Fight:20123

Terry McGovern beat Patsy Haley by KO in round 18 of 25

• Date: 1899-03-14
• Location: Lenox A.C., New York, New York, USA



Scheduled for twenty-five rounds at 116 pounds the bout was to determine who would face European Bantamweight Champion Pedlar Palmer in order to have a World Bantamweight Champion. This was the first of two bouts that these two would go at it. Haley was one of the most formidable opponents Terry had faced and the cleverness at which Patsy fought surpassed any other boxer Terry had yet met in the ring, but McGovern rose to the occasion and took Haley out in eighteen rounds, a feat that Oscar Gardner could not do in twenty rounds and one that Dave Sullivan took twenty-three rounds of the hardest kind of fighting to do. Going into the bout Patsy stated that he was in the absolute best shape of his life and the same could be said of McGovern. Haley put forth a good effort in which his clever footwork saved him several times, but in the end the consistent whirlwind attack to the body and head that McGovern administered to his foe was just too much for Patsy to handle. Terry finished the bout looking as fresh as when he started without a scratch on his face and he fought a very fair fight throughout. Every time that he put Haley on the floor Terry stood back until he could regain his feet. The action was lively. But Haley’s punches lacked the steam that those of McGovern carried. In the fourth round a hard right uppercut dropped Haley on his back for a count of seven and as soon as he was upright a viscous right cross dropped him for and eight count and once more in the fourth another right put Haley down for the third time, the last of which Haley was down for a nine count. Amazingly, Haley was fresh for the next few rounds despite the beating he was taking and he would often land some hard shots of his own, but to no effect on Terry. In the fifteenth round McGovern sent his man to one knee after landing a hard combination and Haley was down for another nine count. Again in round seventeen Haley found himself on the floor after Terry had landed a hard straight right and in round eighteen after forcing Haley to the ropes a brutal right cross put Haley down and out at 0:48 of the eighteenth round. It was a clean knockout and Haley had to be carried back to his corner. Referee was Charlie White. (Brooklyn Eagle & Police Gazette)