[Cap]

From the April 1903 issue of Mitt Slingers Magazine...Just before going to press we rec'd an update of IBU rankings based on recent results...Jack Johnson has announced his retirement after a pathetic performance against unranked heavyweight Al Palzer at a small club in El Paso, Texas three days ago...An unverified account claimed Palzer had put Johnson on the canvas and managed it more than once...Al Kaufman has lost his Pacific Northwest title belt to Montana cowboy Luther McCarty...According to the San Francisco Call, Kaufman was a veritable punching bag from the second round onward and had to be rescued by Referee Ed Graney midway through round four...It seems this is the same McCarty or McCarthy who boxed a six round draw with Jack Johnson at Chicago some weeks ago...Carl Morris the hulking "Tulsa Brakeman" earned a draw with Philadelphia's Battling Levinsky last week and some wire reports suggest he did enough to get the decision as Levinsky was left in a sorry state...England's Bombardier Billy Wells has been offered a fight with Boston's Dan 'Porky Flynn' in the main event at New York's Madison Square Garden next week in place of Jim Stewart the popular Brooklyn pugilist...Stewart was forced to back out because of an injury sustained in his gym work...Gunboat Smith and Georges Carpentier are winding down their training camps prior to their match scheduled for April 10th...Joe Woodman, US agent for Sam Langford, hinted to the editor of one New York paper that Langford might be willing to give Smith a shot at the world title if he beats Carpentier...Meanwhile Joe Jeannette sits idle while his manager works to provide his fighter with a suitable opponent to keep him busy until the ABA can set up a title match, and Jeff Clarke seems a likely candidate...Battling Jim Johnson has returned to New York and is challenging any of the IBU's top twenty to meet him over eight rounds...