On March 10, 1938, Mike Jacobs announced that Wilton S. "Bill" Farnsworth was the new matchmaker for the 20th Century Sporting Club. Farnsworth was a former sports editor for the New York Journal, and also had served as the "vice president and general manager" of the club. He succeeded Armand "Al" Weill. On March 30, 1938, Tom McArdle was named the advisory matchmaker for the 20th Century Fight Club of New York City. On October 2, 1939, Edward F. Frayne resigned as the vice president of the 20th Century Sporting Club in New York City. He'd been with Jacobs' organization for about a year, and needed to handle personal interests in California. During the early part of January 1941, newspapers announced that Jacobs was at war with the National Boxing Association and that he planned to back up Billy Conn in a proposed lawsuit against the promoters of a fight in Cleveland who claimed the match was for the Light Heavyweight Title. Conn still claimed that championship, and Jacobs supported him completely. Jacobs believed the Anton Christoforidis-Mello Bettina fight (which was sanctioned by the NBA) was a "championship joke," telling reporters that Conn beat Bettina twice before and that Christoforidis was "practically a middleweight." Jacobs also believed that the "phoney title business" in the NBA was going to lead to as many champions as there was in professional wrestling. According to an Associated Press report out of Philadelphia on December 5, 1941 (12/7/41, Los Angeles Examiner), United States Representative James P. McGranery, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, declared that he wanted to look into the control Jacobs had over boxing. He said: "It's pretty near time for a fellow to be able to put on a decent boxing show without declaring Jacobs in. In my opinion, Jacobs has reached the point where he has constituted himself the trust of boxing." McGranery wanted to talk with others in Washington about the matter with the intentions of perhaps bringing Jacobs to the city to discuss matters. This became heated after Ray Robinson ran out on a fight against Marty Servo in Philadelphia, and complaints were made by promoter Herman Taylor. Research by Tim Hornbaker |
Mike Jacobs Boxing History |