The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-09-26
BY FRANK q. MENKE

by FRANK G. MENkE
SYDNEY, Australia, Sept. 26-The
fistic game was profoundly dead in
Australia in 190S-until Hugh D. Nc
Intosh revived it with a daring plunge
into the promotional end of the sport.
The game earlier had fourished
here-but only in a small way. Along
in 1900 it started to decay and within
few years was little more than q
memory.
But in 1908 Mcintosh conceived the
idea of putting on a big bout here
with Tommy Burns, then technical
and certainly the active champion Of
the world, as a stellar feature of the
card for American Fleet Day"
1t then was June, 1908, the fleet was
to arrive in mid-August, Burns was III
Europe, six weeks travel from Aus
tralia-and there wasn't an arena OF
any sort within the city.
Mcintosh Goes Ahead
But Mcintosh, uEdaunted, went
ahead with his program, hoping some.
way, somehow, to win in the race
| against time.
Il cabled Percy Hunter, friend OF
| mine, who was in London, to get Tom.
my Burns terms" related Mcintosh
ga day later Burns cabled he would
fight three fights in Sydney for a
| total of $20,000-an average of about
| $6,G67 per fight. / accepted immedi
| ately and told Burns to sail at once
knowing if he missed the next boat
he wouldn't be here in time.
"Bill Squires, then regarded as
Australia's heavyweight champion
was in France at the time. / decided
that he'd be the drawing card against
! Burns and cabled him an offer Of
$4,000. He accepted-and caught the
boat.
Then began the hunt for an arena
site. Everywhere / went / found
prices for suitable plots had gone sky
high. Eventually / found a place II
the Rushcutters Bay district, Just be
You'd the boundary line of the cit!
of Sydney, yet a part of the city it
self.
Rents Land
81 rented the land for SO week
and then gave rush orders for build
ing of the arena. The land wa
swampy and it was necessary to drail
it before building work could b.
started.
THE day they started to drain, i
began to rain. 1t rained every day TO
three weeks. No work could be done
the fighters were nearing Sydney
and so was the fleet-and things didn'
look very rosy.
:. But eventually the rain stopped
Then the building work started-ant
was rushed day and night. Never il
all history had any arena been built s.
hurriedly.
THE fighters arrived and went int
short training. The fleet arrived-an'
fight day was only ~ hours away. TIL
arena was almost completed when tn
first blow hit me.
"a board of city architects cor
demned the arena-said that the seat
: were too frail to hold any weight an
, the structure so freakish that to stag
a fight and draw a crowd into it woul
only invite disaster. l pleaded wit
the board-so did the builder. But it
) members stood pat on their declare
ton that the arena could not be useC
; Structure Completed
cat about a. m. on the day tn
fight was to be held, the last nail wa
! driven into the structure-the las
board put in place. The builders lei
and a squad of policemen took u
\ their stations outside the gates to kee
| out the fight crowds-under order
from the city government.
"At 4:30 a. m. / aroused from be
Colonel Vernon, the government arch
: tect. l explained the whole situatio
3 to him. l knew if l could get him
5 o. K. the arena the fight could be pI
Y on because his word was the last Law
y 81 drove Col Vernon to the arena 9
8 dawn was breaking-and the unr