How Good Was Ill-Fated Luther McCarty, the Best of the ‘White Hopes’?

Published

2 years ago

May 13, 2023

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Luther McCarty “is the embodiment of all that goes to make a ring champion, the possessor of speed, hitting ability, an aptitude for learning the finer points of the fistic sport and the gamest man to ever lace on a glove.” So read a widely circulated newspaper story that made the rounds in June of 1912.

The author of this puff piece (it bore no byline) was undoubtedly a reporter on the take. In this era, the sports sections of newspapers were full of stories that blurred the distinction between honest reporting and hyperbole. That being said, there was a growing sentiment among the cognoscenti that Luther McCarty had the best chance of all the Caucasian heavyweights of knocking Jack Johnson off his pedestal. Johnson’s title reign was then in its fourth year.

Eleven months after the story ran, it became a moot point. On May 24, 1913, 110 years ago this month, Luther McCarty dropped dead in the opening round of a fight with Arthur Pelkey in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The decedent was only 21 years old.

If stories about McCarty are true, he packed a lot of living into his short time on this earth. Before finding his niche as a prizefighter, McCarty — who in old photos bears an uncanny resemblance to the renowned University of Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne when both were of the same age — was at various times a seaman, a lumberjack, a coal miner, a cowboy, and a stunt-rider whose act was sponsored by a tobacco company.

McCarty was born in Nebraska, near Lincoln according to some sources and near McCook according to others (the towns are 225 miles apart). He spent a good portion of his youth in Clay Center, Kansas, and had his first documented fight in Culbertson, Montana, a ranching community. When he became a well-known sports personality, both Sidney, Ohio, and Springfield, Missouri claimed him.

McCarty’s father was literally, not figuratively, a snake oil salesman. Billing himself as Dr. White Eagles, he roamed the Midwest in a gaily covered wagon from which he sold snake oil, touted as a cure for all ills. His wife, who traveled with him, reportedly died from a rattlesnake bite in about 1910 while staying in a hotel in Peoria, Illinois. The snake, a prop, escaped from its box which was kept in their room. (Mrs. White Eagles was presumably McCarty’s step-mother. One of the first stories about him said that his mother was an Irish immigrant who died when Luther was a mere toddler as she was giving birth to a stillborn child.)

It was in Springfield, the Queen City of the Ozarks, where McCarty came to the fore. His conquest of Oklahoma railroad engineer Carl Morris on May 3, 2012, was a national news story. Carrying 235 pounds on his six-foot-four frame, Morris, the “Sapulpa Giant,” was two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than McCarty who knocked him out in the sixth frame.

McCarty spent the next five months campaigning back east with mixed results. Veteran slugger Jim Stewart spoiled his New York debut, winning a 10-round newspaper decision at Madison Square Garden.

The opposite coast proved far more salubrious. McCarty’s push to regain lost luster began on Oct. 12, 2012, in San Francisco with a smashing second-round knockout of Al Kaufman. Two months later, on Dec. 10, he was in Vernon, California (a town in Los Angeles County), looking across the ring at Fireman Jim Flynn.

This fight was framed as an “eliminator” with the winner going on to fight Al Palzer for the White Heavyweight Championship of the World.

Jim Flynn, called Fireman Jim because he had worked on steam-powered locomotives shoveling coal into a furnace, was a battle-tested veteran. Six years earlier, he had given Tommy Burns a tough tussle in a failed bid for Burns’ world heavyweight title. Burns stopped him in the 15^th-round. More recently, he had challenged Jack Johnson, losing by disqualification in the first and ultimately only heavyweight title fight ever staged in New Mexico.

The late money was on Fireman Jim who went to post a small favorite. Those that bet against McCarty had egg in their face when the referee halted the massacre in the 16^th round. Flynn “was beaten to an almost unrecognizable mass,” wrote a ringside reporter. “His face was puffed until it was almost unrecognizable and his eyes were swollen shut. His seconds had to assist him from the ring, while McCarty walked out fresh as a daisy.”

Al Palzer, an Iowa farm boy, had been fighting for only two years, but he was a strapping lad, carrying 227 pounds on a six-foot-four frame, and, in the vernacular of a gambling man, he came from a good barn. His manager, Tom O’Rourke, had built George Dixon from scratch into a fighter still recognized in many quarters today as the greatest bantamweight of all time.

