Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-22
NEGRO FIGHTERS
ARE UNCOMMON
FEW DUSKY MEN LEFT IN THE
RING
At One Time Peter Jackson, Bob ARM
strong, George Godfrey, Frank
chllds and Others Were
Strong Factors

| Ine days OF the nlgn-claSS negro
fighter, like the high-class negro jock
ey. have gone glimmerlng. There was
a time, and not so long ago. when the
dark-skin glove wallopers practically
ruled the pugilistic roost
We had Peter Jackson, George Cod
frey, Bob Armstrong, Frank Childs,
Denver Ed" Martin, Hank Griffin the
husky native son. McVey and a few
others as heavyweights OF the mid
dlewelghts, Frank Craig, the Harlem
Coffee Cooler" probably was among the
best.
Joe Walcott, as tough a welter as
ever shed a sweater, Bobby Dobbs, a
cracking good lightweight and George
Dixon, undoubtedly the best simon pure
featherweight in the negro ranks that
ever answered the call of time, and
quite horde of good, bad and in
different fighters in the various divis-
ions.
Today we have only two negro fight
ers with pretensions to first class, and
they are Joe Cans, the holder of the
light and welterweight championships,
and Heavyweight Jack Johnson, holder
of no title, but good enough to hold the
highest honors in his division.
The best of the other blacks are Sam
Langford, Dave Holly, Joe Blackburn
and "Rufe" Turner. OF the heavy
weights, Jackson was by long odds the
best negro that ever put up his hands
in this or any other country.
He probably did not have much on
Johnson as a scientific boxer, but as a
clever hard-hitting fighter he lowered
away over Jack. 1t was Peters known
skill as high-class fighter that caused
| John L. Sullivan to draw the color line
| and to remark:
White men, 100000; negroes, double
| that amount"
Draws Color Line
When Sullivan drew the color line
| on Jackson he overlooked the fact
| that he had some years before practi-
cally agreed to fight George Godfrey.
The latter, while not as scientific as
Jackson, was good second-rate
| fighter.
When Jackson went to the bad and
Godfrey had seen his best days, Frank
Childs bounded into fame by defeating
Bob Armstrong.
To see Frank and Bob fighting diff
| ferent opponents it was any kind of
odds Bob could make Frank appear
like a novice, but put them in ring
| together and Frank with his awkward
! style of milling would trim Bob like
| VI ollShSs Soulo iiONSi bO
| accounted for, as Armstrong was as
scientific as they turned them out.
Johnson's appearance in the ring
came about, so far as is known, in this
way: George Siler of Chicago went
down to Springfield, ILL.,, about six
years ago to referee a series of glove
contests and the management, for a
humorous opener, staged a battle royal
in which six negroes, among them
Johnson, took part.
Jack was the last to enter the ring
and directly he did he handed one of
every-man-for- himself opponents a
wallop on the jaw, dropping him as if
shot Two big blacks then sailed in
distance and before his opponents knew
what had happened they were on the
floor, because they foolishly permitted
their respective jaws to come in con-
tact with Jacks right mitt.
The other blacks thought of the old
adage of "He who fights and runs away
will live to fight another day." and
crawled out of the ring.
Walcott Was Best
The best of the old negro pugs, con-
sidering his weight and inches, was
Joe Walcott. The "sawed-off black
demon" was a fighter from his heels
to the top of his funny shaped head,
and as good a faker as ever entered a
ring.
Big, lanky fellows were pie for him,
and when in fighting humor they could
not trot them out too big, too tough
or too fast for him.
Joe got tangled up in shooting
Scrape several years ago and practi-
cally lost the use of one of his hands,
since which he has not been much of a
factor in the game
Besides being high-class fighter, he
| oil q M md
take and appreciate a joke without
losing his temper. Only once, so far
as is on record, did he get on his high
horse and threaten to lick every man
in sight because of his being made
the butt of a practical joke. This oc-
Cured at West Baden springs.
Joe was at the springs training for
fight, and as there was quite num-
ber of sporting men at the old hotel,
practical jokes were, of course, in
order
One day an Italian organ grinder,
with a tame bear as side attraction,
happened along and, after making the
rounds, put up at lodging house for
the night.
About 8 O'Clock the sports called on
the Italian. and for two "bucks" in
duced him to hike his bear over to the
hotel and into Walcott's room. Joe,
singing and whistling, sauntered in
about an hour later, said "howdy" to
the sports who were lettering around
and climbed upstairs to his room.
moment later the guests of the
hotel were awakened with yells as
if bedlam had broken loose.
The men folks rushed to the scene
of the disturbance and saw Joe on one
side of the bed and the bear on the
other, but Mr.. Bear happened to be
between Joe and the door, the only
means of es ape.
Take him away For the Lawd sake,
take him away" pleaded Joe, almost
white with terror.
The bear was as tame as house
poodle but the sports appeared as
frightened as Joe, and began fighting
their way out of the room.
please don't leave me-" begged Wal
colt. So one OF the jokers edged his
way to bruin and led him out of the
room.
1t was fully five minutes before Wal
colt recovered from his fright, and then
he let off enough profanity to run
everybody to bed The next morning
he was as jolly as ever, and enjoyed the
joke as much as those who framed 1t