THE FIGHTING MARQUIS AND HIS PAL!

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 145, 21 June 1941, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE FIGHTING MARQUIS AND HIS PAL!

IITHEN the Duke of Hamilton i VV was mentioned in the cables I in connection with the 1 less sen- • sation, it brought to mind an occasion when I boxed with him and his pal, Eddie Lagan, on board the Ulimavoa, coming back from New Zealand in 1926. The Duke was then the Marquis of Clydesdale and he and Lagan, a Rhodes scholar and travelling companion to the marquis, were preparing themselves to box at an amateur show at Sydney the night after the boat arrived, writes Merv. Williams in the ' Sporting Globe." During the first two days. I often 1 saw these two in shorts doing their ' roachvnrk around tin- deck.-. but that' was as near to tii<-m as anyone got l for they kept to their cabins mostly.; Imagine my surprise when, on the thinl 'lay, a stewnnl came with a • message from the marquis asking me to box with him. ' j I hacln t had a glove on for six ' months, while nursing a broken 1 hand: but it. was then mended, so I t readily eon.-ented. thinking that as' a professional with lots of expert- j once, it would be a comfortable job! tor me. " ; When I got flown to the deck . where wo were to bo\ the "house"'| was packer), fo r evr-rvbodv on hoard' had turner! out to ,«•<• the celebrated; marquis do his stuff. On looking the two eolis over 1 decided that the, marquis, being a nialdle. would be' the taster, so decided to box with ! him while I was fresh, thus leaving! the big slow feller, as I considered i f-agan. for the second job. Well, the marquis was a grand i •'hap, and, as it turned out. suited i my book to the ground. Although he was a neat boxer, he stopped and apologised every time he landed a decent punch. ■ This made the coins? so easy, that I decided to box three rounds, with him, instead of two as I originally intended.

Experience of Australian Merv. Williams on Trip Across the Tasman

The three rounds with the marquis' j went off splendidly, but I was getting ' short of gas. Still, I was confident ■of handling the big, sl--*v fellow for all that. Before Eagai. started, he : asked me to keep off nose, as it was sore and he »vantcd to save •it for his Sydney trght. That was; O.K. with me until lie got going.; Then I quickly changed my mind. " j The big, slow fellow that 1 expected pri ved to be deadly poison. • I was hit so often that I thought. 1 everybody on the boat was having: a shot at me. He never gave me a charco io even spit as he pasted me' from one side of the boat to the other, and it was lucky for me thev were high railings or I'd have finished up in the briny. I never saw i anybody punch as quick, hard and , often. I had to do somethi?;s and do it I quickly or Mr. Eagan would have • | flattened me for sure. His nose was imy only chance. So the first, time i he gave me a chance to be still for ' a second, I pasted him good and , hard on the "conk." To my relief, i blood spurted everywhere. That was my cue. I stopped im-; mediately and was pulling oft thej gloves as I apologised. He wasn't! nearly as upset as I expected and to my chagrin was anxious to go on. but I was a step ahead of him, and! knowing what was to come for that | one on the nose, I convinced him I that it wasn't, worth the risk of' another shot spoiling his chance ofi appearing in Sydney. 1 So we called it a day, and I was; never so glad of a finish before, for ! Eagan- was far and away the best' lighter I ever boxed with. f spent a lot of time with the! marquis and Eagan on the remainder. ot the trip, but not until then did : I learn that Eagan was amateur | heavyweight champion of the world ; It was the next year that he was I one ot Tunney's main sparring part-! ners, while the champ, prepared for the second Dempsey fight. So it wouldn t be hard to imagine what a i handful I found him if he could go i all right with Tunnev. | The marquis is now the Duke of, Hamilton and Eddie Eagan is an! attorney-at-law in the U.S.A. j