1916-03-01 Ted (Kid) Lewis W-PTS20 Harry Stone [Unity Club Arena, New Orleans, LA, USA]

1916-03-02 The Daily States (New Orleans, LA) (page 13)

LEWIS BEATS STONE
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STONE, CONTENT TO STAY LIMIT, MAKES FIGHT HARD FOR TED
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English Fighter Outclasses Stone and Uses Him to Demonstrate How Boxing Lessons Can Be Furnished Real Clever Men; Stone Great Sprinter
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BY COL. CLUKE.

"Ted" Lewis, English light, welter and he says a middleweight, made good use of Harry Stone to demonstrate why he is able to flit about the country furnishing real clever boxers a lesson in the Queensberry code and providing those not quite so proficient with a ten-second snooze Wednesday night.

Patrons of Burns' fistic emporium saw Lewis perhaps under the most unfavorable conditions--unfavorable because Stone preferred to "run away and fight another day." It was evident from the moment the gong sounded that Stone was in the ring for one purpose--stay the limit.

Stone fought a defensive contest strictly. At times he sprinted faster than Bringhurst, notwithstanding every time he ducked a wallop or countered the fans cheered as though Lewis was on the verge of taking the count. Just how many times Lewis threw punches into Stone's face and body, is difficult to total. But one can rest assured, Stone stopped enough to hold him for an indefinite period.

Lewis, a tall, rangy chap, is the type of fighter that Orleanians rarely see in action. He has the knack of hitting from all angles, and not only possesses a wallop, but can also take it back a la Sambo Langford.

In the first ten rounds of the contest Stone resembled a selling platter meeting For Fair, Pan Zareta, Bringhurst and Ed Crump. He was virtually left at the post. Everyone anticipated Stone's defeat--by a decision in 20 rounds, so when Dick Burge hung up Lewis' "number" there was a slight cheer and the fans started homeward.

Lewis stung Stone repeatedly with a left hand blow that hooked the wind and was brought up to the jaw in the early part of the mill. From the tenth to the eighteenth, however, Johnston's fighter gave his southpaw wallop a vacation. In the last round Stone took a fearful lacing, and except for the eleventh, when the men stood in midring and traded wallops, Harry, who now says he is an Orleanian, was beaten to a whisper.

Had Stone abandoned his defensive tactics the fans would probably have witnessed a knockout. As it was, Lewis had to chase a crack sprinter, who, regardless of his other fallings, is clever and after cornering his man, find a spot to hit him.

Only Stone's boxing ability enabled him to stick the limit, for at no time during the hour of fighting did Stone have any more chance of beating Lewis than the assemblage cheered Tommy Burns when the announcer pulled off the Barnum and Bailey thing prior to the gong.

Lewis' work to some of the spectators was disappointing. He was figured to stop Stone early. Others claimed his left jab wasn't accurate; his right didn't have the steam, etc., but in the humble opinion of yours truly, it isn't difficult to understand why Freddie Welsh prefers the "get-it-while-the-getting-is-good" system to meeting his countryman for the lightweight title.

In some respects Lewis is a freak, but it must be remembered that all great fighters are freaks, for instance, Bob Fitzsimmons.

THE WORLD OF SPORTS
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BY COL. CLUKE.

It is a rare occurrence that a New Orleans fistic audience will hoot and jeer one referee and demand another name the winner and loser of a contest. Nearly $2000 worth of fans testified to their disapproval of Tommy Burns as ring arbiter at the Howard street arena last night, when Dick Burke retired very suddenly while the announcer read from a paper:

"The articles of agreement call for Tommy Burns to referee."

The hisses and jeers that greeted the mention of Burns' name forced the former heavyweight champion to turn colors in his seat at the ringside. The crowd seemed almost unanimous in the belief that Burke and not Burns was the proper man to referee. The "panning" aimed at Burns only ceased at the urgent solicitation of the announcer, who said:

"But Mr. Burns is not going to referee."

For a few minutes it seemed as though Burke would not officiate. The fans, however, demanded the "Made in New Orleans" official get in the ring, and he heeded the call. That Burke was dissatisfied with the method of the promoter in the hope of making a grand stand play was evident, and it required the advice of his intimate friends to convince him the fans were entitled to consideration. There was no necessity for Mr. Burns allowing the announcer to pull such Barnum tactics. But like all so-called shrewd moves, it served the purpose--convince Burns beyond the slightest doubt that the persons who patronized his arena are not keen to have him name a winner and loser in a ring contest.

Promoters Will Do Well To Allow Boxing Fans a Rest.

Boxing promoters will make no mistake in heeding the call of patrons of the sport that they've had quite enough of the Queensberry thing for a little while. The small assemblage at the Lewis-Stone affair indicates the public isn't keen for two or three bouts per week. Since last December the fans have responded faithfully for the impressarios. Enough is sufficient, as the saying goes, and if those who shine as promoters do not care to dig down in their jeans to cover losses the three arenas will be allowed to remain dark for a week or two following the close of the races next Tuesday.


1916-03-02 The New Orleans Item (New Orleans, LA) (page 12)

He Who Jabs and Runs Away Will Live to Jab Another Day--(Philosophy of H. Stone)
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LEWIS IS GOOD FIGHTER, STONE MARATHONER
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Fighting Is Not Exactly in Harry's Line, But He Does Some Good Ducking and Makes Ted Miss a Lot--Burke in Soft Spot on His "Come-Back"
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(By Ham.)

