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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Best black fighters in 1916

1916-08-04 The Winnipeg Evening Tribune (Winnipeg, MB, Canada) (page 13)
Blacks Menace Only Heavyweight Crown
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Contrary to popular opinion the lifting of the ban on "mixed bouts" jeopardizes the position and prestige of white boxers, in only one class. In every division except the heavyweight ranks the white men far outclass the colored warriors.

Amy Mack, who runs the Vanderbilt and Military clubs in Brooklyn, N.Y., and who has made a specialty of staging "colored boxing shows," declares that the rescission of the rule benefits the ebony-skinned ringmen in only one way--it gives them a wider field of action and a better chance to develop their ability.
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"At the present time," says Mack, "I don't know of one colored boxer in any of the various divisions outside of the heavyweight class who would stand the slightest chance against the best white boxers. There are some mighty clever colored boxers, but they don't class with our boys. I am well qualified to judge their chances, as I have seen every one of them in action."
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There are about 30 prominent colored boxers around Brooklyn at the present time. In the bantamweight division Harry Gardner is considered the champion. He has for classmates Buddy Faulkes, Mark Spencer, Battling Chuck, Terry Martin and Frankie Williams.
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There are only four real good men in the colored featherweight class. Darky Griffin is generally conceded to be the best man. The others are Wade Johnson, Kid Brooks and Sailor Burton.
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In the lightweight ranks Eddie (Kid) Dorsey stands out. He has been compared with Joe Gans, but the comparison flatters him. While he is a very clever boxer he doesn't figure with men like Johnny Dundee, Freddie Welsh, Benny Leonard, Charlie White, Joe Welling, and numerous good men among the white lightweights. Dorsey has a pipin of a left hand, and is as fast as a streak on his feet, but he can't punch.
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Other good colored lightweights are Leo Johnson, Wee Wee Barton, Kid Kines, Jack White and Young Joe Gans. Dorsey has defeated most of these.
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The classiest colored welterweight is Young Hicks, who claims the championship of the division. He is a hard hitter, but slow and is a mark for a good left hand. His rivals are Battling Gans, Joe De Nite, Frenchy Robibson, Young Peter Jackson and Tommy Coleman, the Philadelphia veteran.

The star colored middleweights are Willie Langford, rated the best of them all; "Jersey Ben" Douglas, Nero Chink, Kid White, Knockout Johnson, Young Jack Johnson, Battling Holmes, Dixie Kid and George Gunther.
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In the colored heavyweight class John Lester Johnson is the only man of recent development. There are probably half a dozen second-rate white heavies who could defeat him, but in Sam Langford, Sam McVey, Harry Wills, and even Joe Jeanette and ponderous Battling Jim Johnson he has classmates who would raise havoc among the Caucasians.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

1915-06-22 Jack Britton W-PTS12 Mike Glover [Atlas Athletic Association, Boston, MA, USA]

1915-06-23 Boston Journal (Boston, MA) (page 10)
Jack Britton Gets Decision Over Mike Glover on Points But Lacks His Old Steam
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SOUTH BOSTON BOY LOSES TO BRITTON
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Mike Glover Not so Good a Boxer as Jack and Loses Decision After Fast Battle.
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By Jack Malaney

Jack Britton proved himself a better boxer than Mike Glover in the third meeting between the pair, held last night at the Atlas A. A., and accordingly received the decision. It was a tough and fast battle. Throughout the 12 rounds there was action, and plenty of it, and the contest was satisfactory in every way. The work of the boxers was very fine, as was also the decision and refereeing of Patsy Haley. One of the biggest crowds of the season packed the Arena.

Britton did not show his former hard-hitting ability, but he made it clear to about everybody that was fair enough to realize it that he is a clever boxer and that he can beat South Boston Mike about any time he tries it. There was not a knockdown during the affair, neither was either man in bad shape or clanger at all; it was too swift a battle to allow of setting for hard-hitting.

Bout as if a Regular Thing

Calm and cool as Charley White ever thought of being, only about three times as active, Britton went through the bout as if it was a regular thing with him to meet and beat Glover. In the rounds in which Britton had the edge, and there were about five of them, Jack appeared to be very far ahead because of the undignified manner in which he outboxed Mike.

The greater number of Britton's punches were swiftly delivered taps and light hooks. From the fifth to the 10th sessions he put these kinds onto Mike's face with about the same ease that he would if he was putting stamps on instead of his gloves. All the while Glover was dodging and ducking trying to get away from, but he couldn't.

Blows Fail to Disturb Mike

Several times Britton cut loose with his blows, or it appeared that he did, and, though they landed on the right spots, they failed to even disturb Mike outwardly. On one occasion, in the eleventh, Jack hooked both hands hard, and almost at the same time, and, though they landed flush on Mike's jaws, they didn't have the necessary steam to do any damage.

