Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-10
Nv Clarence L. Cullen.


gram recently printed from one Of the Brit-
ish possessions over seas.
1t was from Sydney, y. s. w, and IL was
very brief and TO the point. 1t stated that
lem or Tom or Dick Somebody or Other'
the champion heavyweight pugiiist OF the
antipodes, had been Knocked out, after less
than two minutes of fighting, oy JACK
johnson of 1.-THE states" Jack Johnson OF
1.-THE states is an ebon-hued Afro-Ameri-
can who has done quite a lot of fighting IN
this country. On the dope he Is ABOUT
th!rd-rater classed among American heaV9-
weights Yet he puts away the champion
of the antipodes In punch, or something
less.
There is-as ii is really not necessary lo
repeat for those who follow the nshtihg
garne-a very reminiscent ring TO this piece
~ ucws For American scrappers IN all
81. I,nds desmesnes of Edward VII are
continually smothering these near-prusers
who take the British model as the moio oi
their sCrapping FORM ,h;os
We leave il to the hair-splitters on ethlcs
whether the pos session of the greatest nsht-
ers In the world is another one OF those
things emitting this country TO assume tIe
dizzrst peak of eminence. however a.,
NJ that may be. il is one sure c'nch ih-hs
,rat american prize lighters so Tar out
lass the modern crop OF British scrappels
that they make them look IKE spear car
Yirrs i'm a Kiralfy show
rra mast decade history Of the invasion
abroad of American fighters is very simi-
lar To- the history of the invasion OF AuieIE
can Jockeys. which began ABOUT zen yeals
ago Jockeys who in this country We're
scarcely even heard of went to the EURO
mean tracks-especially the English ana
french and Austrian trackS-and promptly
proceeded to ride rings around the Iiu usts
OF those countries and to top all OF me hsts
Tor winning mounts. Our really crack
iockcvs who went over there so far out
Chased the native pigskin kids that ways
and means were found to rule the American
Lads off the turf on cooked-up charges.
Fighter of all the weight classes OF TINS
country who had hardly become known oy
their names TO the followers of the nghting
game on this side, or who had never got
.ut of the third or fourth division or
s,rappers in the United States, began TO
"a 10 Great Britain to poke around LOT
lho soft stuff ten or a dozen years ago, anu
they found all they wanted or IT, lhey
huwIcd the cracks of Great Britain over as
il they had been amateurs without the least
bother in the world. And then some OF
these Conquerng Americans came back 10
the United States with big regulations lot
the things they had done to the British
scrappers only to be easily put away py
American fighters of the second or third
class-and perhaps this sort OF tnins uiunt
show the British fighters up,
And Vet the time was, easily within the
recoIle ction of men who are not much past
middle age when Great Brtain's para
mountcy in the fighting game was undis-
puted. hardly even open to question.
Why is IT, then, that the British prize
fighters of today cannot compare with the
American fighters?
There's an answer, of course. And the
answer goes right down to the roots of the
British character.
The British are all but Chinese in their
y atn tIa tNayx CT
They ridiculr innovations of every sort. They
stoned the builders of the first railway IN
their country. Ii took them more tnan
thirty years to make up their minds that
street cars-"trams' better than thelI
numbering old buses, and a considerable
part of the British population will not ad.
nit this yet. They are all for the old deal,
the ancient way of doing things. They re-
gard folks with new ideas as Founders
The telephone is hardly more than toy
in London as yet. whereas even the Kama
kas In the Hawaiian Islands have tele-
phones in their grass huts. 1t took the
British powerful long time to reach the
conclusion that bath tubs in houses weren't
such bad things. and you'll still, at this
day and date, have your troubles In trying
TO get a bath in many London lodging
house The employment of electricity is
still in it's infancy in Great Britain as
compared with Its use n the United States
And that's what ails British tghting-
Chinese conservatism. Great Britain is the
true hermit kingdom. 1t simply will not
take up improvements. 1t will not only re-
fuse to adopt them, but it will sheer at
them.
That's why the British prize fighters of
today. such as they are. are still fighting
in Just about the same way as Moineux.
the "slogger' of the eighteenth century,
and the Upton Slasher and the Bendigo
Boy. punchsmiths in England during the
early period OF the nineteenth century.
fought. There's been hardly any change.
Prize fighting. as the game Is generally
txxv.n 4 I, Erpl ND oil
that fact satisfies the Britons who follow
the game. Prize fighting Is British In
stitution, with an upper-case ], isn't 1t?
VARY well. They'll go right on fighting the
way the inventors of the game fought.
That's the British idea. Our fighters are
a bloomink lot o dawncers. y'knaw. And
30 on.
Did you ever see an honestInjun British
fighter fight in the prize ring? / have-a
good many OF them. And they're funny.
You know those old-time prints of British
lighters published forty and fifty years
ago depicting them as standing up so
straight to seem almost sway-backed,
with their maulies held out In the conven-
tional fashion? Well, those pictures
right. That's the way the Brits. fighter
stands today. He takes his position, and
lie seems TO think that he's scheduled to
grow right there in that position. And he
stands there till he's knocked down. Then
he picks himself up and stands right that
same way again-just like the old prints,
and YOU can stand tap on 1t. His idea
of lighting is that shuttlecock thing-feint,
duck, exchange of blows, then resuming
Of the as-you-were posture and beginning
again. That's the way the Upton Slasher
used TO do it, bloime-me. didn't he? Well,
that's the way the British going TO go
right doing until the last day of the
world. in all human probability.
Rather than accept and adopt the Amer
lean style of fighting, they'll stand right
UP there-like the Old prnts-and allow
themselves to be slaughtered. That's some
conservatism, think.
The British-trained fighter simply has no
idea in the world OF foot work. "Ow but
we're not supposed to night with our bloom
ink feet. are We ] CnCe heard one of them
say when an American fighter was trying
to coach him to that boring-in and
jumping back thing. He has no notion of
sending in swift stab and then bounding