1907-11-12 Sam Langford W-PTS20 Young Peter Jackson [Pacific Athletic Club, Naud Junction, Los Angeles, CA, USA]

1907-11-13 Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, CA) (page 8)

LANGFORD-JACKSON FIGHT IS A FARCE
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SHADY MEN GIVE FIASCO
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YELLOW PETER REFUSES TO STAND UP AND SLUG
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SAM RUNS BLACK BALTIMORE JACK RABBIT A RACE
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Boston Negro Gets Decision After Twenty Rounds of Clinching That Disgusts Enormous House
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BY J. G. GRIFFIN

No tragedy, lots of comedy and still more farce marked the initial production of the Jackson-Langford continuous performance company in Los Angeles.

One of the actors, Mistah Langford, is pretty fair, and gained the plaudits of the crowd--as well as Referee Eyton's decision--but as for Mistah Jackson--whew! To the incinerator with such!

Contrary to all expectations a large crowd turned out at Uncle Tom's cabin to see what proved to be one of the rottenest cards, at least so far as the main event went, that has ever been pulled off, even there. The preliminaries, both of them good, saved the day, for the windup was not worth watching.

Peter Holds On

To begin with, Jackson crabbed it for the entire distance. Out of the sixty minutes of action in the ring it's a cinch bet that Young Peter dogged it for fifty-eight of them, and tried with wild and ineffectual swings for the other two.

Langford would stand off at long range and pepper away at Peter's head and body, usually landing. The blows did not hurt Jackson such an awful lot, and he kept in close, endeavoring to wear Sam down with body blows delivered in the clinches.

From beginning to end Pete stalled along and only in the clinches did he make any endeavor to use his arms. A few times he shot out with wild swings which Langford easily evaded, and the half a dozen real clean punches of the battle (?) were for the most part shot in by Samuel.

Just to show how fight hungry the town is, a crowd that packed the big pavilion to the roof turned out and spent the time during the main event in hooting the boxers and yelling for Langford. Peter's several attempts to claim a foul were greeted with more than groans, and ll Eyton had to do at the end of the twentieth round was to grab Langford's mitt in token of victory.

Both Preliminaries Hot

To drop the frosty part of the program for a while, the preliminaries should be mentioned, as both of them were all to the tobasco. Jimmy Royle and Roy Rogers fought a fast six-round go to a draw and Young Terry McGovern upheld Tom McCarey's opinion of his ability by making Harry Dunn stop in the tenth and last round.

The McGov-Dunn contest was one real affair, with honors resting slightly with McGov nearly all the way. Dunn is a good enough boy with a perfect build and a machine-like mouth that chewed gum even up to the time McGov landed him helpless on the ropes. His seconds slipped over a piece of lemon in lieu of a sponge and the show ended right near the close.

Dunn a Whirlwind

Dunn started out like a whirlwind and nearly pushed McGov through the ropes in the second spasm. The newcomer's infighting was all the candy, and he had McGov guessing a little, until the latter warmed up toward the end of the second.

The third was something fierce, both boys going their fastest. Dunn was tired, but awfully willing, and together with McGov he provided the best round of fighting that has been seen here in a long time. Young Terry ripped his glove at the wrist, and every time he sent one over, the ring was strewn with a deluge of hair.

Things began to slow up a little in the fourth, and McGov slipped one over to the beak that opened the member up a bit. The fifth was also a little tame, and in the sixth McGov stalled until almost the end, all of which got him nothing.

Young Terry tincanned a bit in the seventh, but opened up in the spasm following and floored Dunn with a series of punches to the head. Harry was bewildered, but game, and stalled off the inevitable until the bell sent the lads to the corners.

The ninth was fast enough to suit any of them, and Terry shot one over on the jaw that loosened up the gum chewing molars. In the tenth he tore in like a little cyclone, and had Dunn groggy almost at the start.

Asleep on the Ropes

The new boy leaned over on the ropes and didn't know whether he was asleep or on horseback, and his seconds had sense enough to throw in a piece of lemon, which did for a sponge.

Jimmy Royle and Joe Rogers opened the evening's program, and it must have been that sympathy favored the little fellow. Rogers outweighed him at least ten pounds, and had all the best of it in reach, but Jimmy was there to take a beating, even after he had been floored with a bad wallop on the jaw right in the opening round.

Royle came back stronger as the fight progressed, and in the fifth he opened up and had all the best of it. His gameness stood him in good stead, for the last two rounds were all his and Tommy Walsh rendered a draw decision, which was a little to the horseshoe for Jimmy.

