The Boxing Biographies Newsletter
Volume 5 - No 6 21st Sept , 2009
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Name: Jimmy Gardner
Career Record: click
Nationality: Irish
Hometown: Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
Born: 1885-12-25
Height: 5′ 7½″
The Lowell Sun
15 March 1910
Jimmy Gardner
Had No trouble With Jimmy Clabby In Milwaukee
The following account of Jimmy's Gardner's recent fight, with Jimmy Clabby is from The Evening Wisconsin of Milwaukee.
The path that lies before Jimmy Clabby of Milwaukee. on his way to the welter weight championship is troublesome. It is a weary route, rough and stony, with one stone wall — Jimmy
Gardner of Lowell. Mass .— looming up before him. constantly as he nears the end.
This stumbling block, Gardner, caused Clabby to stop short for the third time in his brilliant career last night in a ten-round, no-decision bout, before the Badger Athletic club and several
thousand enthusiastic fans in the Hippodrome.
If a decision had been rendered, Clabby would have been very lucky to get a draw. Gardner had a big shade, and when in the best of condition ought to be the Milwaukee boy's .master at any time. No decision was rendered under the law permitting the, exhibition.
Gardner was about 10 to 15 pounds over his regular boxing weight and plainly out of condition.. If he figured that he had no need of doing any hard preliminary work in order to defeat Clabby. he plainly showed it: Gardner might as well have stepped from the train from the east and gone directly into the ring for all his training at Chicago seemed to have done him good.
And yet under these circumstances the Lowell boy showed himself the master of Clabby. In the unbiased opinion of an unbiased man — the man who should know — Gardner had more than a shade and if he had been in shape, there would have been nothing to it.
Gardner seemed contented to Clabby force the milling for the first few rounds and not until the last half of the session did he seem to find any need to go after the Milwaukeean — as only Gardner can. In the ninth round Gardner had Clabby in a flurry and if the Lowellite had been in proper condition, with sufficient-steam in his punches, a knockout would have been a likelihood.
The tenth round, too, saw Gardner force Clubby off his feet. The last two rounds made Clabby look like a farce. Clabby has always been touted, and rightly as a clever boxer, but Gardner stands head and shoulders above him in this. What blows Gardner landed were clean and with closed glove, while Clabby was inclined to be wild and he constantly hit with the open mitt. The Millwaukee boy seemed content to take light punishment and sometimes good stiff punches in order to await an opportunity to get through the Lowellite's superb defense.
It was not a pretty fight from a scientific boxing standpoint and thus disappointed some who expected to see the two cleverest welter weights in the world give an exhibition worth going
many miles to see. It was a slow affair mainly because Gardner hung back . He knows his game, however, and played it well.
The first round was Clabby's. The second was about even, with a shade for Clabby in the third. The fifth was about even and the sixth must be given to Clabby. Gardner took the seventh
a long ways and from the eighth it was Gardner all the way. Clabby’s advantages in the earlier rounds seemed entirely offset. Clabby came lack in spurts but seemed to be all through. He was wild and rarely landed. It looked as If Gardner would land a knockout any moment, but he lacked the steam. Gardner had him in trouble at the end.
The Chicago Inter-Ocean comments
as follows on the bout:
"By taking a long chance and going into the fight like a wildcat, Jimmy Gardner snatched victory away from almost sure defeat in a 10 round bout with Jimmy Clabby. In the first few rounds it looked as if Clabby would certainly finish the Lowell boy before the limit was reached.
Gardner proved a surprise, however by starting in to rush matters in the seventh round and fighting hard enough in those last three sessions to more than even up Clabby's early lead.
First Round is Clabby's
There was as much preliminary fuss inside the ring before the main event as if it had been a championship affair. They started off cautiously. Gardner landed first, but Clabby was
quick to return. The Milwaukee man rushed Gardner to the ropes three times during the round and had a shade the better of it. Gardner lacked a lot of his old time speed and was plainly
out of condition.
