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Actually that particular Jeannette/McVey fight was fought with timed rounds, my friend, and it was considered a Queensberry rules fight, although the rules were ammended a bit to make it a finish fight. The two fighters agreed to a finish fight because of the controversy surrounding their previous fight a couple months before, where the decision was originally given to Jeannette after 20 rounds of fighting only to be changed a short time later to McVey getting the decision, which outraged not only Jeannette, but plenty of others who attended the fight, as well. Also worth noting that their were rumours after that 20 round fighting stating that the two fighters never gave their best, so to squelch those rumours and to end the controversy surrounding their previous fight, the two fighters agreed to ammend the rules a little and agree to go at it til there was a definate winner.
The set of rules you are talking about were the London Prize Ring rules, which stated that a round ended when one (or both) of the fighters were downed, but those rules were well extinct by the time 1909 came around, as some sources state that the last fight fought under the rules you described was the infamous Sullivan/Kilrain fight from 1889 (their might've been other fights after that under LPR rules, but regardless, they were long gone by the time 1909 rolled around).
But anyways, here's a short writeup of that fight as appeared in newspapers around the states, with this particular quote taken directly from the New York Tribune, Apr 18th, 1909;
"Paris, Apr. 17--In the greatest prizefight witnessed in France since John L. Sullivan and Charley Mitchell drew at Chantilly in 1888, Joe Jeannette of New York, defeated Sam McVey of California, tonight in the fiftieth round of a finish fight. A great crowd witnessed a game exhibition of heavyweights, the contest lasting for three hours and a half. McVey had the better of the fight up to the fortieth round, and in both the twenty-first and the twenty-second he had the New Yorker so groggy that he barely could keep on his feet.
Jeannette bore the punishment bravely, and came back in a wonderful manner. McVey had almost worn himself out after forty rounds, and by this time the New York fighter was coming back. By effective infighting he gradually beat the Californian and practically had him knocked out when the fight ended, McVey's seconds throwing up the sponge. Jeannette was the favorite in the betting, and the purse was $6,000.
It is understood that Jeannette now intends to issue a challenge to Jack Johnson for the championship of the world."
The NY Times also printed that in their Apr 18th, 1909 edition of their paper, and then added on to it by listing some "other long glove fights on record", signifying that this fight was fought with gloves. Also, some simple math should be able to tell you that it was fought with timed rounds (49 x 3 = 147 + another 49 mintues for the rest period...that's somewhere in the vicinity of just being short of the three and a half hours that they reported was fought). But if you don't believe that, I do have another extensive account of the fight, and to give you some hints at it being fought with timed rounds, here's a few quick quotes from it (it's way too long to type out in it's entirety); "at the count of eight the bell rang", "the forty-second round saw McVey go down seven times", and quotes of that nature, which obviously means it wasn't fought using the LPR rules.
The reports also state that "at the opening of the forty-ninth round, McVey's face is utterly dehumanized, save for an expression of helpless agony", which alludes to his face being cut up in multiple places, his nose being busted in two places, as well as both of his eyes reportedly swollen completely shut. Also, it's worth noting that both fighters required oxygen during the fight, as well as after the fight when both were carried away with the oxygen attached to them.
I'm babbling so I'll stop here, and just say that there were plenty of fights fought under MoQ rules (timed rounds and gloves) during the early 1900's that were scheduled for upwards of 45 rounds, and some even came close to reaching that mark (e.g. Gans/Nelson, Wolgast/Nelson, etc.). The Jeannette/McVey fight was said to be the longest MoQ fight of the 20th century, though, and it's special rules regarding it being a "finish fight" helped it achieve that status.
The set of rules you are talking about were the London Prize Ring rules, which stated that a round ended when one (or both) of the fighters were downed, but those rules were well extinct by the time 1909 came around, as some sources state that the last fight fought under the rules you described was the infamous Sullivan/Kilrain fight from 1889 (their might've been other fights after that under LPR rules, but regardless, they were long gone by the time 1909 rolled around).
But anyways, here's a short writeup of that fight as appeared in newspapers around the states, with this particular quote taken directly from the New York Tribune, Apr 18th, 1909;
"Paris, Apr. 17--In the greatest prizefight witnessed in France since John L. Sullivan and Charley Mitchell drew at Chantilly in 1888, Joe Jeannette of New York, defeated Sam McVey of California, tonight in the fiftieth round of a finish fight. A great crowd witnessed a game exhibition of heavyweights, the contest lasting for three hours and a half. McVey had the better of the fight up to the fortieth round, and in both the twenty-first and the twenty-second he had the New Yorker so groggy that he barely could keep on his feet.
Jeannette bore the punishment bravely, and came back in a wonderful manner. McVey had almost worn himself out after forty rounds, and by this time the New York fighter was coming back. By effective infighting he gradually beat the Californian and practically had him knocked out when the fight ended, McVey's seconds throwing up the sponge. Jeannette was the favorite in the betting, and the purse was $6,000.
It is understood that Jeannette now intends to issue a challenge to Jack Johnson for the championship of the world."
The NY Times also printed that in their Apr 18th, 1909 edition of their paper, and then added on to it by listing some "other long glove fights on record", signifying that this fight was fought with gloves. Also, some simple math should be able to tell you that it was fought with timed rounds (49 x 3 = 147 + another 49 mintues for the rest period...that's somewhere in the vicinity of just being short of the three and a half hours that they reported was fought). But if you don't believe that, I do have another extensive account of the fight, and to give you some hints at it being fought with timed rounds, here's a few quick quotes from it (it's way too long to type out in it's entirety); "at the count of eight the bell rang", "the forty-second round saw McVey go down seven times", and quotes of that nature, which obviously means it wasn't fought using the LPR rules.
The reports also state that "at the opening of the forty-ninth round, McVey's face is utterly dehumanized, save for an expression of helpless agony", which alludes to his face being cut up in multiple places, his nose being busted in two places, as well as both of his eyes reportedly swollen completely shut. Also, it's worth noting that both fighters required oxygen during the fight, as well as after the fight when both were carried away with the oxygen attached to them.
I'm babbling so I'll stop here, and just say that there were plenty of fights fought under MoQ rules (timed rounds and gloves) during the early 1900's that were scheduled for upwards of 45 rounds, and some even came close to reaching that mark (e.g. Gans/Nelson, Wolgast/Nelson, etc.). The Jeannette/McVey fight was said to be the longest MoQ fight of the 20th century, though, and it's special rules regarding it being a "finish fight" helped it achieve that status.
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