I was amazed when finding that there were a number of 4-round fighters from California fought in Australia from late 1914 to the end of 1924, which was when California law mandated the maximum number of rounds that a bout could be scheduled was 4. As a result, a number of California boxers had little experience at best in bouts scheduled for more than 4 rounds during that 10-year period. It was hard enough for such boxers to fight in bouts scheduled for 10 or more rounds in other parts of the United States, let alone fighting in bouts scheduled for 20 rounds in Australia. Keep that in mind when looking at how California boxers fared in Australia at the time, especially during first half of the 1920s
I remember reading about someone who had traveled to San Francisco, California from Australia while working for the Australian sports publication, The Referee, during the early 1920s. He was interviewed by a writer from the San Francisco Chronicle, a daily newspaper. According to the Australian, the American fighters going to Australia were less than stellar as a group at the time.
During the early years of the California 4-Round Era, a number of active California boxers had quite a bit of previous experience in 20-round bouts, including some who went to Australia at the time such as Babe Picato, Fighting Billy Murray, Red Watson and Walter Coffey. They would be notable exceptions.
Take a look at the records of the following California fighters with little or no experience in longer bouts before fighting in Australia: Charlie Moy, Ernie Goozeman, Tommy O'Brien, Willie Hunefeld, Louie Garcia, Billy Shade, Eddie "Spec" Ramies and Tommy Cello. Another California fighter, Earl France, had quite a bit of experience in bouts scheduled for 10, 12 and 15 rounds before losing all three of his known bouts in Australia.
- Chuck Johnston