The Washington times., 1904-02-11

instance. If a man who has once won
the legitimate featherwejght champion
ship happens to weigh 100 pounds six
months afterward. he still claims TO
be kingpin Of the feathers. and be-
cause he won II legitimately that por-
ton of the public which is narrow
minded. still persist in the belief that
he is the champion because he has
never been beaten. Shortly after his
victory over EDDIE Hanlon. newspapers
credited Young Corbett with the state
ment that Il am the featherweight
champion of the world. This was
probably talk and talk only, because
sleep in the fifth round OF their recent
bout. Young Corbett said: Abe Attel
mas proven his claim to the title OF
featherweight champion. | am too heavy
70 be considered a legitimate feather
weight, and as / do not wish to take
laurels away from anyone who is de-
serving of them. l will forfeit my. litie
OF the best OF feathers. gained when
whipped Terry McGovern, to AttelI. To
come right down to il ! am no cham
pion at all. because / am in reality a
lightweight, and have not yet whipped
any good fighter in that class.
Corbett, however. intends to fight his
way upward as a lightweight, and /.
for one, sincerely hope ne succeeds be :
cause of his OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. With
the exception of Jeffries and John L.
sullivan, weight and everything Gun
sidered, Young Coroett. | think. is the
best fighter that ever drew breath
think base my opinion on sound
facts. too. Terry McCSovern, for ia
stance, when he was featherweight
he Jped every man In his class.
and had &c go after the lightweights.
Inc nrst man he tackled was FrarK
Erne. the lightweight champion whor1
he put to sleep in short order Then
he met Joe Cans, the best lightweight
In the world. He put Cans out in three
rounds. although the fight was sup
posed 70 be fake-and it probably was
for Herford could not get on a bout
with reputable club for year after
ward However. the fight with Erne
was probably on the level, and demon
strated that Terry was a good man.
Through his victories. McGovern
earned the title of the piece of fight
lng machinery, and. moreover. he de-
! served IT. because ne was an excellent
puginst. No one can deny that He
was considered invincible, but Young
Corbett surprised the world by putting
him TO sleep in two rounds. The sport
ing fraternity thought il was a chance
blow which took the featherwoight
championship from Mc(sovern but Cor
bett aftsrward demonstrated he was
'ierry's master by cleanly knocking
him out IL eleven rounds After that
he successfully defended his title against
all corners, Of which Eddie Hanlon was
the most prominent. The night between.
| Young Corbett and Eddie Hanlon was
for the supposed featherweight cham
/ pounds.
But at least eight men who have
claimed championships have been three
/ or four pounds overweight and have no
claim TO their titles. The National Box
/ ing Association recently organized at
Detroit fixes scale OF weight as fol-
lows. Special class, los pounds: Hight
bantamweight 10 pounds bantam
weight, lie pounds; featherweight i21
pounds; heavy featherweight, 127
pounds; lightweight 133 pounds: light
welterweight. 40 pounds; welterweight.
lac pounds: middleweight, 15s pounds:
| light heavyweight. lis pounds; heivy-
weight. all men over It's pounds. If this
| scale OF weights is adopted and ad-
hered TO there should be no room for
controversy. but couple of cheap fight
/ ers. who could not win a bet against
May j. in a selling race would probs bly,
dispute the matter. They do not count.
running.
DICK WELLINGTON.