Abe Again Advertises

In between the preliminaries and the so called big show the Abe Attell publicity department was put on and gave an exhibition. Kid Farmer crawled into the ring first, and challenged George Memsic (by request), to meet at 138 at 3 o'clock on the day of the fight. Georgie followed and declared his willingness to meet anyone in the business at 133 pounds, and then Attell came along and offered to fight George at 133 if the latter would first meet Farmer at 138. Memsic wisely refrained from biting at the bait, and there was nothing doing along the lines of a match.

Dingles' Fight Rotten

It's a shame to waste paper on the Jackson-Langford farce, so a brief summary will suffice. The mill opened with a rush, Young Peter breaking into a clinch and whanging away with both hands at the kidneys. Sam showed his skill at the long range work, while Peter lined up well in the close stuff.

Sam feinted Peter open in the second, and shot over a right to the bread basket that did Pete no good. A few jabs also helped some, and it was an easy Langford round. In the third Pete broke fast, and swung both arms like a windmill, but the only damage done was a cut on Langford's lip. Sam jabbed back with a will, and there was nothing really exciting recorded.

The fourth and fifth were the same, except that in the latter Pete went wrong again, and Sam was forced to stick around close to keep from falling into a haymaker. Sam kept his opponent open in the sixth and kept his long left going fast, keeping it up in the seventh. Sam's shanty, the foundation for which was laid in the fourth round, rose rapidly in this period, and toward the end his left lamp was nearly closed.

Eyton Interferes

Charlie Eyton had been separating the men without going between them up to the eighth, but at last he was forced to get busy and push the dingles apart in order to let them to break. The crowd began hooting at this stage of the game, for Jackson had developed a lovely case of stall.

More hoots followed in the ninth, and when his seconds began wiping Langford off with the national colors at the end of the round there was a small sized riot under way. The tenth was a good fast round, and Pete was hanging on to keep from being punished too severely in the eleventh.

The covering tactics were resorted to by Jackson again in the twelfth, but along toward the middle of the spasm he tore loose and tried with wild swings. Sam slipped over a hard right to the head, but no real damage was done. Pete started the thirteenth like he meant business, but a few jabs caused him to cover again.

Pete Tries for Knockout

Pete caught Langford under the chin with his elbow in the fourteenth and swung him over to the mat, trying his best to land a knockout as Sam went down.

In the fifteenth, Pete backed into a corner and drew Langford after him, but it got Jackson nothing, as Sam stood off and peppered him. More howls greeted the sixteenth, and Pete kept on trying to finish it with a punch in tho following act. He landed several neat blows, but they did no great amount of damage, and all Langford had to do was to keep on with his long range work, and protect his body in the clinches.

Hosts Greet Stall

Pete's elbow work in the eighteenth was something rich, and when he commenced to stall the hoots from all parts of the house were renewed. In the nineteenth, Langford landed the real punch of the fight, when he feinted Peter opened and shot over a terrific right to the stomach. Sam kept after his man and Pete bent low, trying to make Eyton think that a foul had been committed.

The windup was about the same, with Pete bleeding profusely from the lips. Sam worked his shift to advantage, and Pete was rather the worse for wear at the end of the putrid battle.

The way things came out is no more than was expected. All along The Herald has contended that the fight as a fight would not amount to much, and this opinion was more than justified by the way things went.

Langford a Good Fighter

One thing determined, however, is that Langford is a fighter who can make a whole lot of the white light heavies sit up and take notice. He did not have much chance to display his skill for Jackson stalled too much, but any time Sammy starts he is sure to have a large following among the local sports.


1907-11-13 The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) (page I6)

BLACK TURNS YELLOW.
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SAM LANGFORD SHOWS CLASS.
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Whips Young Peter Jackson in Twenty Rounds.
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Outboxed and Outfights the Baltimore Negro.
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Young McGovern Meets Tartar, but Finally Wins.
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Sam Langford made Young Peter Jackson “quit” in their twenty-round fight before the Pacific Athletic Club last night, and incidentally showed himself to be one of the classiest all-around fighters in the ring today.

Jackson never had a show, and not once did he deliver a blow that hurt the Boston black. Long before the bout was concluded Peter was stalling and in the last three rounds, he quit dead, and simply stayed the limit because he was able to assimilate all the punishment Langford handed to him.

Langford did all the forcing and showed a willingness to fight at all times. Jackson tried to play foxy through three-fourths of the battle, and while covering up, kept the crowd in expectancy for a rally at the proper time when he should catch the Boston darky off his guard. But Langford was too clever a boxer, and too good a ring general to leave the opening, and meanwhile Jackson took an awful walloping.

Toward the end of the fight the punishment began to tell; and Jackson cast about for some more serviceable way to protect himself than by covering. Langford had found all the holes in his defense, and picked the spots with unerring judgment. Then Peter began to back up and walk away, and force himself into a clinch. He even attempted to induce the referee to believe that some of the hard left swings Langford sent into his stomach landed foul, but the blows were clean and the bluff did not go either with the crowd or the referee.

