El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-19
STRAIGHT HITS ARE
DISCUSSED BY
BOXERS
Old Line Boxer Criticises
Slam-Bang Style of
Clinch Fighting
dRx w. w. Naughton)

San Francisco, Cal. Aug. 19.-Harry
Gilmore. of Chicago. one or the old
school of boxing instructors-or maybe
it would be more courteous to say one
of the teachers of old school meth
ods-takes issue with me over recent
article of mine deploring the decadence
of the Mace system of fisticuffs. He
apparently thinks 1 made a wrong
deduction when comparing the rela-
tive ability of the present day fighter
and the fighter of some years ago."
AS Ad Wolgast was the particular
pugilist who inspired the article OBJ
jected to-his success, following those
of Jack Johnson, Sam Langford and
Billy Papke. having impressed the
writer with the fact that the opponents
Of the straight hitting style were not
to the fore as worlds champions at
PRESENT. is wolgast to whom Prof
Gilmore pays his particular respects.
He says: while the recent Wolgast
Moran battle was an excellent example
of the modern slam-bang fighter
u
test between two men of equal
strength and endurance wolgast is
possessed with tremendous power and
notable stamina, and this is the secret
of his wonderful accomplishments. Mo-
rams cleverness and straight punching
were ineffective because his blows in
flicted little injury on the ironlike
construction of Wolgast's physique.
want to commend Wolgast most highly
for his great work and I admire his
confident and courageous style, but
you can put me on record for this: In
the case of two fighters possessed
with equal natural advantages
strength, stamina and hitting power
the game Will lead the tearin. head
down mixer a mile"
Gflmore's Opinion.
Gilmore. who writes an interesting
letter. but one rather too long to quote
at length, says that a knowledge of
self-defence is Of use for other pur-
poses besides the pursuit of fame in
the roped square. He believes that
every citizen should know something
of the inwardness Of boxing and that
a knowledge of scientific boxing prom
ises the preatest good to the greatest
number.
TT stands TO reason" he said. that
were 1 to teach the crouching head
on style of combat it would be sadly
aussss in a street brawl where two
or more opponents might face you. On
the contrary, the ability to land a
straight right on the jaw. and the
knowing how to follow such an attack
in proper style, would be a great adj
vantage
IfMr. Gilmore's views OF things are
the proper ones, it is but reasonable
to suppose that in the whirlgig on
things pugilistic, the hit block and
step away style of fighting will take
precedence over what Freddie Welsh
calls the unorthodox style again in the
future.
Champs Not Straight Hitters.
At present all can say is that the
men who are the champions are not
straight hitters. How TO free a glove
and cut loose with an uppercut or a
loop-the-loop is an requirement that
is Of more service to a modern ring
man, apparently. than a knowledge of
straight iefts and right crosses. It
was different when Jim Corbett, Tom
my Ryan and Joe Cans were the fore
most men in their respective classes;
but Mr. Gilmore must admit that the.
blue ribbon men of today are all mix
ers rather than standaway boxers.
don't want Mr.. Gilmore to think
that I am an advocate of the present
style of milling. In the article which
he criticises for that matter, 1 re-
marked that. whereas pair of boxers
Of the Mace school furnished interest
ing glove play, and were a delight to
watch, the modern glove combat resem-
bled q dog fight more than anything.
C7frcfs Fighters ON Ton.
THE olinch' fighters, as an Austria
liam critic calls them, have certainly
come to the top. 1t remains to be
seen whether the old style of fighting
will take the precedence again.
Gilmore points to Bob Fitzsimmons
as fair sample OF the old style box
er. He says that. if it were possible
60 place Fitzsimmons in the lists again,
he would demonstrate plainly the SUI
pe-iority Of the old over the present
style OF milling
It will be as well for Mr. Gilmore to
remember that Fstzsimmons changed
his style almost entirely after he had
fought few contests in America In
his early mfddleweight fights, those
with Billy Mccarthy. Jack Dempsey
and Arthur Uphem, Fitzsimmons was a
Mace boxer pure and simple. When
he began to mingls with heavyweights,
he invented tricks and thumps Of his
own and did his most deadly work
with peculiar short arm punches, the
like Of which was probably never seen
In either England or Australia.