Show World (December 1910)

18 THE SHOW WORLD December 10, 1910. (Jbttz’&utvs D ( enver, Colo., Dec.' 6.—It’s all fight around these parts. Here and in Kan¬ sas ^City we’re dealing in pasts, presents and futures regarding the manly art. Of course the Wolgast-Nelson bout supplied a good deal of the fan food, especially with the advent of the fight pictures to Kansas City. On top of this comes rumors of new fights from the coast and reports of the work of pub¬ licity-seeking alleged reformers. With all this boiling we are getting back far enough to rake up a little of the Jeffries- Johnson stuff. Remarks on Nelson’s Defeat. Before we get into the main business it might be yrell to indulge in a few philosophical -remarks. It has again been demonstrated that the popularity of a fighter often carries away the sport¬ ing writers to such an extent that they allow their sentiment to sway their judgment. Now that Nelson has been defeated it occurs to many that had they but looked back a little over his per¬ formances for the past year or so they would have arrived at the conclusion that the famous Battler was no longer the wonderful fighter of old. It took him twenty-three rounds to defeat Dick Hyland. That story is enough. In his prime he would have smothered Hyland inside of fifteen rounds at the outside. Then, take his performance with Boer Hnholz at Los Angeles and there were the signs of the handwriting on the wall. What upset most of the dopesters must have been the fact that Nelson came back in 1908 and defeated Joe Gans twice. The truth of the matter is that the terrible beating he received at Gold¬ field in his first meeting with Gans has never left him. It tore his insides loose and no man that claims to be human can ever survive a beating of that kind and come back as good and as strong as ever. The great big heart that beats within the Battler’s breast was as stout and as willing as ever, but there is an¬ other item that must be taken into con¬ sideration—and that is nature. Nature allows us to go only so far. When we attempt to exceed the limits that nature provides for us we are gone. It would be just like the boiler in some factory. It allows of so much steam pressure. When you fire up beyond its tested strength the explosion is the result. So it is with Nelson. He attempted to carry more steam than he possibly could mas¬ ter or handle and he was forced to de¬ feat. Then, too, we must remember that the constant training he subjected him¬ self to told its tale. Every time he went into preparing himself it sapped a little more of his vitality. Finally this vital¬ ity was consumed and every ounce after that he gave up to preparing himself he drew upon his strength account. Once he began to sap his strength there was nothing but his frail body to resist the onslaughts of his opponent and the con¬ sequence was defeat. With his strength gone his recuperative qualities went with it. Where formerly he could re¬ cuperate in the fraction of a second he requires minutes now. The result was shown in his recent bout with Moran. There is very little money in the fight¬ ing game unless you are a champion. All possibilities of Nelson being a cham¬ pion again have vanished. For that rea¬ son I hope he will retire from the ring before he is humiliated to more defeats which will make people forget the won¬ derful performances of his against Young Corbett, Jimmy Britt, Hanlon, Gans and many others. Corbett Sees right Pictures; Talks. James J. Corbett viewed the fight pic¬ tures of the recent Nelson-Moran bout in Kansas City yesterday. In looking them over carefully and watching every move made by both fighters, he came to the conclusion that Moran, the little English boxer, came nearer to the real lightweight champion of old than any fighter he has seen in years. By that Corbett means that Moran was in the class with Jack McAuliffe, Lavigne and Gans. He remarked Several times while the film was being run: "Gee, that SENTIMENT HAS ITS PART IN MOULDING OPINIONS Sporting Writers Often Blinded to a Man’s Real Ability by Thoughts of What He Has Been—Corbett’s Tribute to Owen Moran youngster knows _ „„ ....... dently from his conversation, Corbett did not think much of i- -* ” > fight.” Evi- did not think much of our present day champions in the lightweight class in particular. Some of his conversation was as follows: “You know the average fighter of today just goes into a contest with his head down and depends on his slugging ability to win out for him. This is, first, because fellfiws like Nel¬ son, Eddie Hanlon, McGovern and that sort made successes with that style of fighting. However, the slugging style was successful because they had oppo¬ nents in front of them that knew noth¬ ing about boxing themselves and it was a question of which one could slug the hardest and live under the most punish¬ ment. The fellow with the greatest en¬ durance survived and consequently won. That was all there was to it. “But note the moment that these same sluggers faced men who could slug with them and who understood the art of box¬ ing as well. They were beaten. Just take the Young Corbett-McGovern fight at Hartford as an illustration. Terry, for the first time, faced a youngster that could slug as hard as he could himself and at the same time knew how to box. The result was disastrous for the won¬ derful Brooklyn slugger. That the win at Hartford was no fluke was proven when .the pair met again in San Fran¬ cisco and Corbett duplicated his perform¬ ance. No matter what they say to you or whaa they tell you, all the fight was taken out of Battling