The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-06-08

WILL THE bATTLER
EVER FIGHT AGAIN?
Many Fighting Fans Believe Bat
Ting Nelson Has Quit the
Ring.
Has Been Doing No Training
Since He Was Defeated at
Goldfield.

Has batting Nelson ended his
career as fighter? That is a ques-
ton which is bothering fight fans.
Those who met the battler when he
visited Milwaukee recently were struck
by the apparent change that has come
the same husky, vigorous piece of
fighting machinery that he was before
he fought the famous forty two rounds
with Cans last September, and his
appearance coupled with his unwill-
ingness to fight Cans again except
under the most preposterous condi-
lions, has made it look as if he is
through with the fighting game.
The battler has done no hard train
ing since his fight in Goldfeld, yet
he weighs no more than 131 pounds,
he should scale over 40 pounds. Be-
fore starting work for some Of his
battles in the past he has weighed as
much as 145, and it generally took a
good deal Of work to bring him down
to the lightweight limit. His present
weight indicates that there is some-
thing wrong with his physical makeup,
but whether it is a temporary illness
or general breakdown, due to over
taxing his strength in the ring, time
alone will tell. At any rate, he is not
we'll man, and 1t is not until after
course Of treatment at West Baden
that he intends to enter the ring again.
Terrific Beating.
+ho
ceived from Cans is finally showing
it's effects. Nelson is q physical
phenomenon, but he is only human
after all, and outraged nature must
assert itself. He took a beating last
Labor day that hardly another man
on earth of his size could have with
stood. Kid Herman, Mike Sullivan
and host of others can testify that
the old master carries fearful punch.
He landed hundreds Of them on Nell
son-clean, solid jolts, carrying with
them all the strength of his tawny
arms.
He literally wore himself out, but
the Norseman never faltered under the
rain Of pistonlike blows, and was, per-
haps, the stronger Of the two when the
famous foul put an end to the battle.
Nelson probably did not realize how
badly he was hurt then, but he knows
now.
A fighter of Nelson's type never
lasts as long in the game as clever
boxer. A man like Cans or Jack
O'Brien undergoes comparatively little
hardship in the ring unless he Is COM
pletely outclassed. He tries just as
hard to avoid punishment as he does
to inflict 1t, and the physical strain up
On him is not 80 great.
But fighter like Nelson, who de-
Ponds on ruggedness more than sci
ence, who pits endurance against an
others strength and considers the one
punch he lands a. good return for the
half dozen he receives, subjects his
frame to abuse that is bound to tell
on him some day.
All Of Them Fall.
No f1ghter-at least no high class
fghter-has ever been the same after
taking a. decisive beating. jimmy Britt
sank into mediocrity after his defeat
at Colma; Terry McGovern's tiger-like
heart was tanned when Young Corbett
whipped him; Corbett never arose aft
er Nelson beat him down, and Eddie
them all, Is a physical wreck. But
who Of them all ever received such
beating as Nelson did all that Septem-
Der afternoon under the hot Nevada
sun?
The Danes attitude in regard to an
other match with Cans plainly indf-
Gates that he does not care to renew
his acquaintance with Josefus. If he
really wanted to fight he would agree
to the reasonable terms that Cans in
sists upon-133 pounds stripped at the
ringside, and a fair division of the
purse.
The unsportsmanlike methods of
Nelson and Nolan in connection with
the last fight still rankles in the pub
lie mind, and Cans would be justified
in taking the same stand now. He.
however, is doing the handsome thing.
and the fact that Nelson refuses to
come to terms in spite of the champ
ions honest efforts to get him into the
ring makes it look more and more as
If it is fear and nothing else that is
keeping the Dane away
In the meantime Billy Nolan is in
Sail Francisco running one of those
mushroom fight clubs, oblivious, ap-
parently, Of the clamor that is going
on. Can it be that he has foreseen
the fall Of the Durable Dane and has
handed him back to his old manager.
Teddy Murphy?
Mr. Union Man:-Notify your renta,