BILLY M’CARTHY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16320, 8 January 1921, Page 10

BILLY M’CARTHY.

GREAT AUSTRALIAN BOXER.

FACING ADVERSITY AS HE FOUGHT. (By W. F. O'ORBFTT. in Sydney ” Referee. : ”i Christmas .Ere at the Id deem be State Asylum, as f saw it while the sun 6tJ.nk towards the horizon, was a calm, a peaceful, and an impressive time. Here hundreds were Spending their first Christinas, and more hundreds were able to speak of other Christmases they had experienced in the same place. Tin re was a sereni t v and an air of contentment about this home of the aged, the infirm, and the weak which rendered the surroundings absolutely pleasing, if not delightful. Everybody appeared well looked after and well satisfied with the conditions. Almost as far as the. eye could reach were broad, cultivated acres, upon parts of which fat cattle browsed. Other sections were devoted to the purposes of a modern farm, and trees and beds of flowers were plentiful. In the distance 1 noticed a large structure, which one of the inmates informed me was the finest dairy in the State. Quito a little town, the blocks of solidly built dwelling places, with their expansive uleeping-out verandahs, presented. “You want Australian Billy M’Carthy?” suggested a returned soldier who knew me and guessed my mission. “Come along. He is probably in the barber’s shop or the big messroom over there,” pointing to a large building which had the appearance of a public hall. Billy was not in the barber’s shop, blit he was in the messroom, watching one of several games of cards being played. He hobbled out on ;i crutch with that smile upon his face which L saw first well over thirty years ago, and which age lias pot altered the least little bit. Billy McCarthy faced his great ring tasks one of the pluckiest fellows that ever lived. Ho is lacing adversity today, and has been facing it for years past, in the same brave spirit. A TRUE PHILOSOPHER. f thought, as I spoke to him. ol the words of an (del writer: “In the adversity of our best friends we often find something that does not displease us.” Anil it is so with Billy .M’Carthy - LTe meets and regards his troubles without the slightest apparent perturbation. He is a true philosopher. Lucky the men and women who can go out into the fields look at the sky and the trees, realise that they are little insects on a gigantic earth, and that worry is foolish and unnecessary. ‘‘Why should I worry?” asked he.

“ That would not mend matters. On the contrary, it would render them verymuch worse. It is my misfortune to be as I am. It is my duty to make the best of it. I have spent Christmastide in. many different parts of the world, and under widely different conditions. The pleasures of several and the sadness of some are passing through mv mind now, but I am content. Things might be a great deal less agreeable than they are. Look at these men around me, most of them as good fellows as ever broke the bread of life. We are all in the same boat.*’ Our talk wa.s of the first time we met, when Peter Jackson kept the United States Hotel in Sydney and Billy McCarthy was his pupil, and by and by when master and pupil were teachers together in Abercrombie Street, off George Street West. Also Billy’s teaching of Jim Hall, one of the cleverest boxers Australia sent to England and America, and his (M’Carthy’s) defeat of that particular pupil on points in an eight-rounds bout in Mel bourne, after Hall had become great as a boxer. Thus is this man spending the evening of his life, who was tor years acclaimed on three continents by frequently succeeding thousands. He never refused an offer of a match' within reason. He stood out in many a slashing mil! against the hall-marked good ones of the game as a remarkable fighter and a clever boxer. His defeat of -Tim Hall proved the quality' of his skill.

What pluck is needed, and of w.bat a high-class brand his must be. for M’Carthy to face and go cheerily through what he is enduring in mind and body at the present moment, may be imagined. He had excellent qualities in the heyday of his career, much beyond those possessed by other boxers. He was as faithful and reliable as a watchdog, as honest as the sun, and grateful to a degree. The late Mr E. W. O’Sullivan, when Minister for Works, made a special point of providing employment for trorld-wide-known Australian athletes who had passed their prime. He told me that he felt it was the country’s duty to look after them, because of the splendid advertisement they had given this part of the* world abroad.

ADVERTISED AUSTRALIA WELL. None did more, and few did as much, advertising of Australia as Billy M’Carthy. Though born in London, he spent the best part of his life in this section of the globe, and proclaimed himself, and was always written of everywhere, as Australian Billy M’Carthy. Here is a. man to whom the present Government might give well-deserved attention. Some easy job should be found for him.