If there is such a thing as a welterweight champion, Ted Lewis is probably it.

Harry Stone is not altogether out of the championship class. His distance Wednesday night entitles him to some consideration along championship lines as a marathoner.

Stone is a great fighter on the retreat. He goes away from his opponent very cleverly, indeed, and is very fast in this sort of action. Bringhurst did some good time in the six furlongs Wednesday, but when Stone hit the sprints, which was in nearly every round, the great Tauber horse had nothing on him. Stone is so fast that he can run backwards with almost the speed that some sprinters make with their face to the finish line.

Harry's Ducking His Specialty.

With Stone backing away and Lewis following him up most of the time there wasn't much chance for the kind of milling that nine out of ten spectators like to see. In some particulars it was a fair enough boxing exhibition, but this consisted chiefly in Stone's very clever ducking. He made Lewis miss repeatedly.

When a fellow misses like that, the fans begin to wonder if he has not been over-rated, particularly in his boxing. But they are not likely to be perplexed on this score very long if they recall the comment on Stone's other local fights. He has made others look bad.

Lewis' Swings Awful Hard.

Lewis is not a very straight puncher and he had no chance of showing any particular wizardry with the gloves, but he is a good two-handed fellow and packs a terrible kick with a swing and uppercut. Stone did not always get away from the ripper to the body, but he ducked under many a one, and the Englishman's uppercut always found Harry's head swinging back out of the danger zone.

There were two or three occasions upon which Harry forgot himself and carried the fight. During these precious moments he was in great peril for there simply wasn't a chance for him to get by with it. Lewis changed his tactics several times, inviting Harry in to where the milling could be hot, but Harry was no sooner in there than he was quickly convinced that discretion was the better part of valor and that his discretion lay in skirmishing on the outskirts.

Dick Burke "Comes Back."

Improved weather conditions over Monday night when Lewis and Stone were scheduled to start and had to postpone it, brought out a much larger crowd.

Dick Burke "came back" as third man in the ring and did it quite gracefully. It looked squally for Dick a little while, though, as Jimmy Johnston, Lewis's manager, claimed he understood Tommy Burns was to referee and he wanted the understanding complied with. Tommy didn't want to do it and the crowd voiced its approval of Dick so Jimmy relented. Dick was in a soft spot so far as the decision was concerned. Lewis had such a good lead all the way that the betting went from 2 to 1 to three and four to one as the bout progressed.


1916-03-02 The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) (page 11)

TED LEWIS IS WINNER IN BOUT WITH STONE
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If last night's twenty-round contest between Harry Stone of New Orleans and Ted "Kid" Lewis of England is generally recognized as a championship encounter, then Lewis today is welterweight champion of the world.

Lewis won the decision of Referee Dick Burke at the end of a score of sessions of wonderfully clever boxing and fighting in which he excelled in the latter department and took the advantage by forcing the fight, but though he won it is safe to say that probably never in all his time has he met a man who made him miss so many blows as did Stone.

Had Harry injected a little more aggressiveness into his milling the result might have been different. It might have differed in two ways. He might have won, or at least made a better showing, and then again he might have been knocked out. Lewis was unable to do his best against the retreating tactics of Stone but then, too, when Stone did turn and fight it was not always Lewis who had the better of the mix-up.

LEWIS EARNS TEN ROUNDS

From a safe corner of the ring it looked as though Lewis earned nine rounds while Stone was credited with six. The rest were even. At times, though Lewis was trying practically all the time, he was made to look exceedingly foolish in his attempts by Stone's clever ducking and blocking and Stone frequently returned a half dozen jabs to the face while Lewis was in and trying to get out again after missing with both hands.

But Stone's work was done practically altogether with his left hand. His right might about as well have been left at home. On the other hand Lewis is one of the best two-handed fighters and boxers ever seen in New Orleans, and if he is champion he looks like a real one.

Stone is a man who will make the best of the fight a bad fight. He is so infernally clever in evading punishment that he makes the aggressor in a bout look like a tyro much of the time and it was only by rushing in past his guard and hammering away with both hands that Lewis was able to make an impression.

At the end of the contest both were slightly marked but little damage had been done to either. Stone's left eye had a bad cut over it, sustained in the nineteenth round, while Lewis' mouth was slightly cut in one of the early rounds and his nose bled from a left poke in the nineteenth round. The latter session was undoubtedly the liveliest of the entire scrap, both of the boys standing up and whaling away with both hands and all their might. The twentieth was little less furious but in both Lewis had decided margins.

BRITON REAL FIGHTER

Lewis is really a remarkable looking chap, being strongly and cleanly built and showing speed and smoothness of action in every move. He works confidently all the time and seems never to be off his guard.

Many of the rounds were very tame with hardly a blow landed on either side, both trying often but owing to cleverness neither succeeding in doing much.

But at the finish there was little difference of opinion as to the quality of the match. "It was a good one," seemed to be the general opinion of it. It was not a slam-bang, slashing scrap, and there were no knock-downs nor anything that looked like one, but there was so much clever boxing and fast action in it that it was generally liked.

It is probable that Lewis will return to New York immediately as he is in great demand up there in short bouts. That was one thing that many thought would militate against him last night. He has been fighting regularly for a good while and has not engaged in any long bouts, but last night he did not seem to be tired or even breathing hard at any time and looked as fresh as a daisy at the finish.