Америкалық боксшы Лютер Маккарті және "Ұлы Ақ Үміт" дәуірі

American boxer

Luther Quinter McCarty (March 17, 1892 – May 24, 1913) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1911 to 1913. He was considered by most to be the greatest of all the "Great White Hope" fighters who fought during the time of Jack Johnson. He claimed the Heavyweight Championship during Jack Johnson's troubles with the United States Government, with many boxing historians rating him the man with the best chance of defeating Johnson. McCarty, solidly built and agile, stood about 6'4", and used his 80" reach to throw his strong left jab to both his opponent's head and body with equal accuracy. In addition to his physical strengths, McCarty also had a cool fighting style, never appearing in the ring too nervous or affected by his opponents. was born on 20 March 1892 to Maggie McCarty (née Scott), a native of Ireland, and Anton P. McCarty, a cure all elixirs salesman and proprietor of the White Eagle Medicine Company. Depending on the source, he was born on a farm 30 miles southwest of Lincoln, Nebraska, on a ranch near McCook, Driftwood Creek, Wild Horse Canyon, or in a hollow somewhere in Hitchcock County. His mother was reported to be a stout six feet and 200 pounds, whilst his father stood six feet, five inches tall at 315 pounds.

During the first winter in Montana he began boxing with some of the locals, and soon caught the eye of the local fight promoters. and on January 7, 1911, in his first recorded fight, he knocked out Wat Adams in the second round, and after had had several bouts in Montana, North Dakota, and Canada, fighting seven times, winning seven fights, by stoppage. Of these such bouts included legendary iron chinned Joe Grim, earning a draw spending his energy in trying to knockout the "toughest man on earth". On December 18, 1911, Fury fought 25 year old contender Jeff Clark (60–5–8, 30 KOs) in a non title bout in Springfield, Missouri. Following his defeat to Wuest, McCarty returned to achieve five consecutive knockouts in his defeats of Jim Harper, Bill Schultz, and Joe Hagan. In the fourth, Stewart landed his right on McCarty's jaw with all his might, resulting in his opponent dropping his hands and grinning. McCarty started off with a rush, taking Stewart by surprise and slamming him back against the ropes with a volley of left and right swings and straight punches. Following his loss to Stewart, McCarty began his journey towards the top of the heavyweight division by facing future lineal champion Jess Willard (10–2–0, 7 KOs) at Madison Square Garden on August 19, 1912. At the weigh in, Luther, 20 at the time of the fight, weighed in at 203 and a one quarter pounds, one of the heaviest he had weighed professionally; Willard, 30, came in heavier at 224 pounds. Both of McCarty's eyes were swollen when he left the right, and Willard carried a large bruise on his left cheek." Willard was given the verdict almost unanimously by the New York papers, and it was said in reports of the contest that McCarty was hardly able to land one telling blow on him. Undeterred by his previous two results, McCarty fought and beat Jim Barry, Jack McFarland and Al Kaufman , by way of knockout. On December 10, 1912, McCarty fought against Fireman Jim Flynn (60–16–20, 40 KOs) in Vernon, California, with the winner to face Al Palzer on January 1, 1913, for the heavyweight championship of the world. McCarty weighed 205 pounds, marginally higher than his previous fights, with Flynn coming in at 190 pounds. McCarty improved his record to 16–2–3 with 14 stoppage wins, with a sixteenth round technical knockout over Flynn. Flynn was an easy target for McCarty's best blows, including a left jab and a right cross. Although Flynn was outclassed from the first round, he was first in trouble in the eighth round when a short right sent him to the map for the count. Twice more before the end of the round Flynn went down, once rolling over on the floor three times before rising to his knee, where he crouched with blood pouring in a stream from his mouth and face, while Eyton tolled the seconds. At the official weigh in, before the fight, Palzer tipped the scales at 218 pounds, while McCarty weighed 205 pounds. Prior to the fight, Palzer remarked: "I'll win any time between the first and the tenth. If the one good old punch doesn't do the work early in the fight I'll wear him down long before the limit. McCarty can't stand my pace. I'm in good shape and never was so confident in my life." A succession of lefts and rights to the head, which rocked Palzer to the bottom of his immense frame and caused blood to stream from cuts on his eyes and lips. Upon his defeat of Palzer, he was given a diamond studded belt, valued at five thousand dollars, and was the recognised white heavyweight champion of the world. Speaking after the fight, McCarty said: "When I accepted the heavy weight championship belt, I agreed to an unwritten clause that I should never fight a negro [ ] Well, I'm going to live up to my contract. ", and that he would not fight Johnson "under any circumstances.”" Although he appeared to be outclassed from the start, Flynn, rushed into clinch after clinch and succeeded in landing many blows on the champion at close quarters. Moran was considered to be a trial horse, but he gave McCarty a tough fight, and demonstrated that McCarty lacked a true knockout punch. Nevertheless, McCarty survived the ten round battle and won a newspaper decision according to The New York Times. McCarty smiled as he entered the ring on May 24, 1913, while Pelkey looked grim and determined. McCarty's head shook and his neck muscles bulged. The blow struck McCarthy just below the heart, sending him reeling, to which he fell heavily to the floor. Everyone connected with the fight suffered, with Billy McCarney, and the referee, Ed W. Smith, The Chicago Evening American sports editor, were arrested.

The exact cause has never been fully determined. Several medical men clambered through the ropes and did all in their power to resuscitate the unconscious McCarty. The doctors stated that McCarty had valvular heart trouble and that this had been aggravated by the excitement. After the physicians had been working over him for about ten minutes, Dr. Aull, one of the physicians who attended McCarty, stated that McCarty was breathing naturally and would soon come around. He revealed that death was caused by a spinal haemorrhage, the result of a dislocation of the neck. Nat Fleischer, founder of The Ring magazine, and Sam Andre in A Pictorial History of Boxing (1959) wrote of the effort to dethrone Jack Johnson as Heavyweight Champion and named some splendid fighters, to which they furthered: "The 'White Hopes' thrived between 1910 and 1915, and they were a mighty impressive lot, far better than the majority of the contenders in recent years. For a time it seemed that Frank Moran might be the successful candidate, and then the eyes of the boxing world became centred on a better all around heavyweight, Luther McCarty." Dan Cuoco, boxing historian and director of the International Boxing Research Organization stated, "Luther McCarty was big and strong and considered by most boxing experts as the best of the 'White Hopes." John Lardner, American sports writer, conceded that McCarty "may well have been the best fighter of all the white hopes." He quotes Fleischer as saying, "There is little doubt that had McCarty lived he would have won the title [ ] McCarty was not as big as Willard, but he was quite large and fast for his size."

No. (Number)ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes25Loss19–4–2 Arthur PelkeyKO1 (10)24 May 1913 24Win19–3–2 Frank MoranNWS1030 Apr 1913 23Win18–3–2 Fireman Jim FlynnNWS616 Apr 1913 22Win17–3–2 Al PalzerTKO18 (20)1 Jan 1913 7Win6–0 1 Joe CoxKO66 Dec 1911 6Win5–0 1 Jack HeinenKO330 Nov 1911 5Win4–0 1 Tommy CrawfordKO17 Oct 1911 4Win3–0 1 Al WithersKO84 Jul 1911 3Win2–0 1 Al WithersKO139 Jun 1911 2Draw1–0 1 Joe GrimTD (Technical decision)8 (10)14 Apr 1911 1Win1–0 Wat AdamsKO (Knockout)27 Jan 1911