McCoole was considered by many historians to be the more awkward boxer, and took the fiercer punishment in the first three rounds, with Allen opening a cut on his right eye, which he continued to pound. By the fourth round, he was down for the first time, and a terrible site to behold. The fifth round saw Allen doling out additional punishment to McCoole, and in the final round Allen started off with several mighty blows to McCoole's face, soon ending the bout. McCoole had a terrible cut under his right eye with damage to his left as well, and what appeared to be a broken nose, and badly cut upper lip.Upper lip cut in "By Telegraph", The Daily Ogden Junction, Ogden, Utah, pg. 3, 27 September 1873 Spectators begged McCoole's seconds to take him out of the ring, and they soon did. Allen took the bareknuckle heavyweight championship of America, in only twenty minutes of fighting. Allen had proven he was a superior boxer to McCoole and that what most perceived as his superior performance in their previous meeting, was genuine. He later called Allen, the "most magnificent tactician I had ever seen", and considered the bout, "the hardest of my life". The fight became the greatest loss of McCoole's career as the title, in the view of many current boxing historians, was a world and not merely American heavyweight championship.Round by round coverage in "The Great Prize Fight", The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, pg. 2, 24 September 1873"Tom Allen's Victim Dead", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, pg. 8, 27 February 1899
