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The Boxing Biographies

Newsletter st Volume 7 No 11 – 31 Oct , 2011 www.boxingbiographies.com

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Name: Tommy Ryan Career Record: click Alias: Joseph Youngs Nationality: US American Birthplace: Redwood, NY Hometown: Van Nuys, CA Born: 1870-03-31 Died: 1948-08-03 Age at Death: 78 Stance: Orthodox Height: 5' 7� Trainer: Jack Hamilton Manager: Captain Jim Westcott

Tommy Ryan 1911-12 articles

In 1911 Tommy Ryan wrote a series of weekly 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.

There are 38 weekly instalments and I have reproduced them with as much accuracy as possible given the poor quality of some of the documents. In addition to the text I have added various other items of interest. This edition concludes the series.

Ryan Wins The Middleweight Championship

HOW DID TOMMY RYAN win the middleweight championship of the World is a Question I often see in the query columns of the sporting: pages of the newspapers. In this article I am going to explain how I won that title and became the recognized holder of two world's championships. The welterweight and middleweight. To get at the root of things, I must go back a bit and tell something about the history of the middleweight championship. Jack 2

Dempsey was one recognized world's middleweight champion, so I will take up the history of the title from his time. Bob Fitzsimmons fought Dempsey for the title, the articles calling for 154 pounds, Fitz won and became the champion. After his contest with Dan Creedon, whom he knocked out in September, 1894, at supposedly 158 pounds, which had come to be the recognized middleweight limit, Fitz went into the heavyweight ranks and everybody claimed the middleweight title. Among these were Jack Bonner, ―Kid"- McCoy, Dan Creedon, 'Kid" Carter and Frank Craig, but like many of the present day claimants for that same titles many of them were nearer the heavyweight than the middleweight division.

Craig had defeated all the best middleweights in England and came to this country with an open challenge to any middleweight for a battle. In the meantime, Bonner and Creedon, the two leading claimants on this side of the water got together and Bonner won by a knockout in the first round. He then claimed the middleweight championship of America. Bonner made a statement that he was prepared to defend the title against all comers and I challenged him. I had been fighting as a welterweight, but there were few left in my own division who could give me a battle and I believed that I could defeat any middleweight in the country.

Bonner and I were matched to fight twenty rounds at Coney Island on October 24th, 1898, for the title. The articles called for us to make 158 pounds. I weighed about 151 pounds while the Philadelphian was just able to save his forfeit. I found. Jack Bonner to be one of the gamest men who ever opposed me and while I won the battle rather handily the first ten rounds saw some very hard fighting. Bonner was strong and his favourite method of fighting was to rush his opponent at every opportunity and gradually wear him down until he could land a finishing punch. He tried that with me but found that something was wrong with his figuring.

There was little doing in the first round but in the second Bonner caught my left glove with his own left and held it while he swung a hard right my jaw. I went down and took the count of nine. On getting up I tore into Bonner and he was glad when the bell signalled the end of the round. I believe that my best blow in the early part of that fight was a short hook to the body that seemed to take the strength out of my opponent. Instead of tiring me he himself became tired from the rushing, for every time he rushed I met him with a hook.

Along about the eighth round the short left jabs that I had been landing on Bonner's face 3

broke nose and his left eye was also badly cut I kept up this jabbing and in two more rounds his eye was badly cut and bleeding profusely. The tide of battle was going against the Philadelphian and he realized it. We had been warned to break clean at the order of the referee, but Bonner had to be warned several times to desist from hitting as we broke. Finally he was told that he would be disqualified if he persisted, and this unfair method stopped.

From the twelfth round to the end I never had the slightest doubt of the result. In the sixteenth round I had my heavier opponent in serious difficulties and again in the seventeenth he was in trouble. I tried my best to get in a finishing punch., but was unable to land it. In and after the eighteenth round it was simply a case of Bonner's staying powers. He was tired out and was practically helpless, but he continued to cover up and clinch at every opportunity and I was unable to land the knockout punch; In this way Bonner managed to go the twenty rounds with me. I was given the decision and was hailed in the newspapers as the middleweight champion of America.

Frank Craig had in the meantime been taking a few minor fights and Matchmaker Brady of the Coney Island club determined to match us for the world's championship. I will have to get a bit ahead of my story here, but will content myself now with stating that I fought the English champion at Coney Island on September 16th, 1890, and knocked him out in the tenth round. In another article I will tell more about this fight. Johnny Gorman was the next to oppose me. He had made a very favorable showing- against other middleweights and though not a wonderful boxer, he was what is known as a "tough" fighter. In his bouts he had taken a lot of punishment to win by one of his hard knockout punches.

The bout was to be for twenty rounds and Gorman asked that the weight be set at 157 pounds, though I could easily have made ten pounds less. The bout, took place in Syracuse on Thanksgiving eve, November 23d, 1898. I had turned promoter myself and the bout was staged under the auspices of my club, the Monarch A. C. In Turn Verein hall, which was jammed to the doors.

Gorman lived up to his reputation of being able to take punishment. He was slow and I found little difficulty in landing almost at will. He lasted eight rounds, quitting- then and stating that he had been, badly hurt around the ribs and could no longer continue. I was given credit for a knockout. Tommy West had not been satisfied with the result of our first battle and he again challenged me.

West Gives Ryan a Tough Battle

TOMMY WEST had not been satisfied with our first battle and we were matched by a Louisville club for December 2nd 1898. Perhaps it would be well for me to go back a bit and explain something about how West and I became enemies, for there is no question about the ill feeling which existed between us and which was referred to in the press of that time as "The Tom-Tom feud."

When I was making my headquarters in Chicago, West was also a resident of that city and we used to work out In the same gymnasium. Pretty nearly every day we had the gloves on together and had some lively workouts. I never liked to be a loser, even when working out with my sparring partners. West probably had the same feeling and one day each of us got trying for a slight advantage over the other and the first thing we know we were fighting: In 4

real earnest. What the result would have been had not attendants separated us I would not care to say.

Bad blood was stirred up over that little incident in the gymnasium. We never worked out together after that and West soon changed his training quarters to another gymnasium. We both advanced in the fistic world and like myself west went east and was soon was soon making a reputation for himself among the welterweights and the climax of his career was a victory over Joe Walcott.

West then challenged me and we fought In New York. I won in the fourteenth round, as I have already described In a previous article. I expected no more difficulty in my second bout than I had in my first contest with him, but I got the surprise of my life when I met him in that Louisville ring. West went at me like a bearcat In the very first round and before I realized that the fight had fairly started I was on the floor. I got up groggy and he was at me again. For eight rounds, West gave me a terrible pummelling and I took as much punishment as I ever did in any battle I had in my career. My face was badly cut up by his gloves, for he had become an adept at all the little tricks that got to mark up an opponent.

West went out for revenge for the beating I gave him in New York and for a time many thought that he would get his revenge. He taunted me throughout the fight and I suppose that I answered him. However, I was too busy fighting to pay much attention to anything else. I caught West a terrible right on the mouth in the ninth round. It jarred loose some of his teeth and from that time I had an advantage, getting greater all the time. We were both bleeding profusely and spitting blood, making the canvas very slippery. Perhaps this had something: to do with the many times each of us went to the floor.

After the tenth round it was my turn to hand out the punishment, and I will say for West that he was game. From the fifteenth round he was practically helpless and with both of us staggering about the slippery ring West's seconds tossed in a towel as a token of defeat in the seventeenth round. We shook hands and staggered from this ring, victor and vanquished alike punished terribly. While I put up a number of good fights after that memorable battle with Tommy West I do not believe that I was ever afterwards as good a fighter as I was before that contest.

A punishment such as I took in the early rounds of that battle must eventually tell upon the physical condition of any man no matter how good he may have been when he went into the ring. I am wondering to this day how it was that West had not knocked me out in the early part of that battle. I was groggy more than once. Perhaps it was because he could not land a finishing blow ―just right‖. It certainly wasn’t because he couldn’t hit for he had the necessary wallop in either hand.

Tommy West was very deceiving in physique. When he was graduated from the welter to the middleweight ranks many people thought that he did not weigh more than 145 to 148 pounds. He was well built, and the night he fought me for the second time he must have weighed close to I6O pounds, though there was no means of knowing the correct weights as the match had been made at catchweights. My weight that night; was 148 pounds at the ringside. 5

Some months after this fight West and I met at the ringside of a Philadelphia club. Possibly we glared a bit at each other for awhile, but everything ended in our shaking hands, discussing our terrible battle and becoming as good friends as we had been before each tried to gain a little advantage over the other in the Chicago gymnasium.

Bob Fitzsimmons, then fighting in the heavyweight ranks, declared that he would do 154 pounds and beat me for the middleweight championship.I posted $2,500 in New York and agreed that Fitz should be allowed to weigh In at 154 pounds at 3 o'clock. The heavyweight then backed down a bit. He declared that he had posted $2000 for a match with me at 158 pounds at 3 o’clock, but who held the money never became generally known. It’s doubtful if Fitz could have made the weight.

I never fought a regular battle with the famous Australian, but we worked together in a stage stunt for quite a while. Part of our act was to box four rounds. Sometimes those little four-round exhibitions came pretty close to a real battle, I know at least one of them where we overlooked the bell at the end of the fourth

TOMMY WEST round and the curtain had to be rung down on us to make us stop. And I don't think that Fitz himself has quite forgotten the bouts we used to have, for I recently heard that Fitz had told a friend the story of the very bout I have just described.

Dan Creedon, who had lost to Jack Bonner, who in turn was defeated by me decided that he would do a "come back‖ stunt and issued a challenge to me but while I accepted we never got together. "Mysterious Billy Smith‖ , whom I had previously defeated, also challenged me and I agreed to do 145 pounds at 3 o'clock for him. My money was never claimed though it was up for a month.

