Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-28
BY HERBERT COREY.

The difference between $50 and $1,000 is
what keeps Mike Gibbons travelling in the
welterweight line.
Il don't like to fight" said this amaz-
ing young pugilist Il don't know any
other man who likes to fight. I've
known lots who say they do, but don't
believe them. When it comes to- actually
going into the ring and ffghting--eally
fighting. you know-with another fellow.
/ don't know a man in the business who
likes it.
But I'd be fool not to fight. make
good money this way, while II l had to
depend upon myself would make bare
living. 1 don't know anything, you know
I'm just common lab0rer--hardly that,
either: but I'm very ordinary mechanic.
The best l could make in the railroad
shops UP in st. Paul is $50 a month. and
that isn't very much for a fellow to keep
a wife and baby on. I'm only tnsmith
by trade, and I'm not a good tinsmith.
So I'm making money while can. MY
wife doesn't like to have me fight. either.
but she's business woman. The money
end appeals to her, just as 1t does to me.
After a while. when I'm through fighting.
I'll go back to the shop
That's new sort of talk from a fight
CT. Well, this Mike Gibbons is a new
sort of fighter. He is twenty-four years
old, built like quarter horse. blue eyed
and bashful. He doesn't like to talk
about himself, but, being a business man,
he does talk about himself when 1t seems
worth while. He has been boxing for
fun ever since he was big enough to lace
on a glove. For two years he has been
fighting In a professional sort of
q
enough technically. but hopelessly anna
teurish when the size of the purses he
received IL considered-and only for the
last year has he dropped the. soldering
with Jack Denning in New York really
marks his departure from the bush
leagues. Now he's on the big time.
Has Good Morals.
Seven fighters out of ten will say, .un-
less the finger-print proof is against
them, that they do not drink, smoke
chew, swear or stay up nights. The Diff
ference is that Gibbons actually does not
drink or use tobacco or go out to see
the pretty lights. He swears-but lit
tie. denatured. four-horsepower, one-cyl-
inder oath that wouldn't shock q canary;
he loves his mother and he adores his
wife, and he regrets the stern necessity
month-old baby. He is a wedge shaped
slenderness, running up to reasonably
broad shoulders, and crowned with head
that Is both deep and wide. His eyes
are blue and set widely apart. They not
only seem the eyes of an innocent boy.
but of a boy who is sincerely anxious to
make friends. They have almost an ap-
peal for friendship. He speaks well and
to the point, but with a noticeable diff
fdence.s And adjective hucksters have
h tod h. In.
what sensational welterweight he is.
They have held that Mike Gibbons
could go through most of the men in
his class like mink through hem
house.
Il can't remember when I didn't
have an interest In athletic said
Gibbons, at the Polo Club, which he
has adopted as his home while in town.
My elder brother was sort OF q
champion in a local way. He used to
be the welterweight champion wrestler
OF the northwest-he still has q gold
medal he was given by the Y. M. C. A..
when he won his first match--and as a
kid I always hoped to do something
like he did. played ball little. and
l tried to be q runner and did this and
that, but by and by found that / was
better at boxing. The first $12 could
get hold of ! paid to the Y. NJ. c. A.
for years membership, and / used
to work out in the gym. BY and by
the boys began to notice that WAS bet
ter than most OF the other boxers, and
then they kind Of matched me with
other fe1lows-and SO worked into the
professional game"
1t took bit Of coaxing to get him
really started. He was willing enough
to talk-purely as q business PROPOSE
tion-but he was as much embarrassed
by the need as any housekeeping and
retiring youngster might be. Ae ex-
planned that he had always liked to box,
just for the fun OF 1t, but he had never
thought Of taking 1T up as profess
sion. :
But he was getting to be q wonder
In the gym. and one day his friends
matched him with another local Won
der. He didn't bother to train for the
flght--he worked hard all day in the
shops OF the Great Northern road In
st. Paul. anyhow, and only had time
to box little at highland when the
night came he just went out and
cleaned up the other wonder.
II thought was a made man.. said
he. Il got $40 for that fight. and I
didn't get mark. I thought that I
must be cut out for boxing. It was
great"
Got An Awful Lacing.
Otter fights came along, and he won