The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-06-03

hTINETY-FIVE YEARS ago today
 V at Chichester, Eng, one of the most terrific heavyweight champion ship battles in ring history was fought It was a contest between Ireland and England, with John Langan called ''IriShman Jack, representing the Ould Sod, and Tom Spring, the cham pion, defending the pugilistic honors of John Bulls Isle. In the end Spring was the victor, but only after seven ty-six terrible rounds, lasting about two hours and a half. Langan's show ing was so good that the bugs decid- ed that he was entitled to d return match.
 Spring was at that time about 30, while Iangan was some four years ms junior. The Irishman had all the bet ter of it in the matters of skill and cleverness, but Spring was one of those human bulldogs who do not know when they are beaten
 The ring for the fight was pitched da the middle of a field, and elevated so that the thousands who gathered round might see. The champion had an advantage of a dozen pounds in weight over his adversary, was taller and had a longer reach. The first | few rounds were about even- By the l fifteenth round Spring was reduced ! to fighting with one hand, his left ! being out of commission. There was | hardly round that the pair dld not go to the mat together.
 Despite the fierceness of the en- | counter, neither man lost his temper, | and they chaffed each other good naturedly throughout the long con- | test By the thirtieth round the cham pions right hand was also of little use 1 to him for purposes of attack, and | his tactics consisted of throwing his opponent to the mat as often as pos l sible Several times Langan lighted | on his head with such force as to l temporarily stun him. Under Queens bury rules Spring would have been done for, but this was in 1924, when there were practically no rules, and the champion had only commenced l to fight
 l In the seventy-fifth round, the game | Irishman had to be carried into the
 ring. His seconds and the crowd urg- | ed him to quit, but he refused In the seventy-sixth Spring gave Langan a
 mere push, and he toppled over, and | was unable to get up.
 " T WAS just thirteen years ago to- | k morrow. June 4, 1906, that Dan l Creedon was defeated by Bill Smith ln three rounds at Melbourne, Australia.
 This was the last ring appearance o1 ,Creedon, who fought many famous battles in America and Australia
 Dan was born in New Zealand fifty-one vars ago this month, and
 started fighting in 1891 by defeating the famous "BuffaIo'' Costello and Jim | Ryan. He became niddleweight cham pion of Australia after F1tzimmons left that country, and followed f1tz to America clamoring for chance al the worlds le. By knocking ou1
 Alec Grosgains at Robie, Ind, and
 defeating other food men, he gained
 an American following, and RupS
 Robert accepted his challenge. II They met in New Orleans in 1894 The first round was in Dan Favor hut Bob's ire was aroused and in the
 second he knocked Creedon all over the ring and ended the fight with right to the jaw. In 1897 Dan agalr
 fought for the middleweight cham nionship and was defeated by hlt
 Mccoy After that he began 10 s1l back and was whipped by George
 Green. Jack Bonner. by Joe Walcot four times. and by Jack Root, Marvin , Hart ana others. In 1902 he returned ! to Australia, where he lost severa contests before he finally retired.
 VT WAS on this date in 1866 tha'
 \ Mike Donovan lost on a foul to Bli
 Crowley in the ninety-sixth round al
 Sr Louis This battle marked tho , ring debut of Prof. Mike Donovan , who for thirty years before his deatf was instructor of boxing at the Ne" york Athletic Club. Prof. Donovan | first bout was of course, with bare knuckles and it lasted three houri
 min
 Crowley was an experienced hghter
 and expected an easy victory over th' } youugster, but Donovan was stil , fresh and strong after three hours O.
 ,milling and would probably have beer tho victor except. for the wild blow that lost him the battle. After eigh years of scrapping in which he me
 all corners, Donovan became the mid , dleweight champion, and held thu
 title until his voluntary retirement 1T 1882. Even after he had been ou
 of the ring for several years, and was
 past forty, he ''came back and out pointed Nonpareil Jack Dempsey. the champion, in a six round bout.