Irish boxer Mike McTigue loses world title crown to American teenager

Georgia, 5 October 1923 - Clare-born Mike McTigue, who became Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day this year, sensationally lost his crown to a young challenger in Georgia yesterday.

The contest went the full 10 rounds and after first being declared by the referee to a draw,  the victory was eventually awarded to William Lawrence (Young) Stribling, an 18 year-old high school student who is trained by his father and mother. The referee, Mr. Harry Ertle, had previously stewarded the famous Jack Dempsey-Georges Carpentier fight, and required a police escort back to his hotel after the fight. The drama of the fight’s end was almost the equal of that which preceded it.

Although heavily advertised in advance, McTigue made an eleventh hour announcement that he would be unable to fulfill the commitment owing to a fracture of a small bone in his left thumb during sparring practice. The announcement was met by an angry response from some local youth in Columbanus, Georgia, who attempted to storm his hotel, only to be rebuffed by a squad of police. Later, with the crowd still outside his hotel, McTigue appeared on a balcony to declare that the fight would, after all, go ahead and that he would fight with one hand.

It would prove an unwise decision. The teenage Stribling at times landed blows to the champion’s head at will, drawing blood from McTigue’s nose in the seventh round as the Irishman countered with blows to the challenger’s body that made little impression. Notwithstanding his pre-fight reluctance and his injury complaint, this was a disappointing end to the Irishman’s short title reign.

Pathé footage of boxer Mike McTigue, after winning the world title earlier this year in Dublin

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]