Robs Newsletters Vol 1

[rob snell]

The Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1 No 1 - 11 June 2007

John L Sullivan’s Barnstorming Tour

A GROUP of sporting1 men sat around a table in a Broadway cafe talking of fighters who are now classed as has-beens and of those who now loom high on the pugilistic horizon. One of the group was Frank Moran, who was at one time John L. Sullivan's manager. Some one remarked that John L. was still up and doing, for, although he is old and fat, he is said to have knocked out a heavy weight in a Western city a few weeks ago.

The mention of the ex-champion's name brought forth many reminiscences of the fighter, and it was Moran who told the best ones. "Soon after Sullivan whipped Paddy Ryan," said Moran, "Al Smith conceived the idea of having him make a tour of this country. That was in 1883, when the big fellow was in tiptop shape

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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 2 , 21 July , 2007

Contents summary

JOHN BROUGHTON AND JACK SLACK

Broughton's fight with Slack can by no standard be called great, but it has its peculiar importance in showing us how a certain degree of skill hampered by over-confidence and lack of training may be at the mercy of courage, strength, and enterprise. Broughton's knowledge of boxing, compared with the science of Jem Belcher and Tom Spring, must have been negligible; but years of practice must have taught him something. As far as we can gather, Slack knew less than a small boy in his first term at school. He was a butcher by trade, and one day at Hounslow Races he had " words " with the champion, who laid about him with a horse-whip. Thereupon Slack
challenged Broughton, and the fight took place at the Amphitheatre on April l0th, 1750.


How Jim Coffey Got his start In the Boxing Game
Irish Giant Began Boxing Career Four Years ago Tonight

The fourth anniversary of Coffey's ring debut is almost coincident with his twenty fifth birthday, for the January of 1891 was nearing its close when Coffey first opened his eyes upon the world at Roscommon, Ireland. He was christened James Joseph, and grew up Into a big broth of a lad
working on his fathers farm, attending school occasionally and wrestling with the neighbor boys.

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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 3 - 28 July , 2007
Contents summary

The Days of Finish Fights By Joe Choynski
Story section Free press Winnipeg Saturday January 8,1927

Finish Fight With Corbett
Chapter 5

After Corbett and I had fought four rounds at Fairfax the Sheriff ( who thought the contest was over) arrived and stopped the scrap. The contest had been fairly even, with, little harm, done to either. A week later, by agreement we resumed fighting on a grain barge owned by Tom Williams, Corbett’s wealthy backer, in the Straits of Carquinez; for twenty seven, rounds we fought with more ring craft than nine-tenths of present-day fighters possess. My seconds were Jack Dempsey (the original Nonpariel ) and Eddie Graney .In Corbett's corner were Walter Watson and Billy Delaney.

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Robs Newsletters Vol 1

The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 4 - 4th August , 2007
Contents summary

19 June 1910
That Solar Plexus Blow
Robert Fitzsimmons v James J Corbett
17 March 1897.

Articles for a fight for the championship of the world between the title holder James J. Corbett. and the middleweight champion, Robert Fitzsimmons, were signed a few days before Christmas, 1896. The promoter of this battle, which was fought in Carson City, Nev., was Dan Stuart, of Texas, who had demonstrated his ability in affairs of this sort. Stuart was known the country over as a square man, who always was anxious to make good his word, and with him at the head of affairs the followers of pugilism rested in full confidence that the contest would be in every way above suspicion

Oakland Tribune 28 Dec 1912
Moran No Longer On List Of White Hopes
Gunboat Smith Wallops Pittsburg Boy In One Sided Battle; No Knockout

Scratch Frank Moran’s entry in the white hope stakes and substitute Jim Buckley's able seaman, "Gunboat" Smith. Over at Dreamland rink across the bay last night the Gunboat gave Moran one of the most artistic trimmings landed a boxer in this section in many a long day. The scrap went the full twenty rounds but there was never a round that could be called Moran's. Right from the tap of the gong Smith started to give the red topped Pittsburg lad a boxing lesson, and he kept up the good work until Moran was wobbling about the ring when the final bell rang.

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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 5 - 11th August , 2007
Contents summary

The following has been adapted from a series of 6 extensive articles published in 1919. and Written, with illustrations, by Jack Monroe. 5 of the completed articles are currently available on the web site and extracts are presented here .

A history of Boxing
Has there ever been a championship fight between heavyweights In the American prize ring that didn't bear the label "The Ring Battle of the Century ?" If there has it's one me. And I've followed the game from both the boxer's and the spectator's standpoint for many years. The trite phrase has accompanied each ring conflict from the first battle for the title between Jake ( Jacob ) Hyer and Tom Beasley in 1816 down to the scheduled mill in Toledo on the Fourth of July as seemingly an important a Part of
the mechanism of big fisticuffs as a main spring is to a watch. Oddly, enough, though, every championship encounter waged within the past century has contained some feature which seems to justify such a title. Ever stop to think of it.?

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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 6 - 25th August , 2007
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WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AND DEMOLISHER OF "THE WHITE
HOPE" (1878-1946)

WHEN STEVE BRODIE dived from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886, his name reached into a wretched Negro cabin in Galveston, Texas, and so stirred a ragged Negro boy of twelve that he made up his mind to go to New York and meet Brodie in person. This flash of fancy, little as the black boy could have guessed it, was to lead him to the world's heavyweight championship, the most highly prized athletic honor since Onomastos won the belt at the thirteenth Olympic Games in 880 B.C.

