The San Francisco call., 1908-10-25
Says Good Fighters Are
Growing Scarce
Captain Tells How Commercials
ism Is Now Running the
Pugilisfic Game
By T. p. MagiHigan

tldl the care wherein lnlS sage Tclhdi n
found birth was a local pugilistic
Delphi and the captain it's oracle.
The captain was led to the observa-
tion, after reading an overdue account
of the pugilistic resurrection of Kid
Mccoy.
1T appears to me-. continued the
captain, that the pugilists of today
| have not only dwindled in numbers,
but have entirely dwarfed in the mat
ter of class. One may fly around the
old resorts and scarcely ever run into
a pugilist OF real class. They seem to
be becoming extinct
Why, just think of it, Kid Mccoy
re-entering the ring and holding it
over Il young Brooklyn scrapper, Jim
stewart, whom New Workers looked
upon not long back as a coming cham
pion and dubbed the modern Jim Cor
bett of the ring. Wouldn't it make you
weary"
Ten years ago went on the cap
tain, you could not turn "a corner in
San Francisco without humping into
some really talented scrapper, a tighter
who knew the game from scientific
standpoint and had that fleeting quality
known as class.
Every division of the game seems to
nave Ithinned out wonderfully within
the last decade. Take your heavy
be really few high class fighters in that
division. Burns a worlds champion!
Jack johnson contender! Al Kauf-
man and that sort fiouting their cham
pionship aspirations on the public!
Isn't that really pretty picture?
Why, the negro Langford. middle
II not better tighter than any heavy
weight we have before the public today.
How would your present heavies
stack up with the crop of 10 years ago?
They had fighters then. and plenty of
them. In the heavy weight division
We're such men as Jim Corbett, the
cleverest big man that ever pulled
boxing glove over his hand: the hard
hitting though not courageous Peter
Maher; Tom Sharkey, Gus Rubin. Jim
Jeffries, Bob Fitzsimmons and a host
weight division. And wouldn't your
modern heavy weights look well
stacked up against a lot of ring men
like those named? About as good as a
toy train in a callision with Big Six
or the Empire State Express.
our present lot of heavy weights do
captain. why, Corbett and Maher and
Jeffries and Fitzsimmons and that sort
at their best would run through them
like rain water through a sieve.
FAIR MIDDLE WEIGHTS
The middle weights of today seem to
would class against the the best ST. men n 11in in
the same division 10 years ago. Papke
seems to be a good fighter. and SO do
a bit of class, but when you count
these four men you have about tolled
OF all the good middle weights now
fighting.
"And what one of these four could
class with Ryan. either in execution
or fngmanship? Ketchel is a hard
hitter and rugged fellow, but how
IKE syracuse Tommy when he was at
his best. Ryan knew every point of
the same He was a perfect boxer,
or a dancing master. Then there was
Kid Mccoy. Why. the old fox can still
step out OF a Broadway cafe, get a
hair cut and a shave and teach some
OF the rising pugilists of today a deal
about the game of fisticuffs. Ten years
ago there was wonderful array of
middle weights. Just ina gine some of
the present middle weights stacking up
against Mccoy when he was in his
prime, TO say nothing of such a man as
punch. 1t wouldn't be so easy going
through lot like that. would it? And
then, too. in that bygone day there
We're such good fighters in the middle
o Brien. Kid Carter, Wild Bill Hanra-
han and such sort.
SHORT ON WELTER WEIGHTS
There doesn't appear to be any more
Welter weight class at all Jimmy
Gardner. Mike Twin Sullivan. Harry
Lewis and young eastern scrapper,
Mickey Cannon, appear to be the best
OF the present day lot. How would
ehCJ iOOh SlelCkGQ up against Sucn neItY
bruisers as Mysterious Billy Smith,
Charley McKeever, Owen Zeigler, Matty
Matthews, George Green and other
classy boys of the Horton law days, to
Joe Walcott. The pGny welter weights
OF today wouldn't have much chance
with lot like that, would they?
And take your lightweights. There
was certainly great array of them
elght or ten years ago. Do you think
many or the present day lightweights
could beat down Kid Lavigne? | will
say this Nelson. the present champion
seems to be the very best of the modern
day lighters, and | really think he
would have been champion in any day
or any age, but for the rest of the
lightweights we have today. barring
Packey Mcfarland, to my way of look
ing at it, they would have had a nice
time climbing into the limelight with
such sturdy scrappers as Dal Hawkins.
Tim kearns. New York Jack O'Brien,
Kid Mcfarland. Patsy Sweeney. Spike
Sullivan and that line of fighters block
ing their way.
CLASSY FIGHTERS SCARCE
Outside of Attell where is there a
real classy feather weight in the ranks
today. Owen Moran, of course, is good,
and they say nice things about Jem
Driscoll the latest Importation from
deah ole Lunnon. but look at the kind
on. Terry McGovern, Young Corbett.
George Monroe. Tim Callahan the Gar
diners, Oscar and Eddie, and Austin
Rice. Do you think it would be any
church social for the present day light
weights to wade through that lot?
The bantam weight class seems to
have disappeared altogether. and,some
years ago there were surely some
crackerjacks in that class, such as
Jimmy Barry, Harry Forbes Clarence
Forbes, Arthur Coote and frankie Neil
There are no bantams today with any
more harm in their mitts than a coopful
of catbirds."
Asked to give his reason for the pau
city of good men in the present day
ranks of fighters. the captain went on
to say that 1t was not so easy to ex-
plain that matter:
The fighters are surely better treat
ed nowadays, have finer raiment and
more money. The inducements for be-
coming a fighter and staying In the
ring are greater now than they ever
were. yet it is a fact that fewer real
lighters are in the game today than at
any period of ring history during the
last 20 years.
"One reason I think the fighters of
today are not as good as they were a
decade ago is because there is too
much commercialism in the sport. You
don't see the lighters of today, or at
least many of them, who>make study
of boxing. The only thing most OF
them ever think about is the size of
the purse and how it will be split And
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