Champion of America: Paddy Ryan

[BitPlayer]

Paddy Ryan won the Championship of America in 1880 against Joe Goss, and held it until 1882 when he lost to John L Sullivan

I'm yet to find anything early on Paddy Ryan, if I come across anything I will add it in, I've pieced this together from various newspapers, and will add more in general as find it.

Joe Goss had seems to have vacated the Championship of America by 1878, and seems happy for other's to fight for the honor. And so in 1878 John J Dwyer and Paddy Ryan agreed to fight for the Championship, after Ryan challenged Dwyer during a sparring session with Joe Goss, as reported in The New York herald., April 26, 1878. As reported in The New York herald., July 16, 1878 things got to a bad start with them being unable to agree on a stake holder.
During the long fruitless talks on the stakeholder going nowhere, Joe Goss, dissappointed in thinking the fight seeming like it wouldn't happen said
"Well, neither of you want your men to fight, or else you wouldn't have all this powwow. What's the use of talkin' about something that took place a thousand years ago or who wears old shoes now? Talk about this fight; appoint your man and let it go on—that's the way to do business"
"Well Dwyer want to fight," said the Brooklyn men
"And so does Ryan," exclaimed the Trojans
"Well, then why in the name of heavens don't you fix the thing?" retorted Goss

And so this fight fell through, and instead, in 1879, Dwyer instead fought ex-Champion of America Jimmy Elliot, but this is a story for another thread. Dwyer won the Championship in this fight.

After this in 1879, it was said that Dwyer and Ryan got into a bar room brawl with Ryan winning, however Dwyer claimed that they met in a Saloon and there was a lot of talk but no actual blows, the reported also described his face as scratched but otherwise unmarked. The sun., December 11, 1879 further reported that Dwyer and Ryan again agreed to fight for the Championship, in two months. However Joe Goss also said to Paddy Ryan
"Ryan, I tell you to your face if Dwyer will not fight you I am ready to make a match and fight you for $1,000 a side and the championship. I have got the money with me now, and will make the match to fight you any time you say."
Ryan answered: "Joe, when I get through with Dwyer then I'll talk to you."
Goss said: "Well, that's all right, Ryan; I mean business"

However in January 1880 as reported in The sun., January 06, 1880, John Dwyer was appointed as a clerk of the court and so retired from the prize-ring, meaning the fight between Dwyer and Ryan would once again fall through.

And so Ryan took up Goss's offer. The Cincinnati daily star., April 28, 1880 reported both in training, and looking in good condition, the agreement then was to fight iin Canada on the 18th of May,. The sun., May 19, 1880 reports that issues with the transport were the reason for this fight falling through. An angry mob went after Joe Goss, amd tried to get them to fight impromptu, however Paddy Ryan stepped up to defend Goss saying
"Let the man alone: he is too good a man to be insulted in this way"

Goss and Ryan had a friendly handshake then departed together.

There were false reports of them fighting 11 rounds in Fort Hamilton before this as well as mentioned in New-York tribune., May 25

The fight would actually take place in Pittsburgh on June 1st however. The Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette reported tha Ryan upon entering the ring said "I now see a prize ring for the first time in my life, and I had a curiosity to see what a ring looked like. If Mr Goss comes here I assure you that you will see a fight"

The fight as reported in Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette - Jun 2, 1880 (I've done my best, but some aprts are hard to read)
Round 1. The men came up to the scratch nimbly, both smiling. They stood for at least three minutes without either making an aggressive movement, each evidently waiting for the other to open the entertainment. At last Ryan let fly with his right, but was neatly stopped by Goss, who got in with his left on his opponent's right cheek. Then followed a brief sesson of close fighting, the round closing by both going down to escape punishment.
Round 2. The men came up prompty and after some light sparring they closed, when Goss got in a heavy blow on Ryan's ribs, and again going down to avoid the sledge hammer licks that his antagonist was raming upon his head and body.
Round 3. The men went at each other wickedly, each getting in some severe work, when they clinched and Goss was thrown.
Round 4. Goss resorted to his old trick of getting down to save himself, and that was all that occurred this round.
Round 5. After some sharp in-fighting the men clinched and Ryan was thrown. First blood claimed and allowed for Goss, who had brought the claret by scratching Ryan on the Breast
The fighting in the sixth to the eleventh round was slow. In the other rounds in which Goss went down to escape the blows of his powerful opponent. In the twelth round Goss gave Ryan a violent punch in the abdomen, which caused him to grunt like a pig. He made a grand attack however, and fought Goss down. The thirteenth round was perhaps the liveliest of the fight, both men starting up and giving and taking blow for blow for about a minute, when Goss landed a stunner on Ryan's ride side and went down, falling against the ropes. Rounds fourteen to forty were not productive of serious results to either party, all being made up of hits and counter hits at closequaters and ending with Godd on the ground, the old Englishmen observing that style of tactics throughout. In round forty-one Goss got in a stinger on the Irishman's nose, causing the blood to flow freely. In round forty-two Goss was fought down in his corner. From forty-three to sixty-seven the fighting was indifferent, Goss generally hunting the ground to escape punishment. In round sixty-eight Ryan struck Goss while on his knees, and the seconds claimed a foul, which was answered by the referee with the call of "time." In the rounds from sixty-nine to seventy-six Goss got in some telling work on the Irishman's left eye, lower lip, nose and right ear, which prompted Arthur Chambers to exclaime, "Get your man a looking glass, so he can see how pretty he is. O, he's a beauty."
There was some wicked fighting in round seventy-seven, in which Goss dealt the Irishman some beautiful body blows, but received in return a hard hit on the mouth, which caused him to spit blood. At this stage the Englishman began to show signs of weakness, while Ryan, barring his discolored left eye and bleeding nose, looked fresh as a daisy. His advantage consisted in his superior wind, as he showed no sign of fatigue while Goss was becoming very shaky. From round seventy-eight to the end, the eighty-sixth round, Goss looked like a whipped man. In the last round he fell on his knees, when Arthur Chambers claimed a foul that Ryan struck his man after he was down. The referee said "time," but Chamber said his man should not fight any longer because Goss recieved a foul blow. The referee then declared that Ryan had won the battle, whereupon the crowd cheered and made a rush for the station where at 8:00 A.M. a train for Pittsburgh was boarded

The sun., June 02, 1880, reported the fight as lasting 1 hour and 27 minutes, and Goss would say to a reporter he was fairly beaten. While a requisition for arrest was issues, both had fled back to New York
The sun also contains a longer fight report, but I can't be bothered typing that up today.


The New York herald., April 26, 1878, Page 8, Image 8
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

The New York herald., July 16, 1878, Page 6, Image 6
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

The sun., December 11, 1879, Image 1
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

The sun., January 06, 1880, Image 3
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

The Cincinnati daily star., April 28, 1880, Fourth Edition., Page 8, Image 8
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=2

The sun., May 19, 1880, Image 1
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

New-York tribune., May 25, 1880, Page 5, Image 5
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette - Jun 2, 1880, page 4
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... page&hl=en

The sun., June 02, 1880, Image 1
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

[SteveO]

Good work BitPlayer.
Thank you for all the links.