In the second round there were some fierce exchanges, and with rights and lefts, Clabby did most of the damage, and Gardner had little force to the blows he did land. They were in-a fierce mixup with Gardner on the ropes at the end of the round.
The third round found the men hard at it from the start. They rushed at each other and mixed it furiously, Clabby forced matters, and after another mixup Clabby again rushed the Lowell boy and forced Gardner through the ropes. Clabby did all of the forcing in this round and had a clear advantage.
In the fourth round Gardner started out to force matters and prevented Clabby repeating but the Milwaukee boy again had him breaking ground before half of' the round was finished Clabby had Gardner on the ropes three times during the round, but Jimmy was fighting gamely, little damage being done at the end.
Opening the fifth round Clabby Started with a series of straight left jabs to Gardner's face.. The Lowell Boy was cut over the right eye and bleeding .His returns were weak, and
Clabby only smiled as he took them and waited for a chance to get back. Gardner was weak at the end of the round.
Gardner was doing more kidding than fighting in the sixth round and tried, to taunt Clabby over his inability to get in a telling punch. It was a rather tame round and ended with Clabby fresh and Gardner puffing.
In the seventh round Gardner came in and took a chance to rush Clabby and landed more stiff punches than in the previous rounds. Clabby failed to fight back with his usual vim in the
latter halt of this round and the crowd hissed the two for stalling.
Gardner started, rushing things in the eighth. Clabby seemed to have lost some of his steam. This round, was a hummer, all the way through and Gardner showed to be the better boxer.
Gardner Makes Up Ground
It was Gardner who again started in to rush matters in the ninth session and he had Clabby guessing from the start. However, the Milwaukee boy was able to come back in spurts but through his cleverness Gardner had the better of it.
Gardner came back like a whirlwind in the tenth, and put it all over Clabby. The Milwaukee boy seemed weak and without even a defense. It looked as if Gardner would land a knockout punch
at any moment, but he lacked the steam. Clabby finally got his bearings and started to fight back, but his swings were wild and seldom landed. Gardner had him troubled at the end.
End
The Times
1 August 1923
Curtain Fall On Fighting Career Of Jimmy Clabby
Jimmy Clabby will never fight again. His ring career ended Monday night as he fell repeatedly under the blows of a young and powerful opponent in the arena at East Chicago. He had been beaten in two rounds by Morrie Schlaifer of Omaha Defeat is inevitable and Jimmy staved it off longer than any of his contemporaries. He was the last man of his day to quit the ring, Mike Gibbons, McGoorty. Gardner, Mike "Twin" Sullivan and scores of other top-notchers of his time finished years ago.
It was the great fighting heart of Jimmy Clabby that kept him on borrowed time. His debacle was some four years ago but he refused to quit. For seventeen years he has met them all. It was Jim Jeff'ries who said of Cabby: "He Is, the greatest middleweight boxer I have seen "
He fought more twenty round fights than any man in modern ring history. He was a man all fighters feared. He had an exceptional combination of skill, strategy and fighting spirit. Jimmy Clabby was in the forefront of the boxing world for seventeen yearn. He began as a lightweight at the are of 16 and by the time he grew to be a welterweight he had a great deal of fighting experience Tom Andrews' sporting book states he was the welterweight champion of the world in 1910,11 and 12 and that he then became contender for the middleweight championship with Gibbons, McGoorty, Jeff Smith and George Chip.
His greatest fight was at Butte. Mont-, in 1912 when he won a decision over McCoorty in twelve rounds after having been knocked down for the count of nine twice in the first round.
Clabby was conceded to be the greatest middleweight boxer of the time, and lacked only the slugging ability to become champion. He was never a mauler, always a ring general, a boxer and the greatest of in fighters. No man of his weight was a match for Clabby in the clinches.
