El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-02-11
Prize Fighting In the Old Days
When Booze Often Won the Game
By PATSY" Haley, Old Time Fighter.

for real tough struggle the affair
between Mike Leonard and Harry
Lemon, fought at Buffalo, was the real
bearcat- During the first five rounds
Lemon cut Leonard to ribbons. I was
behind Leonard with Jack Hanley, and
at the end of the fifth I told Hanley
that if Leonard lasted one more round
1 was crazy-and I was crazy.
In the next five rounds Leonard kept
hitting the floor so often that it was
impossible to keep count I wanted
him to stop. but he refused. Well, for
10 more rounds he took a beating that
would have killed many another man,
and was on his feet at the finish of the
25th round. A few months later Leon
ard met Lemon and knocked him out in
Is rounds.
Another Real Hummer.
Another battle that was a real hum
mer was when Kid Lavigne met Jack
Everard al the Bohemian club in this
city. That this was looked upon as
fstic treat was plainly evident when
the admission fee swas $25. And it
was worth the price. For "a rounds it
was nip and tuck. Lavigne had the
science. which saved him many times
from getting one of Everard's pile
driving swings. In the 25th round
Lavigne saw his opportunity and
dropped Everard for the count of nine.
Immediately afterward he sent Ever
ard down twice more. The last time
Everard could not get up.
Another character that is missing in
the list of today is Spike" Sullivan.
Spike was real fighter He could
take punishment without losing the
strength of his wallop. For % rolS7ds
Dial Hawkins made a punching bag of
Spike" only to succumb to the latters
right in the 23rd period. / forgot to
mention that Spike" was boy that
never wasted nickel. I went TO Eng
land with Spike" and on the other
side he lost to VIII Curley on points
In a % round affair. And it was only
through leaving Spikes quarters
that I lost, for the change of training
methods cost me the decision.
While over on the other side I was
lucky enough to witness the sensa-
tional fight between Dick O'Brien and
the Coffee Cooler The Cooler was
to be invincibIe in Great
Britain, and the night of this battle
was a 1 to 5 favorite. Only a few
smart Americans who had seen O'Brien
work were in on the cleanup, and they
won a fortune, as O'Brien knocked the
Cooler" cold in five rounds The fea-
turei that night was that the club man
ayers erected a small select stand for
ord Burton and a few blOOds,' and told !
them what q sure thing the Cooler" /
was Those highfiiers never stopped !
betting, and when the Cooler laid |
lat on the canvas they were 5000 /
pounds poorer. And they say lord Bur !
on forsook fights forever after that !
upset.
Evan whom ma thinks Of tho oId /
lays one must confess that the present !
lines are better for the fighter and .
he sport, for the headliners of today !
tick until they are through and then .
'etire instead of going and trying to !
i've on the past as the Cldtimers did. +
instead of the sport followers sidestep- !
,ing the downfallen champion as they /
lid in past years, they are willing to !
meet him now. for he is 1at fut trying |
o panhandle. It's all in z lifetime, and 4
am glad to see the change.