1 TheBoxing Biographies Newsletter Volume 4- No 13 20 June , 2009 www.boxingbiographies.com

If you wish to sign up for the newsletters ( which includes the images ) please email the message “NEWS LETTER” [email protected] The newsletter is also available as a word doc on request As always the full versions of these articles are on the website

Harlem Tommy Murphy

Name: Career Record: click Alias: Harlem Nationality: US American Birthplace: , NY Hometown: New York, New York, USA Born: 1885-04-13 Died: 1958-11-26 Age at Death: 73 Stance: Orthodox Height: 5' 5½″ Manager: Johnny Oliver Manager: Charles Joseph Murphy, his brother

Harlem Tommy Murphy was champion near- champion of boxing. Too heavy for the class and too light for the lightweights. Murphy developed into the toughest work-horse in both classes.

Champions steered clear of him until they lost their titles, being the only one to give Harlem Tommy a crack at his crown. But the chance came too late. Murphy was in the yellow of his fighting days when he battled Ritchie for the lightweight championship, April 17, 1914, in San Francisco, and lost in 20 hard- fought rounds. 2

Murphy fought only once more after that, then hung up his gloves ending a checkered career of 12 years of hectic battling. Some ex-champions who felt the thud of Murphy's jarring fists were , Young, Corbett, and .

ATTELL FIGHT TOUGHEST

Attell met Murphy twice while still champion, but in ten round no decision affairs. After Abe was shorn of his crown, he fought two 20-ronndcrs with Murphy, losing one, the second ending in a draw, the goriest fight in ring history. This, he says, was his toughest fight. Grueling was the word for most of Tommy Murphy’s contests and Lady Luck always looked the other way when it came to the breaks.

Murphy just missed winning the lightweight championship from Ad Wolgast, Willie Ritchie beating him to it. Wolgast was to fight them both, chose Ritchie first and lost on a foul. So Murphy's immediately succeeding draw and triumph over Ad in 20 rounds each meant nothing so far as titular honors were concerned.

TERRY SCORES

After he knocked out George Dixon in two rounds in , Sept. 20. 1905, Murphy was matched to fight Terry McGovern there four weeks later. The club was packed to overflowing when the men entered the ring. Hundreds were turned away. Murphy outclassed McGovern in the first minute, knocking Terry down twice with clean shots to the chin. The last time Terry got up and parked a wild haymaker on Tommy's lantern jaw and it was all over. Lady Luck had again frowned on the Harp from Harlem.

Thomas Emmett Francis Murphy, 5ft 5 ½ , blue-eyed, brown haired and lantern-jawed, was born in Harlem section of New York, April; 13,1885, of Irish American parents. Today Harlem Tommy Murphy is a successful insurance agent in Brooklyn, teaches boxing to trainees at Fordham and New York universities. He learned from bitter experience that it's a fine thing to have something laid by for a rainy day.

4th August 1912

Once Again Murphy Get Worst Of Decision Harlem Tommy Had Abe Attell All In, Out and Down, but Jim Griffin Couldn’t See It That Way.

FOR the second time in six months Harlem Tommy Murphy showed that he was the master of Abie Attell over at Coffroth's Eighth street arena yesterday afternoon after he had waded through twenty fierce rounds with the one-time featherweight champion.

"The Honorable Jim Griffin" (so introduced by Billy Jordan, but we know not why) raised both his hands in the air at the end of the twentieth round, which was to signify that he thought the contest an even thing. 3

The Honorable Jim might have thought that the contest was a draw, but there were few in the house that thought with him. Of course the clique that made Attell a ten to six shot had a long belch coming that Abie was the winner, but the fair minded fan that wanted the best man to win could not have seen anybody "but Tommy Murphy the winner.

Tommy Murphy fought Able Attel at his own game and beat him. In the in fighting Tommy was best. At long- range he was best and he landed the beat and cleanest blows.

Able was a real general and had great skill and a keen knowledge of the fighting game. Murphy was aggressive andhad the true fighting spirit, all of which offset the talent of Attell.

Murphy, too, fought 'a clean, stand-up. square fight. He did not resort to foul tactics as did Attell in many of the rounds. From his corner came no rants or belching at those spectators that were pulling for Abie, as happened in the other corner.

Of course, what the seconds and spectators did had no bearing on the fight.only the difference is worth the mentioning.

Then Able showed the un-sportsmanship in the twentieth round when he backed Murphy to the ropes and held him there. He did this by reaching his arm over Murphy's body and grasping the rope with his hand.

