Boxer Jack McAuliffe is to be honoured in the new-look Bishop Lucey Park with a bust in his honour

A bust of Jack McAuliffe, Cork’s only world boxing champion, is to be erected at his birthplace at the newly refurbished Bishop Lucey Park. 

The bust, which will sit on a plinth, will form part of the new boxing wall at the plaza-styled city centre amenity.

The venture is to be sponsored by an Irish-American businessman who has proud Cork roots but who wishes to remain anonymous. 

Last week Cork boxing officials expressed their delight and gratitude to their benefactor, who is based in Boston.

The opening of the boxing museum recently illustrates the achievements of some of Cork’s great boxers on the world stage, led by McAuliffe this group of trailblazers: McClods, Dakey O'Mahony, Jack Doyle, Mick Leahy and Gary Spike O'Sullivan. 

These boxers have made international headlines and are a cherished group in the annals of Cork’s boxing history.

Jack McAuliffe was born on 27th March 1866 at 5, Churchyard Lane, which today forms part of Bishop Lucey Park. 

Jack was baptized in St Peter and Paul’s Church. 

He was the first son born to Con and Joan (nee Bailey) McAuliffe. 

His father worked across the road in Beamish and Crawford’s brewery as a cooper. 

Young Jack served as an altar boy in the church where he was baptized. 

Just before his 10th birthday the family immigrated to the United States. At first they settled in Maine and six years’ later moved to Brooklyn.

In the early 1880s, he had already discovered a talent for boxing. 

Just after his 17th birthday, he dismantled an English sailor in a bare-knuckle contest in the basement of a Bangor storehouse. 

Not an official bout but a comprehensive enough victory to give him a first inkling that he could forge a career with his fists.

Once in New York, the teenager McAuliffe began working in the cooperage. 

There he became friends with a Kildare immigrant, and future world middleweight champion, Jack non-pareil Dempsey, and in his company, he started to box properly. 

McAuliffe turned pro with a 17th round knockout of Jack Karcher at the age of 18. 

He then embarked on an undefeated run that would stretch well over a decade. 

A mere two years after his debut, he annexed the vacant world lightweight championship title with a 21st round knockout of Billy Frazier in Boston.

As champion, Jack now got used to the high life, good food and fine clothes. 

He loved the racetrack and was addicted to gambling. Accordingly, he did not take to training too well and on a number of occasions he came in heavier than planned – but he was such a talented fighter it usually did not matter. 

McAuliffe was a crafty intelligent boxer who studied every move and tactic of his opponent before each fight. 

He was blessed with that wonderful natural gift of extreme quickness; he was light on his feet and employed springy, bouncy, brisk movements. He was a master strategist and possessed a wicket, sharply driven left jab that cut opponents up.

Jack was known as the Napoleon of the ring because of his peculiar stance and as a dapper dan for his sharp dressing. 

The defining fight of his life came just a year into his lengthy reign. 

A contest with the British champion Jem Carney took place in clandestine circumstances that have become part of boxing folklore. 

To keep one step ahead of the law the fight was billed to start at 1 a.m. and the location – a 24 ft ring erected inside a barn in a rural town in Massachusetts. 

This location was kept a closely guarded secret right up to the first bell.

Throughout the early rounds the men hooked and jabbed. McAuliffe was dropped in the seventh round but came back strong. 

When the 60th round arrived McAuliffe showed signs of fatigue. 

His backers, fearing the loss of their wages, became unruly. The break came in the seventieth round when Carney scored a clean knockout that looked like a finisher. 

However, interference by McAuliffe’s friends saved him. 

Order was restored and the bout went on until the 74th round. 

At this point the ring was invaded by spectators and confusion reigned.

Fearing the eminent arrival of the local constabulatory, the referee stopped the fight and declared it a draw. 

McAuliffe had many opponents throughout his long career but this proved to be the most difficult of all. 

His record shows 31 wins, 22 by KO, five draws and no defeats. Following his retirement Jack set up as a bookmaker and later as a stockbroker. He became very prosperous as a businessman and even mounted an unsuccessful run for a seat in the New York state assembly in 1934, dipping his toe into politics at the age of 68 more than half a century after first stepping into the ring. 

For many years, Jack became a champion of the poor and needy around New York. He opened soup kitchens and lodging houses providing for the destitute and the homeless. 

Jack was a champion in the ring and a champion humanitarian.

The spirit that Jack McAuliffe was imbued with when he was born in Cork 150 years ago still exists on the Leeside today. 

The Cork penny dinners, a long established charity, in the southern capital provides for the Corkonians as Jack did for the New Yorkers many years ago. 

A similar type of work is currently being undertaken by Caitriona Twomey who is also a champion of the poor.

Jack McAuliffe died in Forrest Hills, Queens, New York in 1937. 

Seventeen years after his death, he was among the first class of boxers inducted into ring magazines boxing hall of fame. 

No further explanation of his standing is required. Today we salute Jack McAuliffe the only Cork boxer to win a world title.