Evening star., 1912-11-10
BY T. S. ANDREWS.

round argument between Ad Wolgast, the
worlds champion lightweight, and Joe
Mandot, the southern champion, at New
Orleans this week, that the title holder
is slipping back slowly. but surely. Not
that Wolgast can't fight as well as ever
when it comes to rushing ard mixing,
but it is that wonderful stamina that he
formerly possessed that seems to be lack
ing now, the same as 1t was lacking when
Battling Nelson went down to defeat be
fore the present champion. 1t is always
a case of bowling Il told you So after a
big battle of any kind, but the result
of this encounter came out pretty much
as expected and predicted-with Wolgast
doing the rushing and Mandot the clever
work-and with the shade in the southern
boys favor at the end of the ten rounds
There was no decision given; that was
agreed on beforehand. but practically all
the writer's agreed that Mandot had the
shade. still declaring it a draw. Referee
Smith claimed that WolgaSt delivered 81
hard body blow in the second round
which, had he followed it up, might nave
resulted in a knockout. However, II
WolgaSt had Mandot in that condition he
failed to notice it himself and thereby
lost the chance to score d victory. The
southern boy claimed differently, stating
that he was never in real danger, and
the fact that he made such a fine showing
in the latter part, especially after the
second round when Ad shot his bolt,
would lead one to believe that he was not
in serious danger
Mandot fought the more clever hsht OF
the two using good Judgment through
out in mixing at times and again keep
ing out of close quarters. He was the
fresher of the two at the end of the
bout, which would indicate that in a
longer battle the odds would not be so
much in Wolgasts favor as many I'M
agine. The fact that Ad was unable TO
keep up the terrific pace he set at the be-
ginning would indicate that the effects OF
the operation We're not wiped out, as ne
claimed some time ago. WolSasr IS
strong boy and a legitimate
lightweight. but he will have his trou-
bles when he meets an opponent OF Man
dots caliber in a long contest, or one
with Willie Ritchie's strength. Mandot
will have just as much confidence as VOL
CAST when they meet again, and II Is al
most a cinch they will meet, for Joe has
challenged the champion for a
title bout and ID. J. Tortorich of the West
Side Club of New Orleans has bid for 1t,
but Manager Tom Jones will not close
bids from such cities as Los
Angeles, and San Francisco, where twen-
ty round bouts can be held. Packey Nc
Farland is no longer the only rival for
Wolgast to fear; he must now reckon
with Mandot.
Grover Hayes. the Columbus tOhio)
lightweight, who is at present in Aus
tralia under contract to Hugh ID. Nc
Intosh, and his manager, Willard Stuart,
are having good time of 1t, even though
Griver did not win his first fight. Writ
ing from the other side, Manager stuart
says: Grover has already started to
work for his coming battle with Jack
Read (Which Hayes lost on points after
twenty hard rounds), and he seems to be
going good. The climate is grand and he
should thrive on it, although it may af-
feet him a bit for time We saw Paul
Til, the French lightweight, fight with
Read last Saturday, and while Read won.
still we did not think he had any license
TO beat a lightweight of Til's ability. We
have had a splendid time here so far and
have met some fine people. The Amerl-
can contingent is not very strong here
at present there being Joe Woodman.
Sam Langford, Sam McVey, Jack Lester
and Ernie ZanderS. Langford and McNey
are in Perth, West Australia, where they
fight and Woodman has gone to join
them Lester is to fight fellow named
Leon Bernstein and a middleweight,
whose name / can't pronounce, arrived at
Freemantle yesterday and will come here
at once. j expect that Grover Will meet
Bernstein here about the last of Octo-
Der. Give our best regards to al the
boys at home
Ohio has been turning out some pretty
good battlers among the fistic fraternity
of late, boys who compare favorably with
the many good ones developed in times
gone by. One of the clever little fellows,
besides the champion featherweight
Johnny kilbane, is Johnny Albanese of
Columbus. who has been coming along at
a good pace the past year and who prom
ises to make IT interesting for all the
Z bar 8 through
IS one Of the boys who is always
ready for bouts, no matter whether they
are just at weight or not, and those are
the kind the promoters like to do bust
ness with.
Hughie Mehegan the Australian light
weight champion, is getting into the same
habits as most fighters do when they gain
Of going on the stage in
or burlesque houses. Hughie
has contracted with a London agency TO
tread the vaudeville stage in the big city,
in a boxing scene. 1t may not
do any HARM but as rule il does the
boxers no good. and many good fighter
has been spoiled by trying 10 work the
stage and ring at the same time. They
do not go well together. Good fighters do
not retain their form a great while after
doing stage turns for any length of time
The sparring which they must neceSSar-
lily go through seems to take away their
real punching ability. and late hours and
after dinner parties do not help matters
There are many boxers who have lost
their fighting ability through the stage.
The clever little British featherweight
Harry Thomas, who surprised the Cali
fornia fans last spring by beating frankie
Conley in d hard twenty-round battle,
has decided to forsake the 122-pounders
and join the fighters in Ad Wolgast's s
division. Probably Harry thinks there is
more class among the 133 Founders, but
the fact is he has outgrown the feathers
and must now confne himself to bigger
game, and, best of all, his manager. Jim
my Johnston. is sure that Harry has all
the other lightweights beaten to a fraz-
zle including Ad Wogast and all of them.
Jimmy says that Thomas has beaten Abe
Attell and Johnny Dundee since last
spring and that he Is open to meet any
man in the world for the title, but he
suggests that the promoters offer purses
for near champion elimination tollrna-
ment for such boys as Thomas Willie
Ritchie, Joe Rivers, Young Jack O'Bren.
Matty Baldwin, Tommy Murphy and
others. the winner 10 be matched with
the champion for the championship of
America. Not only does Johnston think
he has great lightweight in Thomas but
he also believes that he has the comm z
bantam champion in Eddie Morgan, the
British boy who came over recently and
against frankie Burns md Eddie
O'keefe. The latter is a featherweight
and the boy who gave Johnny Kilbane,
the featherweight champion. hard bat
tie. Morgan made O'keefe step lively
all through and his work was a revela-
tion TO some of the fans.
Johnston will not try to match Morgan
up as bantam unless a chance offers,
but he is going after the featnerweight