All the time he rained blow after blow with the right hand into the body of Murphy and all the while Griffin was pulling that hand loose.

TAKE NO CREDIT FROM ABE.

Because others who were there only to see fight and with desire that the best man win didn't agree with the Honorable Jim and the fellows that failed to cash, It don't mean that Abie didn't do well. He did do well.

Abie Attell is still a grand little miller and there are many, many aspirants for fame and glory in the roped arena that had best stay away from Attell. He hasn't the old time dash and vim that made him the conqueror of them all, but he is still game and tricky and his countering, blocking, side stepping and ducking of Murphy's blows was a revelation to the fans. Attell has not shot his bolt nor is he a member of the Down and Out Club.

But he isn't a contender with Murphy if yesterday's fight is a judge, for Tommy Murphy trimmed Abie just about as easy as he did last March and he trimmed him just as easy as he did "One Round Hogan”, even if it was one of those famous decisions that sometimes crop up in a pugilistic contest. 4

ATTEL STARTED WELL.

With the clang of the bell Abe started well and right away began ripping in body punches as well us a few that landed hard and flush on the face and head. Perhaps a minute had gone when a little fleck of red showed on the white lips of the Harlemite.

While the men were running around a buzz was in the air of the appearances of Abe and Tummy. The Harp looked long and angular with muscles taunt, while the Hebrew showed that he had tried well to be fit and it was that fitness that saved his goose.

Around the ring went the two men. Sometimes Murphy landed and sometimes Abe, but with little or no damage. Abe, though, was worrying Tommy and had the best of the two rounds. Then came the third and the turn of the tide and from then on with an exception here and there it was all Murphy and a yard wide.

He ripped and tore at Abe and soon had Attell’s face like the raw beef steak the scribes pen about, while a steady stream of blood flowed from Abe's mouth that Spider Kelly and Ben Smith could not stop.

Murphy never stopped in his efforts to punish Abe. In the infighting he did most of the damage and each time the bell rang Abe smiled a smile of relief and hobbled to his trainers.

MURPHY IS STEADIEST.

Harlem Tommy maintained a steady pace at all times while Abe cut loose in flashes and they were weak flashes at that. Blows that Abe landed on the body and which caused lots of the fans to think were hurting were too quickly spent to do damage and then Murphy didn't take them flush, but from a distance.

Now and again it locked as if that left hook was damaging but it really did nothing to jar Tommy except in the eighth and again in the fourteenth. As we looked at Abe and remembered the Abe of old and the time he had spent in training for this match, it is evident that the old warrior is on the down grade. His blows went home time and again and prettily he landed them, but the steam, the good old steam, was at low gage.

MURPHY HAD A BAD HAND.

Coming back from the fight Murphy showed us his left hand and then he showed us why he hadn't boxed so much and so often at White's place in training with it. The member was swollen, 5 badly swollen. Not a fresh swelling, but one that had been there for three or four or more days. That was why that left hand wasn't used as effectively as before and Abe should be glad of that, else he would have been licked even worse than he was.

It was a great big crowd, a far better crowd than the promoters thought, that witnessed the mill and they went away in a measure satisfied with the show. Some, of course, still cling to Attel and thought him the best, but again we say that the fair minded fan voted Tommy Murphy the winner even if the honorable Jim Griffin didn't think so.

The Salt Lake Tribune 24th Feb 1913

Wolgast-Murphy Mill IsFull of Breakneck Speed More Action Crowded Into Each Round Than Is Frequently Seen in an Entire Contest; Every Point Scored by One Fighter Is Offset by the Other. SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23.—

Now that the fight is over one can consider it calmly. Twenty rounds, and a draw for Ad Wolgast and Harlem Tommy Murphy. But that does not begin to tell the story, for there was more action crowded into each three- minute spell of fighting than is frequently seen in an entire contest.

There was little hair splitting of course over Jim Griffin’s verdict. some thought that Murphy had shaded the wildcat and others thought that Wolgast had done a little better than his adversary. In the writer's opinion it would .have been a rank injustice if Grifiin had rendered any decision but the one he did.

Brimful as the engagement was of breakneck milling, there wasn't a point scored by either man that was not offset by something accomplished by the other. The fierceness of Wolgast's body smashes were balanced by the stinging blood bringing jolts with which the Harlem boy peppered the other's face.

Jarring Uppercut.