Nelson when he met Joe Gans at Goldfield the first time. The terrible lacing he got that time told its tale plainer than words and the won¬ derful Durable Dane was never himself after that. True he defeated Gans on two occasions after that, but let’s be honest and ask ourselves whether the Gans that Nelson defeated in California was the same Gans that he met at Gold¬ field? I don’t think so. Mind, I don’t wish to take any credit away from Nel¬ son, but at the same time I don’t want to deceive myself or my judgment in stating that Gans was as good as he was in Nevada. The very fact that he died so shortly after lingering over a year with that dreadful ‘white plague’ in Arizona tells its own story. "However, I am drifting away from my subject. In looking at Moran he re¬ minds me to a great extent of Jack Mc¬ Auliffe when Jack was the champion. There was one fighter that had no weak¬ ness whatever. He was clever as he could be; he could hit from almost any angle, he knew how to feint an opponent into leading, had a knockout wallop and was game as they made them. I don’t believe that any fighter we have ever had had a better head on his shoulders than McAuliffe. I remember Dick Roche (who backed McAuliffe in all his bat¬ tles) once saying to me: 'Jim, McAuliffe don’t have to hit any of these fellows to befit them. He beats them all with his head and makes them whip them¬ selves.’ Look back at McAuliffe’s two great fights with Jem Carney and Billy Meyers. In the first one he should have been in a hospital instead of the prize ring, yet he fought Carney all night to a draw. Only his wonderful head saved him that time. In the first fight with Meyers he fought sixty-six rounds and saved all his backers’ money by head work. He was not trained at the time. He defeated Meyers at New Orleans when next they met. I don’t believe there was another fighter living at that time that could have come out of those two battles as McAuliffe did without suffering defeat. “When you see the pictures you will note that Moran, like McAuliffe, has a .clever left hand, that he takes no chances and that his dangerous punch is a little short jab with his right inside of an 'opponent’s guard. It is this punch he used on Nelson. Moran, too, like Mc¬ Auliffe, tries to make his opponent lead to him, ever ready to counter with his right. If the little Englishman can take on some weight he should prove to be a dangerous man among the lightweights, for he appears to have everything that goes to make a real champion.” What About Wolgast? While on the subject of Moran we are wondering what Wolgast will do in the ...3 match off until next May won’t do, either. Let’s hope that Wolgast c ’ ' y clear to step i ' "-*- __ _ „_. _ _„e ring with Moran next February. It was in Febru¬ ary that Wolgast won from Nelson, and that will make it just a year that Ad has held the title without defending it against a man of class. The public won’t stand for that much longer. I saw Tom Jones in Reno at the Jeffries-Johnson fight, and at that time Jones “— 1 Up to this time, however, nothing has materialized in the arranging line. Just whether Wolgast has upset all the plans that Jones had arranged for, or had in mind, is not known. It is known, how¬ ever, that nothing was said of future matches once Jones and Wolgast held their conference. Wolgast is a very pe¬ culiar chap. A manager must handle —HBlf’ kid gloves on to bring about with the public when such conditions exist. Wolgast was entitled to his rest after the Nelson fight. That rest has been long enough now and he must show the public that he is ready to defend the title or step down and out, allowing some one else to take his place. Cof- froth writes me that he is ready and willing to give a suitable purse for the match. Moran is ready to accept—it’s now up to Wolgast to make the match a reality. Nelson in Good on Pictures. going Some of Jem Mace’s Doings. The death of Jem Mace removes prob¬ ably the oldest champion in years from our midst. Mace was a real champion in his prime and as clever as they ever made them. “The Gypsy,” as he was known to the ring, met all the good men of his day, and, what’s more, defeated them. He toured and traveled all over the world, making a wonderful reputa¬ tion for himself. It is thought he died penniless, but he certainly made much money during his fighting days and was something of a manager as well. I re¬ member Fitzsimmons telling me about his experience with Mace in Australia. Mace had formed a combination, of which both Fitzsimmons and Jem Hall were members. Fit|: had knocked out elev - — MacA and went to receive his pay. Mace stood there smiling when Bob came to him, and said: “I say, Bobbie, I ’ave here a fine watch that I’m going to-give to you for your clever work.” With that he gave Fitz an old silver watch, worth about three dollars. Mace kept the entire receipts of the Imr, however. It may not be generally wn. but it was Mace who “framed” known, but it was Mace who "framed” the fake between Hall and Fitzsimmons in Australia when Fitz laid down. It " * only time during his long ca- ■ that Bob faked. He explains i I'futur do almost anything for a few dollars. He regretted it ever after. The last time that Mace was in America he boxed Mike Donovan in New York and showed them that he had gone back consider- ibly and that old age told its tale. They recently secured a pension from the English government for him and that’s what kept him going. For years he fol¬ lowed the “fairs” throughout England, exhibiting in a booth and earning quite a few dollars in that way. Mace