BY THE NUMBERS: Jack McAuliffe by Don Stradley • Illustration by KronkAAArt When referee Billy Roche penned an appreciation for Jack McAuliffe (1866-1937), he appeared to be writing about a flamboyant Broadway actor greeting the masses, a refined dandy who was as much consumed by fashion as fisticuffs. “He would walk across the ring with a lordly air,” Roche wrote, “and there was something royal in his gesture as he threw off his robe and acknowledged the plaudits of the crowd.” Known as “The Napoleon of the Ring,” McAuliffe was among the first to embrace the Marquess of Queensberry Rules. Here’s his story by the numbers.
Controversial Bout with Young Griffo » After their 10-round battle at Coney Island’s Seaside Athletic Club in 1894, most of the 6,200 in attendance felt Australia’s Griffo had outboxed McAuliffe from the first gong to Round 7. Granted, McAuliffe put on a fierce rally over the last three rounds, but it certainly appeared a new lightweight champion was about to be anointed. To the surprise of the onlookers, referee Maxie Moore awarded the bout to McAuliffe. Though McAuliffe opened a bottle of wine in the ring for a victory celebration, the crowd objected. According to a ringside report, “The shout for Griffo went from one end of the amphitheater to the other.” Moore explained that he’d kept a clicker in each hand, counting the punches from each man. McAuliffe had landed 137 clean punches to Griffo’s 123. Moore also tallied the fight in rounds this way: McAuliffe four, Griffo three and three rounds even. Griffo did a lot of slapping and flailing, Moore said, while McAuliffe’s blows were harder. The boxing business was still in its pioneer era, but the argument was already on about which blows should count for more.
Losses » McAuliffe’s overall record differs according to the source, with some putting it at 27-0-10 with 19 knockouts, but what everyone agrees on is that he is one of the few fighters to retire without a loss. For many years, that was his calling card. Born in Cork, Ireland, McAuliffe came to America as a boy, living first in Bangor, Maine, before settling in Brooklyn, New York. His boxing career spanned from the gaslit era of the 1880s, when championship fights were held in secret to avoid police intervention, to the late 1890s, when boxing became mass entertainment and was presented in chic new athletic clubs. Along with his official bouts, he took part in dozens of exhibitions around the country.
Years as Lightweight Champion »
Jack Dempseys on his Resume » How many fighters could say they’d traded blows with both the 1880s Dempsey, known as “The Nonpareil,” and the later Dempsey who became one of the premier sports figures of the 20th century? Indeed, McAuliffe could. He boxed many exhibitions with the first Dempsey, the final being in 1895 in Brooklyn. Sources report that sometime around 1919, McAuliffe, now in his 50s, boxed an exhibition with the second Dempsey in New Jersey. Moreover, he’d also sparred with Georges Carpentier, so when the Dempsey-Carpentier bout was being made, McAuliffe monetized his experience with a vaudeville engagement, billing himself as having been in the ring with both Dempsey and Carpentier. evening dress with a white waistcoat and a flower in his buttonhole.” The sparring was set for three one- minute rounds, but a lot of time had passed since their epic battle in Revere. “McAuliffe was the quicker of the two,” reported the Evening Mail, “and he kept his opponent dancing about all over the ring. Nothing much in the way of blows was landed, but the pace was too hot for Carney, who retired at the end of the second round.” The London Times regarded the sight of the two aging geezers as “tragic,” but McAuliffe probably returned to America and, with his customary bravado, declared he’d outlasted Carney and was still undefeated.
one point, McAuliffe actually fell after slipping on Carney’s blood. In the 74th, as the clock neared 6 a.m., Carney knocked McAuliffe through the ropes, causing that side of the ring to collapse. With their man down, McAuliffe’s crew created a diversion by storming the ring. Referee Frank Stevenson of New York, fearing the police might arrive at any moment, declared the fight over. There was no winner. The fight was supposed to continue at another date to decide a victor, but it went into the history books as a draw. With a winner undeclared, Carney and McAuliffe insulted each other for years. McAuliffe called Carney a dirty fighter who should’ve been disqualified. In turn, Carney’s backers said the fight was stopped by armed gamblers who had bet on McAuliffe and felt he was on the verge of losing. Carney explained to The Sun, “One bloke put a gun to my head and said he’d blow my brains out if I didn’t get out.” McAuliffe proclaimed himself the lightweight champion starting in 1885, but it wasn’t until January 1887, with a 28th-round KO of Harry Gilmore in Lawrence, Massachusetts, that he was generally regarded as the division’s best man. He maintained his standing until November 1894, when he broke his wrist during a draw with Owen Ziegler in Brooklyn and relinquished the belt due to the injury shortly thereafter.
Carnival of Champions » In September of 1892, with the famous John L. Sullivan- James J. Corbett fight as the highlight, the Olympic Club of New Orleans hosted a three-night program billed as “The Carnival of Champions.” One night saw featherweight champion George Dixon stop challenger Jack Skelly in eight, while another saw McAuliffe score a 15th-round KO of Billy Myer, who had previously held McAuliffe to a 64-round draw in Indiana. McAuliffe also served as Sullivan’s chief cornerman during the Corbett fight, which ended with Sullivan knocked out in the 21st. “It was pitiful,” McAuliffe said, “and taught me a lesson that made me avoid fighting that one fight too many when I found myself slipping.”
Rounds with Jem Carney » On November 16, 1887, in a secluded stable that was part of the Atlantic Hotel at Revere Beach near Boston, McAuliffe and
Carney fought for five hours. Blankets were placed over the windows to keep the affair private, while an invited audience of no more than 50 men settled in to witness Carney, the top lightweight of England, challenge McAuliffe, the top lightweight of America. It was a bout that had taken months to make, a sort of superfight of the post-Civil War era, for a purse of $4,500. Fighting under the Queensberry rules with skin-tight yellow gloves, McAuliffe got out to an early lead. By the 12th, the Boston Globe reported that Carney’s nose was “split across the bridge” and that his forehead “began to bulge out in great disproportion.” Yet Carney found a second wind, and then a third. As the fight dragged on for the next 50 rounds, it seemed neither man could gain an edge for long. At
Years of Bitterness » McAuliffe and Carney remained bitter enemies after their 1887 draw, but in 1914 they put aside their differences and met in London for a boxing exhibition. According to the Birmingham Evening Mail, 48-year-old McAuliffe was his usual splendid self as he arrived for the event “in immaculate
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