The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-12-01
NELL STAYS TEN
ROUNDS WITH
THOMAS
BY r. A. Srr1ytf1

Boxer Al Neill fairly electrified the
spectators in Dreamland Pavilion last
night by staying the full ten rounds
in his bout with Joe Thomas. Before
the fight the management had an
nounced that Thomas was to knock out
Neill and Mcconnell each In ten rounds.
and Thomas was so sure of his ability
to stow away his two opponents that
he allowed the announcement to go
unchallenged. After ten rounds OF
sensational fighting Referee Eddie
Smith announced that as Thomas had
agreed to stop the men, and had failed
to do so in the case of Neill, the latter
had to be declared the winner.
After leaving the ring Referee Smith
was shown the articles of agreement
signed by the men, and at once SAID
that he was laboring under misappre-
hension when he gave his decision, and
that Thomas should have been pro-
claimed the winner. as he had com
pletely outpointed his opponent. Any
bets made on the hight must go with
the referees decision, SO some OF the
men who really won on Thomas must
pay the men who bet on Neill.
From appearances Thomas took mat
tiers rather leisurely in the early stages
of the fight with Neill in order to give
the first two bouts on the card ending
in one round each. When Thomas
finally settled down he found Neill a
hard man to beat, as NELL retained
much of his old-time cleverneSs, but
lacked the power to punish. After
Neill had lasted two rounds he had
the spectators with him and he was
cheered loudly at the end of every
round up to the finish. Neill stood up
under severe punishment and when the
spectators thought he would topple
over from sheer exhaustion he came
back fighting. Neilfs left eye wasNcut
in the opening round, and even at that
time 1t seemed he could go but q short
route. In the sixth round a pho
tographer let off fiashlight and it so
surprised NeiIl that he dropped his
hands to his side. Thomas showed good
craftsmanship by refraining from TAX
ing advantage of his opponent.
Thomas fought like a demon in the
seventh round and punished Neill Sc
verely, but the veteran weathered the
storn.S Neill seemed in danger OF be-
ing knocked out at any moment, but
he kept on trying. The tenth round
was a sensational one and Neill finished
gamely. Thomas rushed him all over
the ring and Neill held on with his left
around Thomas neck and used his
right for body blows. The pace was so
fast that neither man heard the gong
and they were still fighting at top
speed when their seconds rushed in and
separated them.
Frank Mcconnell was knocked out
after one minute and twenty five
seconds fighting in the first round of
his bout with Thomas. The latter used
only a left hook to the jaw and after
landing a few of these on Mcconnell
the latter went down for the count.
The preliminary was between Kid
McFadden and Bobby Johnson. The
latter was knocked out after two min
utes and thirty-four seconds of fight
ing. The boxers had hardly shaped up
when Johnson sent q right to the jaw
which nearly dropped McFadden to the
mat. The latter tented a few times
and then landed a right to Johnson )
body, which put him out
Joe Cans refereed the preliminary
and made a neat little speech. thanking
the sporting men for giving him a
| chance to fight in this city after his
unsatisfactory bout with Britt. He
| said this gave him chance to regain
| the confidence of the followers of box
| ing throughout the country and that he
| appreciated it deeply
There was a tedious delay before the
| first bout was put on. There was first
! a dispute over the referee, one wing
| of the fight trust wanting Roche and
/ the other Eddie Smith of Oakland. The
latter finally officiated. Then Neon
| nell and Neill rebelled at the small
! amount of money they saw would be
their share, and it took some time to
| straighten this out. On the start
Thomas said he would fight no matter
how small the gate receipts Were How
! ever, he contributed to the delay by
/ forgetting his fighting shoes He had
| to borrow Neills when he went on with
Mcconnell. In the next bout he had
( his own.