Connect with us

Featured Articles

Every Joe Gans Lightweight Title Fight – Part 5: Kid McPartland

Published

on

Every-Joe-Gans-Lightweight-Title-Fight-Part-5-Kid-McPartland

The black champion walked to his corner at once and began preparations for departure while McPartland was still struggling against fate on the floor. – The New York Evening World, October 14, 1902.

The story of Joe Gans and Kid McPartland goes all the way back to November of 1898 and the time of their first fight, in New York. It was McPartland, then, who was labelled the fighter with perhaps the greatest left-hand in the sport and it was Gans, odd to read, who was a local attraction, a genius according to his Baltimore boosters but unproven to the wider world.

How times had changed.

But in 1898 it was McPartland who held the left, and it was McPartland who began as the favourite.  This was something of a graduation night for Gans and two things fascinate above all others. The first is how well Gans, or perhaps the wily Al Herford, had McPartland scouted, and the second is how beautifully Gans put that scouting to work. The first of these is no small matter; Gans had observed McPartland from ringside but he had not film to study, no long hours of analysis. Still, for the most part, Gans reduced the McPartland’s celebrated left to something of a liability.

Gans boxed McPartland carefully, in a way that a ringsider at the Rufe Turner fight would have recognised. His essential strategy for a fighter that he finds dangerous is to handle them like they are deadly while simultaneously dominating them with accuracy and timing, and the first McPartland fight was such a contest. Gans spent the early rounds “fiddling” in the lexicon of 1898, “feeling his man out” to you and me. By the third what was notable was the ease with which Gans was parrying and blocking the left while having joy with his own. McPartland was sending in grazing left-hands or bodyshots while Gans repeatedly rattled McPartland’s teeth, literally, decades before the advent of the gumshield.

The price for his isolation of the McPartland left was his sucking up the occasional right, but Gans knew enough to know he could hold those punches without issue. When McPartland tried to change the pattern by rushing Gans, Gans was prepared for this too and lifted his man with uppercuts. Once his dominance was established, which was clear some time around the thirteenth round, he began fighting two-handed and with more abandon. It was late in the contest before McPartland was able to score a meaningful left, but he did so in the nineteenth round and for a moment it seemed he might save himself, but it was the Kid, not Gans who visited the canvas, dropped by a left-hand, of course, in the twenty-fourth round. Gans “escaped with little punishment” according to The Brooklyn Eagle, an opinion shared by The New York Sun.

Mid-career Bernard Hopkins is the fighter who comes to mind when reading about 1800s Gans.  Brilliant at turning his opponent’s strength to a weakness and countering what is best in him, he seems first and foremost a general but lacking, perhaps, the vicious streak that would have allowed him to definitively conquer the better men he faced. Keep in mind the terrible battles Elbows McFadden forced upon Gans in the 1800s but that come the 1900s, Elbows could not live with his old foe. Now, McPartland returned to the fore, hoping, perhaps, his own experiences from the 1800s might help him.

That hope, such as it was, lay perhaps in his second fight with Gans, staged in 1899. A short-form fight over six, it reads suspiciously like the first six of their 1898 contest, much careful sparring early giving way to Gans offence at the end of the fifth, but no more was to be learned and the fight is generally reported a draw. A second fight over the shorter distance delivered the same result.  McPartland, then, had information to hand with which to build his own plan.

The earlier incarnation of Gans was fought on even terms and forced to quit against Erne; the championship version destroyed him in one. The earlier incarnation of Gans was stretched to the absolute limit by Elbows McFadden; the championship version destroyed him in three. The earlier incarnation of Gans out-thought McPartland but was forced to traverse the distance against a dangerous fighter. What would the championship version make of him?

The fight was slated for October 6 and McPartland, at the end of September, brimmed with confidence.

“I am leaving nothing to chance,” he told reporters after training. “I have met Gans before…and I always managed to keep him busy. I know the coon’s [sic] style pretty well and I really believe I can do more with him than any other lightweight.”

