The Detroit times., 1910-02-21
HEART
-TO
HEART
Nth the
Sporting
Editor.

The anniversary OF The birth OF that
distinguished American patriot whose
name is always accorded Tue premier
position IN any
v,,o>. thing exec pr
nEtDi> American league
hthDEsr' baseball. will be
celebrated tomor-
ROW al san Francisco boy what prom
Uses Co bee the grandest crashing OF
cOnks in the history OF the contest
for the hghtweighi diadem For Bat.
Ting Nelson and "A Woigast, cham
pian and challenger are going 10 t
over the lOng route and The one with
the hardest head is going TO win.
quite naturally. the crowd OF The
coast opines that there Is nothing 20.
ing To dent the bean OF the cham
pion. N durable qualities OF whose
skull have been demonstrated too
many times 10 permit OF the least
doubt Nevertheless. there are some
hard heads developed up around Cad
lilac. Mich. and that Is where VOL
CAST halls from. In his battles on the
coast Wolgust has torn into his man.
head down and swinging for the
hods. just as Nelson does In fact,
his style seems 10 have been copied
after Nelson 10 a great extent X
maN not be backed mp with the
tremendous vitality which is the
Danes but il has proven good enough
20 break up the hopes OF most OF the
other American lightweights or very
nearly frst-class. and that is all that
has been asked OF il up TO date
As noted above though. Nelson IS
A favorite. The odds are 10 10 .,
the hgure denoting the popular be
lief in the relative thickness OF the
TWO skulls one needs only TO watch
the moving pictures OF one OF Mel
sons bouts 10 appreciate how well
This confidence is justified. In all
probability Bat has never fought
strictly legal night in all his ring
career. His best blow Is delivered
with the top OF his head and some.
times il seems as II this is about all
the telling punch which MS repertory
includes In the first fght with Cans
which Nelson eventually lost on
foul. he must have fouied Cans al
least 90 times with his head before
Referee Siler finally stopped the bout
and awarded IL 10 the Negro on ac-
count OF low blow with the INST.
Siler didn't guess that blow right but.
on general principles. his decision
was undoubtedly just. Al that, ms
Is about the only time that Bat has
received his just deserts from the
referees. All the ring rules ever
adopted have placed butting prom nent'
~ In the list of disqualifying GRIMES.
Vet Rar never seems 10 bother very
much over the selection OF referee
and gets away with his favorlte
punch without drawing more than
score OF more Of warnings.
The example of Nelson is really
exercising baleful influence on box
ing generally. particularly in those
clubs in which big gloves are used.
Bows have come 10 reanze that one
punch with the TOP OF the dome OF
thought is worth a dozen with hst'
covered by six-ounce pillow And
they get away with il Rarely does
a referee even threaten offenders
with disqualification and the situation
is weekly becoming more annoying 10
the lovers OF clean boxing. pad
on the top OF the head appears to be
the most logical protection against
foul fighters and there are more than
a few who believe that this Will be
the means eventually settled on.
But it's cinch that Battling Nel-
son will never be champion, with such
a rule in force.