CLAIMED FOUL.

Eyton cautioned Jackson to do better work and openly laughed at his claims of foul. Jackson attempted several rallies but his stamina was gone, and in the last round Langford had him very weak and bleeding badly at the mouth. Sam did not lose sight of the fact, however, that Jackson is dangerous at all times if an opening shows itself, and played the game safe, being content with a decision.

The crowd did not take kindly to Jackson’s style of fighting in the last half of the battle, and hooted him roundly. Many began to leave the hall, as Langford had such a wide margin that nothing short of a knock-out would have lost him the decision, while Jackson had shown almost certain inability to accomplish the trick.

Langford caught the crowd with his clean, effective work. He is a two-handed fighter, with a punch in either hand and enough cleverness to protect himself in the clinches or at long range. He amply justified Eddie Keevin's efforts for nearly a year to get him on before McCarey's club, and showed that none of the white boys have any business with him.

Jackson's friends claim that it is his style of fighting to continue to cover up and stall until he finds an opening, but Peter carried it to extremes and the majority of those who saw his fight believe that he quit and refused to fight when he was being walloped.

The fight looked to be the last which these two negroes are to have, being their sixth. Jackson is getting too old, and Langford is ready for bigger game in the championship class. Although Jackson proved to be the stronger and possessed of the harder punch when he allowed himself an attempt at delivery, Langford was by far the classier fighter of the two.

MUCH INFIGHTING.

The men got busy at once and began heavy infighting, at which Langford proved the best, as he landed the greater number of blows, although not as strong as his opponent. Langford was better at protecting himself, as he paid more attention to the direction of his opponent's blows, while Jackson blindly covered and thus left occasional openings which Langford was not slow in finding. He would step back and look for these holes while Jackson covered, and when he picked a place to deliver a blow, he was able to hit with either hand at long or short range with plenty of steam behind the blow.

Jackson was game for half the fight and took enough punishment to suffice for putting out half a dozen white boys. Langford slammed the left to the body or head and crossed over to the head or jaw frequently, but Peter came back for more. Only when he saw his task of winning hopeless, did he slow up and retreat before the attack. Often Langford backed him into a corner and feinted him into an opening. After taking a few punches, Jackson would crouch and force himself into a clinch, when he would attempt to hammer Langford's stomach. But the latter would block the most of them and then drive in hard right or left until Jackson held to protect himself.

Jackson at times tried to overpower his opponent by sheer brute strength, but Langford was clever enough to use his lesser strength to better advantage and always staved off harm.

In the eleventh Langford landed a hard right to the jaw, near the ear, and Jackson showed real signs of weakness. From then on Peter doubled up whenever Langford led, and staggered about the ring while Langford danced about and tried to jab his way into an opening. Often Langford found an opportunity to land one on the ear or jaw and then Jackson's staggering was not caused by attempts to cover up.

It was all Langford thereafter, and the crowd became disgusted with Jackson.

DUNN PROVES TARTAR.

Harry Dunn gave Young McGovern the hardest fight of his life in the second preliminary, and it was not until McGovern finally sent across a hard right to the chin in the tenth, which dazed Dunn, that the local boy was able to win. That blow befuddled Dunn and he was soon at the mercy of the "Slugger." Referee Tommy Walsh stopped the fight when Dunn staggered over against the ropes, unable to see in which direction he was fighting.

The battle was the fiercest ever seen in the ring, and one of the hardest hitting contests between little fellows ever fought. Dunn, who hails from Kansas City, and whose real name is Nebergall, was game to the core and never let up in his fighting. Most of the time he carried the battle to McGovern, and in the clinches walloped the kidneys with his right until McGovern had to be content with protecting himself.

Dunn showed little ability to land his blows clean, and had little defense. Had he been able to land his blows so as to count and to avoid McGovern's hard swings, he had an excellent chance to win.

Reports that Abe Attell had bet heavily on McGovern seemed to be confirmed by the interest the featherweight champion took in the fight. He went into McGovern's corner in the seventh and coached him in desperate fashion. McGovern woke up to the fact that he had a hard task before him when his right overhand swings went wild, and he took on a worried look and fought very earnestly.

The chances are that the battle might have been declared a draw had not McGovern been able to slip across that right to the chin, which enabled him to finish the battle in the last round.

These boys ought to be good for another fast ten-round go under the new ordinance.

GOOD DRAW.

Jimmy Royle and Joe Rogers went six rounds to a draw--very fast for preliminary fighters. Rogers looked eight pounds heavier and much stronger, but Royle made up in cleverness and gameness which he lacked in size and punching powers. Rogers scored a clean knockdown in the first round, but Royle came back strong, and by carefully avoiding as many of Rogers's hay-maker swings as possible, sneaked in enough counters to even things at the end.