The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-10
ONE GOOD LICKING
SPOILS A CHAMPION
Nearly All Fighters Go Down
Hill After a Decisive
IrOuncing.

One of the things that has always
been commented on, yet is still unex-
planned is the way champions or fine
fighters go down hill in the fighting line
after receiving one good defeat in the
ring. Since Corbett's battle with Britt
many are wondering if this will still be
the case. But Corbett may be as good
a fighter as ever for he did not receive
what is commonly termed q beating. OF
course he lost the decision, but cham
p1ons OF the past who have defeated all
corners, then received one good solid
trouncing and gone to the bad, have.
IN nearly every case, been hammered
helpless, or nearly So before the down
ward drop. Statistics go to prove that
very rev lighters, if any, completely
recover from a solid hammering.
Jim Jeffries gave Tom Sharkey his
quietus at Coney island, and since then
the mighty Thomas has never been the
same. When Sharkey fought Gus Ruth
lin ne gave his first intimation that he
had gone down the plank Of defeat. and
when FitZsimmOns finished him in two
rounds, Sharkey could no more aspire
to be a champion. Though he tried
with most apparent willingness, he
never after could fight with his old
time confidence. When Jack Munroe
hammered him so badly at PhiladeI-
ph1a, a short while ago, Sharkey's last
hope of ever again becoming famous
In the ring seems to have flown to the
winds.
When Frank Slavin came to this
country from Australia he was hailed
as a man who could take any amount
of hammering. His battles with Jack
Burke, Jem Smith and Jake Kilrain
showed that what was said of him was
perfectly justified, for the manner in
which he went after these men left no
doubt in the minds Of his friends of his
ability In fact, SO highly was he
thought Of that when he shook $4,000
under the nose Of Sullivan in the
Southern hotel in st. Louis, the big
fellow, though then an undefeated man,
refused to meet him, saying at the
same time that he had retired from
the ring, and was perfectly willing to
hand the championship over to the
sturdy Australian.
Then came the battle which is talked
of to this day, Slavin's mix-up with
Jackson. For a full ten rounds these
two fighters simply banged away at
each other, giving and taking with a
vengeance. The fight took place in
England, where his friends thought
that not a man lived at the time who
could stand up and exchange punches
with the mighty Slavin. The fight was
a terrible one, and after a few rounds
Slavin began to weaken. The punish
ment he received from the black Peter
he never recovered from. and after
ward Jim Hall and others dropped
him with no great effort, the end COM
ing when Nick Burley knocked him
out in Alaska, a man who could not
have lasted ten seconds with SIavin
up to the time Jackson hammered
him so.
Many remember what Fitzsimmons
passed out to Jack Dempsey at New
Orleans. Dempsey never recovered
from the whipping to the time of his
death.
Dan Creedon passed into the ranks
of has beens" by a single defeat adj
ministered by Kid Mccoy, who is now
being resurrected by his friends to
meet a second-class fighter next week.
Joe Goddard, whom many thought at
one time could not be knocked out, re-
ceived his quietus from Denver Ed
Smith. Peter Maher lost all of his
fight after he met Bob Fitzsimmons
in New Orleans.
Kid Broad, never a champion, but
once a grand little fighter, was SO
badly whipped by Young Corbett that
he never fully recovered from it, and
Terry McGovern, the one-time terror
to the feather weights, is considered
no great difficulty for second class boys
since his two whippings by Corbett.
George Lavigne was pushed out Of
the class of champions by George Nc
Fadden in a single fight and Joe Cans
called a halt to the rising career of
Frank Erne in a similar manner. SOlly
Smith, at one time considered a won
der in California, went to the bad in
his fight with Johnnie Griffin, yet he
won the battle, and it was not until
George Dixon put him down and out
with a heart punch that his fighting
days were of the past.
One of the saddest cases of all, how
ever, was the passing of George Dixon.
Up to the time that Terry McGovern
gave him such a terrible beating at
the Broadway Athletic club in New
York. Dixon had no equal, not to say
master. In this fight, which lasted
eight rounds, McGovern hammered the
champion in a heartrending manner,
and in the eighth round his friends
about the ring prevailed on Tom
O'Rourke to throw up the sponge to
save the little fellow from being killed.
Since then Dixon has done a bit of
fighting, and has even met with sue
cess on the other side, but just where
he would fit with the speedy hard
hitting boys of his class in America
remains to be seen, though he thinks
he is still their equal.
And so 1t is with the little fellows
all over the country, and never has a
champion recovered from a hard beat
ing in the history of the game.