Billy McCarthy (boxer)

Billy McCarthy was born on August 8, 1854, in Poplar, London and is of Irish descent.{{Sfnm|The Sporting Globe|1930|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} When he was old enough, he assisted his father, who was a stevedore, in his business until the age of 21. It was then when he became a seaman aboard a sailing ship,{{Sfn|The Sporting Globe|1931}} and occasionally did four-round sparring sessions at Bill Richardson's Hotel in Shoreditch, and in India he won fights under the London Prize Ring Rules against Bill Pope, Tom Jenkins and Anthony Olsen.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}}

After eight years as a seaman he went back to stevedoring, of which he soon grew tired of, and took a ship to Australia where he arrived in Williamstown, Victoria in 1881.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} There he was employed in multiple ways such as road-making, harvesting and gold digging.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} He then made his way to Sydney where he was employed to clean the Brush Farm for more than a year and later worked as a hod carrier for several new buildings.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} He had also joined the gold rush in Parkes, New South Wales which in his own words "proved a duffer", and made him return to Sydney.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}}

In search for fame and fortune in 1883, he first thought of boxing as a career, which was prompted by his meeting with Peter Jackson at "Darky" Green's restaurant in Bathurst Street.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} He expressed his desire to become a boxer to Jackson, which led to a private meeting arranged with Jackson's pupil Tom Meadows, where they fought with Meadows going down after two rounds.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} With Jackson being impressed by his performance he insisted on McCarthy joining his School situated at Charlie Rickett's Light House Hotel, which he agreed to.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} There after a quarter's tuition, he had his first public fight, sparring with Jim Ryan for four rounds.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} After some onlookers expressed the opinion that McCarthy may be a better fighter than Billy Smith, who was Jackson's favorite fighter, they arranged a private fight at Foley's Hall{{Efn|Then called the White Horse Hall.}} with £50 put aside, and after eleven rounds, McCarthy won by knockout.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}}

McCarthy debuted his first professional fight at Foley's Hall on April 10, 1886, against Billy Smith which ended in a newspaper decision draw.{{Sfn|The Evening News|1886}}

In early 1888, after fighting two draws with Martin "Buffalo" Costello and Bob Fitzsimmons, he entered a middleweight division of tournament at Victoria Theatre in Newcastle promoted by Mick Mororey.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}} The first bout of the middleweight division was between McCarthy and Smith on February 20, with Jackson as the referee, with the first round being described as ending equal.{{Sfn|The Newcastle Herald|February 21, 1888}} In the second round, McCarthy was described as receiving "the most punishment", though in the third and fourth round both fighters were "giving and taking heavy punishment" with the judges giving their decision in favor of McCarthy.{{Sfn|The Newcastle Herald|February 21, 1888}}

The second bout of the tournament was left between Paddy Gorman, Jack Malloy and McCarthy, with Gorman retiring from the tournament the bout was left between McCarthy and Molloy.{{Sfn|The Newcastle Herald|February 22, 1888}} After a few rounds of the bout, Molloy had retired leading McCarthy to be the winner of the tournament.{{Sfn|The Newcastle Herald|February 22, 1888}} Sometime during the evening, Smith who had previously lost to McCarthy in the tournament challenged him to a contest,{{Sfn|The Newcastle Herald|February 22, 1888}} which led to them fighting three bouts at Foley's Hall with all ending as draws in April of that year.{{Sfn|Truth|1907}}

On June 11, 1889, it was announced that McCarthy would be making his way to America on the 12th, aboard the Alameda with Harry Morse as captain.{{Sfn|The Daily Examiner|1889}} He would first spar for three rounds with Frank Allen of New York, to prove his boxing abilities.{{Sfn|The Australian Star|1889}} Allen was described as having "stood no show with McCarthy", and that McCarthy "could strike him whenever he pleased".{{Sfn|The Australian Star|1889}} He then fought George Kessler and Joe Choynski, each of which ended in no-decision.{{Sfn|The Evening World|1889}}

On September 6, it was announced that McCarthy would be fighting Denny Kelleher at the Californian Athletic Club with Queensbury rules governing on November 21, for a purse of $1,800, of which $300 goes to the loser.{{Sfn|Pittsburgh Dispatch|September 7, 1889}} In the first two rounds McCarthy took the aggressive, and knocked Kelleher down in the third round.{{Sfn|Winona Daily Republican|1889}} McCarthy continued to push Kelleher around the ring the following rounds until the sixteenth round with Kelleher responding with weak punches, but it would even out until in the twenty-first round as McCarthy knocked out Kelleher.{{Sfn|Winona Daily Republican|1889}}

