The Alaska citizen., 1911-01-16
The Sporting World

vor of altering the scale of weights governing the various puglistiC classes. said a veteran referee the other day. Nelson was the first lightweight champion 10 refuse 10 meet Challenres except at the Amer iCan limit. 133 pounds ringside. and WulCaSt Is following his example to the lett T, with the result that some of the hest boxers. who are practically lightweights. are barred from competition in this class. In England the National Sporting club recently established new weight linn. is and fix | the scaling in the lightweight class at l35 pounds, six hours before ring time. This ar Tangement seems eminently fair, and I believe il should prevail in this country.
 When the late Joe Cans was the light weight champion he met all corners regardless of the lightweight limit until he stacked up against Nelson. whose stipulations as 10 the sealing limit were manifestly unfair and resulted in the downfall of Cans. who was physically weak ened by such conditions. Nelson. as
 
 from a match. as the latter could not make 123 pounds ringside. and wanted to fight al 135 either ring side CT several hours before the handShakc. Now Wolgast also bars Mcfarland, Goodman. Young sam my Smith and other 135 pound boys for the same reason.
 You cannot place these challeng- -,lr ;,, fl !, [, class. the limit of which is 1i2 pounds in this country, for all of them would be outweighed by the titleholder. Dixie Kid or the claim ants for that honor. Willie Lewis. Harry Lewis and others, so that it is the growing belief that boxing clubs in this country should get to- gether and revise the rules govern ing the different weight limits.
 Take the bantamweight class for instance: CGulon says he is the champion. but he will not fight any body above 115 pounds ringside, although the recognized limit in this country is 116. Jimmy Walsh of Boston insists that he is the ban tam titleholder and has defended the honor at l16 pounds on num- erous occasions successfully. Yet in England LIS pounds is the limit at which Digger Stanley holds the championship.
 There is a miXup over the worlds fea,herW eight championship too. Abe Attell, the American title holder, can make 122 ringside, the limit in this country, at any time, but Jem Drscol the English cham pion, defends that title at 126 pounds. scaling several hours before ring time If Attell and Driscoll ever met it is safe to say that the American will be compelled to make concessions in pounds or Dris- coll will not fight. The late George Dixon won the featherweight title at 11S pounds and Terry McGovern lost it to Young Corbett at 126, at which figure Corbett defended it un- til he was beaten. Attell did not win the feath5 weight champion ship from a recognized titleholder, but he assumed the title and has beaten all corners at 122.
 When Jack McAuliffe and Kid Lavigne were lightweight champions they never quibbled over weight conditions. Lavigne. when he lost his title to Frank Erne, did not scale at 133 ringside, but e was deprived of the championship and by a referees decision too. When Tommy Ryan claimed the middle weight title he ignored the Ameri- can limit, 15S ringside, and insist cd upon 154. In short there's a miXup over the weights governing championship contests which should be adjusted, and the best way to go about it is to have the leading clubs of this country get together to agree on a uniform set that will conform with the English standard and at the same time guarantee fair play.
 San Francisco really needs two or three corners, because their list of eligibles has been sadly depict ed in recent years. Lew Powell gave hope of taking Jimmy Britt's place, but along came Ad Wolgast and bowled him over. Some of the followers of the game still think that had Powell been right on the night he lost the decision to Vol gast he would have surely won and kept on going up the ladder As good a judge of pugs as Jim my Coffroth thought Powell was heading straight for the title Vol gast took away from Nelson. Jimmy unbosomed himself to this effect in the East just prior to the time that WOlgast put spike in Powells wheel. Powell is now in New York City, and although he did not get off any too good, he has been doing better lately, and the New Workers are beginning to see him a little more. If he could turn something on Tommy Murphy, Jack Goodman and Knockout Brown he would re- store himself to the eligible class.
 Abe Attell, the worlds feather weight champion, is the only top notcher San Francisco can now claim as her own, and Abe has no end of trouble to get on in his home town for short distance bout Abe is now going out of his way to take on some of the good men, but in giving away weight he keeps the number of rounds down so that he has a good chance of pulling through all right on his cleverness. The way he put it over Pal Moore must have been a rude surprise to the Fasteners. Moore was coming along at a fast clip, and meanwhile taking on weight so rapidly that he is close to a lightweight. By allowing Moore to enter the ring we'll over the feath- erWeight limit, Attell guarded him.