The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-01-20
. . SPORTS
SOMETHING OF
BOXING FADS
Fits Defeat is Likely
to Start New
One.

I Jack O'Brien's victory over old Rob-
ert Fitzsimmons will start another fad
in the boxing line. For a while all of
the aspiring and perspiring heavy
| weights Will want TO be fast and
| clever, like O'Brien, whose jumping
! lack tricks kept Fftz moving SO fast
| that his stomach went back on him.
| These changes come periodically In
| the time of John L. Sullivan nearly
every heavyweight tried to fight just
like John, with a paving left hand
and a smashing right swing that did
| business every time it landed, but only
landed when it happened that the other
fellow forgot to get out of the way.
Jim Corbett's cleverness in the fight
that ended Sullivan's winning streak
caught the fancy of the sporting world.
In a week all the fighters had dropped
the right swing idea and were trying
to as fast and fancy as the shadowy
James.
That fad lasted until 1897, when Cor
bett met a better man in Fitzsimmons
at Carson. Then the wallop had an in
ming. Fitz was the idol of the fighting
men. What he did was exactly right
Cleverness and SNOWY boxing, like Cor
belts, went on the auction counter,
with no one to bid for it. People talk
ed about Fitzsimmons wonderful
knack of making every move effective
and it was wonderful as long as his
strength and vitality backed his
punches.
But Jeffries came along with his
wagon pole of left arm, crouching
so far over that his mid section was
hidden from sight. He beat Fitz. All
the heavies, and most of the little fell |
lows, too, began to curl themselves |
into bowknots in imitation of Jeffries. |
The idea filled the land that the heavy |
weight champion must be a huge, pom |
derous punching machine, with a |
heavy frame and a bony jaw fit to stop |
12-inch shell. The battleship type of
fighter came into fashion. Promoters |
secured the land for Monroes and |
Kaufmanns, Weekses and other mill
ing giants.
But now that. Jumping Jack O'Brien
has beaten Fitz there will be hop
ping and skipping such as the poor
old ring has never seen before. Heavy
weights, with stocky legs, will try to
hop up in the air like jackra bbits.
Thin-legged fighters will train their
spidery underpinning to knitting
kneedles with earnest practice of o.
Brien's manifold sidesteps. All sorts
of fighters will raise the rosindust
while trying to be in every part of the
ring at the once-a thing only possible
to O'Brien and the Deity
There will be swift jabbing and fly
away sidestepping until your brain
whirls. Some of the fighters, perhaps,
may master Philadelphia Jacks deft-
ness of foot.
Then about the time that the pugilis-
tic world is speed mad Jeffries will
wake up, climb into the ring again and
put on the mitts. Jeff can step some
himself. Also he can wallop. Also he
is still young and has a stomach that
takes as kindly to punching as it does
to the gentle massage of the training
camp.
The next morning there will be an
other change in pugilistic styles.
Luxury played an equal part with
age in beating Fitz. For two or three
years Bob has been living much in no.
tells and cafes. He has drunk appe-
Users before meals eaten rich foods
and finished with cordial. His stom-
ach, always accustomed to a rougher
fare, became as tender as a magnate's.
AT the end of the thirteenth round
muscles were strong but
he weak stomach put him out of bust
ness. The heat and the exertion with
The blood he had swallowed, made him
sick.
The old Romans, when Rome was
going to the dogs. used to eat several
oanquets a day, taking emetics between
hem. man liked a dish of peacock's
ongues He stuffed himself He took
In emetic and Stepped round the cor
Ter. In a moment he came back. pale ]
ound the gills, but with an aching
loid ready to be refilled It's a bet
he old Gracchi would have collapsed
lfter a solar plexus punch
Prosperity and pugilism don't travel !
n the same private car