Glover fought a much better battle than he did against Wells. He was not able to uppercut as he did in the tilt with the Englishman, for Britton moved around too quickly for him, but he made up for this with long, circling swings. He connected with Britton good and proper plenty of times, but the wallops rolled off as would water off a duck's back.

Jack Shows the One, Two, Three

Early in the bout, Britton showed what a fast left he had, for by the end of the opening round Mike's face was brilliantly lighted with unnatural color. Later the visitor gave a demonstration of his one, two, three punch, which was a left to the body, a right to the body and then a right to the head. His blocking and dodging was also a big part of the night's work.

The first four rounds were pretty nearly even, but in the fifth, Britton went ahead. All told there were about five rounds in which he was unquestionably the leader and in those he got far enough ahead to allow him to take it easy. In the last three innings Glover worked desperately to get a look in, but it would have taken a couple of knockdowns to put him on even footing with Dan Morgan's performer.

Although the weight was announced as 140 pounds, the men weighed in at 141 pounds at 4 o'clock and both were under weight.

Preliminaries Poor

The preliminaries did not turn out to be as good as they appeared on paper. The semi-final was a surprise, for Belgium Brown soundly thrashed Young Jasper. The North Ender was battered when and wherever the Belgium wanted and by the sixth round the bout was one-sided. Jasper was slower in thinking and acting than he has ever appeared before.

Frankie Hanlon of South Boston appeared in place of Johnny Murphy of the same district in the second six-rounder against Johnny Noonan, and Frankie got so much handed to him that his seconds acknowledged defeat in the third. Jack Mansfield of Lawrence won from John Emery in the opening contest.

Next week's program is as follows: Sam Langford v. Sam McVea, 12 rounds; Dave Powers v. George Alger, eight rounds; Howard McRae v. Young Stone of Providence, six rounds; Young Clancy v. Young Brusso of Attleboro, six rounds.

Besides the Gilbert Gallant-Jose Rivers bout booked for July 6, the club has arranged a contest between Charley White and Milburn Saylor of Indianapolis for July 13.


1915-06-23 The Boston Herald (Boston, MA) (page 8)
JACK BRITTON BEATS GLOVER
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Chicago Boxer Earns Award Over South Boston Boy in 12 Rounds at Arena.
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Jack Britton of Chicago defeated Mike Glover of South Boston in a 12-round bout at the Atlas A. A. last night. The decision rendered by Patsey Haley of New York was well received by the gathering, which was a Glover crowd from the start. Had Glover fought as well in the final round as he did in the two periods preceding, the South Boston fighter would have probably earned a draw. But Mike appeared tired and lost his chance.

For science and hard hitting the bout was one of the best furnished by welterweights in a Boston ring in a good many months.

In the third round Britton began to force the pace. Glover held him nip and tuck in the early part of each round and there were some sessions when the South Boston boxer showed a decided advantage. Britton, however, managed to pile up the points in a majority of the rounds.

Twice Glover came near dropping the visitor with right-hand smashes to the jaw. Each time Britton rocked on his heels, but always rallied.

The bout was remarkably clever. The fighters displayed a knowledge of the cleanest kind of boxing, neither showing a disposition to infringe on the rules.

At the half way distance both fighters plainly showed traces of the fast pace. Britton had already taken a slight lead having earned the points in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth. The third belonged to Glover and the opening round ended with honors close enough to be called even.

It was in the third round that Glover showed some masterly fighting. A series of straight jabs to Britton's nose and a right to the head shook the Chicago man to his pins. Glover played a nice tattoo throughout the round on Britton's face and body, the session closing with Britton apparently tired and eager to reach his corner.

Glover started the fourth round by landing a clean left that came close to rocking the Windy City battler and Britton appeared greatly refreshed and forced the pace for the greater part of the round. He could do little damage on account of the clever blocking by Glover. But Britton was entitled to the round for his fighting.

In the next round Britton got up in full swing and had the best of almost every exchange. Glover blocked well but the visitor managed to score best and piled up the points.

Glover's next best round was the eighth, when he caught Britton with a wild right swing that forced the latter to hold until the mist lifted. It was then that Britton showed his skill by evading the greater part of Glover's attacks. The round belonged to Glover and the crowd was in high spirits.

Both were tired and a trifle weak coming up for the ninth round. The pace was hard and the good condition of the men alone kept them going. In this round science was tossed to winds and one tried to outslug the other. In the fast exchange that ensued Britton clinched and both men rolled to the floor. They got up and squared away and banged out the round, which was another that could be called even.

Glover came back amazingly strong for the 10th and, to the surprise of everybody, outslugged and outgeneraled the Chicago man. The round belonged to Glover by a wide margin. The effort left him an almost open target for Britton in the final two rounds. Britton closed in one Glover in the 11th scored repeatedly with a stiff left that made the South Boston man miss many blows.