CAPTURES ENGLAND
He went to England where he was the sensation of the sporting world He defeated the British champion and returned to America. next going to Australia where he became welter, middleweight and light heavyweight champion. He knocked out Tommy Turen, Albert Lloyd and Dave Smith, Australia's greatest fighters for the welter, middle and light heavyweight titles, respectively and he was the idol of the Antipodes.
Jimmy reached the height of his fighting career in Australia and there also began his decline. When he returned to the United States a year ago he was really finished as a fighter. Seventeen strenuous years had left there mark. The fire and strength of youth were gone. The fighting spirit and knowledge remained. His eyes were not as alert and his legs less shifty. He had slowed up and while his friends and admirers refused to admit it, and remained faithful, they knew in their hearts that Jimmy was through as a fighter
Schlaifer was the first man of his own class to box Clabby since he returned home. Clabby had knocked one second rater into dreamland at a boxing show in West Hammond , and he knocked out Patsy Rocco of East Chicago He gave O’Keefe a terrible whipping , but all of these men would have had no business in the ring with Clabby in the days of his prime.
Youth Versus Age
But when jimmy stepped under the arc lights Monday night and faced one of the toughest middleweights of the hour, a man who would have extended the Clabby of old, then came the truth. Age is no match for youth.
Jimmy Clabby went down game, honorable and with the sympathy and admiration of the fighting world It was sad and a silent throng that left the ringside. Schlaifer was sorry. He rushed into the shower to tell Clabby, with one eye closed as the result of the Omaha boys punches, Jimmy shook hands. "It's all right, son." he said, “You are a good strong fellow and were too much for me. It comes to every man who stays in the game. I am through as a fighter"
The close of Clabbys career is a loss to Hammond. He was always loyal to his home town and never let an opportunity slip to boost It wherever he might travel. He saw to it that his publicity read, 'Jimmy Clabby of Hammond," and no city has been attached to a fighters name as closely as that of Hammond to Clabby.
Name: Frank Klaus
Career Record: click
Nationality: US American
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Born: 1887-12-30
Died: 1948-02-08
Age at Death: 60
Height: 5′ 7½″
Manager: George Engel
Oakland Tribune
8 June 1911
Frank Klaus Is Ambitious To Be
Middleweight Champ
With an eagerness for sightseeing that had not been entirely satisfied by the first long trip he had ever made away from-home, Frank Klaus spent the day yesterday in looking over San Francisco and Oakland. ,
Whenever the young man hitched up for a rest and with those whom he met for the first time, he made an instantaneous hit, for while anything but a talker or- bragger, he has an easy, self-assured manner, of explaining pugilistic matters that forbid the least suspicion that Frank Klaus is, not all that has been, said of him. The Eastern newspaper men have been proclaiming Klaus the champion middleweight of the world ever since the death of Stanley Ketchel, and have vowed and declared that the middle weight does not exist at this time who is capable of taking his measure.
The answer Klaus gave to an inquisitive fan yesterday when asked if he claimed the championship title, is a good line on the modest talk the young fellow gives up when pressed for answers.
"I am not claiming anything. Some of the writers in the East have been kind enough to say that I am the logical champion, but in so far as I am concerned I'd rather battle my way to the top, so that, the followers of boxing will not be able to say that I claimed anything not coming to me.. Both my manager and myself are not only very anxious that I should win the coming scrap with Sullivan, but we are also very hopeful that I'll make good with the fans here.
"I think Sullivan is a tough fellow, and I'm glad of this for it will give me a chance to show, what I can do and then, if we make good, we can stay right here on the Coast and meet the middleweights one after the other until such time as the championship claim has been settled in the manner in which It should be — by battling for It."
KLAUS LEAVES GOOD IMPRESSION.
There is positively nothing about young Klaus that would cause anyone to fear him under any circumstances. He has a most pleasant smile, loves to joke and josh, and would rather talk automobile than any one other thing. Behind all this however, is that something that spells. determination. It sticks out all over him. The massive and aggressive jaw is an indication of great fight prowess and the general makeup of the fellow spells ability with the gloves.
