The evening world., 1911-05-13
Great Referee Describes Demp.
sey's First Fight with La
Blanche, the Marine, and His
; Uninterrupted Fight in Which
He Beat Johnny Reagan In
Forty.Five Rounds.
NO. jf-HCK.DFMPSEY

>oIvi'bh' uA Inc re fumlshlnI 20.
tThe New York woridl.
A FTER Jack Dempsey beat Foxertv.
~ the fans. s,ill continuing their
search for . man who could stop
Dempsey. picked on George La Blanche
az the man to do what the other had
failed to accomplish. La Blanche was
a Frsnoh-Canadian by birth. He had
o naturalized and had Joined the
United States Marine Corps. While he
was In this branch OF the Government
service he picked up a good deal OF box
ing knowledge. and after he left 1t met
and defeated a lot OF good men. AL
though La Blanche was not a top notch
er at the time. he was considered a clev-
er boxer and a game fighter and was
looked upon as a conner. There was a
good dea! OF talking and red tape before
the match was arranged. and challenges
new back and forth thick and fast.
FINALLY articles were signed for a finish
night hich was scheduled for Feb. 7,
1855. The middlewelght championship
OF the world was at stake and the MEM
hers OF the New York Athletic Club sub
scribed a purse OF $1,000. and the men
bet &c. 900 a side.
However. Inspector Byrnes OF the New
York Police Department got wind of
the AFFAIR and notified the parties con-
"erned that the fight could not be held
IN New York City. So the battle was
'ostponed until March I and on that
tate was held In the clubhouse Of a
famous yachting club at L%archmont.
which was outside OF the city limits and
free from police Interference.
The bout attracted a great deal OF
attention among the sporting fraternity
and the clubmen n a big crowd of
pealthy and influential men were on
and TO see the fun. The memNers OF
ne Racquet Club and the New York
a\thletlc Club travelled to the scene up
he Sound In a chartered tugboat, while
dempsey, La Blanche and their parties.
ogsther with the less favored sports.
vent up by train from Grand Central
Station. The Racquet Club claimed the
honor Of naming the referee and picked
Tim O'Neiil. their boxing Instructor. for
he position. Dempsey weighed in at
as pounds. while La Blanche tipped the
Scale at l55. Dempsev's seconds were
Gus Tuthili and Tom Cleary. Tom Bogue
4 Boston and Patsy Shepard, the old
English lightweight. performed the
same duties for La Blanche. Another
nrlxe held up to the contestants IN this
attic was the famous championship
Nelt Of which ! have already spoken.
, Nip and Tuck in Early Rounds.
La Blanche took the aggressive and
landed the irst blow, holding his ad-
vantage during the first two rounds
In the third round Dempsey had q
shade the best of Il. The fight see
sawed through the round clear up to
the tenth. the advantage being most
NJ the time with Dempsey. La Blanche
fought hard and at times made tre-
mendous spurts. but the beating Jack
was administering was slowly wearing
him down. La Blanche frequently foulcd.
especially in the b~reakaways. In the
Eleventh round La Blanche mad a hnal
spurt and gave Jack a severe beating,
tut the EFFORT spelled defeat for him.
From that time on Dempsey took a
commanding lead aud hammered the
Marine numerically.
In the thirteenth round Dempsey
walked out OF his corner and knocked
LA BIlnche down with q right-hand
blow. He did It again. and the third
Kline tire blow landed La Blanche wen:
town for keeps. Although he was not
.nsensible. he was unable to rise. and
the decision. with the purse and the
famous belt. vent to Dempsey. The
mon used small, gloves. which was
very much to Dempsey's liking. This
fight firmly established Dempsey's right
to the title Of middleweight champion
ship of the world and made him the
holder and defender OF the champion
ship belt.
All during 1887 Dempsey had been re-
ceivtng challenges from Johnnie Raa-
san. q local boxer. Reagan was raised
and lived In the Corlears Hook district.
lie was q pupil OF Prof. Mike Donovan
and was an unusually clever boxer.
zone of Reagan's most interesting en-
~tounters was with Jack Files. Files
lung around the Bowsry and wss .