Al Palzer’s signature win had come against the highly-touted British import Bombardier Billy Wells, the heavyweight champion of England. Knocked groggy in the first two rounds, Palzer got off the deck to stop the Bombardier in the third frame.

Once again McCarty entered the ring a slight underdog and, once again, he made a mockery of the odds. Palzer rarely took a backward step but was repeatedly beaten to the punch. The referee halted the mismatch in the 18^th round, whereupon Palzer “reeled drunkenly to his corner and cried like a child.”

Palzer

In those days, the best measure of a mega-fight was the number of telegraphers at ringside. There were plenty that afternoon at promoter Tom McCarey’s arena in Vernon; round-by-round reports were flashed to newspaper offices and poolrooms around the country. In faraway Pittsburgh, where the New Years Day fight started at 6 pm local time, the Pittsburgh Press (“The People’s Paper”) hired a megaphone man to read the round-by-round bulletins to the crowd standing outside in the cold. Other newspapers did likewise.

mccarty cartoon 1

McCarty had two more fights before his ill-fated bout with Arthur Pelkey, winning newspaper decisions over Fireman Jim Flynn and Frank Moran, in Philadelphia and New York respectively. Then it was on to Calgary to defend his belt against journeyman Pelkey in a bout staged in a 7,000-seat wooden arena built by Tommy Burns who had taken up residence in Calgary as his career was winding down.

The bout was barely 90 seconds old when Pelkey hit McCarty with a blow that landed just above the heart and McCarty collapsed to the canvas. It was a pedestrian punch – a straight jab in a feeling-out round – but Luther McCarty had drawn his last breath. The general feeling was that the punch had aggravated an old neck injury that McCarty had suffered when he fell off a horse, a reckoning that absolved the principals of manslaughter. “The same thing might have happened to anyone walking down the street or eating dinner,” said Tommy Burns.

It was an earie scene made more haunting in memory by interconnected events.

Before the opening bell, the pastor of Calgary’s St. Augustine’s Anglican church was brought into the ring to say a few words. “He told [the combatants] not to forget in their chase of fame that they had a creator and to prepare to meet him.” As McCarty lay prone on the canvas before the stupefied gathering, a ghostly ray of sunlight came through an opening in the structure and shrouded McCarty’s lifeless body. Adding to Tommy Burns’ anguish, on the night of May 25, the day after the fight, a fire of uncertain origin burned his arena to the ground.

An era usually lasts generations and doesn’t come into focus until a considerable amount of time has elapsed. Interestingly, boxing writers were using the phrase White Hope Era when the “era” was just getting started and it was a short-lived phase that effectively ended in Arthur Pelkey’s next fight when he was knocked out by journeyman Gunboat Smith. Pelkey’s vaunted punch, wrote a reporter, was merely a suspicion.

(True, Jess Willard was dubbed a White Hope, but by 1915, when he de-throned Jack Johnson, he wasn’t tagged as such by the promoters as the label had become a term of derision. A little-known fact is that there were a number of so-called White Hope Tournaments during the late 1930s in the U.S. and Canada, but these promotions, conventionally restricted to men with no prior boxing experience — men off the street, but some ringers always slipped in — were tournaments in name only. Precursors of the “Tough Man” competitions popular in the 1980s and 1990s, they died out when Joe Louis came to be widely admired for more than just his fistic prowess.)

Newspaper reports leave the impression that Luther McCarty was a bigamist. Several days after he died it was reported that his widow, who he met in Ohio, was working in a hash house in Fargo, North Dakota. However, his inheritance went to another woman, a lady in Springfield, Missouri, with whom he had a young daughter. And whatever his faults, it appears that Luther, despite his tender age, was no fool with his money. His estate included $8,200 (roughly $250,000 in today’s dollars) on deposit in a Los Angeles bank and four oceanfront lots on a beach near Boston.

Now let’s cut to the chase and address the question we asked in the title of this article: How good was Luther McCarty, by which we mean how would he have fared if thrust against a prime Jack Johnson?

I think the answer is plain. He would have been in way over his head.

