Tuesday, May 24, 2011

1921-05-23 Tommy Gibbons W-KO1 Jack Heinen [Canton Auditorium, Canton, OH, USA]

1921-05-24 The Evening Repository (Canton, OH) (page 15)
Let's Go, Says Tommy; And He Slams Heenan In Slats For Kayo In First Round

Just a few minutes before he stepped out of his civies and into the Auditorium ring last night Tommy Gibbons informed us that he would flatten Jack Heenan, Chicago heavy, just as soon as possible. He proceeded to do so but required two minutes and five seconds to turn the trick, which was exceedingly slow time for Tommy, considering the fact that he was in a hurry to hit the hay and rest up for his fights at Youngstown on Friday and Brooklyn on Monday.

Yes, slow for Gibbons but not slow for the fans, who voiced their desire to see a bit more of the St. Paul wonder. They implored Gibbons to box with Heenan and leave him stick for a round or two, but Tommy is out gunning for Jack Dempsey and is piling up an impressive record against all comers. He stops them all just as soon as possible so that when the time comes Dempsey will have no weak spots at which to point as an alibi. Tommy can't be blamed for slaughtering Heenan. He's out for the big stuff.

Gibbons took just enough time to display his power as a puncher. He stepped out of his corner with the bell, squared off with the Chicago boy and shot a wicked right under the heart. The punch travelled no more than a foot but it carried an awful jolt, and Heenan went down--not immediately but as soon as the blow took effect on his heart. He just sank and the fight was over right there, so far as Mr. Heenan was concerned, even though he gamely crawled to his feet at the count of nine to absorb a one-two combination on the jaw and another jolt in the body. Being a merciful chap, Tommy rammed this one into the right side of Jack's torso with his right fist. It was the fourth knock-down and the final, as Eddie Davis motioned Gibbons to his corner and helped to carry Heenan to his chair.

Many of the bugs seemed to think that Heenan quit, but he didn't. He took two deadly jolts to the body and two on the jaw, just short ones but with all of the Gibbons snap and rip in them. He lasted about as long as most of Tommy's opponents have been lasting, ever since the St. Paul chap has been trying to force a fight out of Dempsey.

The so-called crowd, which did not pay off the furniture debt for the American Legion as expected, was disappointed only in the fact that it did not get a chance to really see Gibbons work. He put on the big stuff so gosh-darned quickly that it was all over before the fans had restored their sweat-soaked kerchiefs to the natural reposing place of a half-pint flask.

The card opened up well, with two good scraps of six rounds in front of a semi that smelled badly. The less said about this semi-final, the better for the game, as a bird labelled Leo Williams toted about 20 pounds of surplus fat into the ring and then got a near-draw with Johnny Thiel. Both are from Akron, and probably working in the same gym. Williams looked as if he had just hopped over the counter into his trunks, which were about two sized too small.

George Parr, Canton 125-pounder, put up one of the best battles of his career but ran second to Dick Mette in the best mill of the evening. He took two of the six rounds by slamming his right to the jaw with staggering effect, but Mette kept piling up points continually and was well in the lead when they quit. Parr was short on too many of his leads, while Mette's judgment of distance and his timing were good, especially with his left.

Happy Hartman took a lacing, and a bloody one, from Muggy Mullane in the opener but he stuck the limit of six and was fighting when they quit. Muggsy had him in deep troubles on several occasions but Hap kept fighting back even when his legs were white and shagy. A gory mouth and a badly cut eye were Happy's portion.

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