Napier, Hughie Olympic Club (New Orleans)
Tickets represent the best surviving evidence of this "Grand Glove Contest," as neither boxer's available record shows it, though both were active. The American featherweight Johnny Van Heest was boxing throughout the States in 1890s, and Napier's less than stellar record (0-4) in Australia spanned the period, with two contests for the Australian featherweight title, though it shows no bouts in the U.S. The New York Times, in an article on September 24th, 1893, described the fight as background in an article about the Featherweight Championship between George Dixon and Solly Smith slated for the next night on Coney Island, citing "Van Heest's defeat of Hugh Napier, the tall Australian, in twenty-eight rounds at New Orleans Sept. 20" as an indication of "Smith's ability as a boxer, as he had no trouble in stupefying Van Heest in fourteen rounds." |