It goes without saying that Johnson was more fluid, but he also packed a harder punch. McCarty tattooed Fireman Jim Flynn and Al Palzer with every punch in his repertoire round after round after round, but both men were still standing when the bouts were terminated. Also, “strength of schedule” counts for something and McCarty’s fellow White Hopes were a motley lot. The craze to find someone to upend Johnson flooded the sport with lumbering mediocrities whose exertions would have been better deployed doing chores around the farm or unloading freight.

To call Luther McCarty a cut above the others, no matter how true, is damning him with faint praise. He was, however, a colorful character in one of the most interesting phases in American boxing history.

Arne K. Lang’s third boxing book, titled “George Dixon, Terry McGovern and the Culture of Boxing in America, 1890-1910,” rolled off the press in September. Published by McFarland, the book can be ordered directly from the publisher or via Amazon.

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Arne K. Lang

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Bivol Evens the Score with Beterbiev; Parker and Stevenson Win Handily

Published

1 hour ago

February 22, 2025

David A. Avila

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It was labeled the best boxing card in history.

That’s up for debate.

And there was some debate as Dmitry Bivol avenged his loss to Artur Beterbiev to become the new undisputed light heavyweight world champion on Saturday by majority decision in a tactical battle.

“He gave me this chance and I appreciate it,” said Bivol of Beterbiev.

Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) rallied from behind to give Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) his first pro loss in their rematch at a sold out crowd in the Venue Riyadh Season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Like their first encounter the rematch was also very close.

Four months ago, these two faced each other as undefeated light heavyweights. Now, after two furious engagements, both have losses.

Beterbiev was making his first defense as undisputed light heavyweight champion and made adjustments from their first match. This time the Russian fighter who trains in Canada concentrated on a body attack and immediately saw dividends.

For most of the first six rounds it seemed Beterbiev would slowly grind down Bivol until he reached an unsurmountable lead. But despite the momentum he never could truly hurt Bivol or gain separation.

Things turned around in the seventh round as Bivol opened up with combinations to the head and body while slipping Beterbiev’s blows. It was a sudden swing of momentum. But how long could it last?

“It was hard to keep him at the distance. I had to be smarter and punch more clean punches,” said Bivol.

Beterbiev attempted to regain the momentum but Bivol was not allowing it to happen. In the final 10 seconds he opened up with a machine gun combination. Though few of the punches connected it became clear he was not going to allow unclarity.

Using strategic movement Bivol laced quick combinations and immediately departed. Betebiev seemed determined to counter the fleet fighter but was unsuccessful for much of the second half of the fight.

Around the 10^th round Beterbiev stepped on the gas with the same formula of working the body and head. It gave Bivol pause but he still unleashed quick combos to keep from being overrun.

Bivol connected with combinations and Beterbiev connected with single body and head shots. It was going to be tough for the referees to decide which attack they preferred. After 12 rounds with no knockdowns one judge saw it a draw at 114-114. But two others saw Bivol the winner 116-112, 115-113.

“I was better. I was pushing myself more, I was lighter. I just wanted to win so much today,” said Bivol.

Beterbiev was gracious in defeat.

“Congratulations to Bivol’s team” said Beterbiev. “I think this fight was better than the first fight.”

After the match it was discussed that an effort to make a third fight is a strong possibility.

Heavyweight KO by Parker

Joseph Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) once again proved he could be the best heavyweight without a world title in knocking out the feared Martin Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs) to retain his WBO interim title. It was quick and decisive.

“Catch him when he is coming in,” said Parker, 33, about his plan.

After original foe IBF heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois was forced to withdraw due to illness, Bakole willingly accepted the match with only two days’ notice. Many experts and fans around the world were surprised and excited Parker accepted the match.

Ever since Parker lost to Joe Joyce in 2022, the New Zealander has proven to be vastly improved with wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. Now you can add Bakole to the list of conquests.

Bakole, 33, was coming off an impressive knockout win last July and posed a serious threat if he connected with a punch. The quick-handed Bakole at 310 pounds and a two-inch height advantage is always dangerous.

In the first round Parker was wary of the fighter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He kept his range and moved around the ring looking to poke a jab and move. Bakole caught him twice with blows and Parker retaliated.

It proved to be a very important test.