is the last of the old school of All, King, Say¬ ers, Heenan and those well known fight¬ ers. Bill Clarke in St. Louis is about the only one of those days alive now. AND HERE’S SOME BASEBALL; In a little over a week now the Na¬ tional League will hold its annual pow¬ wow. President Lynch is going to have all sorts of trouble regarding his um¬ pires. The Philadelphia club in particu¬ lar is going after the scalp of Umpire Klemm. Whether or not Horace Fogel will show strength enough to have the official removed remains to be seen. It is a pretty state of affairs, however, when a club who helps pay the umpire for his services has no voice whatever in his removal. It is all well and proper to invest such great power in the head of the league, but at the same time the magnates can give too much power to their president, which is just as bad as if he had no power at all. Judgment must be used in matters of this kind. If Fogel can show good cause why Um¬ pire Klemm should be removed, his if Klemm __ _ __, __ official that has gained the enmity of Fogel for personal reasons,- then he ought not to be removed, no matter how much Fogel demands it. What’s This Murphy Dope? Is Charles Webb Murphy the worst offender in the baseball world, or has the national commission got it in for the rotund president of__ hardly hold a meeting at which he is not fined or reprimanded. He seems to be the “angora” for the whole baseball institution. True, he may have done things that were not quite within the keeping of the rules laid down by the supreme court of baseball. Just the same I will wager a little money that if John T. Brush had committed the same offenses there would have been nothing done about it except perhaps referring to them and asking him not to do it again. The going after Murphy so con- Even though Battling Nelson met de¬ feat at the hands of Moran last Satur¬ day, he will still be able to earn quite a tidy sum of money. Bat holds a third interest in the moving pictures of the fight. As luck will have it, the pictures are said to be the best that have ever been taken of a fight. The spectacular knockout of Nelson will astonish many who have all along believed the famous Battler could not be forced to take the count. While his usefulness in the ring may be at an end, yet he will go back to Hegewisch and every week get his lit¬ tle dividend from the pictures as they are exhibited about the country. Han¬ dled by so clever a man as Coffroth, it will mean much more to Nelson than if some unknown were handling them. So the Battler’s money-making days sistently, however, is attracting a_ tion throughout the country, and it will not be very long now before so much sympathy will be created for Murphy Ban Johnson would g___ to get after the Chicago club owner. They have always been on the square and Garry Herrmann is the n_ lar man in Cincinnati. There seems to be something wrong somewhere. But where is the trouble? What is to be done to remedy it? Fletcher Comes—Players Signed. - taking Mr. Fletcher seriously. Be that as it may, yet never before have they been in so great a hurry to sign "V all their players as they have been _ And, what’s more, r- this > the history of the game (unless in the years of war) have they been so will¬ ing or yielded so easily to the player’s request for an advance in salary. Wheth¬ er the Fletcher league materializes-nr not, the ball players at large certainly owe that gentleman something for boost¬ ing their salaries as he has done. In the meantime Fletcher is sailing about the country telling all the players that on February 1 he will make good every pro- contracts contain. It vision that have also signed contracts with their respective clubs since. It’s going to be a pretty mess when all this matter gets into the courts of law, as it surely will if Fletcher makes good. No baseball contract has ever held in a court of law. There is no equity in the regular base¬ ball contract. The player signs one and then is bound for life. He has signed his soul away. He must do this or “or¬ ganized baseball” will make it impossi¬ ble for him to earn a livelihood. That’s why the regular baseball contract is not worth the paper it’s written on—when they take it into court before an honest judge. WRESTLING BOOMS IN N. Y. CURLEY BIG MAT NOISE Joe Humphreys, who was the mouth¬ piece for Sam Harris when Terry Mc¬ Govern was at the height of his career. Hackenschmidt show, when thousands were turned away, unable to gfiin ad¬ mission, Humphries sees a chance for the grappling game to get a foothoold in that city. He and Jack Curley, the manager of Hack, have formed a part¬ nership and their first show takes — the Grand Central Palace next Friday night. Their star attraction will be Zbyszko, the big Polish wrestler, who agrees to throw Andrew Kindrat and Tom Jenkins, the former American cham¬ pion, each in half an hour. In addition to this Joe Rogers will attempt to throw three men. returned irom n ranee, wnere ne -riding for the past eight years. He speaks enthusiastically over the racing situation in that country and states that France is the greatest land housing the thoroughbred today. Fifty to two hun¬ dred thousand people go to the race courses on Sunday. The country believes in giving the people what they want, and the very fact that so many attend (he race courses on Sunday is evidence that it’s the will of the majority. Henry and Nash Turner, another American jockey, are here to buy brood mares, with which they intend to establish a breeding farm on property they have purchased just outside of the city of Paris.