The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-08
S P O. r T O-L-O- G-Y
BY w. D. RIsHEL.

One more town will soon be num-
bered among those pugilistically dead.
The City of the Angels, at the other
end of the Salt Lake Route, now cut
ting considerable ice as a fight center,
is the burg in question. Some time
ago q wise alderman thought he was
a king pin when it came to knowledge
on the game of biff, and one day, be-
cause he didn't get enough passes,
started in 20 regulate the thing He
has. He put an ordinance through de-
signed to work wonders in the boxing
business. and it did. Heretofore the
public was dished up an article of
sport where now and then a man was
knocked out, and where they did not
fake fights more than once a month
The alderman was not satisfied with
this, and had a law put through where
the Los Angeles fights are huge jokes.
Three battles of Importance have been
pulled off under the new ordinance.
They are the Memsic- Unholz, Nelson
Unholz and Britt-Nelson. Each went
the limit. both fighters claimed the de-
cision in each battle, none of the fight
erS lost anything in the way of repu-
tation, and the fighters and promoters
raked in some easy coin. The public
paid fancy prices to see two expert
enced fighters dance about the ring
with pillows as gloves for ten rounds,
when twenty rounds would not have
bothered them any. You don't hear the
fighters kicking. because the present
Los Angeles fight law has brought the
game down to the level of wood tag.
The fighters can continue the game
indefinitely, never suffer a knockout,
and claim victory no matter how it
goes But how long will the public
stand for the game? The receipts of
the Nelson Britt fight were about
$4,000, when the amount should have
been at least four times this much.
The gate receipts are a sure barom-
eter on any sport, and the amount TAX
en- in last Tuesday would indicate that
Los Angeles fight fans are fast wax
ing up TO a high-class con game.
Hyland's New Move.
The break between Dick Hyland and
Sammy McClintic the past week was
expected. Hyland has been idle, or
practically so, for two years. During
this time he has met two live ones,
Cyclone Johnny Thompson and Tom
my Murphy. The fights with ThOmp-
son, three of them. were about an even
break, and Tommy Murphy had it all
over Hyland in six rounds at Philadel-
phia. Yet Sammy posed Dick as
fers for a battle where Dick would
have to fight. At one time in this city,
last fall, when the outlook for the fight
game was good, Sammy was offered a
match for Dick with either Muggsey
Shoels, Boer UnhOlz or Pete Sullivan.
HyIand could have picked his man and
named his terms. All three were tough
propositions, and Sammy sidestepped
them ALL Instead. Sammy wanted to
bring in few dead ones from the east,
but as Salt Lake and Ogden had al
ready given Sammy a tidy sum of
money for fighting dead ones, those in
a position to have a say in the game
demanded alive one or no fight. Sam
my was wroth, and for four months
hung around salt Lake trying to force
questionable matches through. and
breathing vengeance on those who
sought to protect the game. The net
result was the pair went into retire
ment as far as the public is concerned.
Where Dick Went Wrong.
At last it appears that Dick realized
what he was up against and quit Sam
my. The writer does not believe Hy
land is afraid of any man on earth,
and that, if left to his own judgment,
he would meet any man in the ring to-
day Hyland is one of the most gem
tlemanly fighters in the ring, and a
man who in his everyday life does a
great deal toward uplifting a game
which is knocked harder than any 9TH
er sport now before the public. Hy-
land is well liked even more, he is
popular and numbers his friends by
every person who knows him. But
Hyiand carried a heavy load in Nc
Clintic, and he did wise turn when he
dumped Sammy. With all McClintic's