Parker refrained from moving and instead moved inside range of the big African fighter. Both exchanged liberally with Bakole connecting with an uppercut and Parker an overhand right.

Bakole shook his head at the blow he absorbed.

Both re-engaged and fired simultaneously. Parker’s right connected to the top of the head of Bakole who shuddered and stumbled and down he went and could not beat the count. The referee stopped the heavyweight fight at 2:17 of the second round. Parker retains his interim title by knockout.

“I’m strong, I’m healthy, I’m sharp,” said Parker. “I had to be patient.”

Shakur Wins

Despite an injured left hand southpaw WBC lightweight titlist Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) won by stoppage over late replacement Josh Padley (15-1, 6 KOs). It was an impressive accomplishment.

Often criticized for his lack of action and safety-first style, Stevenson was supposed to fight undefeated Floyd Schofield who pulled out due to illness. In stepped British lightweight Padley who had nothing to lose.

Padley was never hesitant to engage with the super-quick Stevenson and despite the lightning-quick combos by the champion, the British challenger exchanged liberally. It just wasn’t enough.

Even when Stevenson injured his left hand during an exchange in the sixth round, Padley just couldn’t take advantage. The speedy southpaw kept shooting the right jabs and ripping off right hooks. At the end of the sixth Stevenson briefly switched to a right-handed fighting style.

Stevenson used his right jabs and hooks to perfection. Double right hooks to the head and body seemed to affect the British challenger. A clean left to the body of Padley sent him to the floor for the count in the ninth round. It was a surprising knockdown due to his injured left. Padley got up and the fight resumed. Stevenson unloaded with right hooks to the body and down went the British fighter once again. He got up and tried to fight his way out but was met with another left to the body and down he went a third time. Padley’s corner tossed in a white towel to signify surrender. The referee stopped the fight at the end of the round. Stevenson scored his 11^th knockout win.

Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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Early Results from Riyadh where Hamzah Sheeraz was Awarded a Gift Draw

Published

4 hours ago

February 22, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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After two 6-round appetizers, British light heavyweights Joshua Buatsi and Callum Smith got the show rolling with a lusty 12-round skirmish. Things went south in the middle of the seven-fight main card when WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames locked horns with challenger Hamzah Sheeraz. This was a drab fight owing to a milquetoast performance by the favored Sheeraz.

Heading in, the lanky six-foot-three Sheeraz, whose physique is mindful of a young Thomas Hearns, was undefeated in 21 fights. Having stopped five of his last six opponents in two rounds or less, the 25-year-old Englishman was touted as the next big thing in the middleweight division. However, he fought off his back foot the entire contest, reluctant to let his hands go, and Adames kept his title when the bout was scored a draw.

Sheeraz had the crowd in his corner and two of the judges scored the match with their ears. Their tallies were 115-114 for Sheeraz and 114-114. The third judge had it 118-110 for Adames, the 30-year old Dominican, now 24-1-1, who had Ismael Salas in his corner.

Ortiz-Madrimov

Super welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr, knocked out his first 21 opponents, begging the question of how he would react when he finally faced adversity. He showed his mettle in August of last year when he went a sizzling 12 rounds with fellow knockout artist Serhii Bohachuk, winning a hard-fought decision. Tonight he added another feather in his cap with a 12-round unanimous decision over Ismail Madrimov, prevailing on scores of 117-111 and 115-113 twice.

Ortiz won by adhering tight to Robert Garcia’s game plan. The elusive Madrimov, who bounces around the ring like the energizer bunny, won the early rounds. But eventually Ortiz was able to cut the ring off and turned the tide in his favor by landing the harder punches. It was the second straight loss for Madrimov (10-2-1), a decorated amateur who had lost a close but unanimous decision to Terence Crawford in his previous bout.

Kabayel-Zhang

No heavyweight has made greater gains in the last 15 months than Agit Kabayel. The German of Kurdish descent, whose specialty is body punching, made his third straight appearance in Riyadh tonight and, like in the previous two, fashioned a knockout. Today, although out-weighed by more than 40 pounds, he did away with Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang in the sixth round.

It didn’t start out well for Kabayel. The New Jersey-based, six-foot-six Zhang, a two-time Olympian for China, started fast and plainly won the opening round. Kabayel beat him to the punch from that point on, save for one moment when Zhang put him on the canvas with a straight left hand.

