Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-13
AMERICAN BOXERS
LEAD THE WORLD
Need Not Fear International
Rivalry, Says James J.
Corbett.
By James J. Corbett.
Copyright. 1910. by the Tribune Company, Chica
go. Unauthorized reproduction of this
article Will be prosecuted.l

Oy Jdu1cS d. COl UCtt.
Copyright 1910 by the Tribune compsny chica-
go. Unauthorized reproduction of this
article Will be prosecutedl
1t is fact that our American boxers
have reached such an exceptionally per-
feet stage in scientific fstic knowledge
ard physical development that we need
no longer fear an international rivalry
for the championships in all the classes
from bantam to heavyweight. 1t certain
" looks so, and in measure l regret
that such may be the case.
Instead of our boxers going across the
pond to give battle for championship hon
ors. France and England just at present
are offering inducements for Americans
To visit Paris and London to entertain
patrons of the sport. Some OF our fight
ers even have invaded the cars domain,
and few years from now 1t will not
sound strange to know that Americans
have the right to claim the fstic cham
pionship of Russia, Bohemia, or even
Egypt. should the fever which has been
started on the other side continue to
spread as in recent years.
Will Lay Aside Foil.
There isn't any doubt in my mind from
the way Paris has taken hold of the
game of the padded glove that it won I
be many years before the fiery youths of
France will lay aside the foil and take
up the padded mitt in the more manly art
of self-defense. Then / have no doubt
that a lot of good boxers will be de-
veloped. and I'm not altogether certain
that II my plans for stage work in Amer
lea were less bright to make future sue
cess assured / would hesitate to move
across and open school of instruction
in Paris. The French are quick to learn,
physically active and game. and just as
soon as the right material is offered we
shall find rivals for championship honors
over there.
Just at present it seems rather strange
10 see the Lewis boys, who after their
twenty-five round draw were rematched.
tine winner to meet Billy Papke two weeks
later: Joe Jeanette. AL kubiak. Sam
McVey and a half dozen more having
greater or less pretensions to champion
ship honors fighting among themselves In
Paris and London In England. too. we
find little beyond the feathers (although
the weight limit there is about as f1ex-
ibIe as 1t used to be among the over
grown lightweights in Philadelphia a
dozen years ago.. among the feathers be
ing Freddy Welsh, who fights Jim Dr1s-
coll March II before the London Sporting
Club; Tom Thomas, a new middleweight
who has driven England daffy by recent
performances in the ring, and Iron
Hague, a heavyweight, soon to try his
hand I'm this country.
should be glad to see a new and
better crop of fighters abroad, for we
must remember that fstic affairs here
were never in a more fiourishing condi-
ton than a decade ago, when that Won
derful bunch of Australians-Peter Jack
son, Frank Siavin. Bob Fitzsimmons.
George Dawson. Dan Creedon, Tom
Tracy, Joney Critic, Tommy Murphy and
several others-overran England and
America and cleaned up in nearly all the
classes. 1t was the grit born of defeat
that stirred the Americans to greater
effort, and today we have a result
the best boxers in the world, together
with the championships. We are wait
ing for some one to come over and try
10 take them away, and the faster they
come the better 1t will be for the ring
sport generally.
England Has Shown Grit.
England has shown her grit in trying
to develop new material. but not with
much success, 30 far as we have seen in
this country, following the invasion of
the Australians to which 1 have referred.
In Australia it looks as If the teachings
of Foley have been forgotten. and none
has succeeded to the position of the old
master who brought out the list of fistic
stars, nearly all of championship caliber,
whom 1 have mentioned above.
Foley was the apt pupil of Jem Mace.
and so from England in reality came the
system of boxing which the Australians
brought to this country. Americans are
ever ready to be shown and we quickly
assimilated the best features of the new
system, and each boxer who has been
successful in rising to the top OF the
fiSttc ladder has studied out and added
the necessary individual qualifications,
So that we really have school in which
original ideas and individual develop
inent have been worked out TO secure
the most successful results.
IL does seem strange to me that similar
ideas have not prevailed. particularly in
England and Australia, where the sport
is not so greatly handicapped by legal
restrictions and scattered localities as
iii America. l sincerely believe that the
material Is still there and possibly re-
quires only the masterhand for it's de-
Velopment. Is 1t therefore possible that
encouragement has followed defeat and
that the American grit Is lacking among
the foreigners?
Mace-Foley System.
Space IN not afforded at this time for
the purpose of taking up and anayzing
the Mace-Foley system in comparison
with our own Of today. In a later letter
j will 60 into this subject In a more ex-
haustive way. There were many good
points in the Australians and some no.
table defects. For the best of them we
found solution. and II 1 may over
attention to my fight with Peter Jack
ron. who was finished product OF the
Foley school, while had only graduated
from the amateur ranks. At that how
ever. ] regard Jackson as one of the best
boxers and ring generals i have ever
met IN the ring, and the reading Of his
contests proves the statement.
Mace evidently had not carried his sys-
tenn to the point OF perfection in offensive
rs well as defensive work Some had
learned to hit well. while others had de-
fensive work down to perfection. The
Individual idea was lacking and the sys-
tenn OF instruction too general. A
straight punch from the shoulder, which