The Washington herald., 1906-11-12
short PerIod Of supremaez.

hang their shingle out Just once too Otter
and then comes their extinguishing by
some better man.
Short Period OF Supremacy.
With the many fighters coming up and
the frequent meetings. ii is impossible for
any one man 10 remain long undefeated,
for when a man is once defeated he sinks
into oblivion as the sporting public has
no use for a man who cannot win. For
this reason. it IS hard 90 get a line On
pugillsts OF ability until they have reached
a commanding position in the eye Of the
followers Of the sport.
SO far back as 1887. when Jim Jeffries
became the spsrring partner Of jim Cor
bctt when the latter was training for his
mill with Bob Fitzsimmons at Carson
City, the boilermaker IN his bouts with
the then champion convinced good judges
,aat he had the stun IN him TO make a
wonderful scrapper. This was satisfac-
torily proved when two years later JEFF
ries won the championship Of the world
by beating Bob Fitzsimmons at Coney
Island Later on Jeffrles whipped Corbett
in tWenty-thTce rounds before the same
club. Corbett and Fitzsimmons had been
before the public for years before then.
a1d on divers occasions had proved their
mettle by beating a lot OF good men
Bob FitzsImmons' Rise,
FItzsimmons first came into prominence
by troUncing Jack Dempsey. who was
believed TO be invincible. and went
through the list of middle and heavy
weights. easily taking their measure. The
steady advancement Of the various fight
ers who have contributed toward dstic
history is an interesting topic NJ all times.
Starting with Jim Corbett, Il may be
said that he came 20 the fore In the es-
timation Of night followers in 1881 when
he fought "A siXty-oue-rOUnd draw with
the late Peter Jackson at San Francisco,
and followed this wonderful achievement
by winning the heavyweight title from
John l. Sullivan AT New Orleans on
September Z. 1892 He again showed his
work by walloping Charlie Mitchell. who
was recognized as the English champion
in 1891
Kid Lavigne. who succeeded Jack Nc
Auliffe as lightweight champion, came
into notice as a great bTuiser in 1884,.
when ne fought an eigEt-Tound draw
with clever Young Griffo at Chicago. La
vigne became lightweight champion in
/ 1855. and clnched his right 20 BE- placed
/ in a class by himself when he knocked
out Dick Burge before the National
/ Sporting Club. London, on June J. 1895,
( Frank Erne wrested Lavigue's honocs
/ from him in 1899 at Buffalo. defeating the
/ Saginaw Kid I'm a twenty-rOund contest
on points But Erne was doing yeoman
work at his weight at least five years be
| fore he stepped into I.avigne's shoes as
champion.
Joe Cans. who came after Erne as
I light-weight champion, has been boxing
since 1894 His ability in fstc way
was recognized in 1876. when he drew
with Young Griffo. Erne succumbed 10
/ the negro in 1902 at Fort Erie, Canada,
/ Cans winning in one round.
/ Passing of Nelson.
/ Battling Nelson. the youngest and, until
/ his recent defeat by Cans. long regarded
as one of the greatest little men Of his
weight, only beat Jimmy Britt for the
title about a year ago. Britt, a great
fighter. lost the honors after holding it a
brief period,
/ Terry McGovern succeeded George
! Dixon as feather-weight champion in 1900.
/ but lost to Young Corbett at Hartford a
} little later Joe Walcott, who nolds the
welter- weight championship. was before
/ the public as early rs 1885. and was max
/ ing rapid strides in his class year after.
Tommy Ryan has been fighting, according
/ to his own admission, nearly eighteen
years. Ryan was noted and made a
name for himself as far back as the
early nineties, and is one Of the few
miliers who has succeeded in remaining
on top at the middle-weight limit. Tom
/ Sharkey came to the fore as a bidder for
\ the championship in 1886, when he came
within an ace of beating jim Corbett in
a fOur-rOund bout at san Francisco.
/ Young Corbett sprang into prominence in
! 1901 and fstic critics kept singing bis
/ praises until Nelson made him hear the
/ referees count less than TWO years ago
Marvin Hart and Others.
Marvin Hart. OF Louisville, supposed by
many TO be the heavyweight premier, in
view Of his claims of having the title
/ conferred on him by Jeffries. has been
mixing It up for some tire. His last
! mixup resulted in his defeat by Tommy
Burns the fellow who laid jim Flynn
away few nights ago.
Gus Rubin. who was picked Up by Billy
Madden when the Akron Giant was play
/ ing football IN his native town, like
/ Sharkey, never reached the championship
! goal. But he did well, just the same. and
should be remembered for many hard and
1 exciting battles that he won. Kid Mccoy
made his reputation in foreign lands. as
I did Jack O'Brieu, Of Philadelphia. who
4 is spoken of as Jeffries' legitimate sue
/ cessor. There can be no gainsaying the
! cleverncss Of both Mccoy and O'Brien,
+ but they cannot be classed as great Ale
/ Coy was considered by some as the mid
dle-weight champion. but at the same
time he never fought FitzsiH1mons for the
! title.
The main reason why the ring is barren
/ Of good heGvy-weights to-day is because
/ the managers are too much absorbed in
digging Up little men. The latter put w
/ the best fight and as It is their work the
/ fans like 70 see the demand for the big
men is not so great.