The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-05
HARD KNOCKS
ON BOXING GAME
Siler Gives Review of PugiliSm
for Past Year-No Cham
pionS Made
BY George siIer.

The hostile attitude of the governors
of many states caused a distressing
slump in the pugilistic game during the
year of 1907. On this account the year
was the most disastrous known for a
decade One by one the states open to
the promoters of the game illustrating the
manly art of self-defense were closed,
either by force of public sentiment or 10y
the desire OF state and county officials
to seek favor by prohibiting events.
Even Los Angeles, where the game has
flOurished without disfavOr Joined the
procession and limited bouts to ten
rounds. Governor Hanly Of Indiana eff
fectualy killed the sport i'm the HOosier
state by his rigorous enforcement of the
law, and later In the year Governor Cum
mings of Iowa put up the bars, but not so
effectually.
In Nevada and certain parts of Cali
fornia the rored arena is still high in ia
Nor but the distance to the coast makes
otherwise easy matches practically i'm
possible In Philadelphia, Boston and
Milwaukee fights are still permitted The
game is dead In Chicago by the same
powers that killed the American derby
and put the famous Washington Park
club out of existence
Burns Still on Top.
1t was not year in which champion
ships were made. Tommy Burns NOAH
BrussO) the Canadian, is still on top of
the heavyweight heap. He has defended
his llIle-SaiueO Wnen ne 0efeate0 Mar
vim Hart in Nevada more than two years
ago-against several challengers, but the
caitber of the men ne met in the ring
was far below the average of other years.
His most notable fight was against Bill
Squires of Australia.
The antipodean, it proved, was overly
touted for Burns to put him out I'm one
round. Burns fight with philadelphia
Jack o Brien should hardly be referred
10 in a serious review of pugiistic events.
Of course. Burns thrashed his man hand
somely, but the contest revealed the fact
that O'Brien was a faker of the first wa
ter.
Late in the year, Burns battle with
Gunner NOR in England established
him as the worlds champion in the
heavyweight class-always making a men
tai exception in favor of the big fellow
out California way, who can whip them
all, but who will not enter the ring again.
Cans Remains Title Holder.
Joe Cans remains champion of the
lightweight class in all that the name
implies. Early in the year he whipped
Kid Herman. After this battle he made
one of his frequent announcements of
his retirement from the ring and handed
the championship title over to George
Memsic, who fights under the stage name
of Jimmy Burns
Then Cans reconsidered and like an In
dian giver took back the title, alleging
that Memsc would be unable to fight al
155 pounds Cans then made "Packey'
McF aFlan0- MS prOtege, but Q1d not hand
him the title. AS Cans is sure to enter
the ring again whenever he sees purse
large enough to tempt him, he may still
be considered the lightweight champion.
No Real Champions.
In the welter and middle weight ranks
there is a pretty contest between a host
of claimants There are so many who de-
clare themselves the topliners in these
classes that the rival claims are confusing
and it is hard to dcide definitely Many
of the claimants are fighting in both
classes. Stanley ketchell seems to have
the strongest claim to middleweight hon
ors through his victory over Joe
Thomas, but Hugo Kelly, Billy Papke
and others dispute his claim, and there
must be several battles before the real
champion can be sifted out of the heap.
One of the surprises of the year was
the defeat of Honey Melody by Frank
Mantell. in fifteen rounds by the knock
out route. Melody only a little more than
q year ago was recognized as the best
in the weiterweight class. Mantell, until
his defeat of the Boston boy, was almost
my Gardner and several others dispute
the welterweight championship with
Mantell.
Among the little fellows in the feather
weight division Abe Attel still stands
head and shoulders above his rivals. In
the bantam weight class Owen Moran, the
stocky little Englishman. is easily the
leader while in the 105-pound division,
Johnny Conlon and kid" Murphy occu-
by the center of the stage