The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-01-17
Gyaspi1g Opportunities Makes Champions Of
 Those Who Were E,~st,vl1iIe Second Eaters
By T. E. VAN LOAN.

|
 may not always make the man, but II yo1
 want a good safe bet, put small blue
 stack on the proposition that opportunity
 makes the prize ring champion.
 You don't believe it, eh? You think that
 an ace Is always an ace, no matter where fl lies in the deck. Very true, old horse,
 but it takes some shuffling to get that
 acc to the top where you can turn 1t l over.
 If takes more than 40 horse power wal ! lop and an iron jaw to make champion | of the world and with these tools alone
 few men have ever been able to tear their way through to a title. Write that in I your old brown hat.
 Let's step down and look. Five years ago a big tall darkey was fighting around the country. He was a
 better fighter then than he is today, be- cause he had had sufficient experience In the ring, and he was five years further away from the hairline, where man De- gins to stop going forward and prepares to take the back track. This fellow was fast. he was clever and he could hit some
  very often, it Is true-but in those days he was regarded as a sort of ma1or general of the pork and bean brigade. Al the present time, no better as a lighter and possibly not quite so good, this same man is the heavyweight champion Of the world Now. what kept him panhandling inc pugiIistic Rialto for so long? Lack or opportunity, that's all Ahu Il us-' enough, too Ii isn't always a mans color that keeps him in meal ticket company. Young Cor bett was a cracking good preliminary hghter-when he cared to fight-out II IL hadn't been for the chance to meet Terry McGoyern Billy would now be down ana ont of Denver instead of in New York. You see it's made differenence Of apout 2000 miles to him.
 It is quite possible that Joey 0ahs ,night still be the lightweight champion of the world but for his making one match which seemed to him very much to the tapioca. On the night when Jimmy Britt annoyed Bat Nelson's beefsteak for 70 rounds Joe sat at the ringside and whooped in his great grief, because he had not been the one to write 'hnls al the end of Bats ring record.
 "O-o-o-o-h! If I had only had you in the ring tonight!" yelled Joe. "What I'd do to you!'
 Later Joe made match with Nelson. IL seemed like soft money after what Brltt had done to the Dane. In 17 rounds bat stepped in close and jolted the famous mulatto to the floor, and there was new champion of the world. After Bats wretched showing against Britt, Cans had perfect right to refuse to meet him, but he gave Bat the chance and the dur able one made the most of it. Everybody thought that Jim Corbett was a chesty sort of a sapling to ask for a fight with the great and only "Yours- truly-alway ys-on-the- John L. Sul- Iivan John was not forced to make that match. There was no great popular ciamor for meeting with Corbett. Every body in the east was too busy asking where this fellow Corbett tended bar.
 John might have said, Run away, little boy, and sell your papers, and 90 per cent of the sporting men would have ap- plauded his action. But that winner ! take-all- -of-the-purse thing sounded good 1 to John, and he gave a younger man a | chance That chance made a new cham | pion and dumped the greatest pugilistic
 idol the country has ever known. | Jim Jeffries hadn't really placed himself
 in line for the championship by his bat !
 Peter Jackson and other spirits of great
 ones gone before. New York got one look 1 at him and cried ''Take him awayi l He was such an outsider in the betting | that strong men wept because they could i not find anyone to take their to 1 on
 Fitz.
 Just little more raw meat" said Fitz cheerfully.
 And then he woke up to find that the
 big rough boy from California had cashed in his opportunity for championship. If
 a champion hadn't fought him Jeff might
 be pork and beaner today Think it | over
 How long was Stanley Ketchel ramming | around the western country half killing | dubs? Nobody ever heard his name until | a near-champion needed pocket money | and agreed to fight an unknown. I yen- 1 ture to say that Steve was Just as dan- | gerous then as he is now. Fate cut the 1 cards, brought him to the top of the
 deck and To, a nice red acel l might go on multiplying incidents and
 examples. It takes a great deal of
 scheming, some wire-pulling, a lot of plugging in newspapers and some gilt ] edged luck to jockey good fighter to the | front of the bunch when the class is | crowded. A fighter cannot make for him. 1 self reputation better than that of the
 men whom he has whipped, and that's an- | other prize ring axiom that you can go away and bet on.
 1 Many a man of quality has remained l in the hungry division through no lack of ability. For a dark and shining example. see Langford, page 13s in the record book ! away back out of sight.
 Suppose it had been Langford whom
 Burns picked while he was selecting dark
 meat? Langford would be the heavy- | weight champion of the world and Jack
 Johnson would be going around with his
 hat in his hand saying, Mister, won't you please to give me li'l fght?"
 If you don't believe that. match Burns { and Langford and see what happens to | s"Tawmy"