The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-23
AND 1T LOOKS AS If HE WERE
RIGHT IN so DOING.
WILL EMPLOY OLD METHOD
IN TRAINING FOR BRITT.
WHO is THE REAL FEATHER
WEIGHT CHAMPIONs GEORGE
DIXON.

The Little COIOred FeatherweiGht
still Recognized as the Best in
His CIass-Since His Trip to the
Continent He Has shown Some of
His Old Time Speed and skin and
May Yet Redeem Himself in the
Eyes of His American Admirers.
Now that all of the arrangements
for the go between Young Corbett and
Jimmy Britt have been completed, the
old question regarding the champions
condition hobs up.
This little fighting marvel has al
ways been knee deep in peculiar meth
DDS of neutrality-suspicious. entirely his
own-and that he thrives on them
needs no other answer than his vic
tories. His system is to eat what you
want, drink what you want, do what
YOU wish and fight once week in a
lazy and good natured fashion, al
ways selecting some dub to do the
other half of the sketch.
When a real fight is on for the
championship, it is time to train for
weight and harden the muscles. This
system has been followed by Corbett
since he first went into the ring, and
he says he will stick to it.
It is. of course. jest for Corbett to
call himself the champion feather
weight, and yet he declines to meet
Jimmy Britt at 1913 pounds. ring side.
He says he will make all of his big
matches at 129 or 100 pounds at 6
o'clock. He has cleaned up all of the
good men at. or near that weight, ex-
cept Benny Yanger. The latter, of
course, is wildly anxious to meet the
DenVerite, but Corbett is now in a po-
sition to give him the irksome giggle.
A comparison of the fights between
Yanger and Hanlon and "Corbett" and
Hanlon, round by round, would only
indicate this much: That the pudgy
boy would give Benny the best kind
of a humping. Yanger never had
Hanlon in serious trouble, was him
self put down with a crash, and lost
the decision. "Corbett" battered Ed
die to a jelly-hence, so far as Yanger
is concerned-whats the answer?
This brings up the question: Who
is the legitimate featherweight cham
pion? The limit of the class is 122
pounds.
In the opinion of many George Dixon
is still the legitimate featherweight
champion. Dixon never demurred when
it came to weighing in. Any old hour
suited him, and to this day he is will
ing to tip the beam of the ringside if
necessary.
During the past year Dixon has
fought with great success abroad. He
has whipped Pedlar Palmer and other
clever opponents of the manly art in
and out of his class.
Dixon, like Bob Fftzsimmons, is
freakish as regards reducing weight.
He can build himself UP or reduce as
the occasion requires. When he first
started out as a pugilist' he was a
mere STRIPPING, and fought at 108
pounds AS years went by he deVel-
oped into a genuine bantam and could
fight at 112 pounds without suffering
any inconvenience. Then he went up
TO 116 pounds. then to 11S, and at the
present time has no difficulty in pre-
pairing for a mill at 122 pounds.
Dixon is comparatively still young
man. Reports say that he has been
taking better care of himself than he
has for years. If he can regain his
old punch he will prove a hard nut for
any of the prospective rivals at his
weight.
So far as cleverness is concerned,
Dixon is and always has been ac-
knowledged the peer of them all. There
ing that he does not know. All he
wants is strength and the necessary
punch. Dixon has never been knock
ed out in a championship battle.
The Kentucky Rosebud" of Phila-
delphia once did the trick, but it was
in an exhibition bout at Philadelphia.
Dixon thought it was to be a, friendly
contest and fought carelessly and
without Judgment. But to use the YER
nacular, the Rosebud Crossed him.
Dixon met his conquerer many times
after that and had no trouble in con-
vincing everybody that he was the
"Rosebuds" master.
Terry McGovern whipped George
Dixon originally for the honors at the
Broadway Athletic Club in 1900 Since
then he has outgrown the class. He
met young Corbett" at Hartford a
year later and was knocked out in
two rounds. The weight of that fight
was 1926 pounds, and although they
fought for the featherweight title UNI
der the rules they scaled in as light
weights.
After that encounter McGovern in
sisted that he was still the premier
featherweight. and that as he could
reduce to 122 pounds his laurels in that
division were still intact.
Several ambitious scrappers chal-
lenged him at the weight, but some
time McGovern grew heavier ana
frankly admitted, when pressed, that
he could not get to 122 pounds with
out suffering loss of strength and VII
tally.
"Corbett" also gained weight, and IN
stead of fighting at 126 pounds, he mad
all he could do to reach 127 pounds
which was the weight at which he met
McGovern the second time. at san
Francisco, on March 81. 1908. Cor
bett' on that occasion knocked Terry
out in eleven rounds.
The only legitimate claimants LOT
honors in the featherweight ranks are
Harry Forbes. Abe Attell and Dixon.
Forbes was formerly the bantam
champion and year ago he did not
have the slightest trouble getting 70
JIG pounds. Like McGovern ana COT
hett," he rapidly took on flesh. He
fought frankie Neil of California LOT
the bantam prize. and was knocked
out. Now Forbes confesses that the
best he can do is 122 pounds at .
o'clock in the afternoon. Attell says
that he can train down to 100 POUNDS,
hut as he has never been brought 70
this test the question is far from being
settled.
LMnnnn EnnTnAII CAME