I was the historian who supplied the original material for this record and it was this data which was, I think, entered onto BoxRec.
I have since found a number of additional contests which you will want to know about. I will supply here and leave to someone else to enter if you don't mind (as I don't know how to do it).
The first contest I can trace for Dan took place on March 15th 1907. He met Bobby Dobbs (USA) in a six three minute round contest at the Market Hall in Airdrie. Dobbs undertook to stop McGoldrick within the six rounds and as he failed to do this McGoldrick was given the points verdict and also a £25 purse provided by Dobbs (Dobbs agreed to pay this amount if McGoldrick stayed the distance). At the time McGoldrick was reported as being 20 years old and weighing 11st 2lbs. He was seconded by Paul McKenna.
On April 5 1907 McGoldrick knocked out Darkey Joe Riley (Aberdeen) in five rounds at the Market Hall Airdrie.
On Nov 30 1908 he knocked out Fred Higgins (London) in round 15 of a scheduled 20 at the National AC in Glasgow (this club was on Charles Street, Bridgeton, a street now known as Olympia Street).
On Apr 14 1909 at the Caledonia AC in Dalmarnock Road Glasgow ( a club which was later renamed as the Victoria AC) Dan won a 15 round points verdict over Private A Kirk of the Black Watch.
On May 12 1909 he won a 20 (3 min) round points verdict over Pat Breslin (Uddingston) again at the Caledonia AC
The above bouts were sourced from either the Sporting Life or the Mirror of Life (both of which I am currently researching)
On Oct 25 1909 he beat Alick Hunter (Coatbridge) on a sixth round retirement for the Scottish Heavyweight Title ina 20 rounder at the Natinal AC Glasgow.
On Jan 7 1911 he stopped Alex Hunter (Coatbridge) in the sixth of a 20 rounder at the Monkland AC in Airdrie
On Jan 30 1911 he lost on a disqualification in the sixth round of a 15 rounder against Bob Docherty (Baillieston) at the Monkland AC Airdrie
(The above two contests taken from the Mirror of Life)
On Jan 22 1915 he KO'd Harry Smith(South Africa) in three rounds at the Cosmopolitan Gymnasium, Plymouth. The previous week (Jan 15th) he had beaten Arthur Pelkey at the same venue - this is shown incorrectly on the BoxRec record as Jan 22. There is an entry for 1915-03-01 for Smith but this is incorrect. It is also shown as 10x3 and this is also probably incorrect. The bout was probably a 15 rounder and may have been 3 min rounds, but may also have been 2 min rounds.
The Sgt. Borthwick bout (on BoxRec as 1918-12-01) should be Dec 16th 1918
On Jan 27 1919 Dan lost on points over 15 rounds to Bob Whiteford (Glasgow) at the Victoria AC Glasgow (the old Caledonia AC)
The 1919-09-01 contest for which I still don't have an exact date was against Paul Journee, who later became a decent European Heavyweight
On Feb 4 1921 Dan outpointed Willie Smith over 10 rounds at Green's Picturedrome in Leven. I do not know who Willie Smith was as I don't know from where he was billed and it is a very common name.
Regarding Bladder's comments about the errors he has identified, there is some justification for some of them.
The Reeve bout was originally entered incorrectly onto BoxRec. Reeve did win this bout.
The Ike Pratt contest was 15x2 and not 15x3. This brings me to a strong gripe I have about many of these early results. Boxrec seems to default to 3 minute rounds for virtually all contests during this period. I would say that 95% of all contests between 1900 and 1935 were 2 minute rounders. The only venues that regularly held three minute rounds for their bouts were the National Sporting Club and Liverpool Stadium. Virtually everywhere else had 2 min rounds as the norm and only the really big money matches over three minute rounds. I do wish this could be corrected. Take a look at any BoxRec record for this period (and Harry Reeve is a good example) you will see virtually every bout described as 3 mins when they were nearly all 2 mins.
The Breslin bout on 1916-06-10 is more complicated. At this time there were many No Contests. This occurred when the referee disqualified both boxers, usually for 'not trying'. There were also frequent occasions when the bout was stopped for another reason, such as the ring collapsing (it happened quite often) or the two boxers both being badly cut. When this happened the bout was either declared as a draw or 'no decision' was given. To call this outcome No Decision is confusing given the US interpretation of this verdict (where individual States did not allow a decision to be given one way or the other if the bout went the distance) but I would rather enter this outcome over No Contest as the latter implies the boxers were at fault when they weren't (it implies that they were both disqualified). The reporter referred to the outcome of this contest as a No Contest, a different reporter, given the same circumstance would have reported it as a No Decision. For reasons stated I enter the verdict as ND rather than NC. I am open to persuasion on the matter !
He is spot on about the Val Harris bout, that was my mistake.
The McGuinness bout did occur on June 12 as advertised. The report of the bout did not clearly indicate an exact date, and this happened often as this time in 'Boxing'. When I supplied the original data I indicated the bout took place in June without giving an exact date. This brings me to another little gripe. BoxRec defaults to the first of the month if the exact date isn't known. Fair enough I suppose if a date has to include the day as well as the month but this means that it is uncertain if a bout actually occurred on the first as opposed to the precise date not being known. I would prefer the default to be a zero rather than a one and then it would be clearer.
Bouts were often advertised as being 15 rounds and then fought over 20 (and vice versa). There are many examples I could give of this inconsistency. Promoters often reduced (or even increased) a scheduled distance on the night. I have an example of an 18 rounder fought in the 1920s where, perhaps, the two parties could not agree on the length of the bout and therefore compromised, probably on the night of the bout itself. Very often 'Boxing' did not provide the scheduled distance in the fight report and one has to either guess it (which I refuse to do) or accept the fact and not enter a scheduld distance at all.
Vic McLoughlin was Victor McLaglen (the Hollywood Actor). There are many examples of mis-spelt surnames like this, in fight reports, adverts, handbills and programmes. The boxer Alf Paolozzi once said that he had seen his name mis-spelt in 30 different ways. I have an old fight poster on the wall of my study referring to him as Paolozie and fighting a certain M'Laughlan. This bout was Alf Paolozzi v Andy McLoughlin.
It is a little disheartening to see my work being referred to as being 'riddled with errors' when in fact, although it does contain a few legitimate mistakes and a lot of conflicting data which is open to interpretation, it mainly contains a lot of very accurate material which has taken years of research to unearth. I suspect that the McGoldrick record that existed on BoxRec before I provided this material was scanty in the extreme, like most of the other fighters of this period.
On a more positive note Bladder, I hope you enjoy those old 'Boxing's'. I have a large number in my collection and I consider those that were issued between 1909 and 1914 to be the best. They are jam-packed with information about boxing during a world that is now largely lost to us. Have you seen the Mirror of Life at all ? This was even better than 'Boxing' during this period. I have quite a number myself and the photographs in them are superb. If I knew how to upload an image file onto a post then I would scan one and post it for you.
regards
Miles
www.prewarboxing.co.uk