Did a Murphy man recall the way Tommy pinned Ad against the ropes and batted his head from side to side at the close- of the eleventh round, be was reminded of the fact that a jarring right uppercut caused. Murphy's knees to touch the floor near the end of the fourteenth. 6

To point to the manner in which Murphy had beaten Wolgast, the latter open-mouthed and bleeding, across the fighting space in the thirteenth, it was to be remembered how in the very same round only a little later Wolgast had Murphy, toppling ropeward from body punches, the sound of which might have been heard by the little opera-glass group on top of the mission hills.

Honors Were Equal.

And that was the way of it all Through. If one man gained a lead the other drew level. Each of the youngsters fought as he never fought before, and in view of the way the tide of things ebbed and flowed, the further fact that there wasn't a clean knockdown from gong to gong shows they were well entitled to share the honors of a draw.

The last round naturally was the most exciting of the series. It may be described as a -three- minute scuffle in which the lightweights laid on as frequently and as fiercely as failing condition would permit.

Wolgast More Tired.

Of the two, Wolgast was the more tired. With the round two-thirds goneand the belligerents leaning against the wall of the ring, Ad-resorted to an old ruse. With his right- arm concealed beneath Tommy's left, he grabbed the rope and held Murphy prisoner, pummeling him the while diligently with the left.

But Jim Griffin had been fooled that way before. Abe Attell tried it and got away with it in one of his local fights with Tommy Murphy, and Wolgast would have been wiser had he sprung something original. Anyway, he was caught n the act and his hand disengaged from the hemp.

A Bitter Battle.

Then, with a gesticulating, bellowing crowd, standing erect and urging them on, Tommy and Ad battled bitterly until official Timekeeper Harting brought his hammer down on the metal disk. It was uppercuts from Murphy and body digs and loop-the-loop from Ad. They plied each other so fiercely that the gong sound fell on deaf ears. Griffin had to tear them apart by main force. Then he seized Murphy's glove and then Wolgast's glove and hoisted them on high.

In the main the bout was a clash between a couple of rooters, who pinned their faith to uppercuts. For several rounds it looked as though Murphy was getting the better of the going. Wolgast was cool and deliberate from the outset, starting in like a fellow who saw a long, rough road ahead, and did not intend to waste an ounce of energy. Murphy was as active as a newly-ignited bunch of fire-crackers from the very first.

Murphy's Ear Glowed. The scoring honors were with Murphy for full five rounds, Wolgast's lips being puffed and his face stained red. Murphy's ear. which has been in the cauliflower stage for many long years, began to glow as early as the third, a tribute to the effectiveness of the loop the loop rights which 7

Ad exchanged for the Harlem boy's uppercuts. While the battle was still young straight blows were discarded. It dawned on "Wolgast after a while that it might pay better to hit less frequently and to hit with greater force.

Worked His Right.

He threw in a brace of telling body blows in the sixth, but it wasn't until the ninth that he set himself and worked his trusty right with regularity and determination. And he didn’t change tactics an instant too soon, for by that time the struggle had acquired a decided Murphy tinge.

A crashing right on the point of the chin sent Murphy back several paces in the ninth and he had barely returned to the attack when a similar visitation rattled him. Then Wolgast made a mark of the stomach and lower ribs, and there were times when he grunted as he twisted his shoulder and drove his arm forth.

Receipts, $20,000.

Promoter Coffroth announced today that the fight receipts for the Wolgast- Murphy go would be in the neighborhood of. $20,000. Of this sum Wolgast had been guaranteed $8500, with the privilege of taking 50 per cent of the receipts for his end. He will naturally take the 50 per cent, which means that he will receive, something over $10,000 for his afternoon's work. Tommy Murphy signed up for 25 per cent of the receipts, or something like $5000. Promoter Cofftroth gets 25 per cent.

Name: Matty Baldwin Career Record: click Alias: Bunker Hill Bearcat Birth Name: Matthew M Baldwin Nationality: US American Hometown: , , USA Born: 1885-02-15 Died: 1918-10-15 Age at Death: 33 Height: 5' 5½″ Managers: Alex MacLean

Matthew (Matty) Baldwin died October 15, 1918 in the Charleston district of Boston from the Spanish Influenza, then sweeping throughout North America at the very end of World War I. (Date of death sometimes recorded as Oct. 1.) 8

The Bridgeport Telegram 11 October 1918 Matty Baldwin Had Brilliant Career in Ring

Matty Baldwin, the lightweight, boxer who died Tuesday at his home in Boston, a victim of the Spanish influenza plague, enjoyed a unique career in the squared circle. Matty, although never champion of his division, fought, without losing two men who later won the lightweight title. These men were Ad Wolgast, the Michigan Bearcat, and Willie Ritchie.