The boy, John Arthur Johnson, L'il Arth'uh, as he was known to his companions, tried to stow away on a ship bound for New York, but was caught and put off. Finally, after several weeks he succeeded, but soon after the ship left, he was put off at Key West, where he found work as a sponge fisher in the shark-infested waters, and had a narrow escape from
being eaten alive.

New York Times - 26 December 1908
Negro's Punishment of Champion Burns Causes Authorities to End Bout.

Jack Johnson, the big negro from Galveston, Texas is the world's champion, heavyweight pugilist. He won the title to-day in the big arena at Ruschutters Bay from Tommy Burns, the French-Canadian, who had held it since James J. Jeffries relinquished it, and after a chase of Burns that had led half way round the world.

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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 7 – 1st September , 2007
Contents summary

The Syracuse Herald - 11 December 1918
Jim Corbett’s column

Thirty years ago next February Jack McAuliffe battled with Billy Meyers in a contest that had a 'life or death aspect for, McAuliffe.

The Bridgeport Telegram 18 December 1927
Fight Is Stopped In Seventh Round After Referee had Warned Spaniard
Delaney Had Made No Protest When referee Stopped Bout , Crowd Of 35,000 Astonished

Yankee Stadium – New York - Starting a come-back in his debut as a full fledged heavyweight. Jack Delaney scored a hollow victory tonight over Paulino Uzcudun, the Spanish woodchopper, on a foul In the seventh round of a 15-round match. Coming on top of the disputed Dempsey-Sharkey battle and ending, by coincidence in the same round but with a different result, the finish aroused almost as much uproar and controversy.

KNUCKLES AND GLOVES
BY BOHUN LYNCH .
First Impression, October, 1922

CHAPTER IX
JOE BECKETT AND BOMBARDIER WELLS

AT the time of writing this chapter, Joe Beckett is the Heavy-weight Champion of England, and has been ever since the contest described below when, on February 27th, 1919, he first met Bombardier Wells. He is not a very good champion. His skill is not of the first order, and he has neither the height nor weight to supply his deficiencies. Carpentier disposed of him in a round, because Carpentier is incomparably the better boxer. Wells is also a better boxer so far as skill one might almost say " mere "skill goes, but as someone said of him once, " He's too bally refined," which is a better description of the Bombardier than most loose generalisations. He is too bally (and I might dare also to add "blinking ") refined, both in his style of boxing and in his appearance

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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 8 - 8th September, 2007
Contents summary
Tommy Ryan 1911 articles
In 1911 Tommy Ryan wrote a series of articles for the Syracuse Herald entitled “Nineteen Years In The Ring”, the story of the life and battles Of Tommy Ryan, retired middleweight champion of the world as written by himself.

It is I believe the custom to start a story of a persons life history with the facts of his birth. I shall doubtless surprise some of my readers by statements which I shall make in this as well as the other articles.

TAD

If you were to mention the name T.A.Dorgan with regard to boxing I think few people would have any clue as to who he was. However , the mention of the name TAD would elicit a very different response. As a collector of old newspaper articles and cartoons I have long admired his work but not till very recently knew much about the man behind some of the best fight reports, and artwork, produced over some twenty or more years.

This lovely tribute to TAD was published on 23rd June 1929
Dry or Hilarious Wit, Near the End.

No man ever loved life more tumultuous, zestful, jovial life. No man ever had a harder fight to live at all. And "Tad" is dead. His "dime-a-dozen ticker." as he called his ailing heart, has ticked out., But T. A. Dorgan, the cartoonist whose sense of humor raised him into a class by himself in the affections of young and old everywhere, wouldn't want any "tear squeezing" now. He hated "sob" stories about him when he was alive, and his astounding courage, his uproarious vitality in the face of extraordinary odds, tempted many a writer to play up the jinxes that Tad conquered.

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The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 1- No 9 - 15 September 2007
Contents summary

Nevada State Journal - 27 September 1942

Old time fight fans in Nevada, those who remember Tex Rickard and his early promotional ventures, probably consider the Jeffries- Johnson fight in Reno, on the Fourth of July in 1910,as the outstanding event in the state's Pugilistic Golden Age. From a financial point of view, the
attending galaxy of "names'" at the ringside and the news significance of the upset that Johnson's victory brought about, the fight far exceeded in importance the loss of Jim Corbett's title to Bob Fitzsimmons at Carson City on St. Patrick's Day in 1897. But that was before Tex Rickard and
the $100,000 purse he offered for the Jeffries-Johnson fight.


Reno Evening Gazette - 3 September 1906
The Fighters Touch Scales At weight
Ten Thousand Spectators

ARENA, Goldfield, September 3.
That part of Goldfield which slept last evening awoke early this morning to the brightest and most perfect September day that can be imagined.. At 9 o'clock nearly every resident of the mining town was on the main streets to greet the throng of visitors that had arrived on the trains during the night. That busy artery of traffic; was soon congested, and at 9 o'clock, when the
bands began to play, the various holiday sports started up and the crowd was fairly awake, the scene was one to thrill the most sluggish blood of strangers and “Old Timers” alike


KNUCKLES AND GLOVES BY
BOHUN LYNCH .
First Impression, October, 1922
CHAPTER I
PETER JACKSON AND FRANK SLAVIN
Edited version

Frank Slavin, as we have seen, was one of those boxers of the transition period who overlapped. He had fought both with bare knuckles and with gloves. Both he and Peter Jackson were Australians, and both claimed the championship of that country. The contest at the National Sporting Club was said to be for the World's Championship, but that is a phrase which on no
occasion means very much. All that matters for our present purpose is that the match was an important one between two fine and evenly matched men.

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