M’Oarthy occupied the position of middle-weight champion of Australia in the early part of it is career. His best battle then was that with Billy Smith, a. contemporary pupil of Peter Jackson. M’Carthy won, in eleven rounds, a contest which took place privately, and which T had the pleasure of watching and winning a. fiver over, in faces of the fact that the tutor of both men tipped Smith as ;t good thing.

Boxers were, and are still, notoriously j>oor judges of the relative capabilities of boxers. Subsequently M’Carthy faced all the best men in Australia at or near his weight, whether the scale discovered a disadvantage against him of ounces. pounds, or

Thirty-three years since he fought Buffalo Costello a thirty-five rounds draw at Larry Foley's White Horse Hotel in George Street. Buff was the cleverest American heavy-weight boxer that ever visited Australia, and one of the most skilful his own country Knew anything about. M’Carthy contested draws (twentynine and twc.vty-three rounds) with Jim Fogaity, the only reliable jawbreaker the world has cognisance of. He Miid Charlie Dunn, now a prosperous fruit and vegetable merchant at Pyrmont, battled hard over fifteen rounds. All fights were to a finish then. Iliese battles probably had to be stopped owing to the law demanding that the pub to which the hall of stoush was attached should be closed at 11 p.m. sharp. Billy went *o America ar.d defeated a high-class fighter in Denny Kelleher twice i knocking him out in twenty-one rounds on each occasion. The first battle took place in the State of Massachusetts and the second in the State of California. Then followed his memorable twenty-eight rounds’ affair—a classic—with the original Jack Dempsey—the Nonpareil, (hey used to term him—a wonderful fighter, who, though not as big as Billy Shade, took on anything and everything that offered. He once peeled his coat to tackle John L. Sullivan, then in his prime, but John declined the challenge. Dempsey won that match. He and M’Carthy got together four years later, at New Orleans. A. SERIOUS HANDICAP. This time the verdict was a draw. Il»e fight las'ed twenty rounds. Three

uays before, carbuncles broke out 'all over M’Carthy’s body. He was in very bad shape. Billy would not hear of the match being put off. The carbuncles were lanced the day prior to the contest, and the cuts, so thick that his flesh looked raw, were patched up as well as possible. He confided to his chief second, the famous Stanton Abbott, that ho expected to be licked, and warned him not to throw the towel or the sponge into the ring. Soon Billy's body presented a pitiable spectacle. AH the plasters were worked off the wounds, and every succeeding blow made their appearance worse. The men fought each other t 0 a standstill. and Referee John Duffy had to declare the go a draw. M’Carthy the sporting world. particularly the Australian part of it, when, at Broken Hill, he knocked out I ronbark Burge in twenty rounds. After this lie faced grizzly Joe Goddard, the Barrier champion, also at the Hill, and was beaten by a. nmn much heavier mid stronger than himself. At this time Goddard was probably at his best. It was at Broken Hill where lie began bis devastating career. Billy tackled his fellow-Australian. Boh Fitzsimmons. at San Francisco, in 18f>0. and suffered defeat in nine rounds after a fierce encounter. Bob was substituted for a tough lighter named Reddy Gallagher IN ENGLAND. M’C’arthv arrived in England in the summer of 1801. the year which saw the opening of the Naiional Sporting (Hub. He was early spotted as likely to prove a match for the invincible Toff Wall. A packed house awaited the apnearauce of the two great boxers. Both had trained well, and the purse was a good one. M’Carthv, like the honest, trustworthy fellow he always has been, arrived on time. For some reason never clearly explained. 4i the best middle-weight in the world." as tlie Press and the mihlie of England had dubbed Wall, failed to put in an appearance. A bookmaker who had backed "W all for considerable money offered him .t'AO to go inio the ring and fight a couple of rounds. But Toff was deaf to the voice of the charmer. Arthur Robbctt took Wall's place and was licked. Friends found big money for M’C’arthy against Tod White. ' White had won the amateur heavy-weight championship of England, and later he nroved victorious#>vor the once noted Kid M'C’oy. There was a huge crowd at the National Spoiling Club to see the M’Oartby-White engagement. bi*e succumbed to a severe beating in the thirteenth round.

T forgot to mention, when referring to Billy McCarthy's great battle with Joe Goddard, that, the latter s/tood over 6ft high, and in his time twice knocked out .Joe Chovnski, fought a draw with Peter Jackson, and defeated Mick Dooley (twice!. Peter Maher, big Joe M'Auliffe, and others.