The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-09
THE WORLD OF SPORT |
PUGILIST Of TODAY
NOT A BUR[Y THUG
Uninitiated Have Mistaken Idea
of the Prize Ring
Fighter.

The prize fighter of today is defend
ed by Lou Houseman in his rOped
arena chat in the Sunday Inter Ocean.
Houseman says:
To the uninitiated, and especially
the anti-boxing fanatic, the word 'pu-
giliSt" conjureS up vision of a stocky,
deep-chested, broad-shotldered man,
with knotted hands, ponderouS jaw
and jowl, low forehead, and neck
like that of q young bull. Ask any
man who has never mingled with fistic
circles to sketch the picture of typi-
cal prize fighter, and his idea will
stand forth on paper bulI-necked and
burly built. Such is the boxing type,
as it has been mentally conceived by
the popular mind throughout the past
forty years, and yet how few of the
boxers of the present day are actually
of such mold and form as have always
been attributed to the heroes of the
ring!
In the old London prize ring days,
whence rose so many unpleasant ira
ditions, and where all latter day hos
tilfty to the boxing sport gained its
foundations, the burly. bulf-necked
fighter reigned. No other man could
stand the rush and tearing strain OF
the prize ring battle. slender boxer
would be Rugged, twisted and almost
torn in two by the bulls who struggled
in the old bare handed days. Massey
and rugged were these old heroes Of
the turf, built to withstand any pun
ishment that might be inflicted. Were
one of them to pass through crowd
today the man who has never seen a
modern glove bout would instantly ex-
plain: "A prize fighter" while the
boxers, as the veteran passed by, would
remark, A wrestler" or "A weight
litter"
The build and physical type of the
boxer have changed during the past
forty years as completely as the style
of milling. The burly, stocky shape
Of pugilist is no longer in the major
ity, nor does any other style of build
prevail In fact, there is now no es-
tablished type as basis of eompari-
son, and the wise man at the rfngside
no longer laughs at one man because he
is long and lean, or marvels at another
because he has muscles like a plaster
Hercules
In the boxing contests today any
size, shape or build of pugilist may
make good. and boxers now study to
make any peculiarities of their
physique serve them to good advantage
instead of hindering them. The long
man cultivates jolting left and high
swings: the short man practices his
infighting and close mixing. Under
clean break rules the burly fellow is at
the biggest kind of disadvantage, and
the so-called straight" rules are Moth
ing in the world but excuses, intended
to give the stocky lads a chance to
rough and tug around almost as much
as in the old prize ring days.
Freak boxers" get an excellent show
of recent years. Bob F'itzsimmons, with
his spider legs and huge shoulders,
coupled with knotty fists and gigantic
reach, was one kind of a freak; Joe
Walcott, hammered down to point just
above the ground, reckless, nerveless,
gross of arm and chest. SIS a freak of
different character. 1.-the fellows like
Jim Corbett; springy fighters like Nc
Coy; fat fellows like Young Corbett-
all types of men have been boxing in
these later years, and all have been
acalri r1oc =