El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-30
NEGRO As A PUGILIST.
BY III. II. shelton.

With race prejudHe eliminated
close study of the history of pugilisTn
will show that best fighters the ring
has ever known, have been negroes. In
view of the fact that prize fighting is
largely a matter Of brute force. strength
and ability TO withstand punishment.
there should be nothing very surpris-
ing in the statement Neither should
there be anything in the assertion to
offend the white race. The white man
has ever depended more upon his SUI
perioriLy of brain to fight his way TO
the front than on brute ability Is use
his fists. That a. negro should happen
TO lick one in the race is neither a
credit 10 the one nor a discredit to the
other, considered from a race stand
point.
The superiority of the negro in the
prize ring began away back in slavery
days when men fought in the hot sun
with bare knuckles- Molyneaux.
negro slave, was the first great fighter
of the race. He was quite unskilled but
very strong and game. He really de-
feated the great Crib. father of the
ring Crib was the best man the ring
ever knew in it's golden days, a sort
of Jeffries-strOng, patient. enduring
but slow.
In the days of Jeffries's acknowledged
eminence, it was always a matter Of
doubt that Peter Jackson at his best
could not have beaten the cave man.
Jackson was undoubtedly one of the
four greatest fighters the ring ever saw,
the other three being Gentleman" jack
son of the middle of the 18th century;
James ]. JeffrieS and Jack Johnson.
For. no matter what he is today, Jeff
rieS was a great fighter Thus two OF
the four greatest fighters have been
negroes and if NOlyneaux is taken into
consideration the count is three to two
in favor of the negroes.
Peter JackSon'S Career
Peter Jackson was a high class, in
telligent negro, manly. gentle and well
hammered He was the verx pink of
perfection when it came to Style. pos
sessed a perfect left hand and was
skilled and effective puncher with the
right Jackson was the only man who
ever repeatedly hit COrbett and COrbett
was wonderfully fast and slippery 1t
is true COrbett fought the negro draw
but it is also true that he was motor
iOusly unfit to the ring at the time.
Otherwise Cor6ett might never have
been champion.
sam LanEfOrd, Fighter.
Probably no middle weight ever was
greater than Sam Langford, unless il
was FitZsimmOns. who was a freak mid
die weight indeed No welter weight
ever equaled Walcott. though the mar
velOus Lavinge almost beat him to
death. doing 133 to his 40. Yet it is
doubtful if any heavy weight of his
day, save Sharkey, FitZsimmOnS or
Jeffries could have beaten Walcott. He
almost killed ChOynSki, then very
good man, and Tommy Ryan, by all odds
the greatest fighting man of his inches
the world ever saw, always passed Wal.
colt at the weight.
Joe Cans as Fighter.
That a better light weight ever
fought than Cans is doubted. No bet
ter feather weight than Dixon ever
put up hand. SO take il all down the
line the negro shines supreme in the
squared circle. Now with Johnson.
LangfOrd and Jeanette at the top the
black man rules the ring. And even at
that theIe is no reason why the white
man should regret it. After all the sport
is one OF bruteS