Ryan Defends Middleweight Title

Dick O’Brien was the next middleweight to face me in a fight for the championship. O’Brien was well rated by the pugilistic critics and had won quite a reputation on a tour of Great Britain . Returning to the United States he defeated Bonner and lost a decision in ten rounds to "Kid" McCoy, though he gave away considerable weight. The McCoy-O'Brien fight took place in New York and newspapermen there began to boost O'Brien for a fight for the middleweight championship, as his showing against McCoy had been very creditable.

O'Brien made it a point to watch all of my fights that he could, and he had a firm belief that he could defeat me. His challenge was supplemented by an offer from a Hartford, Conn., club to stage a twenty-round battle between us for the middleweight championship to go twenty 6

rounds for a purse of $2,500, of which $2,000 would go to the winner.

Can you imagine two of the present day fighters battling for a championship for $2,600? In those days it was a big sum of money, but at the present time many a second-rater gets that amount for his end in a single fight which has not the slightest bearing on any championship. O'Brien showed that he had confidence in his own ability when he agreed that the loser's end should be $500, I greatly doubt if you could get any boxer or fighter considered to have a chance with any of the present champions to engage in a fight for the title where the loser's end would be less than four times what the defeated man got In our Hartford battle.

I had seen O’Brien fight and knew something of his style. He was rugged, strong and liked to rush his opponents from bell to bell. Wearing him down so that he could land a knockout punch. I laid my own plans accordingly. I did not believe that O'Brien was remarkably clever and knew that I would be able to outbox him, so when the battle started I depended more upon my science than upon a punch. O'Brien fought just as I would have wanted him to. He kept up his rushing as long as he could, but every time he rushed I met him with a straight left and this soon took a great deal of his aggressiveness out of him. Instead of wearing me down, his own rushing tactics had tired O'Brien and after the first nine rounds I went after him.

From the twelfth to the fourteenth round, in which the end came, it was just a case of how long his gameness would keep him on his feet. I asked him to give up for he was helpless and did not have a chance, but he replied that I was there to fight and not to tell him what to do. I admired his gameness and felt rather sorry for handing him so much punishment, but when a man is in the ring his primary object is to win. As I have said In previous articles, the public wants a winner and a champion must depend upon public favor to a great extent. Therefore I put away my sympathy for my opponent and went out to secure a decisive victory.

I will quote from a Hartford paper's description of the fourteenth round: "Ryan began jabbing at will. O'Brien was greatly weakened and could hardly hold his gloves up. Ryan's left swing struck O'Brien jaw and he went down like a log but he was up in six seconds and tried to clinch. Ryan, however, knew that he had his man and backed away to rush in and give force to his blow. This sent O'Brien down again. He tried to get up but could not, and was counted out. Ryan outgeneraled his opponent throughout the contest."

Another Hartford paper described the battle this way "Tommy Ryan of Syracuse, the cleverest fighter In the world, met Dick O'Brien of Lewiston, for a twenty round contest for the middle-weight championship and a purse of $2,500 in the fourteenth round after taking an amount of punishment that to say the least was remarkable.

Billy Roche refereed the bout to the satisfaction of both fighters and the big crowd of fans. Ryan's physique was greatly admired, he is well formed and his well trained muscles are concealed under a pink skin. O'Brien, on the other hand, looked muscular and strong. O'Brien's only chance was to land a terrific blow, for which he seemed to have the muscle, but he was very awkward when opposed to the clever Syracuse boy . O'Brien was loud in his praise of Ryan's fighting ability, and conceded him to be much the better fighter." Of Dick O'Brien, I will say that he was one of the gamest men I ever faced in the ring. Moreover, he was a true sportsman.

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Following this bout, I remained around Hartford for a couple of weeks, visiting friends and now, over thirteen years later I still retain many of the friendships made on that visit.From Hartford. I went to New York and seconded Tom Sharkey in his fight with "Kid" McCoy', the sailor winning by a knockout in the tenth. He was afterwards kind enough to give me a lot of the credit for this victory, for I was able to give him many valuable pointers on McCoy's style of fighting. Sharkey then went on a Vaudeville tour and when the party reached Syracuse, it was arranged that I should box a six-round exhibition with the sailor. This bout drew a large crowd and the newspapers called it a good exhibition. It took place February 1st, 1899, two days after Sharkey had knocked out Jack McCormick In two rounds in Philadelphia.

Following this bout I went to Hot Springs, Ark., where I spent several weeks and had three fights. My legs had been giving me considerable, trouble, but the baths proved of great benefit and when I left Hot Springs I felt as good as ever.

Ryan Invades The Middle East

MY FIGHTS IN HOT SPRINGS Were with "Australian Billy McCarthy and Charley Johnson of Indianapolis. Neither proved a very formidable opponent. My fight with McCarthy took place February 22d, 1899. and lasted a little over eleven rounds. McCarthy had, won quite a reputation and his showing in the few bouts' he had had in this country indicated that he had some ability as a ring star.

I took no chances and trained carefully. We weighed about 150 pounds each and were both in the best of condition. The attendance was about 1,000 but there was little betting. McCarthy's backers were not certain enough of their man to bet that he would win unless given big odds and the Australians showing had been such that my friends were unwilling to give the odds of 2 to 1 that were demanded.

As is usual in a carefully fought battle the first round was nothing more than a "feeling out" so that each man could size up the other. I led a couple of lefts to the face and discovered that McCarthy's defense was not impenetrable. After the second round I was never troubled by the Australian. I kept on playing the straight left to the face and a short right to the body with good success.McCarthy gradually tired from his own efforts to land his blows and from the effect of my punches and went down for the count in the twelfth round.

The Hot Springs promoters then asked me to meet Charley Johnson in an open-air bout at Whittington park. This bout, which took place March 1st. 1899, drew about 1,300 spectators and for several rounds they saw a good fight. Johnson had won his reputation in the Middle West and had fought many of the best middleweights in that section of the country.

Again, as in the McCarthy bout, I measured my opponent in the first round and. according to my estimate, he did not size up as very dangerous. In the second, I let him do most of the forcing as I wanted to see what he had when on the offensive. I did not have much trouble in eluding his rushes and when he pressed hard I gave him a straight left to the face that kept him at a safe distance.

Johnson continued his aggressive work In the third round but was unable to land effectively. According to a description in a newspaper, ―he cut wide circles through the air with his wild swings while the elusive Ryan ducked and countered with snappy lefts and right hooks to the 8

body.". This play to the body." continued the newspaper account, "plainly had their effect on the Indianapolis boy and he was glad when the bell announced the end of the round. It did not take an expert to see that the Syracusan was the better man of the two."

I saw no necessity for using up my own strength to try and tire out my strong opponent so let him continue his tactics and met all his rushes with short blows to the face or body. In the eighth round Johnson went down three times from body blows and on the third occasion Referee Jake Holtman counted him out.

Mv next ring appearance took place at Cincinnati and my opponent was Paddy Purtell. I would hate to call that affair a fight and it was very unsatisfactory all around. Purtell simply would not fight. Every time I led or feinted for him he would jump away across the ring. If he had only tried to counter my leads I would have given the spectators the worth of their money, but when a man refuses to allow his opponent to get near enough to land a blow it is pretty hard to put up a ring exhibition. Finally, in the fourth round, I did land one clout and Purtell laid down flat.

I was then matched to fight Jimmy Ryan at Hot Springs, but he refused to go on with me. The bout drew a house of only $800, and though my opponent was offered $500 of this amount he refused to enter the ring with me. Following this I went to St Louis where I was matched to fight Bob Douglas Before the West End A.C. he did not prove a tough adversary and the bout went five easy rounds . This bout took place. March I8th, 1899.

Chicago promoters then got after me to give my former pupil, Billy Stift, another match. I was agreeable as satisfactory financial Inducements were offered. The largest auditorium in the State was secured at Davenport and arrangements were made to seat 4,000 spectators, Big excursions carried the fight fans from Chicago. The bout took place on April 19th, 1899. The only betting on this bout was 4 to 3 that Stift would not stay the full twenty rounds. In the first round a couple of lefts to the face cut Stift's eye and it bled rather profusely. He was tougher however, than when I had fought him before. His ring experience had given him some idea of generalship. Paddy Purtell

Though Stift was strong, I gradually wore him down. In the sixteenth round I sent him to the floor for the count of nine and from that time on he was playing for time and only object was to stick the limit which he succeeded. Referee Malachy Hogan gave me the decision. I had several bouts with Stift and know full well his ability To take a lot of punishment. Knocking him out was no easy contract at any time, though in later bouts I turned the trick.

The Davenport bout ended my boxing that spring. Promoters made all sorts of offers, but 9

when it came to signing articles and putting up hard cash as guarantees things always happened to break off the bouts. As a result I rested all that summer and did not enter the ring- again until the following fall.

RYAN'S BATTLE WITH MOFFAT.

My first fight in the fall was with Jack Moffat, who claimed to be a welterweight and who had won a number of hard fights in the middle West. His home was in Chicago and the Windy City had a good opinion of his pugilistic ability. I had spent the whole summer in training other fighters and In traveling around, but was in good physical condition. The rest had done me the world of good and when I received the offer from the promoters for the match with Moffat I promptly accepted. I found Moffat to be strong and willing, able to take an immense amount of punishment, but not very clever.

For thirteen rounds the fight was a good one but after that my opponent tired quickly and only his gameness allowed him to stay the full bout of twenty rounds. The betting was 3 to despite the fact that Moffat had won some hard Bouts. Even at these big odds there was not much money wagered on the contest. Early in the fight I floored Moffat with a right to the head. He was plainly dazed after that blow But kept boring in at all times endeavoring to land some ponderous which I was able to sidestep.

In the thirteenth round, I had him again in trouble. I had been jabbing him in all the previous rounds and his body and face showed the effects of my blows. In the thirteenth, I gave him a hard right to the body and hooked the left to the jaw, sending Moffat down for the count of nine. He was is plainly all in and many of the big crowd began to get up and leave for they thought that the fight was over. For my part, I did not expect to see Moffat get to his feet again. He did, however and by clinching and running he managed to last the round.

