Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-24
ALL DEPENDS ON
THE BIG BLACKSMITH
Johnson Will Be Champion a
Long Time if Jeffries Fails
to Get Him.
By Bill Blunt.

BY Bill Blunt.
NEW YORK. October 23.-That MOURN
full cry Of the schoolboy. used 40
often when playing the gam II
marbles: We'll. here goes my last taw.''
might appropriately be applied To- the
heavyweight situation as II pertains 10
the white and colored races today IL
the youngster can't win with his last
marble. he's busted II Jefries can't
defeat Johnson that white supremacy
slogan isn't likely to count for much for
long time. Jeff is the last one He'll
have to turn the trick or johnson is
liable to be champion for several years.
Little consolation is to be had from the
hope that perhaps some strong young fell
low will come along and win the title.
Heavyweight champions aren't unearthed
and developed In few months. No mat
ter how game. clever and fast a young
ster may be he will lack the one great
neutrality-suspicious., which is another
way or spelling generalship. There Is
but one way to gain it: learn IL in the
ring. The gymnasium doesn't count SO
much. You are liable to forget all you
know once you get into the ring blind
ed by the lights. a sea Of faces glaring
at you. and there is your opponent in
the opposite corner. scOwling and trying
to look as fierce as possible. It's like
getting stage fright. How often a man
Will walk out before an audience. have a
lump come up into his throat humble a
rev unintelligible words and then make
nasty. disorderly retreat. 1t wasn't
necessarily lack OF gameness that pre-
vented him from putting forth his best
efforts. Perhaps il you had tossed him
into drinking ken with instructions to
get busy he might have cleaned up q
half dozen OF the habitues in as many
minutes.
the strange environs got his goat and he
was thrown out at first.
=
Two examples that serve to illustrate
the above theory are Steve O'Donnell and
Bob Armstrong. In the gymnasium they
were good enough to fight for the cham
pionship. Don't let anybody tell you they
weren't. Jim Corbett always said ODon-
nell was the cleverest man In the gym he
ever had boxed. Corbett himself was
some clever. and he had his own indi-
vidual troubles striking O'Donnell many
blows. Steve was there a thousand ways,
in the privacy Of the training quarters.
but In the ring he seemed to lose his
nerve. He was considerably cleverer than
Peter Maher. but whenever they met in
the ring he was merely a plaything In the
hands Of the Galway man. Peter knocked
him out In a round at Maspeth: a year
later. at Coney Island. he did it again In
q round: two years after that he put
Steve away in two at Philadelphia, and.
when they met later at the Broadway At
lethic Club. Maher won in the first round.
In the training quarters 1t would have
been a pretty good even bet that he would
have smothered Peter with his cleverness.
Many who saw Steve box, both in tho
ring and in the gym, say as much. He
was sad spectacle against Maher In the
ring.
Armstrong was both a boxer and .
fighter in the training quarters. He
trained with Sharkey at Felix Boehms.
on Staten Island. for the sailors fight
with Jeffries at COMFY. They fought
every afternoon. Not tame practice bouts.
but the real old suggests Along about
pm, the time set for "sparring." you'd
see the visitors. natives and guests sneak
ing over to the gym in mobs OF two and
| three. They knew what was coming on
and 1t was sure worth while. They'd just
slash away for dear life and the dripping
Of the claret was not an unusual sight.
Toms greatest trouble was In avoiding
Armstrong; straight left. Where ono
would have the advantage one afternoon,
the other man would likely have the hon
ors the next day. There was little to
choose between them in the long run.
When there was nothing at stake Arm
strong was first-rung heavyweight. but
when pitted against a good man in the
ring his timidity was the big stumbling
block. With the heart Of Goddard or
Sullivan, he might have been champion.
Against Sharkey in the gymnasium Arm
strong could make a showing. but there
are few who believe he would have per-
formed meritoriously If stacked up
against the sailor in regular ring con-
test.
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