In June 1009 Baldwin and Wolgast fought a twelve round draw in Boston, and in the following year the Michigan Bearcat won the title from . In 1911 Matty outpointed Willie Ritchie in a twenty round contest at San Francisco, and in the following year Ritchie won the title on a foul from Ad Wolgast.

In 1907 Baldwin was a top notcher and the fight fans throughout the country were closely following his ring engagements. In that year he won several ten and fifteen round battles and fought a twelve round draw with Bert Keyes. He won on a foul from Jimmy Clabby in four rounds and Bert Keyes In six. The following four years he was a favorite with the New York fans and was seen in action at several of the Gotham clubs during the membership days. At the National Sporting- Club in 1910 he met Leach Cross, the fighting dentist, in what was scheduled as a ten round bout. In the first seven rounds Baldwin, was master of Leach and it was evident that.Matty could only lose by being knocked out. In the eighth round, however, Referee Joe Hess suddenly stopped the fight and declared Cross the winner. The abrupt ending caused great confusion among the spectators, who saw no reason for the referee's actions.

Those who had ringside seats swarmed around the squared circle and demanded an explanation. Hess announced that Baldwin had bucked Cross with his head after he had been warned several times. In April, 1911, the pair again met at the same club and Baldwin outpointed his opponent in a ten round battle. In the ninth round of the contest the Boston lightweight landed two hard blows in rapid succession to Cross's jaw and Leach was on the verge of taking the count.

After this contest Baldwin went out to the Pacific coast and met Freddy Welsh in a twenty round bout and was outpointed. On August 31 of the same year he won from Willie Ritchie. Less than a month after this battle he fought a twenty round draw with Frankie Burns. In November he fought an eight round draw with at Memphis, While fighting on the coast he was under the management of Alex McLean.

On July 7, 1914, Willie Ritchie lost his title to Freddy Welsh in London and after the contest Welsh crossed the Atlantic and the first bout he engaged in was with Baldwin. .It was staged in Boston and Matty was defeated in twelve rounds. In the same year and Matty fought a twelve round draw. 9

Oakland Tribune 24 August 1911 BALDWIN AND RITCHIE ARE TRAINING HARD FOR BOUT Boston Man Takes to the Road While Local Lad Devotes Time to Boxing; Nelson Wanted at Sacramento

Matty Baldwin and Willie 'Ritchie, who are to furnish the fistic card for the fight fans : this month, have both begun active training, Baldwin being quartered at Al White's place at the St. Julian Hotel arid Ritchie being at the Seal Rock House over the bay. Willie Ritchie was the first of the two to get down to real hard work for he began preparing on Sunday with light gymnasium work. Yesterday, though he began. the real hard grind of the training camp and boxed, six rounds. with Puggy Cove, Jimmy Carroll and Kid Hutt. Ritchie is weighing 187 pounds, but as the weight is to be made at 6 o'clock on the afternoon of the bout, he should have no great difficulty in getting into condition and being strong.

Baldwin, has confidence by, the wholesale that he will be returned a. winner.and each day he grinds through his work with a preciseness that makes the fans sit up and. look.

Yesterday he began with the boxing end of the training stunt and went merrily through a siege with Middleweight Joe Thomas who is conditioning himself for a. bout hereabouts in the near future

Another, stunt that Baldwin is strong for is road work and this was added to his work yesterday and will be a feature each day. With Thomas and a bunch of trainers Baldwin ran five times around the race track at Emeryville and then finished up with the run back to White's, which is some distance.

Baldwin is within a couple of pounds of the weight, and can drop down to the lightweight notch ,133 pounds, any time he pleases.. He is just as fast and snappy and as clever as he was when he met Welsh two months ago and on that occasion the fans voted him one of the best near champions they had seen in action in many a long day.

RITCHIE IS A CLEVER BOY.

There is no denying the fact that Ritchie is a wonderfully clever boy. He never has been injured as yet, though he has taken part in countless four, six and ten-round ring engagements. As an aggressive boy, Ritchie never figured very strongly, but he has always made up for his speed and his ability to keep pegging away and by his wonderful footwork and classy ducking.

The Queensberry world will.have to recognize Ritchie as a member of the army of lightweight candidates if he gets away with Baldwin next. Thursday evening. 10

A victory over the Bostonian will put the local boy right up in the front ranks and he will have his pick between San, Francisco and New York. .It is Willie's first big ring engagement, and if he can manage to control his nerves it looks as though he will surely give Baldwin a fight that will be worth going many a mile to see. Ritchie will have the advantage in both height and reach and this should Help out a lot..

