien shrank into insignificance.

Those men were champions, fighting champions. But here was a novice, a man unheard of outside of the narrow confines of Brooklyn, and unsung even there. Even his friends gasped when his manager matched him with the generally accredited middleweight champion of the world, the man who had defeated the great Frank Klaus.

Chip, bull-throated, heavily muscled and forbidding as a snarling wolf, walked out as the bell sounded, his mouth twisted in a contemptuous sneer, touched gloves in the most cursory manner and then went at the task in hand. He would crush this novice in a punch and catch the first train to New Castle, or wherever his fancy directed.

So he walked out, swinging a right that carried disaster, and, like a frightened sheep, McCoy fled before him. Chip smiled. He believed he was master, and one punch more or less mattered not. He tried again, and once more McCoy danced--no, he ran--away, and Chip's sneer relaxed into a smile.

Chip feinted, hooked his right and Al, making no effort to hit back, folded his arms over his head and fled for dear life. The champion waded in and smashed a left to the nose, bringing a spatter of blood. There was another clinch and the referee parted them.

Then came the knockout. As McCoy stood there in an attitude of wary defence, Chip drew back his right to strike. Right then and there he paved the way for his own defeat. McCoy waited until that right was all the way back, pulled out of all position for defence, and then leaped in with a left hand uppercut. It was the only time he led--the only punch he landed--but it was sufficient. It struck flush on the nerve centre, and like a pole axed steer Chip went down.

The crowd sat still for a moment. Not a shout hailed the fall of the champion. They were dumbfounded. In the ring McCoy stood there stark still and staring. He could not realize that he was the man who must be recognized as the champion of all the middleweights, in the East, at any rate, until he is decisively beaten by an opponent in a stand-up fight.

Then came the realization. As the victor's seconds swarmed into the ring to carry their man to his corner the crowd stood up to bellow its applause to the rising sun of the middleweight world. Wild-eyed friends swarmed into the ring, eager to shake a hand they might have scorned had fortune frowned--but such is the way of the world.

McCoy went out of the ring a wild-eyed, happy boy to whom the gates of prosperity had been suddenly opened.

Chip has been accredited champion since October 11, 1913, when he defeated Frank Klaus in six rounds. Since then he has boxed five bouts. He broke his hands in two of these matches and had to rest.


1914-04-08 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY) (page 3)

McCOY'S TRIUMPH STIRS FIGHT FANS
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Can Hardly Realize That Brooklynite Cleanly Knocked Out Klaus' Conqueror.
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UPPERCUT TURNS THE TRICK.
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Winner's Showing Poor Until Careless Chip Gives Fatal Opening in First Round.
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Brooklyn fight fans have not yet recovered from the shock of the knockout which Al McCoy, weighing 156 pounds, administered to George Chip, weighing 162¼ pounds, last night at the Broadway Sporting Club, in this borough. The blow that stopped Chip, claimant of the middleweight championship by virtue of his having twice knocked out Frank Klaus, landed on the fans almost as heavily as on Chip, and they were as dazed as he was.

McCoy is a left-handed fighter after the style of Knock-Out Brown. For the first minute and thirty-nine seconds he did not put over a punch. He had never been highly esteemed even in this, his home town, and it was freely predicted that he would spend a busy evening running away from Chip, who is famous for his hefty wallop and the punishment he can deliver. McCoy began to make the predictions good. He was entirely on the defensive, and had all he could do to save himself from going to sleep as a result of the heavy smashes Chip directed at both body and head.

They had not been fighting a minute when Chip swung with his right and all his might at McCoy's jaw. The Brooklynite ducked away by half an inch to spare and gave every indication of wishing he had fishing instead of fighting. Chip constantly had McCoy against the ropes, and it was coming out from one of those mixes that brought the finish. They were in the center of the ring and Chip was holding his arms loose with the evident intention of cutting loose with both right and left to the head. He has a short, hooking sort of swing of tremendous power but has practically no defense at his best. When he was holding his opponent in contempt and was devoting his thought entirely to putting over the haymaker he had no defense at all.

As Chip started toward McCoy, the latter made every move of a boxer rushing into a clinch to save himself, and most of the spectators still believe that was what he was doing. But, in going into a clinch almost every boxer tried to land one punch as he gathers his rival to his bosom.

