ELEVEN YEARS THE WORLD LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 88, 14 April 1945, Page 2 (Supplement)

ELEVEN YEARS THE WORLD LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION

ANE of the most remarkable fighters the ring ever has produced was Jack McAuliffe, but only the really ancient follower of the sport ever remembers him. By way of refreshing the memories of the johnny-come-latelies, that tireless Boswell of things fbtiana, Nat Fleischer, recently came forth with a book which he entitled simply "Jack McAuliffe, the Napoleon of the Prize Ring."

MeAuliffe had the longest reign of any lightweight champion, an astonishing 11 years that extended from 1885 and 1596. And in ail his career he never once met with defeat.

Fighting was in his very bloodstream, but so was the gambling urge. The day he knocked out Billy Meyer in the defence of his lightweight crown in a three-way cham- j pionship carnival, ne bet his entire purse on one of the other title shows, placing his winnings on John L. Sullivan, his friend and idol. It was a bad bet because that was the time the Boston Strong Boy was finally dethroned by Jim Corbett, writes Arthur Daley in the New York Times. Although born in Ireland, MeAuliffe ,grew up in Bangor, Me. It was there that he first established himself as the best fighter in school, not that he was a bully in any sense of the word, but he was respected by everyone who ever had seen him in action. Apparently his teacher, a wiry Scot named McFarland, was unaware of the youth's fistic prowess that summer's day when he kept the 14-year-old Jack after school as extra punishment. Pupil v. Teacher The resentful MeAuliffe rebelled at what he deemed an unjust disciplinary act because he already had been roundly whipped with a cane for the same offence. So the bigger McFarland came at him with the cane again, only to have the boy | wrest it away from him. Immediately they went at it with their fists in a rousing brawl. As young MeAuliffe was getting the worst of it, a classmate attempted to interfere, but Jack would have none of it. Seconds later the pupil knocked out the teacher.

His other questionable decision came in the next-to-the-last bout this great fighter ever had, a ten-rounder against the extraordinarily talented Young Griffo. It was a startling bout because MeAuliffe, one of the most scientific ring masters of all time, found his superior in the youthful Australian wonder. But at the end the referee awarded the decision to MeAuliffe. A week after this unbeaten lightweight king left the ring he was broke. He even pawned his championship belt for 1000 dollars and lost the money five minutes later on a horse. However, he developed into a brilliant monologist as a vaudeville performer and the wolf never parked long on the doorstep of the man who was one of the finest fighters the sport has produced.

What really sent him off on the pugilistic road was a shift of the family home from Maine to Brooklyn's Williamsburg section, where a bov had to be handy with his fists even to walk along the street. Those were the days when boxing was illegal; there were only 68 spectators at hand for his famous battle with Jem Carney, the British lightweight king. They fought in a stable at Revere Beach, the ring being illuminated by the ghostly glow of a dozen kerosene lamps, witnthe bout starting at the fantastic hour of 1 a.m. and ending at almost 6 a.m.

In the early going McAuliffe had all the better of it. However, in the twenty-first round the Briton butted his foeman in the stomach, knocking him down. Instantly there were screams of "foul" as McAuliffe supporters rushed into the ring. Thereupon Billy Tracey, a Carney henchman with a reputation as a gunfighter, managed to still the outburst by the simple expedient of brandishing his revolver. Dubious Decision In the sixty-second round McAuliffe dropped Carney for a count of nine. In the seventieth the Briton put the crusher on the fast-tiring American. As McAuliffe toppled, a riot broke out. Ring posts were torn down and even Tracey's persuasive gun didn't do much good. Hostilities were finally resumed, but when C "ney felled McAuliffe again in the seventy-fourth, another riot caused the referee to call it a draw, a verdict old-timers still argue about.