It was first announced by the Pittsburgh Dispatch on December 1, that McCarthy would be facing Nonpareil Dempsey at the Californian Athletic Club for a purse of $1,800, which was noted to be unusually low for Dempsey's standards.{{Sfn|Pittsburgh Dispatch|December 1, 1889}} A couple days later the fight was then said to be for the world middleweight boxing championship and was scheduled for January.{{Sfn|Defiance County Republican and Express|1889}} On January 21, 1890, it was announced that the fight would be postponed to February 18 due to Dempsey having caught an illness.{{Sfn|Fort Wayne Sentinel|1890}} The fight lasted 28 rounds and was said to be evenly matched until the 19th round, where McCarthy was described as being "distressed" and was repeatedly struck down in the 26th round with Dempsey advising him to give up to which McCarthy refused.{{Sfn|The Daily Northern Argus|1890}} Eventually in the 28th round, McCarthy was retired by his second Paddy Gorman leading Dempsey to retain his title of world middleweight champion.{{Sfn|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|1890}}

After his fight with Dempsey, McCarthy was originally scheduled to face "Reddy" Gallagher, though this bout was cancelled due to Gallagher catching Malaria.{{Sfn|Kansas City Journal|1890}} As a replacement, McCarthy would face fellow Australian Bob Fitzsimmons on May 29, for a purse of $1,250.{{Sfn|Evening Star|1890}} Most of the rounds of the bout had been in favor of Fitzsimmons due to his height and long reach, which eventually led to McCarthy's defeat in the ninth round after being unable to continue due to a knockdown.{{Sfn|Spokane Daily Chronicle|1890}} After the fight it was reported that Fitzsimmons had given McCarthy a present of $100.{{Sfn|Spokane Daily Chronicle|1890}}

McCarthy had been called the "middle-weight champion of Australia" as early as 1886, but was never promoted as it.{{Sfn|The Advertiser|1886}} Due to there being a question concerning who's the middleweight champion of Australia, there was a tournament organized by Larry Foley in 1887, which had been open for everyone to compete, where he defeated Jim "Ironbark" Burge after 17 rounds, winning the title, though he again was never challenged for it as an official title.{{Sfn|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}}

After his return to Australia aboard the Royal mail steamship Cuzco in 1891,{{Sfn|Evening News|1891}} McCarthy had his first official fight for the Australian middlweight championship against the then champion Jim Hall on January 19.{{Sfn|The Sportsman|January 1891}} The bout went 8 rounds with judge Curran scoring for Hall, while judge Goddard and the referee Virgoe scored for McCarthy, resulting in an upset win and leading him to be the new Australian middleweight champion.{{Sfn|The Referee|1891}}

His first and only defence of the title was against Jim "Ironbark" Burge which was fought on April 6, and resulted in an upset victory for McCarthy.{{Sfn|The Sportsman|April 1891}} The title was soon after vacated in May 1891, after McCarthy made his way back to America.{{Sfn|The Burrangong Argus|1891}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|2|indent=yes}}