Some good attention by his seconds brought back a bit of his fast waning strength in the intermission and he was able to last out the fourteenth, though I gave him awful punishment and did my best to land a knockout punch. From the fifteenth round to the end Moffat's only object was to stay twenty rounds with the champion. He clinched at every opportunity and when I tried to corner him he would break into a run. I soon saw his object and I must say that he had my sympathy. I thought that I had punished him enough and saw no harm in letting him gain the object of his ambition, to stay the limit. I let up a bit and Moffat, by his clinching and running tactics, managed to be on his feet for the last bell, though his left eye was entirely closed and he was badly marked. He had to be assisted from the ring. I naturally received the referee’s decision.

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It was at this fight that I had my first experience with a woman reporter. They were novelties in those days, but since then I have met them by the scores and they are just as energetic in digging up a story as the men. In one Boston City I met a young woman who was sporting editor of a large daily and she talked learnedly of ‖hooks‖, ―straight lefts‖ and other blows as any man I ever met. Better still she didn’t get her facts mixed when it came to writing the story.

But to get back to the Dubuque reporter. She had evidently been assigned by her paper to write a woman's impressions of the fight. Unfortunately I have lost the clipping of her article but as I remember it she didn't seem to be greatly frightened by what she saw. She sat at the ringside throughout the twenty rounds and wrote a very creditable account of the battle.

Womanlike, her sympathy was with the loser. While she gave me credit for being the cleverest fighter in the world, she admitted that her sympathy was with Moffat and she had hoped that one of his swings would land a lucky knockout. I have often -wondered how she managed to make her comparison of my boxing with the other ring stars so that she could term me the "cleverest of all." But I suppose that is a "reporter's license " and I notice that even the men have no objection to taking advantage of it.

Following this fight, Moffat went to California, where he made on excellent reputation among the middle weights. He defeated Al Neil, who was touted on the Pacific coast as a coming champion. In a bout with George Gardner Moffat had the misfortune to throw his shoulder out of joint and had to retire from the ring. My services were again in great demand by the various club promoters. Practically every day 1 had an offer of: some kind or another. They were not offering- any "$30.000, win, lose or draw for the champion" in those days and some of the offers made me were for as low as $100 for my end and the highest was for only $1,500 to the winner. Joe Choynski of Chicago, who afterwards won a reputation in the heavyweight ranks, was one of the men to challenge me and I agreed to meet him at 158 pounds.

Bob Fitzsimmons talked of trying to get back into the middleweight ranks and I offered to meet him at 154 pounds. Denver promoters sent an offer for about with Jock McDonough, and as the financial inducements were satisfactory I agreed to the match, the date to be settled after I had taken care of some of my Eastern engagements. Jack Root, another man afterwards in the heavyweight rank sent a challenge And I named terms to meet him. The Coney island Sporting Club Was however the first Club to make an offer that appealed to me and it was for a fight with Frank Craig.

RYAN DEFEATS THE COFFEE COOLER

FRANK CRAIG was one of the unique characters of the ring. .He had gained the name of "The Harlem Coffee Cooler" while participating in minor bouts in New York city. His success had not been phenomenal and somehow or other he managed to get across the Atlantic. The next thing we heard of him was that he was fighting in Liverpool, England. He was a negro, but there is not the racial objection to negroes in England that there is in this country.

Craig won his bout in Liverpool and soon became the pugilistic rage in that country. He had many bouts in London and was finally recognized as the middleweight champion of England. 11

Craig was in England several years and in that time he acquired. In addition to the championship, a wife, a valet and a fine Cockney accent . He returned to the United States in state. He did not believe in cheap traveling when he had the money, and Craig had just closed a long contract in the English music halls at $500 a week, a big salary at that time. But, as he put it, he was anxious to "got mixin again" and as there were no middleweights in England who could give him a battle he determined to return to his native land and meet me. I was the recognized American champion and had also beaten the best that had been sent from Australia. As Craig was the English champion, the Coney Island Sporting club, which staged the battle advertised it ―For the middle weight championship of the world‖.

Ted Pritchard, Jem Smith and the best of the other English middleweights had gone down to defeat before the Harlem Negro. Readers of these articles know what my own record had been. By defeating Bonner I had won the American championship. I wish to call particular attention to these facts, as they make plain how I came to be the middleweight champion of the world.

The articles called for a 20-round bout for the world's championship for purse of $6,000 and a side bet or $2,500. George Siler was referee and the bout was attended by a crowd that was estimated at close to 7,000. The weight was 158 pounds ringside, but a few hours before the fight Craig- came to me and asked if he could weigh in then and be able to eat something, For he was afraid that he would be weak making the weight at the ringside. As our money had been posted and the articles signed, I thought that this was rather a strange time for such a request and refused it. In the second round, Craig put his famous right swing to my head, flooring me for the count of nine and almost knocking me out. I determined to be extra careful of that right after that.

The second round was the only one in which Craig ever had the upper hand. I slowly wore him down and in the tenth round, with thirty seconds more to go the referee stopped the bout and gave me the decision, as Craig was all in and unable to continue.

In view of the fact that Frank Craig was the only Negro I ever fought, I would like to make some explanation of my reason for fighting him and my refusal to meet any other Negro. William Brady was then acting as my manager and, while in England, he had posted a big forfeit for me to fight Craig. I was not aware of this until Brady returned. I did not want to lose his forfeit and I did want to become the middleweight champion of the world. Hence, I fought Craig but he was the first and last Negro I met in the ring. Craig was a hard hitter and 12

had long reach. He had won most of his English bouts with a good right swing, the same kind of a blow which floored me in the second round.

The betting was at 2 to 1, though a few bets were made at 100 to 35, with me as the favorite. A large amount of money changed hands on this night for New York always did want a champion and the fans of that city were then, as they are now, always ready to back heavily any man who was thought to have a chance for ring title. Even though Craig had the Cockney accent and the English ways, he was a New Yorker and that was enough for the fans of the big town and they dug down deep to back him. Just before we entered the ring, Craig came to me and asked wanted, to bet the loser's end of the purse, $1.000. 1 agreed so the fight was on a winner-take-all basis and I earned $8,500 for the battle. It was one of the largest purses I drew down in my entire ring career. My claim to the world's middleweight championship was now established and I defended It against all comers who could make the middleweight limit.

I next gave my attention to some of the other challenges that I had received. I agreed to fight Jack McDonough in Denver on September 29th, 1899, and was then to come back to Chicago and fight Joe Choynski on Oct 6th. Another Chicago club was to stage a bout between Jack Root and myself soon after the Chicago affair. I arrived in Denver on September 28th and was so sick that I was unable to fight and my physician ordered me to take a long rest. As a result, I had to call of all three of the bouts I have just mentioned.

"Kid" McCoy was substituted as the opponent for Choynski and the other club got an opponent for Root. I went to the Pacific coast and had charge, of the training of Jim Jeffries, afterward heavyweight champion of the world, but of that work I will have more to say in a future article. It was five months before I returned to the ring and my next bout took place at Hot Springs, where I had been spending a few weeks.

Ryan Substitutes for Jim Jeffries

IT WAS NOT UNTIL FEBRUARY 1900 that I again participated' in a ring bout. I had spent the intervening months training Jim Jeffries and we were working at Hot Springs for Jim's battle with Corbett when promoters there endeavoured to get the big fellow to sign up for a match with George Lawler. This fellow stood 6 feet 2 inches and weighed 205 pounds, and the promoters thought he would give Jeffries a pretty fair argument.

Jeffries had too much at stake in the Corbett battle to want to take any chances. His hands had been bothering him and he declined the match. The promoters were unable to get another man to tackle Lawler and made me an offer to be his opponent.

I had not figured Lawler to be a very tough customer, despite the high opinion of him held by the Hot Springs fans, so accepted the offer and the fight took place February 2nd 1900.

Lawler proved a tougher proposition than I had looked for. I appeared the night before The bout in the Jeffries show at Little Rock and arrived at Hot Springs just a couple of hours before I was due to appear in the ring at the baseball park where the fight was held.. 13

In the early rounds I did almost anything I wanted to with Lawler and I did my best to knock him out as quickly as possible. But he could assimilate an awful amount of punishment and after about seven rounds I was tired out by my own efforts.

However I persisted in my attempt to secure a knockout and around about the tenth round I discovered a weak spot in his stomach. Playing for this I soon tired him out and dropped him for the count in the thirteenth round.

The Tattersall’s Athletic association of Chicago then made a bid for another bout between McCoy and myself. The terms were satisfactory to me and after the weights had been adjusted the bout was scheduled for May 29th, 1900, for a purse o£ $6,000, and was to be for six rounds. Before giving any further detail of this bout I want to quote one of the authority on fight affairs, was one of the spectators at that light, and in his account of the battle, published in a Chicago newspaper the day. He said in part

"Ryan is as clever us McCoy; has had as much, if not more, experience; built on stronger lines; can stand more punishment and is, if anything, better in the mix up - than is the 'Kid.'

Figuring along those lines, it appeared to me that Ryan, if on his feet at the end of the sixth round, the limit, would be equally as strong as McCoy. Such proved to be the case and McCoy was not entitled to a verdict."

Note- this is only a partial reproduction of the article as the original is of poor quality.

Ryan Fights In The Middle West

CHICAGO Then became for a time my home; and I had several fights in and around that city. Following the McCoy bout I was matched with Young" Mahoney of Philadelphia in a six round bout at the Star theatre Chicago June 29th, 1900, just a month after the bout with McCoy.

Mahoney came from the Quaker City with a reputation of being a clever, shifty fighter. He had a fine collection of press notices and the promoters decided that he was capable of giving me a battle.

The Philadelphian failed to live up to his press notices. I had no difficulty in outpointing him and had him tied up in knots, so to speak, with his own cleverness. I knocked him down a few times but he managed to stay the six rounds. But I got the decision.