“McPartland appears extremely confident,” reported The Buffalo Courier. “If confidence, condition, shiftiness and a dangerous punch cut a figure (and they usually do), McPartland will give a good account of himself.”

Certainly, his training camp seemed fit for purpose. McPartland often boxed three men a day, including the big, rough lightweight prospect Warren Zurbrick. “The more the merrier,” McPartland offered. “I shall be ready for all comers.” McPartland’s camp was an open book for fighters, all of whom were welcome to spar with him.

The truth of McPartland’s history shows a spotty attitude to training, “in and out” as the parlance of the day would have it. At the end of September 1902 though, McPartland was in crisp shape. The reason for this was McPartland’s membership in Kid Carter’s camp. Kid Carter was a middleweight contender of the era who had failed two weeks prior in an attempt at Tommy Ryan’s championship.  The camp, described as a “siege” by one paper was a strict one and one that saw not just Carter but McPartland, too, trained to the absolute quill. McPartland rolled out of that camp and into preparation for his own crack at the world championship.

“Boxing with such big fellows as Kid Carter has done me a heap of good,” he said. “I feel stronger than ever and men of my own weight feel weak and light in front of me…I think I am better now than ever before.”

Five-thousand tickets went on sale on noon of the twenty-ninth of September; around this time rumour emerged of Kid McPartland developing a system specifically designed to offset the Gans left, much as Gans did to McPartland in 1898. Whether or not this story was a red herring is unknown, but it is a fascinating wrinkle. McPartland’s condition though seemed, for the moment, beyond reproach, The Buffalo Evening News making a fit McPartland “about the only man in the country today outside of Erne who has a possible chance to beat [Gans].”

It is interesting that the article excludes Jimmy Britt, who was in the picture to be matched with Gans at around this time but for hand-trouble. These injuries were the pugilist’s bane in a time of small gloves with minimal padding and was the reason so many six-round non-title fights were settled more peacefully, “exhibitions” only as was the accordance with law in many states. Fighters could not afford to put themselves forth to the full in every fight, especially not when they were fighting two, four, even more times in one month. Care had to be taken in sparring and fighting alike – training to the point of absolute peak only to break one’s hand in the first round after throwing an ill-advised left-hook was, I imagine, a special kind of misery.

Gans was not immune. On October fourth, the fight was postponed for one week. The announcement was odd. Herford, who was due to arrive with Gans in Buffalo the next day prior to travelling up to Fort Erie in time for the fight two days later, instead wired the International Club with news that Gans had “sprained his hand” and “would not take any chances until it was strong.” Sixty hours from weigh in, this was a blow, not least to McPartland who felt himself ready. The blow was perhaps softened by the $200 forfeit he was able to collect but according to the Buffalo Illustrated Times he “almost cried” when told the fight was off.

Now scheduled for the thirteenth, just one week later, the usual speculation began to circulate regarding Joe’s conduct; had he trained properly? Could he make weight? Was the injury real, or a fabrication? No answers were forthcoming from the Gans camp who were used to such accusations, but it was announced that the champion would now be arriving in Buffalo on the ninth. McPartland sulked, and crossed into Canada to be weighed, a necessity if he wished to collect his money. Sure enough, the challenger hit 134lbs. His face apparently “drawn and pinched,” The Buffalo Enquirer also reported that McPartland “never looked better in his life.” Tight at the weight but clearly ready to fight, he was not in the best of moods.

“Of course I claimed Herford’s forfeit,” he snapped. “I would not give him a penny if I could help it.  He has been telling the same tales of me being afraid of Gans that he did about Frank Erne.  [Training] was hard work and I will have to do the whole thing over again. Then it makes a man nervous. I am not afraid of the result of the battle. Gans knows that I have no fear of him. I never saw the negro I feared.”

Gans maintained his silence. Herford went to the trouble of telephoning The Courier to tell them that he planned to instruct Gans to give McPartland “an extra good beating” for these remarks.