McCoy went in with his right extended, and as he did so Chip set himself for a shot at his head. That brought Chip's right hand high and he also seems to be preparing to counter with the left, for it was drawn back instead of being in the position it should have been in if he had kept an eye on his defense.

In dashed McCoy, and he simply beat Chip to the punch. His left came up in a sweeping uppercut, caught Chip squarely on the chin and the stricken Pittsburger dropped for the full count of ten.


1914-04-08 The Evening Telegram (New York, NY) (page 10)

M'COY CHAMPION, PUTS AWAY CHIP IN TWO MINUTES
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"Al" McCoy to-day claims the middleweight championship of the world for having knocked out George Chip in the first round of their scheduled ten round bout in the Broadway Sporting Club, Brooklyn, last night.

The sweeping left hand swing which McCoy has used like a flail in his many bouts across the bridge finally landed at the most opportune time for its possessor, catching the title holder just under the point of the chin, almost in the neck.

Chip dropped backward like a log and never moved for the ten seconds. He was carried to his corner and was groggy when he left the ring. He had no statement to make after the contest.

McCoy weighed in at 156 and Chip was six pounds heavier. They rushed to a clinch in the first round and McCoy missed with his first attempt to land his stock in trade, the left swing. Chip sent a light left to the stomach and followed with a right. They mixed, Chip having the better of it.

In the centre of the ring Chip missed a left which shot over McCoy's head. But McCoy already had started one of his left swings, and, unhindered and unblocked, it struck with terrific force against Chip's chin and neck. It ended the contest after little more than a minute's fighting.


1914-04-08 The New York Times (New York, NY) (page 11)

Chip Put Out in First Round.

The middleweight championship aspirations of George Chip of Scranton, Penn., took a decided slump last night, when Al McCoy, the Brooklyn middleweight, knocked Chip out in the first round of their scheduled ten-round bout, which was billed as the main attraction at the Broadway Sporting Club of Brooklyn. The knockout came as a complete surprise to the crowd, and for several minutes after his seconds had carried Chip to his corner the spectators cheered McCoy lustily. The weights, as announced from the ring, were 156 for McCoy and 162¼ for Chip.

Chip started off the aggressor, and several times tried rights to the head or body, but the Brooklyn middleweight cleverly avoided or blocked his opponent's swings. About one minute after the bell had started the boxers on their journey Chip attempted a left for the jaw, but McCoy cleverly ducked the punch and sent a crashing left to the Newcastle middleweight's jaw. Chip sank to the floor of the ring, and fully one minute elapsed before he was revived. As he left the ring McCoy was cheered wildly and heralded as "the middleweight champion."


1914-04-08 The Sun (New York, NY) (page 10)

ONE PUNCH SETTLES CHIP.
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McCoy Knocks Out Title Claimant in Very First Round.

George Chip of Newcastle, Pa., may or may not have been the logical middleweight champion of the world up to last night, but whatever he was he isn't any more, for Al McCoy of Brooklyn knocked him out with one punch last night at the Broadway Sporting Club in Brooklyn. His aspirations, if such they were, toward a boxing crowd were knocked into a cocked hat by the left hand swing which landed flush on the centre of his chin exactly one minute and forty-one seconds after the referee had called the men to the centre of the ring and informed them that all the latest hesitation steps were barred.

To say that the big crowd which filled the house was surprised is putting it mildly for every one present was busy figuring out just how long the Brooklyn boy would last. And it might be said in passing that prominent among those present who were waiting for a Chip victory was one Al McCoy.

When the Milling began McCoy, who weighed 156 pounds, looked anything but pleased with the task that was confronting him, and in the interval preceding the sudden ending of the affair he spent his time running away from the 162¼ pound Chip, who was swinging wildly. McCoy in his eagerness to get away from the punishment which threatened should Chip hit him broke all records from a hundred yards up.

He suddenly stopped, however, and Chip, eager to grasp his opportunity, started a right swing that had all the earmarks of a haymaker. McCoy crossed in with his left, shooting over a hybrid punch which was half swing and half uppercut, and the Newcastle fighter went down flat. Chip didn't even wiggle until seven had been counted. At the count of eight he raised his head, but that was the nearest he came to getting up. Some of Chip's cohorts came forward with the old lucky punch gag. It may have been lucky, but it certainly was hard.