During the .past few years we have had the opportunity to meet many strange faces in the boxing game and many times, you will remember the scribes have said that this or that one looked more like a college boy than a fighter.
Well most of them proved that their looks did not belie them. In Klaus, however, we have a fellow who looks just what is claimed for him. He is not bruised and battered and he is lacking in display of brutality, but he looks every inch a fighter and just one glance at him will prove to most any man who has had anything to do with athletes, that Frank Klaus is not the sort of man to be denied That which he is after by a few setbacks.
He is the kind who will keep coming under any kind of hard going and the heart of the man who beats him will have to be a strong one.
BEGINS ACTIVE WORK TODAY.
This afternoon Klaus, will do his first work for. the Sullivan battle, which will be staged a week from tonight . The first work, will be a trip on the road for a little loosening up. Tomorrow .or the next day, Klaus will spar a few rounds with his sparring partner. Manager George Engel is delighted with the prospects offered here and will prepare, to stay on the coast if Klaus is successful.
Oakland Tribune
10 June 1911
Klaus Does Light Work And Pleases Boxing Fans
Jimmy Carroll Does Not Box Up To Expectations; Baldwin Begins Work Tomorrow
Anxious that they should be in on the first information as to the abilities of Frank Klaus and Mattv Baldwin, quite a gathering of the boxing fans were on hand at Al White's place yesterday afternoon.
It had been announced that neither Klaus or Baldwin would do any boxing, but the fans took their chances on the men changing their minds and were rewarded by three, fast rounds between Klaus and Frank Madole, the latter being a lightweight brought to the coast by Klaus' manager, George Engle. Baldwin has said from the start that he would not box before Sunday afternoon and he has stuck to his first declaration
It has been said that Klaus made a hit with the fans from the moment that he landed here and that on every side the fans have been willing to be recorded as saying that in their opinion he would prove a busy ringman. If this be true, then he must have made a greater hit with those who looked him over yesterday.
From the very start of his work the middle-weight champion seemed to put every ounce of energy into his efforts. When he worked at the pulley weights he did so with a snap and dash that could hardly help impressing one with the idea that he is not only an exceptionally strong young fellow, but the manner in which he did the work was indicative of aggressiveness and speed.
When he punched the heavy bag that some of the boys complain about being slow and cumbersome, Klaus hooked and jabbed and uppercut it with all the vim of a man in a real fight. Many times he would miss the bag on purpose and would make a quick shift of the feet to hold his balance. The boxer no doubt practiced this trick with the expectation that he may miss Sullivan many times during the bout and if so he will not be caught off his balance.
KLAUS WILLING TO WADE IN,
In his boxing Klaus proved that he is anything but a boxer of the peck, peck, pock variety. He proved very conclusively that he is the sort always willingto take a few wallops for an equal chance to land a like number, or, in other words, Klaus is the sort of boxer who stands toe to toe with an opponent and swaps punches until one or the other either goes down for the count or breaks ground. Klaus is a rough, aggressive sort of millman whose style is sure to catch, on with the California fans.
Montana Dan Sullivan, who will oppose Klaus at the Piedmont pavilion on next Thursday night, was seen at the four round show at the Dreamland pavilion last evening and claimed great condition.
Dan really looked in excellent condition and seemed' very confident that he would take the middle-weight champion into camp. "I've seen Klaus in action twice In the east," said Sullivan, ''and seconded my brother Jack against him. This thing of spouting off a lot of steam about what a fellow is going .to do when he gets into the ring is not to my liking, and for that reason I'll not tell what I expect to do. I will say however that it is a cinch that I'll win and that Klaus will be a greatly surprised fellow when we start." Sullivan is working at Colma for the fracas
and claims he will be in the best fix of all his bouts on the coast.
KLAUS AND SULLIVAN AGREE ON WEIGHT.