Jack Root again began to bid for a match, he was a light heavyweight and a big favourite in and around Chicago, his home city. I had announced that I would fight any white man in the world at 158 pounds, but Root could not make this weight, he wanted me to fight him at 162 pounds, weighing in some hours before the fight.

After a lot of negotiating and newspaper talk, I finally agreed to fight Root at Tattersall’s A. A. in a six round bout on July 24th, 1900, no decision to be given except in the case of a knockout.

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For this bout we were to make 165 pounds at the ringside. Naturally. I did not have to take off any weight and my training which was done at Baden Springs, was more to gain strength than to try to regulate my weight. I weighed about 150 pounds when we entered the ring. Giving away so much weight to a man of Root's standing in the heavyweight ranks, for he-had been fighting Ruhlin and others near the top of the heavyweight division, I did not lay myself open for any of his hard wallops. nor would I permit Root to get into close quarters where he could use his weight to wear me down, I outboxed the big fellow and the bout went the full six rounds. There was little betting, but what money was posted went at 10 to 5, with Root on the long end.

A San Francisco sporting club then matched me to fight Jack Moffatt whom I had defeated in 1899 in a twenty round bout on September 7th for a purse of $5,000.But this bout was called off.

Geoffrey Thorne, who by the way was known as Jeff, was then the sparring partner of Bob Fitzsimmons. I was matched to fight Thorne, who was billed as the middleweight champion of England, before the Chicago Athletic Association in a six round bout on November 10th 1900.

He failed to show much of anything and I had little difficulty in landing about when and where I pleased. I knocked him out in the third round with a right to the jaw after I had him in a bad way from punches to the body. We weighed in at 152 pounds at 3 o’clock.

Tattersall’s Athletic association then made a bid for me to meet Charley Burns of Cincinnati at that club on November 27th and I accepted. Ten days before the bout was to take place the club asked that I permit Kid Carter to be substituted for burns and I agreed. The weights were to be 158 pounds at 6 o’clock.

While the Brooklyn fighter had a high standing in the middleweight ranks, the Chicago fans could see nothing for his chances. I easily outpointed Carter and was given the referee's decision at the end of six rounds.

Of the bout an Associated Press dispatch said ―Ryan's footwork and cleverness were remarkable. Carter was game to the core and showed that he could punch hard, for in the first round he dropped Ryan with a punch on the jaw. The Syracusan , however, more than evened up for this later in the bout. The fight was a good one and both men took much 15

punishment. Carter was badly messed up about the face from Ryan's jabs, for the latter kept up a perfect volley of short-arm. Blows to the face from the start of the bout to the end."

The fight with Carter completed my campaign for 1900, and after a bit of traveling I spent the holidays in Chicago.

On January 17th. 1901. I fought Jack Beauscholte at Springfield Ill. He was a local man and thought to be a "comer." but I had no difficulty with him. He lacked a good defence, and while he may have had a punch I gave him no chance to use it and knocked him out in the third round.

I went from Springfield to Minneapolis where I was matched to fight Frank Scott. I had heard that Scott was a good man and took no chances in my training and was in fine condition on the evening of the battle, January 31st. 1901. Scott looked to be a fighter, but beyond having a bit of cleverness he was not of championship material. I tried him out in the first round and when I found that I would have nothing to fear from him I went after him in earnest. I wore him down with body blows and left jabs to the face. In the 4th round I landed the knockout blow. I then returned to Chicago to look after some business and it was some weeks before I again entered the ring.

Ryan loses On Alleged Foul

Following my bout in Minneapolis with Scott, I gave attention to my business in Chicago for a couple of months and then went to Louisville for the memorable seventeen round battle with Tommy West, I was badly messed up in that bout and was in no hurry for further bouts for a while. I had made some big investments in real estate in Chicago and other points in the middle West and these took a lot of my attention during the summer of 1901. I erected a business block in Kansas City and I had little time for fighting. Fortunately it was the "off- season" for the fight game.

It was not until August 22nd 1901, that I again entered the ring. My opponent was Bob Douglass who, two years previous, had gone six rounds with me in St. Louis in a no decision bout. The 1901 bout was to be ten rounds and took place in Kansas City. . Douglas did not prove a formidable opponent and he was in such a bad way in the seventh round that the referee stopped the bout and gave me the decision. I was then matched with George Green whom I had knocked out in 18 rounds in San Francisco in 1898. We were to go ten rounds at Kansas City and the bout took place October 10th 1901. I lost the decision to green on what the referee called a foul.

I will quote from a report of the press association:

"The clinches were rough affairs, neither man breaking clean and Green's seconds, after the manner of seconds, when their man is getting the worst of things had been yelling foul.

Finally in the 6th round Ryan staggered his man. As Green was dropping to the floor, Tommy changed foot and drove his left for the knockout punch. Green was not on the floor but was sinking slowly to it.

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The referee , badly rattled by the shots of Green’s seconds, gave Green the decision on a foul, a perfectly preposterous decision, so the people at the ringside thought.

"There isn't the slightest doubt in the world but that Ryan can whip Green at any stage of the game."

That decision was one of the worst I ever heard of and naturally it did not suit me. When I realized that it would go on the records as a victory for Green, I at once demanded another match and after considerable negotiations Green agreed to meet me.

The Frisco man was then planning a trip to England to fight "Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, who had been making quite a sensation in that country. The return bout took place at Kansa City on January 30th, 1902, Armory Hall was packed to the doors.

I had fought Green twice and there was no necessity for me "feeling him out" in the early rounds. Moreover, I had an old score to settle.

I went after Green from the first bell and continually had him on the defence. In the first round I put him to the floor for the count of five. In the second round I peppered him with jabs and hooks until he fell again, partly from exhaustion. In the 4th it was a right to the jaw that sent him down for the count of eight.

Green then developed wonderful sprinting powers. He avoided an encounter and every time I would try to get him to fight he would run. I chased him around the ring and would try to corner him and compel him to fight, but he would then clinch. It was more of a foot race than a boxing exhibition in the fifth and sixth rounds and green was always in the lead when it came to sprinting. He surely was some runner.

In the seventh round I got him in a corner and refused to let him clinch. I hooked a stiff right to the jaw and greenhead to be carried to the dressing room, where he revived ten minutes later. I had my revenge for the foul of a few months previous.

In the previous January I had fought Beauscholte at Springfield Ill and stopped him in three rounds. Chicago boxing promoters figured however that he had improved greatly since that time and I was matched to meet him at the Chicago Athletic Association on February 15th in a six round bout.

Beauscholte made a much better showing than I anticipated, though I do not think I am vain glorious in saying that he was not in my class. In the first round I had him to the floor for the count of eight with a short right to the jaw.

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He came out rather dazed in the second round but managed to stay the limit. He took a lot of punishment in the third and fourth rounds but was always on his feet at the bell. In the fifth round I gave him a right uppercut that floored him and he had to clinch to stay the round. He was still groggy in the sixth but hung on until the finish. I was awarded the referee's decision.

"Rube" Ferns then challenged me. He had been fighting second and third raters around Buffalo and we were to meet. In the meantime, however. Ferns lost a couple of bouts and I refused to meet him unless the promoters would put up a guarantee for my end of the purse, as we were to fight on percentage. I did not think that the bout would draw and when the guarantee was not forthcoming I called the bout off.

"Philadelphia Jack" O'Brien then returned from England and when he landed in New York he started sending challenges. We were finally matched to fight before a club at Louisville the eve of Derby day.

There were three clubs at that time In Louisville and each one scheduled a bout for that evening. This caused a tangle and the result was that my bout with O'Brien was called off. The coronation of King Edward VII at London was then approaching and I was one of the American boxers invited to participate in the big fistic carnival held there at that time. The club endeavored to match me with O'Brien but there was some hitch on the weight question and the bout had to be declared off.

Ryan Knocks Out Mysterious Billy Smith

Kansas city was by this time, the Spring of 1902, recognized as my home as I had purchased a café in the city and had other business interests there. It was in Kansas City that my next bout took place.

Australian Tim Murphy was selected by the club as my next opponent for a ten round contest. Murphy was badly handled in that fight, but first let me give the story of the bout in a few words as it was told in a press association dispatch.

Ryan outclassed Murphy and let the Australian last as long as he could. In the ninth Ryan opened up and was always boring in with straight right and left jabs that did the trick. Murphy endeavoured to keep away by sprinting but was unable to get clear from the champion.

I believed that Murphy had some good in him and would with proper handling amount to something in the pugilist world, so after the bout I had a word with him and for some time he was my sparring partner.

On March 14th 1902 I fought ―Mysterious Billy Smith‖ for the sixth time before a club in Kansas City. This time I determined that the result would be so decisive that there would no longer be any doubt in the mind of fans who was the better man.

Smith was always a foul fighter, and I was careful with him in my Kansas City fight. He played for my kidneys as much as he could, but he did little damage.

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I confined my efforts to landing on the face and stomach, and the bout was fast and furious for three rounds. Smith then began to show the effects of the hot pace and after a minute and a half of hot mixing in the fourth round I put a hard left to the stomach and followed it with a right hook to the jaw. Smith sagged to the floor and was counted out.

The Kansas City promoters then secured Billy Stift of Chicago, my old pupil, who was afterwards my opponent in several bouts, to meet me on April 3rd , 1902, in a 10 round contest. Stift had been improving right along and put up a good fight against me. I felt the strain of the earlier battles, which had preceded the Stift contest such a short time , and contented myself with outpointing the Chicago man in every round.

The newspaper men were kind enough to say that I outclassed him at every stage of the game. You may well imagine the fight game was going good in Chicago about that time. It was. besides the many fights I had in that city all the good boxers were getting engagements there and boxing enjoyed a greater patronage at that time in Kansas than it had before or has since.

My fifth bout in Kansas City that year took place May 26th and Jimmy Handler, variously represented as being from New York and Philadelphia, was my opponent.Handler was a young fellow who had won some reputation in the six round class around Philadelphia , and he was rather swelled up as a result of his rapid success.

