The San Francisco call., 1906-12-30
Racing

climb through the ropes next uSs-
day. All the timbers and beams are
massive and strength has been Sc
cured in every direction. One OF the
features OF the building is the glass
roof which covers nearly one-half OF
the building. The balance is of cor
rugated iron In addition to part or
the roof six feet OF the side walls is
Of glass. thus flooding the building
with light in the daytime. This glass,
as well as that on the roof, can be
readily removed during moderate
weather, thus making the place
great open-air pavilion.
Although the promoters have spent
a lot OF money on the fight, they seem
in q fair way TO get ii back on their
first venture. Although the prices
OF tickets will be high, the miners
from the adjoining camps are ex-
pected to flock in to see the big battle.
IT viii be a novelty 10 them, and as
their holidays DO not come frequently
they viii be ready TO take advantage
OF whatever sport is offered them.
Manager Riley will not rest with his
first venture as a promoter, but is al
ready casting about for suitable
matches to be staged during the
spring While the lightweights and
the heavyweights have the center of
the stage at the present time, the men
OF the other classes will be given due
attention whenever a promising match
presents itself The other classes are
not rich In material at the present
time. Joe Thomas is the star of the
welterweight division, but there seems
TO be no one IN sight who appeals to
the promoters as a likely man to pit
against him. Ead Joe Walcott been
able to weather the storm in his re-
cent fight with Billy Melody he would
Ea ri 10
actually Knocked out in all his ring
career and there has been a curiosity
20 learn If any man can find a vul-
nerable spot in his sawed-off figure.
Melody seems TO be averse to ap-
pearing here. although IL is expected
some OF the promoters will be able to
induce him TO put on the gloves here
some zine next year IL the game of
lead and counter is allowed to continue
by the authorities. The match makers
have made such a failure OF their
work recently that it is hard to fore
cast what they will offer the fight
loving public next year. There is a
feeling that this city can support high
priced fights well as Los Angeles
and that the latter city should not
have 2 monopoly OF the big cards
The fight trust has lost money on the
majority Of it's ventures during the
past year. although it promoted but
four fights. This failure is attributed
TO bad management and the internal
ouarrels in that unhappy family of
sports promoters
Philadelphia Jack OBrien. who is
making his skill as a boxer go a long
way will be one Of the conspicuous
figures at Tonopah during the next
few days. AS there will be many
natchmakers on the scene the willy
mil he al +o1 Il
ness with them He has a proposition
under consideration to make match
with Joe Thomas, the weight to be
15z pounds at the ringside. Thomas
IS anxious to meet OBrien. and fig
ures that he has a good chance, hav-
ing seen him fight both Berger and
Kaufman. He expresses his willing
ness to wager his own money on the
outcome of the battle which is al
ways taken as proof of a boxers earn
estness.
Manager Jim Coffroth wants the
match. which is sufficient to stamp it
as a great card. There are but few
attractive matches in sight. but this
stands out as one Of the best of them.
Coffroth weighed OBrien five days be-
fore the O'Brien- Fitzsimmons fight in
this city, and he scaled just 1904
pounds. At the time the weight was
fixed at 16S pounds. so there was no
object in his being so low. In fact he
would have been better with the ad-
ditional weight. IT is not believed he
has gained much since then. so he is
within reaching distance of the weight
required to make a good fight with
Joe Thomas.
Thomas has great confidence in his
ability as a boxer, and is anxious to
be pitted against any Of the men in
the middleweight division. The Den
Yer promoters tried to match him with
Hugo Kelly, but that boxer failed to
take kindly to the match, and pre-
ferred to sign up with the veteran
Tommy Ryan. Promoters have been
trying for long time to get Ryan
into the ring. but their efforts proved
unavailing. Whether he has passed
the age of usefulness is a question. 1t
is not expected that the promoters of
this city will bid for the match. as
Ryan is hard to handle being more
anxious about the financial than the
boxing end of the proposition.
Eastern boxing critics are conceding
Herman a good chance to defeat Cans
at Tonopah next Tuesday on the ground
that the punishment administered to
Cans by Nelson when they fought at
Goldfeld has taken much of the vi
tality out of the colored man. These
critics did not see the great fight or
they would not lay so much stress upon
the beating administered to Cans. The
facts in the case are that Cans did not
receive the amount of damaging pun
ishment that some people believe he
did. as he blocked the greater proper
ton OF his opponents blows.
The colored man apparently permit
ted himself to be mauled about a great
deal by the Dane, but it was more in
the nature of rough wrestling than of
boxing. While 1t was going on Cans
was not receiving the body punching
which is so damaging to a fighter and
which reduces his vitality to such an
appreciable extent One has only to
look at Cans face to see that he has
not been badly punished at any time in
his long ring career. His ears are
particularly shapely and his aquiline
nose retains its original contour.
The majority of boxers have some
souvenir of their work in the ring,
either in the form Of badly damaged
nose, or ears that have long since
ceased TO perform their proper func-
tions. AS clever a boxer as Jack
OBrsen recently underwent an opera
tion for an old injury to his nose. The
injury reached an acute stage after the
night with Burns A terrific blow in the