The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-12-03

EIS tine DQBiiloI18 6dlAA1 aAoo NNNi
known, are at Waldmann's Theatre this
week. rushing through a t~hree-round spar
ring act at each performance. Their ap-
| pearance here brings back olden days, re-
calling to mind the two memorable fights
between these little gladiators, one at
Hartford, on Thanksgiving Day, 1901,
| where the lad from Denver, backed by a
splendid record in the West, but scarcely
known in the East, surprised the sporting.
world ny knocking out the conqueror of
| Palmer. Dixon, Erne, Sullivan and the
rest; the other, at San Francisco, a year
I later, when the Brooklynite again meas
ured his length on the rosin hooor, with
Corhett standing over him.
Both lighters now have the prefix lex"
attached to the word champion, the title
which had once been theirs. but their
names will be forever linked with the tight
ing game, and the crowd which packed
the theatre yesterday afternoon and even
ing gave evidence that they have lost none
OF their popularity, even if fame has fitted
to the champions of today. And there is
reason for their popularity. McGovern
was the greatest little fighter of his time,
defeating bantamweights, featherweights,
lightweights, ct al. But the days of all
champions are numbered. The terrible
one" lost his crown to Young Corbett,
and the Denverite later lost TO Britt and
Nelson. 1t is doubtful, however, if Cans,
the present t~itle-holder, who was stopped
! by McGovern, is as good as either of
! these boys when they were in their prime.
McGovern and Corbett were once bitter
enemies, but they have since buried the
hatchet. The breach was healed by the
persuasive powers of Joe Humphreys, who
is now with the pair as manager and an
nouncer. The boys may not have for
gotten the past, but they have put aside
their old feeling and now are the best of
friends. Last Thanksgiving Day Corbett
remarked to Terry: well. boy, it's six
years this day." referring to the time he
wrested the championship from McGovern.
There was no bitterness or sarcasm in his
words, and Terry took it good-naturedly.
With him it's 'let bygones be bygones."
Corbett has probably retired from the
fighting game for keeps. He has taken
on twenty pounds since his last fight, now
tipping the scales at 150 pounds, and is
quite content to rest on his laufels, his
present sparring act bringing him a snug
income. McGovern believes he still has a
good fight or two in him, and expects to
enter the ring again when the show strikes
the West. He still has his punch" re-
marked Corbett to an EVENING STAR
| reporter yesterday, and can handle him
self we'll"
McGovern's rapid rise on the pugilistic
ladder is well known to all followers of
the fighting game in these regions. A little
data on Corbett's career does not come
amiss. When the Denverite made his mark
in the pugilistic world none were more
surprised than his own friends and school
chums out in the Colorado city. William
Rothwell, which is the lighters real name,
was termed a m boy while at
school,. His classmates teased him because
he took pains to keep his necktie on
straight and never cared to take part in
rough sport of any kind.
There was a bully ut that school in
Denver, as has been the case in many
other Instances. This big fellow found par
ticular delight In mussing Willie's hair
and mauIing him generally. The future
young Corbett stood this treatment until
one day his father, a quiet and respected
man. took Willie in hand and declared
IF you let that fellow thump you again
I'll give you a beating on top of it That
settled It. Next day there was "A fight and
it wasn't Willie Rothwell who was beaten.
No one in school poked fun at Willie after
that.
Not long afterward young Rothwell
went. to the manager Of an athletic club
in Denver and asked to be given a chance
in the ring. The boy in the knickerbock-
ers, for such he was, was finally matched
with a young negro lad. Not wanting his
dad to ''get on" young Rothwell con-
cealed his real name ard. being an adj
mirer Of James J. Corbett, who, by the
way. is at Blaney's Theatre this week,
he adopted the name Young Corbett," a
sobriduet which has been attached to him
ever since.
Young Corbett won his first fight III
thirteen rounds and then and there began
his career as a pugilist. He defeated one
man after another. He was knocked out
by young Jack Dempsey in two rounds,
but he put the latter TO sleep in three