The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-11-03
S p O z t s
SAYS GOOD FIGHTERS
ARE GROWING SCARCE

ago there was wonderful array OF
middle weights Just imagine some OF |
the present middle weights stacking up |
against Mccoy when he was in his
prime, to say nothing of such man as
Tommy West. with his famous kidney
punch. 1t wouldn't be SO easy going
through a lot like that, would it? Ana
then, too, in that bygone day there
were such good 6ghters in the middle
weight class as Jimmy Handler, Dick
O'Brien, Kid Carter, Wild Bill Han
rahan and such sort
There doesn't appear to be any
more welter weight class at all Jimmy
Gardner, Mike Twin Sullivan, Harry
Lewis and a young eastern sCrapper
Mickey Cannon, appear to be the best
of the present day lot. How would
they look stacked up against such hefty
bruisers as Mysterious Billy Smith,
Charley McKeeVer, owen Zeigler, Mat
ty Matthews, George Green and other
classy boys of the Horton law days, to
say nothing of the terrible black man,
Joe Walcott. The pony weller weights
of today wouldn't have much chance
with lot like that, would they?
And take your lightweights! There
was certainly a great array of them
eight or ten years ago. Do YOU think
many of the present day lightweights
could beat down Kid Lavigne? l will
say this: Nelson, the present cham
pion, seems to be the very best of the
modern day fighters, and l really think
he would have been a champion in any
day or 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 nice
time climbing into the limelight with
such sturdy scrappers as Dial Hawkins,
Tim Kearns, New York Jack O'Brien,
Kid Mcfarland, Patsy Sweeney, Spike
Sullivan and that line of fighters
blocking their way.
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 kim
they had in the old days-GeOrge Dix
on, Terry NcGovern, Young COrbett,
George Munroe, Tim Callahan, the
GARDENERS, Oscar and Eddie, and Aus
tin Rice. Do you think it would be
any church social for the present day
Iightweights 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 JIM
my Barry, Harry Forbes, Clarence For
bes, Arthur CoOte and frankie Neil
There are no bantams today with any
more harm in their mitts than coop
full of catbirds."
Asked to give his reason for the
paucity of good men in the present day
ranks of fighters, the captain went on
to say that it 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 Jndu JHey ever
were, yet it is a fact that fewer real
fighters are in the game today than at
any period of ring history during the
last 20 years.
zone reason | 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 fighters 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 twill be split And
there are not as many fight clubs as
there used to be. In the old days there
were boxing schools in great numbers
with competent teachers, but today
there are very few boxing schools
where young fellows go to learn the
science of the sport and very few box
ing instructors. Commercialism has
ruined the game" and so saying, the
captain chased to the mahogany to re-
fresh himself with another sherry af-
ter his mental 1abors.
S<S