Last night Manager George Engel, acting for Klaus, and Baron Long for Dan Sullivan, met and after some argument agreed that the weight be fixed at 160 pounds at 3 o'clock In the afternoon, weigh-in at the Mecca cafe. It was at first expected that the match would be fought at catch weights, but upon his arrival here Engel insisted that some weight be set.
The manager for the champion argued that his man is a legitimate 154 pounder and that he was giving Sullivan a concession in allowing him to weigh 158 pounds. Baron Long argued that owing to the fact of his man believing that he was meeting the champion at catch weights that it would be unfair to him to order that he make 158 pounds on practically four days' notice after he had been trying to build up.
Both men stuck to their point and for a time it looked as if they would not agree. Finally, however, Long in a spirit of generous feeling said he wanted to be fair and for that reason he would have his man weigh in at 160 pounds at 3 O'clock. .
Engel smiled, shook the hand of the rival Manager and said that just so long as Sullivan weighed in at some definite figure he was satisfied. The Oakland wheelmen 'have already placed the tickets on sale at the various stands where they are purchasable for the monthly shows.
KIRKWOOD HAS SHADE-ON CARROLL
In the wind-up of the four-round show at the Dreamland pavilion last night Referee Eddie Hanlon called the George Kirkwood-Jimmy Carroll contest a draw after four rounds of fast and clever, if not exciting, boxing. The showing of Carroll was a disappointment to his friends, for he did not show half so well in the contest as he did in his daily boxing at White's training quarters. Jimmy, seemed to have a deal of respect for Kirkwood and during the first three rounds he hung on with the grip of a bulldog every time the men came to clinch.
At the end of the first three rounds Kirkwood had a very fair lead and looked all over the winner.He had been the aggressor and had. landed the harder punches as well as the greater number. In the last round Carroll put his teeth together and made a final spurt that won for him a draw. Kirkwood seems to blow up in the last round of most of his bouts, and the one of last night was no exception. Carroll had the better of the last round and when Hanlon raised the hands of both. boys the crowd shouted out its approval. Strictly speaking Kirkwood had the better of the bout, for he had three of the four rounds and had the affair been a strictly amateur affair, where decisions must be given, he would have been the one to get the verdict.
The finish of Carroll pleased the crowd, however, and the decision also seemed to please the majority. In the other bout Ike Cohen sprung a surprise by beating Sailor Bowers at every turn of the road. Jimmy Fox -was far too clever for Harry Dell and outpointed him in four rounds.
BALDWIN IS SOME HITTER.
Matty Baldwin proved in the little work done at Al White's place yesterday that he is not only a willing worker, but also some hitter. Matty did no boxing and his work was of the lightest variety, but in the punching of the bag It was easy to see by the snap to his punches that he will prove a hitter. Baldwin will start his real training tomorrow, when he will box for the first time since coming to the coast. Matty likes it at White's place and in company with Frank Klaus the boxers are having much pleasure out of their training.
It is easy to have fun at the White camp, for no more congenial lot of boxers ever trained together than the lot at present holding White's down. Freddie Welsh has not yet decided as
to where he will do his training, but owing to the fact that Ad Wolgast will be In San Francisco long prior to his bout. with Baldwin and the champion having a prior claim on the Seal Rock house it is almost certain that Welsh will not want to take up quarters at the same place.
Welsh expects to be the opponent of the winner of the Wolgast-Moran battle so he does not want to be in the same camp with the champion. Welsh will go to Millett's today and start working with Montana Dan Sullivan, and if he likes the place he will finish up his training there.
End
Oakland tribune
24 march 1912
DILLON HAS NO SHOW
IN BOUT W1TH KLAUS
Pittsburgher Easily Wins Twenty-Round
Boxing Bout From Indiana Pug; JackIs a Foul Fighter
By W. W. NAUGHTON.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 23.-—Jack Dillon has been eliminated. He lost to Frank Klaus in a twenty-round bout at Coffroth's arena today, and Klaus has now qualified for a match with Eddie McGoorty, who is thought to be one of the best middleweight boxers in sight. Klaus in some respects resembles a boulder crashing downhill. The further he goes the greater his momentum and destructive force. In the twentieth round of today's bout he worked faster and hit fiercer than he did in any previous three-minute spell of the contest.
