ONE ROUND KNOCKOUTS IN PUGILISM.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1262, 25 June 1914, Page 28

ONE ROUND KNOCKOUTS IN PUGILISM.

One of the remarkable things that the dope on boxing shows is a number of one round knockouts. The most recent of these was that in which Al McCoy, a Brooklyn “upstart,” clouted George Chip, of Newcastle, Pa., into dreamland, the actual time taken to finish the fight being one minute and fifty-five seconds. This McCoy person was not supposed to be possessed of the class that Chip boasted, in fact, perhaps ninetenths of the ringsiders expected to see the Pennsylvania scrapper returned a winner, either by the knockout or decision route. But the fact that Chip was the one to be counted out, and that, too. in such a short mix-up, created a lot of surprise in all sections of the country. Chip had been conceded as good a claim to the middleweight championship as anybody else, while, as they say of a race nag that wins, “McCoy came from nowhere.” That victory has resulted in McCoy billing himself as the middleweight champion, but those who are close followers of the sport will not agree that he is entitled to it. Incidentally he has refused to give Chip another bout, at least for the present. When a fighter sticks over the knockout wallop on a classy miller in one round there is bound to be a lot of talk about the lucky punch. Chip gained his greatest ring honours by knocking out Frank Klaus, who never before had met a knockout, and when a fellow like McCoy comes along and puts him to the canvas in less than one round the argument that there is something lucky about it naturally seems to carry weight. There are a great many who believe that if McCoy and Chip get together again the result will show the latter the winner just as it was doped out before the recent surprise contest. That, of course, remains to be seen, but the general idea seems to be that there never would be another of those rapid fire finishes to the contest. The history of the game shows a good many contests with one round finishes, one of which resulted in a second meeting, in which the man who was knocked out in the first contest turned the tables and knocked out his foe after giving him a terri-

fie lacing. This fight was between one of the classiest ringsters who ever drew on a glove, and a man who was never considered better than a third rater. The fighter who was knocked out in the first battle was “Kid” McCoy, while the man who turned the trick was Jack McCormick. who gained as much fame as a wrestler as a boxer.

The fight was one of the biggest upsets that ever was staged in a Chicago ring. It was held at the old Star Theatre on the north side on August 18, 1899. No one thought that McCormick had a chance to win, and many expected to see him knock-

[J Woodland Fullwood, photo. ed out before the contest, limited to six rounds, could close. But here is what happened: As soon as the gong rang, McCoy danced nimbly to the centre of the ring and stuck a left jab on the end of McCormick’s nose. McCormick in return swung his right, McCoy just drawing his chin out of reach. Once more McCoy stepped in and landed another left jab to Jack’s nose, and again McCormick returned the stereotyped right swing. This time McCoy didn’t pull his head out of reach, and the wallop landed with full force on the side of the “Kid’s” jaw. Ai'tei’ the punch landed McCoy straightened up like a ramrod, turned half round, and fell flat on his back on the floor. There was need for the . referee, Malachy Hogan, to count him out, and it was fully five minutes before McCoy came to.

Only three blows were landed, the two left jabs by McCoy and the right swing by McCormick. After that sudden defeat McCoy immediately began operations to get McCormick in the ring again, and he succeeded, for the wrestler-fighter was so highly elated at his easy victory over a fighter of the McCoy class that he readily assented to a second meeting. What happened in this second clash, which was held in a New York ring, was nearly murder. McCoy wanted revenge, and he started out to get it with the first clang of the gong. Working coolly around McCormick, he pecked him here, there, and everywhere with stinging smashes, all the time never giving Jack a chance to land a punch. At the end of four rounds of milling

McCormick’s face was cut to ribbons and he presented a gory spectacle. The crowd was yelling wildly for McCoy to put his man away. But McCoy didn’t just then. He wasn't satisfied that McCormick had paid up for that one round knockout, and so the Kid let Jack stay to get some more punishment. For four more rounds McCoy dealt out the punishment, and finally in the eighth round he listened to the cry of the fans and knocked out Jack. Eddie McGoorty, the Oshkosh middleweight, is one boy who performed the unique feat of knocking out an opponent in one round and repeating in the second encounter. McGcorty pulled the trick in Australia not long ago when he met and knocked out Dave Smith, considered the best of the middleweights in the antipodes. Everybody thought Smjth’s sudden defeat a fluke, but changed mind when Eddie landed the sleep producer in the opening session of their second clash. McGoorty and Smith met for a third time, Eddie again showing that he was master by winning by a knockout in ten rounds. Going back farther recalls to the minds of the old timers the feat of Bob Fitzsimmons in knocking out Peter Maher in one round at Langtry, Tex., in 1896. In 1902 Joe Gans put the clever Frank Erne, who later became lightweight champion, away in one session at Fort Erie, N.Y. Jack Root, the Chicago miller, put Dan Creedon away in the first round of their battle at Cleveland in 1900.

When Pedlar Palmer, the British featherweight champion, went to America, to battle Terry McGovern, “Terrible Terry” hooked the “K. 0. fin on h.s chin before he had been given a chance to take the first minute’s rest. That bout was staged at Tuckahoe in 7899. Tommy Burns, as heavyweight champion of the world, stopped the much touted Bill Squires, of Australia, in one round at Colma, Cal., in 1908. The same year Jack Johnson knocked out Peter Felix in one session at Sydney, N.S.W. Not long ago Georges Carpentier, the French champion, stopped Bombardier Wells, the English champion, in one round.