Handler arrived in Kansas City after stopping off in Chicago, and at both places he told the newspapermen what he win going to do with me when we met in the ring. That part was all right, but Handler made a mistake in not consulting me first. You see, I didn't quite agree with all his plans.

The plans didn't work out quite as well as Jimmy calculated. As I remember it, he was going to knock me out in something like four or five rounds. He merely had things switched—it was himself, who got knocked out, or, more correctly speaking, the referee stopped the bout when Handler was all in to save him from the knockout punch.

A Chicago newspaper described that fight in a few words, as follows:

"In a one-sided contest Tommy Ryan was given the decision over Jimmy Handler of New York In the fourth round of what was scheduled to be a ten round bout.

Ryan’s furious onslaughts began in the second round, when he landed with rights and lefts on the jaw and body as he pleased and culminated in the fourth when Handler went down for the count four times.

After Handler had gone down for the fourth time from a right to the jaw the referee gave Ryan the decision to save the New Yorker further punishment.

Handler told the newspapermen That he was going to start after me in the second round and didn't think I could stand up against him for more than a couple of rounds. I simply took leaf from his own book and gave him his own medicine. It is bad business for young fighters to be too sure of their victories, and even in boxing you cannot count your chickens before they are hatched. 19

Following this fight I sold out my cafe and business block in Kansas City and spent a few weeks travelling through the Eastern States and visiting some of my old friends. I had been invited to go over to England to take part in the fistic carnival which was to be a part of the celebration in connection with the coronation of King Edward VII, himself a great sportsman.

The National Sporting Club, the most important boxing organization in Great Britain and one of the best organized in the world, endeavoured to secure Philadelphia Jack O’Brien as my opponent and I spent some time in New York trying to come to terms regarding weight with the representatives of O’Brien and the club.

Those negotiations failed, however, and I sailed without knowing who I would be called upon to face in the ring when I arrived in London. I was not alarmed at the prospect, for the club had agreed to get a man within the middleweight limit. I was also looking forward to a chance to again visit Jem Mace, the celebrated English boxer, who had been my guest while he was in New York State.

RYAN ATTENDS THE CORONATION OF EDWARD VII

KING EDWARD VII OF GREAT BRITAIN was crowned In June 1902, in London and the scenes attendant upon the coronation were certainly wonderful. But it is not my intention to dabble in British history and I will get back to my own story.

In connection with the coronation of the new King the Empire games, a festival of sports with representatives from all parts of the British Empire, were held in London. These and the coronation drew an immense crowd of people to London.

The National Sporting club of London, the most important boxing organization in the British Isles, planned to hold a big boxing festival and to get together the best men in all classes, both amateur and professional, in the world I was among the many professionals invited to participate in the big tournament and I must say that my trip to England upon that occasion was one of the most pleasant incidents of my whole Ring career.

I sailed from New York and found that all accommodation on board was taken. The passengers were a jolly lot and with the freedom of shipboard I soon became acquainted with some very nice people.

I was fortunate enough to be assigned to the Captain’s table in the dining salon and found next to me a sedate Englishman, who, with his wife and daughter, was returning from a tour of the United States. We discussed various matters and it was the Englishman who brought up the question of boxing and I soon discovered that he was much opposed to the ring game.

We became close friends in the next few days, though he never asked, nor did I tell him, my business. On our last night at sea, the usual concert in aid of the Seaman's fund took place and I was asked to take part in the programme. Frank Erne, the Buffalo boxer, was also a passenger and we agreed to spar for few rounds.

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When our turn came and we reached the platform, I saw my English friend sitting in the second row with a look of surprise and consternation upon his face. Possibly he was remembering some of his remarks about boxing and boxers.

I forgot the name of the announcer, but I do remember that he was one of the most important public men of England. I believe that he must have had some Irish blood in him, for he certainly gave me a very flowery introduction. Erne and I went four fast rounds and the boxing seemed to please everybody. I soon noticed that my English friend was clapping as much as anyone in the big room. Another thing which did not escape my attention was that the women seemed to enjoy the bout as much if not more than the men.

We were in sight of the Irish coast next day when I went on deck. My English friend was pacing the deck and came up to me and apologized for his remarks about boxers, saying that he was not aware that I was a member the profession. I told him that no apology was necessary and he then went on to tell me that the exhibition the previous evening was the first time he had ever seen boxing and he had supposed it to be a case of two men standing toe to toe and slugging, something in the nature of a street brawl.

He was much interested in the science we had displayed and said that the exhibition had given him a new idea of boxing and he wanted to see more. I told of the bouts in London for which I was crossing the ocean and he said that he would certainly be on hand to see me fight. He invited me to visit him at his home, but I was forced to decline as my time was pretty well taken up.

Upon leaving the ship at Liverpool I went to Manchester to pay a promised visit to Jem Mace, the English boxer. Mace had been in the United States a couple of years previous and we had become great friends. I had a very pleasant time at his place and he accompanied me to London and acted as chief second in my bout before the National Sporting Club.

The club had made a strong effort to secure Philadelphia Jack O'Brien as my opponent, but we unable to agree on weights and it was Johnny Gorman of New York who faced me in London.

I was much surprised at the order and quality, if such a word can be used, of the big audience. Seats around the ring sold at a high price, for the bouts were of the real "all star" order. All the spectators were dressed in regulation evening clothes and the wide expanses of shirt fronts and glittering studs made a sight that was worth going to see.

The referee stood outside the ring, the platform being wide enough to give him a path around on all sides. Under British rules all boxing is of the clean break order and a boxer falling to break at the word of the referee is promptly disqualified. The referee makes no effort to part the men except by word of mouth.

Another thing which impressed me was that while there was much betting going on there was little actual money in sight. The man wanting to make a bet announced his intention and a nod of the head from a neighbour would signify that he was "on."

Looking from the ring I saw my ship friend sitting in the second row. He came over to shake hands and whispered that he had bet five pounds sterling ($25) on my chances. Afterwards 21

he attended many bouts with me in London.

The first of the important bouts on the programme that evening, June 24th, 1902, was between Frank Erne of Buffalo and Jim Maloney of England. Erne put Maloney away in the seventh round.

My bout with Johnny Gorman followed. The account of the battle cabled back to New York was short and to the point, so I quote it:

"Tommy Ryan of Syracuse defeated Johnny Gorman of New York in the third round. Ryan showed greater; steadiness and speed than his opponent and allowed Gorman to do all the rushing. In the third Ryan landed a one-two with right and left, simultaneously on Gorman's head. Gorman was dazed and before he could recover he received a swinging ring on the jugular and was counted out."

I remained In England a few weeks after this bout and then returned to the United States. England was pleasant, but the United States was my home.

RYAN JABS CARTER TO SLEEP

Before I started for my trip to England to take in the coronation bouts I had promised Buffalo promoters that I would fight for them upon my return, and when I got back I signed articles to meet "Kid" Carter in a twenty-round bout on September 15th, 1902.

Carter was then a comparatively new man in the pugilistic world. I had fought him in Chicago two years before, and won the decision in six rounds.

Afterward Carter defeated Joe Wolcott twice and gained his greatest prominence in May of 1092 when he met "Kid" McCoy in a six-round bout in Philadelphia. He punished McCoy badly, and the only thing that saved the "Kid" from a defeat was that in Philadelphia no decisions were given.

Otherwise carter would most certainly have been given a decision, and in a ten-round bout he would have won by a knockout. Carter was a pretty husky lad, and the articles called for us to weigh in at 158 pounds at 3 o’clock, and the bout was to be for the middleweight championship of the world. Carter just barely made the weight, while I tipped the beam at 148 pounds. This brings up the question of championship weights.

Had Carter defeated me at Fort Erie he would have been the middleweight champion, despite the fact that I was ten pounds lighter.

When I saw Carter was in grand shape I realized that it would take hard headwork and footwork to beat him, and laid my plans for the battle accordingly. When the preliminaries were over there were 6.000 persons clustered around the ring. There were delegations from New York, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Louisville, Rochester and other cities, and there was much betting. Most of the money was wagered at evens, as Carter had made so good an impression against Wolcott and McCoy that he was believed to have a chance against me.

Just before the fight started I was favourite at 10 to 7. 22

George Siler, the noted Chicago referee, was the third man in the ring. The first round was very fast. There was no fiddling around to size each other up. We had fought before and each know the other's style. Carter played for the body, while I directed my blows at his head, a left jab being the most effective.

Carter started off the second round with heavy swings to the body, and those blows carried some steam. I felt them all right. It was a furious round, and I took much punishment about the body, while I had Carter's face bleeding from the jabbing I gave him. Both of us were tired when the bell rang. Carter forced me a bit in the early part of the third round, but his blows, while heavy, were not well placed. He seemed to be a bit rattled. After he had landed a. stiff right uppercut I tore into him and staggered him with a left to the head, and from that moment I was no longer worried. I realized that while Carter was one of the toughest men who over opposed me I was able to take his measure.

In the fourth Carter continued his rushing and heavy swinging and it took all my footwork and generalship to get inside some of the punches which, had they landed, might have ended the fight. I resorted to the jab again and met Carter every time he rushed in. He swung a right to the head that bothered me, but I was able to keep up the fast pace, and again played for the face, which was bleeding freely when the bell rang for the end of the round.

A left jab to the jaw staggered Carter in the first scramble of the fifth round, and I followed this with a left to the body, which Carter claimed was foul, but the referee declared it fair. We were soon mixing hotly, but Carter did not have the necessary experience to cope with me when the pace got hot. I managed to block or duck his heavy smashes and opened up a new cut over his right eye by jabbing.

Toward the end of the round, when I seemed to have him badly worried, Carter swung a heavy right to the body and a vicious loft to the face ,which bothered me for a second, but we were both swinging: hard when the bell rang. I watched Carter go to his corner and saw that he was very tired, while his face was crimson from, the blood which flowed from his cuts. For a description of the sixth and final round, I am going to quote from. a press association report ;

"Ryan came up with a right to the stomach, while Carter put left to the face and right and left to the head. Tommy used his footwork and danced away for a time. Ryan put a heavy right over the kidneys and Carter again tore in with his heavy swings.

