The Colorado statesman., 1911-12-30
LOOKS like JOHNSON IS
THROUGH WITH PRIZE RING

Johnson first talked of retiring many
thought 1t was merely one of the
champions whims, and that he would
be back In the game with both feet
the first time proper inducements"
were made to him.
New corrobatiye testimony is forth
coming that Jack is through with the
frivolities of the ring and that he is
plagued with ennui to the extent that
he does not care continental who
succeed to the title.
He valves all right to voice in the
bestowal of the laurels and says he
has no suggestions to make as to the
heavyweights best fitted to wear
them.
This is bad. 1t means there will be
a cloud on the heavyweight cham
pionship for years-that, the man
who assumes the prerogative without
licking Johnson, will be regarded as
a pretender, a jackal masquerading in
a lions skin.
There must be continuity in thing
OF this kind. Each succeeding cham
destruction. The newest manor the
latest model, one might say-licked a
champion who licked another cham
pion and so, link by link, we trace
our latest prize ring here back to some
dim and distant champ" just as
race horse traces to the Byerley
Turk, or the barley Arabian.
When a broken link appears, there
is blot on the escutcheon of the
man whose reputational pedigree we
are investigating, and SO it will be If
Johnson escapes from the game un-
licked and some one grabs his title.
This line of argument is easily
proved sound. John L. Sullivan de-
feated Paddy Ryan, who defeated Joe
Lewis; Jim Corbett defeated Sullivan;
Jim Jeffries defeated Jim Corbett;
Jim Jeffries defeated Bob Fitzsim-
mons and Jack Johnson didn't do
thing to Jeffries.
Just think of the mental suffering
of the sporting editors of the future
while trying to explain to old sub
scriber and constant reader that the
old line of champions ended with
Johnson, and that the new breed is
only kind of Manchu dynasty.
Something must be done to stall of
the confusion that threatens the fistic
historians of the coming years. We
must drag Johnson back at any price
and this goes both ways" as this
slangster says-and have him trounced
to the queens taste.
1t should be done to keep the rec
ord straight, and come to think OF 1t,
twill be merely what some call poetic
retribution."
The Jeffries that Johnson licked
was merely the husk of the Jeffries
that used to be, and Johnson has as
much right to hearken to the come
back" cry as Jeffries had, especially
II he prizes his right.
There's another angle to the ques-
tion which is bound to engender bit
terness of spirit. l refer to the racial
angle. If Johnson is allowed to rest
in peace there will come a time
and then succeeding time-in which
the men with the dark pigment be-
meath the cuticle will say:
THE first negro that was given q
chance became the champion of the
world. They couldn't defeat him, and
SO as not to block the wheels OF
progress, he stepped aside and al
lowed them to arrange a fresh deal.
The chain of destruction which be-
with Jack Johnson"
Joe Jeanette, through his man
ager, Dan McKettrick, is the first to
lay claim to the crown left on the
bureau of Jack Johnson. McKettrick
says that he has shown himself su-
perior to Sam Lansford on various oc-
casions, and that it wasn't SO much
Australian gold as a desire to evade
Jeanette that sent Langford scurry-
ing TO the land Of the Kangaroo.
This Is the first shot in the new
campaign and Jeanette probably has
as much right to fire 1t as any other
man.
But how are things to be brought
to a focus? With Johnson on the re-
tired list, astute Hugh Mcintosh is
sure to bill the impending Sam Lang.
ford-Sam McVea fight as a worlds
championship struggle. and who is to
gainsay him?
Maybe the best thing for Jeanette
to do is begin wedding out at his
end. Let him hook up with Jim
Flynn, who seems to be regarded as
the best of the white heavies. and let
the winner of that affair journey to
Australia or coax the winner of the
bout back to this
city. Then he will begin to get line
on the situation.
Tom O'Rourke, or some one back
in New York. has expressed the opin-
ion that white man would be cham
pion of the world again before long