Herford’s loyalty to Gans was mirrored in that of Gans to Herford, and this despite some allegedly shady dealings. Herford’s qualifications for handling a fighter as peerless as Gans were equally shady, his background that of a restaurant manager and gambler, not a boxing man. Showbusiness is showbusiness as the saying goes, however, and the two seemed to come to some sort of accord whereby Gans did all the work and Herford counted the money – and did all the talking.

“I had a hard time getting Gans where he is,” Herford once told assembled Baltimore reporters, overlooking, one might argue, Joe’s own role in his triumph. “I tell you boys it is a pretty tough job getting a colored boxer up to the top of the ladder these days. Of course some may say, look at Tom O’Rourke. Did he not make George Dixon the champion?”

It is unrecorded as to whether or not any of those assembled pointed out to Herford that Dixon, himself, was the man most responsible.

Gans and Herford arrived in Buffalo the day before the fight and seem to have set down in Buffalo for mere minutes before heading straight for Fort Erie and The American Hotel. “[Gans] looked to be in superb condition,” reported The Courier, which apparently caught a glimpse of the champion.  Speaking briefly, Gans reported that his hand was ready and that he was too. He covered a reported twelve miles along the Canadian shore, “finishing as if he had been out for a short walk.”

Charley White was the other big arrival, the perennial championship referee having travelled from New York. Nor was he alone; many New Yorkers had travelled with him having secured tickets for the fight.

McPartland, who had finished his training the day before and tipped the beam at just under 134lbs, took his rest and waited. He weighed in at 3pm on the day of the fight weighing just under 135lbs; Gans followed him to the scales and matched the number but it was noted that he looked the bigger man. This was a problem for McPartland, for his plan to nullify the Gans offence called for him to impose himself upon Gans physically.

“Stretching…the rules to their utmost,” reported the Buffalo Morning Express, “McPartland tried his best to get Gans into a mauling, waltzing match.”

Gans has seen this before however, and from McPartland himself no less. He remained patient and he remained distant where it was possible. He also began to look for the right-hand, a change from his first fight with McPartland where he seemed to favour the left. Meanwhile, when it came to McPartland’s ranged efforts, Gans’ defence was more devastating than ever.

“McPartland did not land over eight solid blows during the entire time of the bout,” wrote The Buffalo Evening Times. “Gans smothering most of his leads before they were fairly started.”

While he smothered McPartland’s shots, Gans waited and that cost him the occasional left to the body. Some combination of McPartland’s grappling and Joe’s maneuvering caused Gans to slip in the second. In the third, Gans changed up and returned McPartland’s pressure but continued to block what McPartland returned with consummate ease. The fight so far had been defined by the “pretty blocking and shifty footwork” described by The Enquirer but Gans now changed it up.

McPartland “put forward a very fair effort” as The Evening World saw it, “but the effort to make weight had evidently told heavily on his frame…Cool, collected, holding himself in reserve form the first gong [Gans] stealthily pursued [McPartland] from corner to corner, never venturing to dangerous depths and unerringly grasping the occasional opportunities left open for him.”

As he stalked, he lashed McPartland’s body and although McPartland was able to block many of these shots, he left himself wide open for Gans right hand to the jaw which dropped him for an eight count close to the end of the third. McPartland, at least, had not showed fear in the opener but by the third he was on the run, Gans in cautious, tempered, stalking pursuit.

McPartland clinched his way through the fourth and in the fifth was reduced to remaining at distance but trying to time his rushes to get inside the Gans artillery while avoiding or blocking punches. Such strategy is doomed to failure in a four round smoker but against a great champion in his prime it spells the end. Gans literally “went over to McPartland’s corner” at bell and began hitting him. Almost every report of the fight describes the economy of risk with which Gans boxed but you can tell he has smelled the blood in the fifth; his approach seems intemperate for the first time, and McPartland was not so far gone as to miss the chance and “put left on face” [sic] according to The Enquirer’s round-by-round; then Gans rushed.

The end, when it came, was sudden but layered. Gans had spent the fight hitting to the body to open up a pathway for the right hand to the head. Here, he feinted with a right hand to the jaw and “McPartland, falling into the trap, raised his guard to the blow.”