Carter was all at sea in the next clinch and hung on until the referee separated them. Ryan put right and left to the head and Carter seemed to be losing his steam. Carter landed a right and a left to the head, but Ryan repeatedly jabbed him in the face and, catching him napping floored him with a heavy right to the jaw. Carter got up dazed at the count of nine, and Ryan watching his opportunity, put another heavy right on his bleeding countenance and Carter fell heavily again.

Once more he gamely struggled to his feet, but another heavy right to the jaw sent him on his back on the floor of the ring and Ryan and Referee Siler assisted the knocked out man to his feat and led him to his corner."

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I have always believed that it was a good left jab that won me my fight with Carter. He was about the heaviest hitter I ever faced in the ring, and but for the fact that I could meet his rushes with a left jab to the face there might have been a different verdict,

For all that you can say about a corkscrew punch or a swinging uppercut or any other fancy blow, I will answer, give me a left jab.

Ryan Stops Two Men In One ring

BECAUSE OF THE FACT that few of opponents stayed many rounds with me, the newspapers began to say that I was "picking easy ones". When I returned from England I decided to put an end to that kind of talk, so authorized a Kansas City club to get two good middleweights, and I would fight both of them the same evening.

The club snapped up the proposition and soon had arranged for me to boss Jack Beauscholte and Jimmy Ryan, both tough men, on the night October 3rd , 1902. Each bout was to be for six rounds.

At the last minute Jimmy Ryan was unable to go on and Barney Walsh, tough Chicago middleweight, substituted for him.Beauscholte and Walsh drew for turns and it fell to Walsh to enter the Ring against me in the first bout. I realized that I could not afford to monkey with either of these men, so went after Walsh from the first bell.

After two minutes of fighting in the second round I landed a right swing to the jaw and he took the count. But 1 was to get no rest. Just one minute after I had knocked out Walsh Beauscholte stalked into the ring and the second bout started.

Beauscholte was a bit tougher than Walsh. He had also fought me previously and knew something of my style, but I went after him from the first bell and did not let up until with a right uppercut to the point of the jaw I floored him for the count in the third round.

This feat of stopping two tough men in less than five rounds put an end the talk of "easy marks‖ and I heard little more of it. I was next matched to fight Philadelphia Jack O'Brien in a six-round bout at Philadelphia in October for a purse of $5.000, a considerable amount In those days.

The International A C. of Buffalo, which was staging bouts at Fort Erie, put in a claim in which they declared that they had the prior fight by virtue of an agreement made with Matchmakers at the time of the Carter fight.

Anyway, there was a hitch in the arrangements for the bout in Philadelphia and Morris Levy, who afterward became one of the best known promoters on the Pacific coast, came with an offer from the Hayes Valley A. C. of San Francisco for O'Brien and myself to fight before his club. The Lyceum A. C of Chicago also wanted my services, it being the intention of the matchmaker to send me against Root.

Then Jack Herman of Buffalo, still in the fight and wrestling promotion business, came forward with an offer of $7 000 for me to meet either Root or O’Brien in a twenty-round bout at Fort Erie. 24

Bob Gray who then ran the noted Southern club al Louisville got into the game with an offer to me to fight anybody I might name before his club. Thus it went on. The double knockout feat was not without its value as advertising, and my services were in great demand all over the country.

However, I had other matters which took up my attention at the time, and it was not until the following January that I again entered the ring. About that time Jack Herman of Buffalo again renewed his bid for a fight between O'Brien and I for February, but the old question of weights, again proved a sticker.

It was on January 15th, 1903, at Kansas City that I fought my next battle and Billy Stift the Chicago middleweight, whom I had fought several times, was picked as the man to go against me in what was announced as a ten-round bout. Stift had been showing improvement in every fight and when I faced him at Kansas City I did not take any chances, despite the fact that I had met him several times.

I fought cautiously and tried for a knockout from the start. In the very first round 1 got through Stift’s guard and sent a right to the jaw that floored him for the count of nine. When he came up, I ducked a hard right swing and put my own right to the kidneys and Stift went to his corner in distress.

He came up strong in the second round and made a strong resistance to my rushes but I managed to break his guard several times to jab with my left to the face. I had Stift hanging on in the third and at the beginning of the fourth round I rushed him hard and sent him to the floor for the count of nine with a short left hook to the jaw. As he rose, I watched my opportunity and as soon as he was on his feet I whipped my right to the jaw and Stift went down and out.

He was too hard a hitter to fool with and I took no chances whatever in that battle. Stift was a long shot in the betting but I was rather troubled by the large amount of money that went up on his chances. I learned afterwards that Stift had been training hard for the bout and had promised his friends that he would knock me out. I had not been fighting for some months and he evidently figured that he would catch me out of condition.

However, I had learned one lesson about not being in condition and no matter how easy I figured my opponent I was always in fine shape when I entered the ring. More than one good fighter has been fooled by underestimating his opponent and it took only one lesson to impress that fact upon my mind most emphatically.

Jack Munro, the big Butte miner, who had become famous over night by staying four rounds with Jim Jeffries, then the heavyweight champion of the world, then made an offer for my services as his trainer but we were unable to come to the right terms.

Incidentally many of the fans may be interested in knowing that Munroe is now one of the biggest mine owners in the rich Porcupine district of Ontario. After his short and meteoric career m the ring, Munro drifted into Northern Ontario with the first rush for the rich Cobalt camp He was fortunate and sold out to advantage. But he was not satisfied even then and wandered from Cobalt into another mining district in that section, the Elk Lake camp. Here 25

he became the "first citizen." being elected district Mayor in the first election held there. He grew rich in this camp and on occasional jaunts to New York he dazzled the Broadwayites with his display of "rocks "

THE RECORD BOOKS contain no reference to a fight between Bob Fitzsimmons, the famous Australian who was for a time the middleweight champion of the world and afterwards won the heavyweight title. But the fight took place just the same.

It is brought back to my mind now by the fact that about the time of which I am writing in these articles Jack Herman offered a purse of $25.000 if I would meet Fitzsimmons before his club at Fort Erie in a twenty round bout.

A couple of years previous to this I had been touring on the stage with Fitzsimmons. One or our stunts was to close the show with a four-round boxing exhibition in a regulation ring and with regulation gloves.

Each was a champion and neither wanted the other to have any advantage in the little exhibition. Fitz caught me napping in Pittsburgh one night and ran up a few points against. I didn't forget that and watched my chance. The night we opened in Detroit I felt in grand condition and I determined that I would show the big fellow a few tricks in boxing.

The first round was of the ordinary exhibition nature, but the second was faster and the third had reached the stage when it was a real battle. But the fourth round was the real scrap, and we tore into each other with the energy at our respective commands and were mixing so merrily at the end of the three minutes that neither of us heard the gong which ended the round. The audience soon realized that they were getting something not down on the bill and the whole house was in uproar.

The curtain was rung down and members of the company separated us. But I had paid Fitz back for his little victory in Pittsburgh. He had not been anticipating anything like a real tough scrap and I marked him up a bit.

Martin Julian, brother in law of Fitzsimmons, was running the show and "Fitz" went to him and insisted that I be discharged, as he was afraid that I wanted more than my share of the limelight. Anyway, thus ended the Fitzsimmons-Ryan all star show. In the two years which had passed between that incident and the time of my story "Fitz" had gone along fighting the heavyweights and adding to his many honours.

When Herman made his offer Fitzsimmons and Jeffries were touring together and about the same time Corbett challenged Jeffries. The travelling stars said we were looking for advertising, but I then issued a statement in which I made known my stand in respect of the Australian.

I agreed to fight Fitz in a twenty round bout before the club offering the best inducements and if the weight was made at ringside. Fitz had declared several times that he could still make the middleweight limit but I doubted this very much.

When Fitz defended the middleweight title he compelled Jack Dempsey to make 154 lbs at the ringside at new Orleans and insisted that 154 was the legitimate limit. 26

Fitzsimmons made a lot of talk about fighting me and regaining the middleweight title, but when it came to actually signing the articles the Australian was not there to do business.

Some people may have the notion that I was foolish to offer to fight Fitzsimons on any conditions. Let me assure such fans that a match well made is a match half won, and had Fitzsimmons entered the ring he would have been too weak to have stood off my rushes for I would have been at my best weight.

This weakness would have off set his advantage in reach and height and I believe that had we met under such circumstances I certainly would have won.

On Feb 3rd 1903 I fought Cyclone Kelly of San Francisco, afterwards famous as a second and advisor. Kelly proved clever but I had an advantage in almost every round. The finish of the bout was rather peculiar. In the seventh I floored Kelly with a hard right on the solar plexus and he got up a bit dazed. The referee stepped in front of me as I was about to wade in for a knockout punch and waved me to my corner while giving me the decision. Kelly and his friends put up a great ―holler‖ as they declared the Kelly was far from being all in and they wanted to continue the fight. But to this the referee would not agree.

Battle Creek , Mich., was the scene of my next battle, which took place on June 1st June 1903. I went to Battle Creek under a contract for two bouts and James Walker was picked to meet me in the first. It was my first battle in Battle Creek since the days when I was gaining my early reputation as a lightweight. Walker put up a game if not very clever battle and in the fifth round I got in a right to the chin that toppled him over for the count. Two weeks later, on June 15th I again fought at Grand Rapids, my opponent this time being Jack Hickey.

He was not as tough an opponent as Walker, and in the fourth round the referee stopped the bout to save him from further punishment. As I was leaving the ring that night a promoter took me by the arm and started in talking. Before I was fully dressed I found I had signed to meet John Wille, a Chicago heavyweight, before the Broadway Athletic club, Mont. , on July 4th.

Wille afterward fought many of the best heavyweights of his time, but in 1903 he was just gaining some fame. He was big, strong and awkward, but I was willing to tackle him if the financial inducements were strong enough – they were. We fought on June 30th, the date having been changed, and after wearing down the big fellow by body punches and left jabs I knocked him out in the fourth.