• {{Cite news |date=October 31, 1931 |title=Billy McCarthy Laid To Rest |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/246563056 |publisher=The Daily Telegraph |location=Sydney |page=3 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Daily Telegraph|1931}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=August 27, 1930 |title=Billy McCarthy Chats of Bygone Days |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/182993594 |publisher=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |page=11 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Sporting Globe|1930}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=June 17, 1916 |title=The Billy M'Carthy Fund |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/117551914 |publisher=Saturday Referee and the Arrow |location=Sydney |page=7 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1916}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=August 4, 1909 |title=Regarding Old Jim Burge—Billy McCarthy's Offer |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/120633066 |publisher=The Referee |location=Sydney |page=8 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Referee|1909}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=November 2, 1931 |title=Billy McCarthy Passes |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/182549602 |publisher=The Sporting Globe |location=Melbourne |page=14 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Sporting Globe|1931}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=May 3, 1913 |title=Ring Reminiscences In The Days of The Big Men |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/133436316/ |publisher=Saturday Referee and the Arrow |location=Sydney |pages=1–6 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Saturday Referee and the Arrow|1913}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=April 12, 1886 |title=Foley's Athletic Hall |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/111186476 |publisher=The Evening News |location=Sydney |page=3 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Evening News|1886}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=February 21, 1888 |title=Champion Boxing Tournament |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/134053510 |publisher=The Newcastle Herald |location=Newcastle |page=8 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Newcastle Herald|February 21, 1888}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=February 22, 1888 |title=Boxing Tournament |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/134045505 |publisher=The Newcastle Herald |location=Newcastle |page=5 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Newcastle Herald|February 22, 1888}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=February 17, 1907 |title=Boxing Tournament |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207398089 |publisher=Truth |location=Perth |page=6 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Truth|1907}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=December 28, 1886 |title=Sporting |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37164860 |publisher=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |page=7 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Advertiser|1886}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=June 11, 1889 |title=Notes |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62111520 |publisher=The Daily Examiner |location=Grafton |page=7 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Daily Examiner|1889}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=August 22, 1889 |title=Professor McCarthy at the Californian Club |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227567016 |publisher=The Australian Star |location=Sydney |page=7 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Australian Star|1889}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=August 28, 1889 |title=Jack Dempsey Knocked Out By George La Blanche |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-aug-28-1889-3672975/ |publisher=The Evening World |location=New York City |page=1 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Evening World|1889}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=September 7, 1889 |title=Denny Kelleher Has Been Matched to Meet Prof. Billy McCarthy |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-sep-07-1889-3672996/ |publisher=Pittsburgh Dispatch |location=Pittsburgh |page=7 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Pittsburgh Dispatch|September 7, 1889}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=November 21, 1889 |title=Denny Kelleher Knocked Out by Billy McCarthy at San Francisco |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-nov-21-1889-3673017/ |publisher=Winona Daily Republican |location=Winona |page=4 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Winona Daily Republican|1889}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=December 1, 1889 |title=The Leading Pugilists |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-dec-01-1889-3775692/ |publisher=Pittsburgh Dispatch |location=Pittsburgh |page=6 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Pittsburgh Dispatch|December 1, 1889}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=December 13, 1889 |title=Dempsey and Billy McCarthy to Fight |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-dec-13-1889-3775748/ |publisher=Defiance County Republican and Express |location=Defiance, Ohio |page=6 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Defiance County Republican and Express|1889}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=January 21, 1889 |title=Little Fears |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-jan-21-1890-3775758/ |publisher=Fort Wayne Sentinel |location=Fort Wayne, Indiana |page=5 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Fort Wayne Sentinel|1890}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=February 22, 1890 |title=Dempsey and M'Carthy |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/213385109/ |publisher=The Daily Northern Argus |location=Rockhampton |page=6 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Daily Northern Argus|1890}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=February 19, 1890 |title=Dempsey and M'Carthy |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/60729817/ |publisher=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn |page=1 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|1890}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=May 25, 1890 |title=A New Australian Arrival Takes Reddy Gallagher's Place Against Billy McCarthy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kansas-city-journal/141977715/ |publisher=Kansas City Journal |location=Kansas City, Missouri |page=13 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Kansas City Journal|1890}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=May 25, 1890 |title=A Fight Off |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star/141977815/ |publisher=Evening Star |location=Washington, D.C. |page=9 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Evening Star|1890}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=May 30, 1890 |title=McCarthy Defeated |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/spokane-daily-chronicle/141978331/ |publisher=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Spokane, Washington |page=2 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Spokane Daily Chronicle|1890}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=January 8, 1891 |title=The Ring |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/114312024 |publisher=Evening News |location=Sydney |page=5 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|Evening News|1891}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=January 14, 1891 |title=Jim Hall and Billy M'Carthy |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227931497 |publisher=The Sportsman |location=Melbourne |page=2 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Sportsman|January 1891}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=January 21, 1891 |title=Jim Hall Whipped |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/121790529 |publisher=The Referee |location=Sydney |page=6 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Referee|1891}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=April 8, 1891 |title=Broken Hill Athletic Notes |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227933571 |publisher=The Sportsman |location=Melbourne |page=2 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Sportsman|April 1891}}}}
• {{Cite news |date=May 27, 1891 |title=Odd Sporting Notes in Sydney |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/247677970 |publisher=The Burrangong Argus |location=Young, New South Wales |page=3 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |ref={{harvid|The Burrangong Argus|1891}}}}

{{refend}}

{{S-start}}

{{Succession box

| title = Australian Middleweight Championship

| years = 19 January 1891{{spaced ndash}}May 1891

| before = Jim Hall

| after = Dan Creedon

}}

{{S-end}}

{{Clear}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Billy}}

Category:1854 births

Category:1931 deaths

Category:Australian male boxers

Category:Boxers from Sydney