The Courier continues the tale:

“In precisely the same manner that Bob Fitzsimmons won his famous battle from Jim Corbett,” it reported, “Joe Gans, the lightweight champion, knocked out Kid McPartland. The final blow…was a terrific left-handed drive to the solar plexus.”

The final punch is reported in much detail and is worth quoting in full that the reader may clearly understand the technique.

“In delivering the blow Gans shifted his position so as to bring his right leg in front of him, sending home his blow with full force simultaneously with the shift.”

The shift, a pivot, or switch, depending upon the era, was a much-admired technique perfected by Fitzsimmons and then Stanley Ketchel, here executed by Joe Gans. McPartland was immediately floored and “writhed in agony” as Gans coolly returned to his corner and prepared to depart the ring. He did not even look towards the shape snatching wildly for breath in a crumpled heap on the canvas.

“My punch,” McPartland wept, no less, once recovered. “He got there first!”

“He’s improved,” he offered later. “He’s a hard man to reach. He got me with just the same smash I was trying to put on him.”

Gans seemed please. He spoke at length to the press, not something he went out of his way to do, often preferring to speak through Herford.

“McPartland found me a different proposition tonight to what I was when we last fought. He gave me a good go tonight until I finally got him properly gauged. He is a shifty fellow and has a good defense and a wicked blow with that left. I knew I would beat him and figured that he would go out when I landed the first square blow. I thought it would be a jaw punch but he was too foxy, and I had to try the solar plexus on him.”

Joe’s plans were a matter of much interest but here Gans did hand over to Herford, who announced that Gans would travel down to Lancaster in Pennsylvania to face no less a figure that Dave Holly.  Holly was inconsistent, but a serious proposition, especially the day after a title fight. Undefeated in twenty-nine fights he perhaps had plans on making Gans the thirtieth and therefore gaining himself a title shot. Those plans did not come to fruition; Gans dropped him four times as Holly became the latest elite pugilist to turn in a performance laced with fear.

This seems now beyond belief, but The Baltimore Sun was clear: “Holley [sic] made almost no effort to fight, confining his work to running around the ring out of the champion’s reach and clinching.”

“Gentlemen,” Gans addressed the crowd afterwards. “If the management will get a good man to meet me here, I will try and give you a better exhibition.”

“While disappointed in not scoring a knockout,” The Sun continued, “Gans took the fight almost in the nature of a joke.”

Holly would finish his career credited with victories over the like of Rufe Turner, Jack Blackburn and the all-time great Joe Walcott.

“That Gans is the superior of all the lightweights, there is no doubt,” concluded The Times. “He is the exponent of all that is clever, and though his gameness has been often questioned he must be given credit for being about the best the world has ever produced in the lightweight division.”

Before he was finished, Gans would prove himself as game as any pugilist who had ever stepped onto an ill-stretched canvas and scraped his carefully scarred leather soles in resin.

This series was written with the support of boxing historian and Joe Gans expert Sergei Yurchenko. His work can be found here: http://senya13.blogspot.com/

Check out more boxing news on video at the Boxing Channel

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Share The Sweet Science experience!
Advertisement
A-Night-of-Mismatches-Turns-Topsy-Turvy-at-Mandalay-Bay-Resendiz-Shocks-Plant
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

A Night of Mismatches Turns Topsy-Turvy at Mandalay Bay; Resendiz Shocks Plant

Avila-Perspective-Chap-330-Matchroom-in-New-York-plus-the-latest-on-Canelo-Crawford
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

Avila Perspective, Chap. 330: Matchroom in New York plus the Latest on Canelo-Crawford

Vito-Mielnicki-Whitewashes-Kamil-Gardzielik-Before-the-Home-Folks-in-Newark
Featured Articles5 days ago

Vito Mielnicki Jr Whitewashes Kamil Gardzielik Before the Home Folks in Newark

Vinny-Paz-is-Going-into-the-Boxing-Hall-of-Fame-Hey-why-Not-Roger-Mayweather?
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

Vinny Paz is Going into the Boxing Hall of Fame; Hey, Why Not Roger Mayweather?