That happened in the fifth round, but by the end of the frame, the 41-year-old Zhang was conspicuously gassed. The end for the big fellow came at the 2:29 mark of round six when he couldn’t beat the count after crumbling to the canvas in a delayed reaction after taking a hard punch to his flabby midsection.

Kabayel remains undefeated at 26-0 (18 KOs). Zhang (27-3-1) hadn’t previously been stopped.

Smith-Buatsi

The all-British showdown between light heavyweights Joshua Buatsi and Callum Smith was a grueling, fan-friendly affair. A former 168-pound world title-holder, Smith, 34, won hard-earned unanimous decision, prevailing on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and a ludicrous 119-110.

There were no knockdowns, but Liverpool’s Smith, who advanced to 31-2 (22) finished the contest with a bad gash in the corner of his right eye. It was the first pro loss for Buatsi (19-1), an Olympic bronze medalist who entered the contest a small favorite and was the defending “interim” title-holder.

This contest was also a battle of wits between two of America’s most prominent trainers, Buddy McGirt (Smith) and Virgil Hunter (Buatsi).

Check back shortly for David Avila’s wrap-up of the last three fights.

Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom

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Cain Sandoval KOs Mark Bernaldez in the Featured Bout at Santa Ynez

Published

20 hours ago

February 21, 2025

David A. Avila

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Northern California’s Cain Sandoval remained undefeated with a knockout win over Mark Bernaldez in a super lightweight battle on Friday on a 360 Promotions card.

Sandoval (15-0, 13 KOs) of Sacramento needed four rounds to figure out tough Filipino fighter Bernaldez (25-7, 14 KOs) in front of a packed crowd at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez.

Bernaldez had gone eight rounds against Mexico’s very tough Oscar Duarte. He showed no fear for Sandoval’s reputed power and both fired bombs at each other from the second round on.

Things turned in favor of Sandoval when he targeted the body and soon had Bernaldez in retreat. It was apparent Sandoval had discovered a weakness.

In the beginning of the fourth Sandoval fired a stiff jab to the body that buckled Bernaldez but he did not go down. And when both resumed in firing position Sandoval connected with an overhand right and down went the Filipino fighter. He was counted out by referee Rudy Barragan at 34 seconds of the round.

“I’m surprised he took my jab to the body. I respect that. I have a knockout and I’m happy about that,” Sandoval said.

Other Bouts

Popular female fighter Lupe Medina (9-0) remained undefeated with a solid victory over the determined Agustina Vazquez (4-3-2) by unanimous decision after eight rounds in a minimumweight fight between Southern Californians.

Early on Vazquez gave Medina trouble disrupting her patter with solid jabs. And when Medina overloaded with combination punches, she was laced with counters from Vazquez during the first four rounds.

Things turned around in the fifth round as Medina used a jab to keep Vazquez at a preferred distance. And when she attacked it was no more than two-punch combination and maintaining a distance.

Vazquez proved determined but discovered clinching was not a good idea as Medina took advantage and overran her with blows. Still, Vazquez looked solid. All three judges saw it 79-73 for Medina.

A battle between Southern Californian’s saw Compton’s Christopher Rios (11-2) put on the pressure all eight rounds against Eastvale’s Daniel Barrera (8-1-1) and emerged the winner by majority decision in a flyweight battle.

It was Barrera’s first loss as a pro. He never could discover how to stay off the ropes and that proved his downfall. Neither fighter was knocked down but one judge saw it 76-76, and two others 79-73 for Rios.

In a welterweight fight Gor Yeritsyan (20-1,16 KOs) scorched Luis Ramos (23-7) with a 12-punch combination the sent him to the mat in the second round. After Ramos beat the count he was met with an eight punch volley and the fight was stopped at 2:11 of the second round by knockout.

Super feather prospect Abel Mejia (7-0, 5 KOs) floored Alfredo Diaz (9-12) in the fifth round but found the Mexican fighter to be very durable in their six-round fight. Mejia caught Diaz with a left hook in the fifth round for a knockdown. But the fight resumed with all three judges scoring it 60-53 for Mejia who fights out of El Modena, Calif.

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