The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-16
BRITT HAS NO REAL CLAIM
TO "YOUNG CORBETTS" TITLE
EVEN CONCEDING THAT CORBETp
is THE FEATHERWEIGHT CHAM
PLON.
WHICH MATTER Is
OPEN TO QUESTION.
HOW THEY HAVE JUGGLED WITH
THE SCALES IN THIS CLASS.

Question of whether or Not Cor
bett Was the Champion of the
FeatherweiGht Class Has Been Re
vived, and Experts Say That he
Did Not Have the Championship
Title to LOse-Left Hook Says De-
cisiOn Given Britt Over COrbett
Was Robbery Featherweight
Limit is Recognized Everywhere
mt lis Pounds.
The question of whether or not JIM
my Britt won the featherweight cham
pionship title from Young Corbett ia
being agitated all over the country.
and many experts seem to be of the
opinion that Britt is not the feather
weight champion.
Writing in the New York Telegraph
Left Hook has the following to say on
the subject:
young Corbett" did not lose the
featherweight title to Jimmy Britt.
Young Corbett" did not have the
title to lose, although he has been call
ed the champion in that class He
beat Terry McGovern at 1875 pounds.
They did not battle for the champion
ship. So both McGovern and Sam
Harris. declare.
Britt and "Corbett" fought at 1870
pounds. Britt received the decision
over "Corbett" That decision was
robbery. This juggling with the weights
is enough to make the feathers who
have gone before groan in their long
sleep.
What would the shades of Cal Nc
Carthy, Ike Weir, Eugene Hornbacker,
Johnny Griffen. Oscar Gardner and
George Dixon think of 100 Founders
scrapping for their title? To bark
back few turns of the annual, when
Dixon first appeared in the offlng as
the champion. When George weighed
in at the skating ring in Troy to do
battle with Cal Mccarthy he raised
the beam at ia pounds. Jere Dunn
turned to Tom O'Rourke, then handling
Dixon, and exclaimed:
These feathers will be fighting at
12O pounds if they keep on launching
the weight"
O'Rourke waited four or five years
before he would allow Dixon to
meet Johnny Griffen at 122 pounds.
When the Limit Was us,
In Boston they all thought Griffen
invincible, and became excited over the
prospect of a match between the COL
ored lad and the red-headed Johnny,
But O'Rourke's answer was always the
| same:
Let him make lis pounds, the
featherweight limit, and George will
fight him for all the money his friends
can raise"
Finally O'Rourke was induced to let
Dixon go into the ring at 122. But he
| demanded the long end of the purse,
whether Dixon won or lost. OF course,
he won.
When Dixon went to England to
meet Nunc Wallace the weight was
116 pounds. That fight was for the
| championship of England and Dixon
won it.
1t is not so many years ago that
Austin Gibbons and Mike Gushing
were a pair of high ones in this city.
They happened to be a little too heavy
for the feathers and fell short of the
lightweights heft.
They were not asked to fight either
below or above their class, but met at
special weight" 1875 pounds. Either
could have beaten any featherweight
of that day could they have fought at
126 pounds.
Eugene Hornbacker lost the title to
Cal Mccarthy at ia pounds after try
ing for months to get Cal to met him
at 112.
No Precedent for BIRTHS Claim.
Solly Smith fought Dixon. at 11s
pounds, and Ike Weir and Billy Muir
ply made that weight.
If McGovern consented to place his
title in jeopardy when he fought "Cor-
bett" at Hartford. then there is no
good reason why technically the Den
yer delegate is not the featherweight
champion.
Suppose Frank Earne had beaten
Terry when they met in the Madison
Square Garden at 12S pounds would
Erne had won or claimed McGovern's
title?
No one ever thought of it at the
time.
When Bob Fitzsimmons fought Jim
Corbett at Carson City. Bob turned to
some of us at the ringside as he sprang
through the rope, and said:
Remember, if I lose, i am still the
middleweight champion
If that held good in the case of Fitz
it ought certainly to go with "Corbett"
Had Jim beaten Fitz he could, with
equal show of reason as in the case of
Britt, have claimed that he won the
middle title, although he weighed 1888
pounds on that occasion, thirty
pounds over the middle limit.