Remembering-the-Under-Appreciated-Body-Snatcher-Mike-McCallum,-a-Conusmmate-Pro
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

Remembering the Under-Appreciated “Body Snatcher” Mike McCallum, a Consummate Pro    

Avila-Perspective-Chap-228-Viva-Las-Vegas-Back-in-the-Boxing-Spotlight
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

Avila Perspective, Chap. 228: Viva Las Vegas, Back in the Boxing Spotlight

Pacquiao-is-Back,-Fabio-in-England-and-More.jpg
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Avila Perspective, Chap 329: Pacquiao is Back, Fabio in England and More

Opetaia-and-Nakatani-Crush-Overmatched-Foes-Capping-Off-a-Wild-Boxing-Weekend
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Opetaia and Nakatani Crush Overmatched Foes, Capping Off a Wild Boxing Weekend

Results-and-Recaps-from-Las-Vegas-Where-Melikuziev-Nipped-Fulghum-in-a-Fierce-Fight
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

Results and Recaps from Las Vegas Where Melikuziev Nipped Fulghum in a Fierce Battle

Fabio-Wardley-Comes-from-Behind-to-KO-Justis-Huni
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Fabio Wardley Comes from Behind to KO Justis Huni  

Catching-Up-with-Clay-Moyle-Who-Talks-About-His-Massive-Collection-of-Boxing-Books
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

Catching Up with Clay Moyle Who Talks About His Massive Collection of Boxing Books

Delving-Into-'Hoopa'-With-Notes-on-Books-by-George-Plimpton-and-Joyce-Carol-Oates
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Delving into ‘Hoopla’ with Notes on Books by George Plimpton and Joyce Carol Oates

The-Shafting-of-Blair-the-Flair-Cobbs-a-Familar-Thread-in-the-Cruelest-Sport
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

The Shafting of Blair “The Flair” Cobbs, a Familiar Thread in the Cruelest Sport

Richardson-Hitchins-Batters-and-Stops-George-Kambosos-at-Madison-Square-Garden
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

Richardson Hitchins Batters and Stops George Kambosos at Madison Square Garden 

More-Medals-for-Hawaii's-Patricio-Family-at-USA-Boxing's-Summer-Festival
Featured Articles3 days ago

More Medals for Hawaii’s Patricio Family at the USA Boxing Summer Festival

A-Fight-Fan-and-Teremoana-Samson-Junior-Leon-Teremoana
Featured Articles1 week ago

A Fight Fan and Teremoana Samson Junior Leon Teremoana

Callum-Walsh-Umar-Dzambekov-and-Cain-Sandoval-Remain-Unbeaten-at-Santa-Ynez
Featured Articles5 days ago

Callum Walsh, Umar Dzambekov and Cain Sandoval Remain Unbeaten at Santa Ynez

Avila-Perspective-Chap-331-Callum-Walsh-Brian-Norman-Galal-Yafai-and-More
Featured Articles6 days ago

Avila Perspective, Chap. 331: Callum Walsh, Brian Norman, Galal Yafai and More

Brian-Norman-Jr-Bombs-Out-Jin-Sasaki-with-a-Frightful-Left-Hook
Featured Articles1 week ago

Brian Norman Jr Bombs Out Jin Sasaki with a Frightful Left Hook

Paro
Featured Articles2 days ago

Liam Paro Returns with a Flourish on Wednesday’s ‘No Limit’ Card in Queensland

A-Closer-Look-at-Mario-Barrios-Poised-to-Wreck-the-Comeback-of-a-Legend
Featured Articles15 hours ago

A Closer Look at Mario Barrios, Poised to Wreck the Comeback of a Legend

Paro
Featured Articles2 days ago

Liam Paro Returns with a Flourish on Wednesday’s ‘No Limit’ Card in Queensland

More-Medals-for-Hawaii's-Patricio-Family-at-USA-Boxing's-Summer-Festival
Featured Articles3 days ago