The final session was practically a repetition of the 11th, although Glover did better by a great deal than he did in the round previous.

The program throughout was a pleasing one, starting with Jack Mansfield defeating Johnny Emery in a well boxed six-round bout. Johnny Noonan defeated Frankie Hanlon in the second round of a bout scheduled for six rounds. Hanlon substituted for Johnny Murphy of South Boston.

Belgian Eddie Brown and Young Jasper fought one of the best eight-round semi-final bouts seen at the local club in a long time. Brown won, and won all the way, taking the lead in the opening round and holding his advantage right out to the closing session, which he finished by clouting Jasper as no other welterweight has ever been seen to before.

The program for next week was announced as bringing together in the feature bout Sam Langford and Sam McVea, the colored heavyweight fighters. Dave Powers and George Alger will meet in an eight-round bout. Young Stone of Providence will meet Howard McRae of Cambridge and Young Clancy will meet Young Brusso of Revere in six-round contests.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Fairness in boxing

1920-03-09 The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH) (page 7)
BOXER REFUSES DECISION.

Buenos Aires, March 7.--The unusual claims of a boxer declared the winner of the bout, protesting against the decision in his favor, was witnessed last night at the close of the ten-round session between Young Cohen, of Boston, billed as featherweight champion of the American-Asiatic fleet, and Julio Perez, featherweight champion of Argentina. The referee at first gave the decision to Young Cohen, but upon the latter's protest that he was not entitled to a victory, the official declared that the bout was a draw amid cheers from the Argentinian audience.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Old vs. New

1918-10-26 The Rockford Republic (Rockford, IL) (page 7)
HIGH PRAISE FOR NEW FIGHTERS BY FORMER SCRAPPER
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Jimmy Barry, Former Bantamweight Champion, Says Boxers in Training Camps Are a Revelation to Him.
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BY ED. W. SMITH.

Score one for the modern boxer! Make it a big one!

Jimmy Barry, former bantamweight champion of the world and one of the greatest fighting men among the midgets that the world ever saw, believes that the modern boxing star has it on the old timers of his day at least. Further, Jimmy is ablize with enthusiasm about the boxing man of today and says that the scribes, who are arguing that the fighter of today is nowhere near as good as the ones of a decade back, don't know what they are talking about.

There is some weight to Jimmy's words since he retired from the game practically unbeaten after whipping everything in his class as well as everything within ten pounds of his heft. Further Jim in his day was closely allied with some of the greatest fighting men of that time and knew them well. Hence, his opinion is well worth considering. Barry told me all about it the other day when he returned from Camp Gordon, Ga., where he had been with the army boxing instructors for a couple of weeks.

"Got It On Old Boys."

"What I saw at Camp Gordon was the biggest sort of a revelation to me," the ex-champ said. "I've got to admit it now though I never did before. They've got it on us, these boys who do the boxing today. They're so good that the old timers like myself must admit that we never at any time approached them in form or style or anything else excepting perhaps the hitting power. Of course that will ever remain the same for a punch is a punch the world over, today or fifty years back or fifty years hence.

"I shadow-boxed with Benny Leonard down there and what a wonder he is, to be sure! He had a broken hand, received in the second round of his recent fight with Ted Lewis, and couldn't put the gloves on. But he showed me enough to make me think, and think deeply. He boxes exactly the style we all used to use twenty years ago. He never takes a punch in order to land one. He gets away from all of them if he can, relying on his own speed and skill to get home his own blows. And he has the science of punching down better than any of the old timers I can remember--straight to the point, never wasting any in wild swings.

"It is of such past masters of boxing as Johnny Kilbane, Mike Gibbons and Packey McFarland I would speak particularly. Say, my boys, they've got a lot of stuff that I never heard of when I was fighting. Their stuff was never in any book. It is all their own.

Hit from All Angles.

"Here's the angle: We used to go straight, always in position with left leg and arm advanced, always hitting out straight and as true as possible. Now, these fellows not only do that, but suddenly they start hitting out from angles that we would have considered impossible. Gibbons can hit you no matter in what position his feet or hands are. So can Kilbane and so can Packey.

"I was simply amazed when I saw them going and couldn't believe it. Mike is a real master but Packey is different. He has a style all his own, like nobody's I ever saw, and it is effective. I saw him box, once with Willie Ritchie and once with Harry Brewer of Kansas City. It was the biggest treat I have had in years. Stuff? Why, it's unbelievable. You've seen fellows with stuff, haven't you, who couldn't use it? Well, these birds use it, believe me.

"Jack Twin Sullivan was there and dozens of other old timers. Jack is going great despite his years. He is a wonderful fellow to have around because he is such a great entertainer. The tests are tremendous and it takes a strong man to get by. I failed, but blame that on my poor health. I simply was not big or strong enough."