The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-14
TOM MCMAHON, THE sBEARcA1v,
 HEAVYWEIGHT, 25 TO-DAY

Tom A1cMahon, the, Pittsburgh heavyweight boxer who sports the fer ocious monaker of *.Bearcat,'' was born just twenty-five years ago. to- day, Jan. 14,71890, in Spring Valley ILL Although Spring Valley doesn't make much of a. splash on the map, and is only mining village. 1t claims as native sons a number of men who < have IVca19 more Or less pron1anenec. in the ring game, including no less parsonage than Billy Papke. The former middIeweight champion was the son of a German coal miner and was reared in Sring Valley
 Tom McMahon has lived in the Smoky City since he embarked on a. pugdlistic career. He is Irish by des- cent and lacks but an inch of being six feet In altitude. It was about six years aga that he entered the ring, but it was not until 1911 that he gain ed anything more than a local re- putation. Most of his bouts at that Pittsburgh and other cities in Penn syIvania, New York and Ohio. The itfBearcatsp' was then a. nidde1weight, and he made a good showing against such men as s.Leo Houck. Sailor Burke, | Bill McKinnon and Battling Levinslky who was then scrapping under the name of Barney williams.
 | In 1912 McMahon began taking on the heavies. He whipped Jim Barry | at Youngstown Ohio, and fought a draw with Gunboat Smith in New l York, besides knocking out Jeff Mad den at Albany. In 1913 he fought | Levinskys One Round Davis, Bob Mo-
 ha and Soldier Kearns, among others During the last year he has been per l forming principally an the Pacific coast, and in most of his bouts he showed fair form. He caught a Tar tar in Sailor Grande, whom he fought l over the twenty-round route at Val. Sam Langford at Vernon last Novem. Der. Although knocked down by the ! Tar Baby, the Bearcat finished strong 1 when an officer stopped the sport 1T the sixth round
 Spring Valley hasn't much chance of boasting of another native cham pion, so far as McMahon is concerned
 but at that the Bearcat has made
 better showing than a, lot of the more
 widely advertised hopes. He's a game
 willing and rugged fighter. and tn,
 fans usually get some action for theil
 money when the Bearcat is amons
 those present in the ring.
 Albert Lurie, who was the recogniz
 ed heavyweight champion of Franc
 until Georges Carp entier, in his trium
 phant rise from bantamweight t,
 heavyweight, knocked him off hi Il pGGChs was porn Ln1TIy-EnrG6 year 1 ago, comes tomorrow, in Bordeau
 Lurfe was about twenty-five when h
 became interested in 'le boxe, ' an,
 he soon developed into a clever, stur dy boxer. In 1910 he won the anna Iteur championship of France and de Ifened his honers against all conner TTunti1 1912, when he entered the pro
 fessiona1 ranks. Lurie went alon
 without a defeat. and was the recog
 nized champion heavyweight O
 France, until he met Georges Carpen ;. tier at Bordeaux in June of 1913. Tn
 formere pit boy knocked him out il
 the third round. Even after tha
 many French boxing authorities re
 cognized Lurie's claims to the heavy weight title, because Carpenter wa
 only g. middleweight at the time h put M. Albert to sleep! If we accep | this principle. Bob Fitz didn't becom champion when he whipped. Corbett and the rightfuI champion was Ton
 Sharkey. who defeated Gentleman Jfn
 a, little later.