Jack McAuliffe vs. Harry Gilmore

Jack McAuliffe 133 lbs beat Harry Gilmore 129 lbs by KO in round 28

• Date: 1887-01-14
• Location: Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA

After winning his first world title against Billy Frazier, McAuliffe received a challenge from Canadian lightweight champion Harry Gilmore. Gilmore, incidentally, was good enough to travel on a tour with John L. Sullivan and was willing to meet all comers regardless of weight.

After many negotiations and thoughts of where the bout should take place to avoid infamous police interferences, they finally came up with Lawrence, Massachusetts as their fight destination. They fought in a blacksmith shop where the ring was made out of three ropes, a solid brick wall forming the fourth.

When the bout started, Gilmore backed up into the brick wall and was tempting McAuliffe to lead, so that Gilmore could duck and cause McAuliffe to injure his hand on hitting the wall. McAuliffe did swing, but Gilmore didn't duck quickly enough and his head was slammed into the wall. The savvy Gilmore weathered a follow-up attack by McAuliffe and side-stepped his way out of a certain knockout defeat.

The bout was a see-saw thriller itself. Both men scored heavily and viewers were never certain on who would come out victorious. In the 15th, McAuliffe took his eye off his challenger to speak to Jack Dempsey "The Nonpareil" and was nailed with a left hand. As the fight progressed, however, Jack was decreasing. The state of his eyes were making it very difficult to see and Gilmore wasn't letting up. Dr. Fergusen, who was working in McAuliffe's corner, was using a massage treatment to try to cure the swelling. Finally he healed the dangers and McAuliffe, more confident of a victory now, stopped Gilmore in the 28th with a huge right hand. Gilmore was counted out.

Source

"Jack McAuliffe, The Napoleon of the Prize Ring" by Nat Fleischer