More Medals for Hawaii’s Patricio Family at the USA Boxing Summer Festival

Callum-Walsh-Umar-Dzambekov-and-Cain-Sandoval-Remain-Unbeaten-at-Santa-Ynez
Featured Articles5 days ago

Callum Walsh, Umar Dzambekov and Cain Sandoval Remain Unbeaten at Santa Ynez

Vito-Mielnicki-Whitewashes-Kamil-Gardzielik-Before-the-Home-Folks-in-Newark
Featured Articles5 days ago

Vito Mielnicki Jr Whitewashes Kamil Gardzielik Before the Home Folks in Newark

Avila-Perspective-Chap-331-Callum-Walsh-Brian-Norman-Galal-Yafai-and-More
Featured Articles6 days ago

Avila Perspective, Chap. 331: Callum Walsh, Brian Norman, Galal Yafai and More

Brian-Norman-Jr-Bombs-Out-Jin-Sasaki-with-a-Frightful-Left-Hook
Featured Articles1 week ago

Brian Norman Jr Bombs Out Jin Sasaki with a Frightful Left Hook

A-Fight-Fan-and-Teremoana-Samson-Junior-Leon-Teremoana
Featured Articles1 week ago

A Fight Fan and Teremoana Samson Junior Leon Teremoana

Catching-Up-with-Clay-Moyle-Who-Talks-About-His-Massive-Collection-of-Boxing-Books
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

Catching Up with Clay Moyle Who Talks About His Massive Collection of Boxing Books

Richardson-Hitchins-Batters-and-Stops-George-Kambosos-at-Madison-Square-Garden
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

Richardson Hitchins Batters and Stops George Kambosos at Madison Square Garden 

Avila-Perspective-Chap-330-Matchroom-in-New-York-plus-the-latest-on-Canelo-Crawford
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

Avila Perspective, Chap. 330: Matchroom in New York plus the Latest on Canelo-Crawford

The-Shafting-of-Blair-the-Flair-Cobbs-a-Familar-Thread-in-the-Cruelest-Sport
Featured Articles2 weeks ago

The Shafting of Blair “The Flair” Cobbs, a Familiar Thread in the Cruelest Sport

Opetaia-and-Nakatani-Crush-Overmatched-Foes-Capping-Off-a-Wild-Boxing-Weekend
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Opetaia and Nakatani Crush Overmatched Foes, Capping Off a Wild Boxing Weekend

Fabio-Wardley-Comes-from-Behind-to-KO-Justis-Huni
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Fabio Wardley Comes from Behind to KO Justis Huni  

Pacquiao-is-Back,-Fabio-in-England-and-More.jpg
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Avila Perspective, Chap 329: Pacquiao is Back, Fabio in England and More

Delving-Into-'Hoopa'-With-Notes-on-Books-by-George-Plimpton-and-Joyce-Carol-Oates
Featured Articles3 weeks ago

Delving into ‘Hoopla’ with Notes on Books by George Plimpton and Joyce Carol Oates

Remembering-the-Under-Appreciated-Body-Snatcher-Mike-McCallum,-a-Conusmmate-Pro
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

Remembering the Under-Appreciated “Body Snatcher” Mike McCallum, a Consummate Pro    

A-Night-of-Mismatches-Turns-Topsy-Turvy-at-Mandalay-Bay-Resendiz-Shocks-Plant
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

A Night of Mismatches Turns Topsy-Turvy at Mandalay Bay; Resendiz Shocks Plant

Results-and-Recaps-from-Las-Vegas-Where-Melikuziev-Nipped-Fulghum-in-a-Fierce-Fight
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

Results and Recaps from Las Vegas Where Melikuziev Nipped Fulghum in a Fierce Battle

Avila-Perspective-Chap-228-Viva-Las-Vegas-Back-in-the-Boxing-Spotlight
Featured Articles4 weeks ago

Avila Perspective, Chap. 228: Viva Las Vegas, Back in the Boxing Spotlight

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending