The evening world., 1912-02-26
Joke for Mike Gibbons TO Claim
Welterweight Title, but He
Looks to Be the Best Of the
M~iddieweights.

tIbe Wv iofh world.
IKE GIBBONS IL the greatest
IV middiewsight fighter IN the
w. country. without q Possible
doubt. Mikc ought to be lighting mid
GswsiShts all tho time. for he entirely
eotciAssss smaller mon.
What . Joke his claim 10 the wSitcr-
weight championship In was shown by
~ onncial Weighing on Friday night.
when he fought Willie Lewis. o~utciAssed
him about a. far ~ Jack Johnson
W0uld outclass . year old baby, and
Aropped him for the X. o. after ons
minute and sixteen seconds of lighting
n the second round. Gibbons scaled
LII pounds bsfore entering the ring.
RaGht here let me break In long
enough to congratulate the Boxing
Commission on the most sensible rule
Il has turned out The notion Of hav.
Ing every boxer wsixh in at rinssids.
and Of publicly announcing the vseixht~.
was . masterpiece IL has already
p~unctured many weight claims and has
fixed the standing OF many wouid-bs
claimants of titles.
To 80 back 10 Gibbons. He wsighs
ISi pounds. stripped. and at that
weight he 10 al akin and bono and
muscle. He couldn't light At the vel.
tsrwcight limit. La pounds ringsids,
under any possible circumstances. He
has not done any dghunS at that
weight limtt. and his claim upon the
wsltsr ius u merely . personal claim.
Anybody q claim . title. The next
thing 10 to 80 cut end prove mat you
deserve II.
Mike Gibbons oan claim the middle
Judge Of hghtars he car hold Il against
Klaus. Grouse and all the other claim
ants just a. easily ~ Bob Ftt.sim-
mons In his time could hold his tith
against any middiswsiSht who cared
to investigate Bob's hghtinS qualities.
Gibbons 10 snothsr Bob FutasimmonA
He dossn't fight IN Fitasimmons style.
but n Of his own nat - fully ~
effective. He 10 the nrst nan I've seen
In years with . true vitssimmons
punoh-one Of those that oAn b let
70 for . Knockout Whenever he sees
his opening.
Lot Miks gibbons claim the middle
weight title and wen Al think of him
- . modest young . But - for
thA1 "vsitsrweiyht" blun-forgst Il
MIA You can't Afford 70 u OF . leg.
20 victory In the ring Of iats has
ben % popular a. THAI BY Johnny
k0bane over Abe Atteu. II isn't
cetsn that champions passing
swaksns . feeling Of 10Y In the hearts
q che sport following public. Yet curl
Dusty enough all W the country peo-
ne seem gAAd that Attsll has At last
let . ohampaonshap nsht. Abe has no
90 20 blame but himself for this. II
~ bad bseo less FOXY" and had always
feH0hs IA Win and TO show the best
tha4 was In HIN he'd nave been As
peculiar In defeat ~ he was years ago
WAsu he did such brilliant work IN the
y1nS.
Attsli has fought hundreds Of ring
bsetles. He has lest very few. But he
has had Q habit Of stallinS through
hGheD that he could win eaaly. keeping
Ids opponent for . return match. True.
Ab4s usually cleaned up thoroughly on
the second trip. but that only showed
how hard he pulled tie FIRST time.
Being . gambler. Able never saved
much none In fases only n short time
3 he told me that he was busted,
nat" and that ne was going TO cut out
gaming OF all sorts and try TO save q
stake TO tide him over when some
youngster carno along at iast-like
Johnny Kilhane-and put him among
the has-bsens.
But Atteil has one ADVANTAGE that the
Young corbetts and others OF that sort
lacked. lie has lost one fight and his
title. bu. he Isn't down n out physi-
cally yet. He may not be at his best
He's pretty good and he al 60 alons
winning a lot of aghts. Abe 10 any.
thing but a physical bankrupt. And
now perhaps he'll fight svery night or
his merits. He'll have TO.
TTn'IL may get n fresh start b,
~ beating Tommy Murphy. II ISM
likely. for Murphy n . tougl
proposition IN IA twenty round hght. atil
he may do Il. But sven NJ hat h,
won't be the great money drawing car
he was as a champion. II reminds m,
OF the old college song:
when you're ~. You're up.
And when you're down. you're down
But when you're In the middle.
V..-x -. -.