The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-09-18


There are some men who have seen
a great many ring battles, and there
are some who have written about them,
but there is one man whom everybody
confesses to be the king of all ring
writers, and that is ''Bill' Naughton
of the San Francisco Examiner. Mr..
Naughton has witnessed every fight of
any Importance during the last twenty
years, and his accounts of the battles
have always been recognized as
standard.
He takes no chances when he re-
ports fight. With him at the ring
side is n stenographer and he leans
over and details the fight blow by blow
as it goes on. This appears in the
paper the next day as 'the, fight by
rounds, y and there is also a personal
story signed by Mr.. Naughton, giving
his general impressions of the fight.
The following is reprint of Mr..
Naughtons story of the Attell Moran
battle in San Francisco on Labor Day.
1t is deeply interesting to all follow
ers of the game, as it shows clearly
and succinctly just what happened and
how the decision came to be draw:
"Abe Attell is such a consummate
ring general that it isn't easy to tell
how the pace affects him or what mo-
tives impel him to do certain things.
To man up tree, however, 1T looked
as though Attell deliberately jeopar-
died his chances of winning from
| Owen Moran by loafng and just fight
ing in spots.
,aReferee Jack Welsh declared the con-
test draw, and Attell was mad as a
wet hen. 1t looked for a second as
| though be would not allow the referee
to take hold of his hand and hoist it
aloft with Moran 's,-but he finally did
so; the while his face was wrinkled
with anger.
Gin the writer's opinion Attell earn
ed the decision. 1t may be that Moran
scored as often as the San Franciscan
the Englishman certainly was the
more consistently aggressive of the
pair-but Attell's blows had more
| steam. Abey gashed his opponent s
| cheek with swapping right cross in
the seventh round, and in many of the
rounds which followed he hurt Moran
with left body punches. Attell s
straight left and hooks bulged the
bridge of Moran's nose, pulled Moran 8
| lips and kept blood dripping from
| Moran's face. Attell himself came
out of the melee without scratch.
"Whatever may be said as to how the
men compare in cleverness and all
round fighting qualifications, it must
be said that Attell knows better how
to minimize the effects of punch. AS
The fight wore on Moran reached Abe 8
cheek and chin many times with right
crosses, left jabs, hooks and swings.
When struck Attell would allow his
head TO roll loosely with the punch and
would suffer no more consequences thar
if merely slapped with the open hand
Moran. on the other hand, stood NJ
stiffiy against the American champion z
smashes, and as a result his face wal
well marked at the finish.
Tide Turns in Seventh.
4 s1Tbe turn of the tide came in the
seventh round when Attell waited, fol
| the Moran lead and then sent his right
straight and true against the British
er,s cheek. A trickle of blood told the
tale. Moran's confidence must have
J been impaired by this and othci
smashes, for he plunged at Atteil ant
! butted him in the face with his head
! There was some hooting and warn
J ing from the referee and the English
man did not offend again.
! "Attell was a little further In tn'
, Head in the eighth round. BY this tint
, he was as steady as rock and his rae
fairly beamed with confidence. He be
gan to loaf. He would back away from
| Moran Is rushes, saving his body ant
i the lower part of his face with en-
twined forearms and rolling his heat