27

RYAN'S FIGHT WITH PHILADELPHIA JACK O'BRIEN

Following my bout with John Wille I practically retired from the ring for a few months. There were no more real middleweights of championship or near championship class to meet me, and I did not care to risk my honours by giving away too much weight to the heavyweights.

The Missouri Athletic club of St. Louis wanted me to take the position of boxing and physical Instructor. They had been after my services for a long time and when I saw no more battles in sight I accepted their offer of $5.000 per year.

But the life of a boxing instructor is not one on a bed of roses. Every amateur who is a member of the club believes that he should get the chief attention from the Instructor, and if he is not given special favour there is a howl to the directors. Moreover, those amateurs always believe they have the privilege of slamming the instructor all they desire, and when the instructor happens to be a middleweight and the pupil a big heavyweight there are always sure to be blows struck on both sides. But woe to the instructor if he should happen to land a hard one on the pupil, there is another immediate roar from the pupil to the board of directors.

And so it goes on. I have tried the business of boxing instructor for athletic clubs several times and it isn't all what it is cracked up to be.

Philadelphia Jack O'Brien finally agreed to get down to the middleweight limit and when the National A. C. of Philadelphia offered a substantial purse for the match I decided to quit the business of boxing instructor and get back into the ring. O'Brien and I were matched for six rounds on January 27th 1904, and it was one of the liveliest and most spectacular battles that" the Quaker City fans ever witnessed.

The Philadelphia real estate agent boxer decided that I had been out of the ring for so long, some six months, that I would not be able to get back into the best of shape and have all my old speed and skill at my command. I soon discovered how O'Brien viewed the match - easy money for Philadelphia Jack-—and I decided to let him nurse his little delusion.

Most of my training was done in private, and I made no effort to show at my best when training in public. This naturally caused O'Brien to arrive at the conclusion that his estimate of me was correct. Instead of being in poor physical condition, I was as good as ever I was. Hugh Kelly and I sparred for hours every day in private and would then burlesque a couple of rounds in public for the benefit of O'Brien's scouts.

I was not until four days before the bout that I let the public into the secret and showed my real condition, and then before the Chicago newspapermen Kelly and I boxed six rattling fast rounds, and the scribes who witnessed the workout at once began to predict a victory for me. After that workout I took the train for Philadelphia. When I arrived in the Quaker city I found all the men in town and quite a number of the women excited over the bout. Until my public workout in Chicago O'Brien had been a big favourite. By the time I arrived in Philadelphia, the betting had switched back to even money.

There was a dispute over the referee, O'Brien insisting that Bert Crowhurst the regular referee of the club, be the third man in the ring, while I wanted a New Yorker or a man from some 28

neutral city. Finally when O'Brien threatened that he would not fight unless Crowhurst refereed, I agreed.

I had seen O’Brien in a couple of fights and had also made a careful study of the newspaper accounts of his other bouts and I figured out that he would try to rush and out box me. He had expected to find me rather weak and still found it hard to believe the newspaper reports of my condition and I expected that he would carry out his original plan of battle and try to wear me down. . Accordingly, I decided that I would let O'Brien work himself out for a few rounds and be on the defensive until about the fifth when I would tear into him with all my speed and endeavour to run up enough points in the remaining two rounds to win the verdict.

This was the plan I followed and it worked out just as I expected, for O'Brien used up practically all his energy in attacking me in the first four rounds and endeavouring to knock me out and when I cut loose in the fifth the rally was totally unexpected by him and I had him practically at my mercy.

1 weighed 150 pounds at 6 o'clock while O'Brien just managed to make 158. There were over 5,000 persons in the big hall and as many more were turned away. The fans made up their minds that they simply had to see that fight, and price did not stand in their way. Speculators who had bought up tickets at $5 each found a ready sale for them at three times that price. Hugo Kelly, who had fought O'Brien a short time previous, was my chief second, while my old ring enemy, Kid McCoy was called upon to give advice to O'Brien.

Jim Jeffries was at the ringside and received a great reception when he entered the hall. Jack Johnson, then heavyweight champion of California was another spectator and just before the main bout he crawled through the ropes and challenged any man in the world, Jeffries preferred , but big Jim merely smiled.

JACK O'BRIEN GETS A SURPRISE GOOD CONDITION

My good condition, speed and old time skill proved a great surprise for Philadelphia Jack O’Brien in our battle in he Quaker City. But I doubt if I can describe that battle any better than did a representative of a New York paper who sat at the ringside and I quote from his description

"In one of the fastest cleverest six round bouts seen anywhere Tommy Ryan outpointed 29

Jack O’Brien at the National Athletic club. It was a duel between two admitted masters of the boxers art and the verdict were verdicts permissible would have gone to Ryan.

'Though the bout went the limit in rounds nearly all the action was concentrated in the fifth. Up to the fifth O’Brien was doing all the spectacular work and when after or during a mix in the fifth he caught Ryan with a short right uppercut it looked like he would win.

Ryan went to the mat and took what was coming to him in the way of time. The punch which dropped him did not have enough steam behind it to seriously embarrass him for he rose and none to worse for the episode.

Up to that time Ryan had been playing a waiting game and while O’Brien had an advantage on points he was plainly tiring from his own strenuous efforts . Arising from his knockdown in the fifth Ryan sailed right into O’Brien despite all his cleverness afoot, could not keep him from boring in. Ryan landed both right and left about the body and their effect was almost immediately noticeable.

O’Brien began to cover and went into a clinch whenever the opportunity offered. It was with some difficulty that the referee separated them.

Ryan never desisted from his tactics keeping his right and left going for the body. In avoiding a left swing for the wind O’Brien jumped up and caught the blow somewhat low when he made a feeble effort to claim a foul but it was not successful.

Ryan got in a short right to the jaw and O'Brien would have gone to the floor had he not fallen on Ryan. O Brien was practically helpless and just before the gong sounded someone threw a sponge into the ring from his corner but at the tap of the gong a second jumped into the ring kicked the sponge out and carried O Brien to his corner.

The referee had not seen the sponge thrown in and would not term the bout at an end.

When they came up for the sixth round O’Brien was still in distress while Ryan was perfectly cool. He contented himself with clever boxing as he had in the earlier rounds, taking care of himself and occasionally letting loose a swing just as a reminder he was still there.

It was a great bout to witness but the general opinion expressed after it was over, even by O’Brien’s friends, was that Jack would have no business with Ryan in an extended round affair.

I believe the referee should have stopped the bout in the fifth round when O Brien’s seconds tossed in the sponge and I would then have received credit for a knockout and there would have been no question as to the superiority. However even the newspapers m Philadelphia O Brien s home town gave me the decision, with one single exception.

The Philadelphia North American in its account of the bout said

Jack O Brien with weight, height and reach in his favour was no match for Tommy Ryan. The bell in the fifth saved him from being knocked out. He was helpless after being knocked down by Ryan and had to be carried to his corner by his seconds. 30

The Philadelphia Public Ledger said, in part

O’Brien was decisively defeated by Tommy Ryan.

There was a lot of talk about another match and I was perfectly willing provided the financial and weight conditions were satisfied, but no real earnest effort was made on the part of O’Brien to get into the ring with me again.

THE TIME WAS now fast approaching for me to wind up my active ring career. I had beaten all the men in the middleweight division who could be looked upon to give me a real fight and I was well aware that no boxer can expect to go on fighting forever, I had all the honours which could come to me and to keep on fighting would only mean courting a possible defeat in the course of a few years. My fruit farm was also taking up a lot of attention and I decided that the winter of 1904 would see my final ring appearance.

I had no hard battles that season and this may be due to the fact that the men opposed to me were men who had fought me previously. I knew their styles and did not dally along with them when my chance came to put an end to the battle.

Frank Garrard was the first opponent selected for me that fall, I met him at Tattersall’s in Chicago on September l0th and the bout was stopped in the third round to save him from needles punishment.

Just a. month later I met Bob Douglas at St. Louis and found him no more formidable than in my previous battles. This time he took the count in the fourth round.

Benton Harbor fans, near where I had my fruit farm, wanted to see me in action and they arranged for Tom Wallace to meet me in what was to have been a ten round bout. I endeavoured to let my neighbours get an idea of my speed and skill in the ring and about the fourth round I sailed into Wallace in real earnest and in the fifth he went clown for the count. This bout took place November 23rd 1904. . My next bout was one which has always been the subject of criticism with many ring followers. I refer to my contest with Jack Root in Philadelphia on November 23d, 1904. Before going further I want to remind my readers that Root was no little fellow but a light heavyweight and was at that time in his prime. Owing to the difference in weights I was not over anxious for the match but the fans seemed to think that we ought to meet so I agreed to the six round contest in the Quaker City.

Conceding about twenty pounds in weight to Root. I decided that it would be rather foolish on my part to endeavour to force the battle I therefore concluded to let Root make the pace and endeavour to outpoint him. Root, however did not seem anxious for fast work and I will have to admit that the first couple of rounds were rather slow and tame. 31

Referee McGuigan made some bitter comment during the second round and naturally it did not make me feel any better inclined toward him. Had it not been for his remarks I would have taken the initiative and forced the pace myself. After the referee had had his say I decided that I would continue to let Root act as the pacemaker.

The referee became rather peeved in the third round and stopped the bout, declaring that we were not fighting as hard as he thought we should. As I have explained I was not mixing things as hot as I might have, but it was the ill considered remarks of the referee himself that kept me from doing so.

Regarding the statement that I insisted upon my money being paid to me before I entered the ring for that bout, I want to state that the Philadelphia contest was no exception to a rule which I had made a couple of years before. At that time I had had some trouble collecting my guarantee from a club in New York and always afterward I insisted on being paid my money before starting the bout. Now as a manager of other boxers I still insist upon that same condition unless the bout is before a club I am personally acquainted.