He threw all the muscle and weight of his back and shoulders into every punch. He seemed to be as fresh as paint, while his opponent was tired as tired could be. The finish of the contest was marked by a knockout and that sounds odd after telling that the affair went the limit But it was not Dillon who was knocked out and neither was It Klaus. It was one of Dillon's seconds, a stalwart named Gardner, who took exception to Referee Welsh's ruling, and did so in a manner offensive to the veteran referee. Welsh promptly knocked Gardner down.
The moral is that it is unwise to rile a referee at the close of a trying fight or for that matter at any time. If you object to his methods It is best to wait until you get home and then write to the papers.
WELSH WAS RIGHT.
In this particular instance Welsh made the only decision that was possible for Dillon was fairly beaten. It looked from the beginning as though the Indiana man .Had made up his mind to lose on a foul. He began butting in from the very first round and kept it up at intervals, though frequently threatened with disqualification by the referee.
Dillon’s manner of offending was to place his forehead and pompadour beneath Klaus’s chin and then toss his own head , billy goat fashion. The fouling was so palpable that the crowd soured against Dillon and no sympathy was felt for him when he was well hammered in the concluding rounds of the bout.
Once or twice Klaus copied Dillon's tactics, using his own heed in an unwarranted manner. Dillon, however, was far and away the greater offender from first to last and what Klaus did was merely In a spirit of retaliation.
START IS UNINTERESTING.
The first half of the fight was uninteresting. Later the men hewed closer to the correct Queensberry line. After the tenth round was passed Dillon evidently made up his mind that he was no match for Klaus at give and take work. He wanted to confine the issue to outfighting but Klaus would not have it that way. Frank kept piling in and rooting for the body and by his wearing down tactics took a little out of Dillon in every round.
Dillon at times met Klaus' rushes with straight lefts. These blows tilted the Pittsburgher’s head but did not cause him to stand away. In the thirteenth round Dillon caught Klaus a jarring right hander. Klaus reeled but pulled himself together in a determined manner and carried the fight to close quarters.
During the last five rounds of the fight Dillon was more than ever bent on keeping away. He was so concerned about the safety of his ribs that he forgot to butt and the spectators for a few rounds watched a spirited battle conducted on chivalrous lines.
DILLON USED LEFT.
They saw Klaus' head snapping back repeatedly as Dillon's left plumped freely between chin and brow and they saw Klaus stung more than once by cleverly timed rights. But there was no beating Klaus back. He crowded and rooted and time after time by blistering- body punches drove Dillon from rope to rope.
Nor was this rib-battering the only thing that Klaus accomplished. While never as true a puncher from range as his opponent he got home with a hook or jolt occasionally and whenever he did the punishing effects were noticeable, In the clinch fighting too, he used a loop punch and overhand blows and in every round towards the end Dillon's face was smeared with blood.
Dillon while fighting desperately to keep Klaus at bay in the sixteenth round sent a telling right against the chin. It was the best punch of the contest up to that point and the manner in which Klaus acted showed that he was well shaken up. He rallied quickly, however and was fighting briskly as the round ended.
KLAUS KEPT COMING.
The seventeenth round was the most spirited of the series. After a few passes the men began trading rights and it looked as if something might drop at any instant. When the excitement was at its height the middleweights closed in and dealt out short armed body blows to each other and were so engaged when the gong sent them to their corners.
It might be said that the seventeenth was Dillon's last stand. He used the straight left to fairly good purpose after that In the main Klaus' persistent onslaught kept Dillon on the defensive.
In the last round of all Dillon probably received more punishment than in all others combined.
End
Newsletter Vol 5 No 6
Re: Newsletter Vol 5 No 6
And it is another good read :)
Thank you good sir.
Thank you good sir.
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