The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-04
SPORTING NEWS.
Coming Battle of LightWeights
Is Being Discussed.
Erne Says That White win Beat
Jimmy Britt.
SOME OF HIS FIGHTS.
Englishman Is Very Cool When
He Gets in the Ring.
Californian Too High Strung
and Nervous Says Erne.

''Jabez White viii surely beat Jimmy
Britt. He is likely to win with a knock
out, but if he doesn't he'll have such a
lead in the fighting that he will take the
decision"
So said Frank Erne to Robert Ed
green in the New York World, when
asked for his opinion of White as d
fighter. L knew that Erne, on his many
trips abroad, had often seen White per
form in the ring, and that he would
have a better line on the Englishman s
ability than any other American.
My first experience with White,
Erne continued, was about five years
ago. 1 was with Mike Sears, of Bos-
ton, who was fighting in England at
that time, and 1 seconded him in MS
battle with White
Sears was a strong, sturdy fighter
He was pretty clever, and he could take
a beating and give one. When he fought
White he was in the finest kind of con-
dition, and ] expected to see him walk
away with the Englishman.
What White did to him was shame.
never saw another man get such a
beating in a ring. White was as cool
as ice. Sears tore at him time and
again, but Jabez punched right and LETT,
knocked him down about as last as ne
could get up, and had him so bad in the
twelfth that the fight had to be stopped.
Sears was a fearful sight. After the
fight he couldn't get out of his chair
without assistance.
'"Then I saw White fight Jim Curran,
the rniddle-weight. Curran was a clever
fellow, a champion in the training
quarters. He was a dangerous puncher,
too. In the first round White walked
up to him deliberately, and, with one
of the first blows struck, knocked Cur
ran down and broke his nose
He punched the big fellow all over
the ring through the first round. Curran
wanted to quit when the bell rang for
the second, but Tommy West. who was
in his corner, pushed him to his feet and
made him go on.
''West threatened to beat Curran to
death If he didn't go on and fight, and
he knew Tommy would do 1t.
THAT fight was as bad as the Sears
affair. Curran took q terrible beating
round after round. Charlie Mitchell told
White to let up for fear of killing him,
as he had the decision well in hand.
When the referee called it a draw at
the end of the twentieth round it was
a surprise to every one in the house, as
White won by a mile. He wasn't hit
at all and he hammered Curran to
over since Britt beat me in San
Francisco I have thought him one of
the greatest lightweights in the ring.
I had a good sample of his quality.
When he was about to fight Young
Corbett' the first time I gave the Even
ing World a statement to the effect
that I thought Jimmy would beat Cor
bett in twenty rounds, and that was
AT that time almost everybody
thought Britt was an easy mark for
'Corbett' I thought Britt would beat
Nelson, and owuld beat Cans at 1873
pounds, although he couldn't do the
trick at 1876.
But I haven't a doubt that Jabez
White will whip him. I was sorry when
I heard that White was coming over
here, for like Britt, and have had it
in my mind for long time that White
was the one lightweight who could get
away with him. Then Britt is an Amer
lean, and L would hate to see him trim
med.
white is exactly the kind of fighter
to beat him. He is the coolest thing in
a ring. The ice in the water bucket
isn't a circumstance to him. Britt is
high strung and nervous. Except for
that he would have knocked out Cans.
He gets excited when fighting at top
speed and is likely to get wild. White
is always steady.
he fights very much like Cans. He
doesn't do much footwork of the fancy
kind, but he is always poised for a
punch. He hits little short blows that
travel a few inches and do the trick.
He hits just as hard with his left hand
as with his right. He has the finest
judgment of distance ever saw.
Britt is a hard man to hit because he
has a deceptive way of moving in and
out all the time. That makes you lose
the range. But White will nail him.
He never let's a blow go without land
ing it.
''Besides that, White is a heady, clev-
er man on the defensive. I never saw
him lose his head or his balance for a |
second. He is always ready with a
guard and a counter. And he can hit
from any position, too.
II don't know whether or not he can
take punishment, because never saw
any one land on him. He will outlook
Britt and take the decision if the bout
goes the limit, and that's something
that none Of the others have succeeded
in doing.
but at that I don't think he will win
on decision. He will mix it up. and at
inside hitting Jabez is as accurate as a
sharpshooter.
white is the best boxer England ever