My real farewell to the ring took place at Benton Harbor Mich., on December 29th, 1904, when I met Billy Stift the Chicago middleweight. It was my fifth battle with Stift, who had learned his early boxing from me, and he did not prove a very hard proposition for me. I stopped him in the fourth round.

For two years I devoted myself to my farming interest and to training other boxers. Acceding to repeated requests I finally agreed to meet Dave Barry at Hot Springs on Feb 5th 1907 and showed that I still had my old punch and vitality by knocking him out in the fifth round. On March 4rh. 1907, I appeared in a six-round exhibition with Hugo Kelly, one of my protégés at Rochester, the official decision on that occasion being a draw. Later I boxed exhibitions with Battling Nelson and a number of other ring stars of all weights, but at no time did I have any desire to "come back" and endeavour to regain the middleweight title.

A boxer who has been out of the ring for several years is foolish to have the idea that he can train a few months and then fight as well as he did at the time of his retirement. To give his best a boxer must be in prime condition and no boxer can be in prime condition unless he keeps up a continual course of training. A few years of an idle or an easy life soon takes away a lot of the vitality which is essential to the success of a boxer.

I have never dissipated and today, in my forty second year, I am still able to put the gloves on with my pupils or any boxer who may visit my camps or gymnasium and go a few fast rounds. I have added a lot of weight, however, and doubt that I could get down to the poundage I had when in active training.

In the nineteen years I was before the public as a boxer I fought more hard battles than any boxer known to the modern ring. I fought first with bare knuckles, then with the ordinary kid gloves and finally with the padded gloves which are so well known to the tight fans of to-day. I fought my way up from an unknown to two successive championships, and in my long career I was never defeated by a man of my weight and was beaten only once, that by a heavier man and when I was foolish enough to be caught out of condition.

32

This concluded the series – The last one published is of such poor condition it is not possible to publish in a way which would make much sense of the overall content. It is not a large article and about the same as all the others so no great amount is lost in the grand total of things.

Of the many stories which I have detailed from past news reports I must say this series stands out as a true joy to have done.

Rob Snell

Tommy Ryan

Alias Joseph Youngs Country USA Global Id 31487 Hometown Van Nuys, California, USA Birthplace Redwood, New York, USA Division Middleweight Born 1870-03-31 Died 1948-08-03 Stance Orthodox Reach 185cm Height 171cm

Career Record ©www.boxrec.com

Date Opponent Location Result 1911-11-29 Denver Ed Martin Portland, US L NWS 6 1907-03-04 Hugo Kelly Charlotte, US D PTS 6 1907-02-05 Dave Barry Hot Springs, US W KO 5 1904-12-29 Billy Stift Benton Harbor, US W KO 4 1904-11-23 Jack Root Philadelphia, US NC NC 4 1904-11-15 Jack Graham South Bend, US W TKO 4 1904-10-26 Tommy Wallace Benton Harbor, US W KO 5 1904-10-10 Bob Douglass Saint Louis, US W KO 4 1904-09-10 Frank Garrard Chicago, US W KO 3 1904-02-24 Jack Beauscholte Indianapolis, US W TKO 6 1904-01-27 Philadelphia Jack O'Brien Philadelphia, US L NWS 6 1903-06-30 John Wille Butte, US W KO 4 1903-06-23 Big Jack Hickey Battle Creek, US W KO 4 1903-06-01 James J Walker Battle Creek, US W KO 5 1903-02-03 Cyclone Kelly Hot Springs, US W TKO 7 1903-01-15 Billy Stift Kansas City, US W KO 4 1902-10-03 Barney Walsh Kansas City, US W KO 2 1902-10-03 Jack Beauscholte Kansas City, US W KO 3 1902-09-15 Kid Carter Fort Erie, CA W KO 6 1902-06-24 Johnny Gorman Covent Garden, UK W KO 3 1902-05-26 Jimmy Handler Kansas City, US W TKO 4 1902-04-03 Billy Stift Kansas City, US W PTS 10 1902-03-14 Mysterious Billy Smith Kansas City, US W KO 4 1902-02-25 Tim Draffin Murphy Kansas City, US W TKO 9 1902-02-15 Jack Beauscholte Chicago, US W PTS 6 1902-01-30 George Green Kansas City, US W KO 7 1901-10-10 George Green Kansas City, US L DQ 6 1901-08-22 Bob Douglass Kansas City, US W TKO 7 33

1901-03-04 Tommy West Louisville, US W TKO 17 1901-01-31 Jim Judge Minneapolis, US W KO 4 1901-01-17 Jack Beauscholte Springfield, US W KO 3 1900-11-27 Kid Carter Chicago, US W PTS 6 1900-11-10 Geoffrey Thorne Chicago, US W KO 3 1900-07-24 Jack Root Chicago, US D PTS 6 1900-06-29 Young Mahoney Chicago, US W PTS 6 1900-05-29 Charles Kid McCoy Chicago, US D PTS 6 1900-02-02 George Lawler Hot Springs, US W TKO 13 1899-09-18 Frank Craig Brooklyn, US W TKO 10 1899-08-31 Jack Moffat Dubuque, US W PTS 20 1899-04-19 Billy Stift Davenport, US W PTS 20 1899-04-06 Frank Dutch Neal Dubuque, US W KO 6 1899-03-13 Paddy J. Purtell Cincinnati, US W TKO 4 1899-03-01 Charley Johnson Hot Springs, US W KO 8 1898-12-23 Dick O'Brien Hartford, US W TKO 14 1898-12-02 Tommy West Philadelphia, US NC NC 6 1898-11-23 Johnny Gorman Syracuse, US W RTD 8 1898-11-08 Jack Bonner Philadelphia, US W NWS 6 1898-10-24 Jack Bonner Brooklyn, US W PTS 20 1898-06-13 Tommy West New York, US W TKO 14 1898-02-25 George Green San Francisco, US W KO 18 1897-12-20 Bill Heffernan Buffalo, US W KO 3 1897-11-30 Billy Stift Chicago, US W TKO 6 1897-11-25 Australian Jimmy Ryan Elmira, US W KO 5 1897-09-08 Charles Kid McCoy Syracuse, US D PTS 5 1897-06-21 Tommy Williams Syracuse, US W KO 2 1897-05-24 Patsy Raedy Rochester, US W TKO 6 1897-05-10 Paddy Gorman Rochester, US W TKO 3 1897-03-17 Patsy Raedy Rochester, US W TKO 18 1897-02-24 Tom Tracey Syracuse, US W TKO 9 1896-12-23 Billy Payne Syracuse, US W KO 4 1896-12-21 Billy Professor McCarthy Buffalo, US W TKO 7 1896-11-25 Mysterious Billy Smith Maspeth, Queens, US W DQ 9 1896-08-20 Dick Moore Buffalo, US W PTS 20 1896-06-22 Billy (Shadow) Maber Buffalo, US W TKO 9 1896-05-18 Joe Dunfee Buffalo, US W KO 6 1896-03-02 Charles Kid McCoy Maspeth, Queens, US L KO 15 1896-01-15 Henry Baker Grand Rapids, US W PTS 6 1895-05-27 Mysterious Billy Smith Coney Island, US D PTS 18 1895-03-20 Tom Tracey Chicago, US W TKO 8 1895-03-11 Emmett Mellody Kansas City, US W PTS 4 1895-02-25 Shorty Ahearn Chicago, US W NWS 4 1895-01-18 Jack Dempsey Coney Island, US W TKO 3 1894-09-13 Billy Layton Saint Joseph, US W KO 4 1894-07-26 Mysterious Billy Smith Minneapolis, US W PTS 20 1894-06-01 Jack Pitts Minneapolis, US W KO 3 1894-05-22 Jack Falvey Hartford, US W KO 3 1894-04-22 Harry Wilkes Saint Louis, US W NWS 5 1894-04-10 Morris Lane West Haven, US W TKO 3 1894-01-09 Mysterious Billy Smith Boston, US D PTS 6 1893-12-11 Joe Guthrie Naugatuck, US D PTS 3 1893-11-02 Harry Jamieson Waterbury, US W KO 2 1893-08-29 Mysterious Billy Smith Brooklyn, US D PTS 6 1893-04-08 George Dawson Chicago, US W NWS 6 1892-12-01 Tommy Kelly Detroit, US D PTS 8 1892-11-24 Jack Collins Detroit, US D PTS 8 1892-07-30 Jack Wilkes South Omaha, US W TKO 17 1892-05-07 Paddy Brennan Dubuque, US W PTS 10 1892-04-11 Con Doyle Dubuque, US W PTS 8 34

1891-12-13 Frank Howson near Chicago, US W KO 14 1891-09-28 Jim Hall Chicago, US L PTS 5 1891-08-09 Billy McMillan Richardson, US W KO 3 1891-02-17 Danny Needham Minneapolis, US W RTD 76 1890-12-06 Professor McGuire Chicago, US W TKO 3 1890-12-06 Frank Garrard Chicago, US W NWS 3 1890-11-23 Ed Bartlett Sheffield, US W KO 3 1890-10-05 Con Doyle Shelby, US W TKO 28 1890-08-04 Bob Harper Chicago, US W KO 4 1890-07-20 John McInerssey Chicago, US W KO 5 1890-06-06 Henry Baker Grand Rapids, US W KO 3 1889-10-10 Jimmy Murphy Grand Rapids, US D PTS 57 1889-06-18 Martin Shaughnessy Grosse Point, US W KO 48 1889-05-27 Michael Dunn Grosse Point, US W KO 9 1889-04-30 Martin Shaughnessy Detroit, US W KO 23 1888-12-21 Dick England Lake City, US W KO 23 1888-07-20 Joe Johnson Marion, US W KO 5 1887-08-01 Andy Bowen New Orleans, US L PTS 3 1887-03-03 Chris Christopher Grand Rapids, US W KO 8 1887-02-02 Jack Conway Rock Island, US W KO 3 1887-01-01 John Case W KO 5

Record to Date

Won 90 (KOs 71) Lost 6 Drawn 11 Total 109