Although he looks more like a welterweight, the San Francisco lad can make the lightweight limit, without much trouble. In the past he has always surprised the fans by weighing in time. When he first started out Willie looked like the making of a good welter but has managed to keep in the lightweight division ever since.

End

Oakland Tribune 24 June 1911 SCIENCE OF WELSH IS TOO MUCH FOR MATTY BALDWIN Britisher Outpoints and Outgenerals Game Youngster From Boston

(By EDDIE SMITH.) . _

It was a debate wherein the fellow who had turned the midnight oil studying over the finer points of his profession was awarded the decision over, a stronger, more aggressive and better lasting opponent. Such might.-have been the proper way of explaining the difference in ability between and Matty Baldwin had their affair of last evening been one of words and not fists.

As it is the explanation holds good, for when Referee Eddie Hanlon raised the hand of Freddie Welsh indicating that he had been awarded the decision he did so because the Britisher had out- jabbed and out generaled his stocky opponent, helped by a superior knowledge of the boxing game.

If the boxer was to be rewarded for gameness, willingness and persistent rushing, the game little Boston lad would have shared the honors of the affair with the crafty Welshman, but as the points of the game must be scored by hitting the other fellow and not by taking a punch in futile attempt to rush the opposing party off his feet, "Welsh" was entitled to the verdict by every count by which the points of boxing are scored.

With his five and a little more years experience in the boxing game Freddie Welsh has practiced and studied more of the fine points of the boxing game than has Baldwin with his more than nine years, and in the battle of last night this study helped wonderfully in the winning of the. contest.. "Welsh* has a reason for every move that he makes during a contest and seldom makes a false one. Baldwin, on the other hand, tried persistently to baffle the clever Britisher with rushes that 11 meant little and any number of times he deliberately threw himself off his balance by moves that meant little to him from the offensive point of boxing.

WELSH WORKED ON LINES.

The story of the, contest is best told by saying that Welsh worked along the lines of least resistance at all times, was always on his balance, punched cleanly and straight all the time, had any number of tantalizing and damaging little rips, jabs and uppercuts to use in the clinches and breakaways and although, not as sturdy or strong as his opponent finished the better because he saved himself the unnecessary labor Baldwin executed In his endeavor to take the battle by storm.

At every one of the real sciences of boxing Welsh excelled and the fact that he at no time missed with wild swings or made false movements did much to help him finish as strong as he did.

To Matty Baldwin's credit let it be said that although he was being systematically beaten by a cleverer man who used all sorts of tantalizing methods and punches,that never once did he shirk his duty.

From the very first to the last Baldwin was coming all the time and at times: he made the Britisher sit up and take notice Welsh won by a lead that left no chances for criticism of the referee's decision, but he had to fight for every point he scored and the win was not an easy one by any means. The contest was an interesting one in many ways even though one round was something of a repetition of the one preceding it.

BRITISHER IS CLEVER AND FAST

Welsh, proved all that had been said of him in the matter of cleverness and somewhat of a surprise as a punishing boxer at the in-fighting style of work Baldwin had' made no pretences of cleverness in his training and had said right along that he fully expected to be jabbed up during the early rounds of the contest, but that he would win by setting a pace Welsh, would not be able to keep up with.

True to his word, Matty did set a pace that looked too fast for Welsh, in fact one would have ventured the opinion that the men were starting out on a six-round journey instead of twenty, had he judged the length of the contest by the pace Baldwin set at the outset of the battle.

Baldwin had. not reckoned on the ability of the Britisher to stall and set the pace to suit himself when tired, however, and although he tried at all times to keep, the fast clip up Welsh invariably slowed the going down when the least fatigued.

When the contest opened Welsh and Baldwin came together with a rush. Matty made the first pass and missing he fell into a clinch. Welsh took things easy during the first few rounds and Baldwin scored repeatedly with right and left hand swings and it looked as if Freddie had been made a false favorite when the fans offered 10 to 4 on his chances. 12

In the third round, However, Welsh opened up and took the lead and from that time on he had a little the better every round, with, the exception of one or two. From then on the Britisher started working his short-arm jolts in the clinches and the left hand leads he sent out found their way to the face of Baldwin with great regularity.

During the battle Welsh succeeded in cutting Baldwin about-the lips and puffing his face slightly, but at no time was the Boston boy In danger of going out or being very badly punished. Welsh won by out-boxing and out roughing the little Boston fellow and in doing so proved himself a great ring general and a boxer to feared by any of the lightweights. .