WORLD’S CHAMPION MIDDLEWEIGHT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1302, 8 April 1915, Page 28

WORLD’S CHAMPION MIDDLEWEIGHT.

MIKE GIBBONS’ CAREER. The rightful claimant to the world’s middleweight title has been a question that up till recently has not been satisfactorily settled, for with such clever exponents of this class as Eddie McGoorty, Jimmy Clabby, Jeff Smith, Mick King, Mike Gibbons and Battling Murray, it has not been an easy matter to decide who is entitled to wear the middleweight crown. After a series of try-outs among the boxers mentioned, American critics refer to Mike Gibbons as the present champion in the middleweight class, this decision having been arrived at principally as the result of Gibbons meeting with Jimmy Clabby early in the year. Referring to the Clabby-Gibbons fight, and the winner’s position, a New York writer has the following to say:— , x V 1 “Mike Gibbons, the phantom-like boxer, of St. Paul, is the best middleweight in the business. Despite howls to the contrary from Eddie McGoorty, Jack Dillon, Jimmy Clabby, et al., the lad from Minnesota is the nearest thing to a real champion the fans have seen since the death of Stanley Ketchel. He doesn’t stand head and shoulders above his contemporaries, but he stands high enough that he can be easily recognised over their heads. “Before the Gibbons-Clabby battle at Milwaukee the Hammond boxer was considered about the cream of his division. He had a belt emblematic of the middleweight championship given him by Uncle Pom MeCarey, in San Francisco, after he had beaten George Chip in twenty rounds. “But Clabby failed to show championship form in his battle with Gibbons. Mike was an easy winner, according to ringside reports, and it was a real battle all the way, Clabby’s friends argue that he can't lose his prestige in ten rounds, but Gibbons so clearly outfought him in ten that it’s a safe bet he could also do it in twenty. “Two men remain to be disposed of before Mike’s claim to the crown is to be absolutely unquestioned. They are Eddie McGoorty, the Oshkosh bear, and Jack Dillon. “Dillon hasn’t been doing much business with the middleweights recently, and the cry has gone up that the Hoosier can’t mane the weight. But Dillon contends he can, and offers to prove it if the occasion demands. In a recent bout with Porky Flynn over in Brooklyn, Jack weighed 1691 b, and was so strong that he all but knocked the Boston battler tnrough die ropes for a long sleep. If Jack can make the figure he certainly should be given a chance at Gibbons. “McGoorty can probably make this weight with ease. And the Oshkosh entry has certainly proven that he is a contender. “So, if Mr. Gibbens will just go and clean up the situation by disposing or exposing these two, the boxing game will have its first unquestioned 1581 b king since several years back. CLIMBING THE PUGILISTIC LADDER. “Several years ago Mike Gibbons was ’ working for 12.25 dollars per week in the Great Northern Tin Shop at St. Paul. It took most of this to support his wife and baby, but Mike managed to scrape together a few pennies now and then and put them in a cracker bowl to buy a bicycle some time in the future. “Before this great occasion arrived Mike burst on the field as a boxer of championship calibre. He climbed so fast in his division and money came so fast that he set aside his ambition for a bike and got ready for a motor car. “And who do we find to-day? “Mike, although only 26 years of age, has a handsome £2OOO home on the shores of Lake Como, near St. Paul. The furnishings are in keeping with the exterior. A big motor boat lies at the dock ready for Mike, and in the garage is a powerful sixcylindex* car.

“ ‘My wife and I had our struggles, and now we are going to enjoy ourselves,’ says Mike. ‘ln addition to this property you can see I have about £22,000. When we get £30,000 I’m going to quit the fight game for good and all.’ “Gibbons is unusually fond of oil paintings, and a number of them adorn the walls of his home. He and his wife enjoy dancing. They have an entire third floor of their house fitted up as a dance hall. Recently they both went to New York for the express purpose of learning the new dance steps under a high-priced instructor. “Music is another hobby of Mike’s. He has long been a better than average violin player. Now he’s learning how to pound the piano. And it’s the classical stuff that appeals to him most.”