The Alaska citizen., 1912-08-26
BY Abe Pollock.

branches ot phy slCaI competition. That th" American boxers set the stan dard oi the world goes without saying Take England. the most prominent country on the other side. as an instance. She has hot sent us a boxxer of note for so louE that We are beginning to think that We are almost in- .mcihle in the boxing line. and there have only been three who could show any class whatever Freddie Welsh, the "Pronty Pidd" lahtweieht, Jem Driseoll feather weight champion of England. and Owen Moran. These three are the only ones since the days of Charlie Mitchell who were in any sense of the word an equal match for our boys. There is something lacking Ill the fighting makeup of the foreigners. They cannot seem 10 get along i'll the fast company of the versatile Americans.
 No better illustration of this con ditiun is to he had than in the recent go in New York. between Bombardicr Wells and Al Palzer Wells showed up to good advantage ill the first round of the bout. But Palzer more than eyeued up mat tcrs and gave his opponent more than he cared 10 handle in the next two rounds He put the blink" on the Englishman's cham pionship aspirations in the third round. Wells. according to reports received from New York. appeared to be very much ovcrrated fighter, and il Was lucky for him that the match which was scheduled to take place in England between him and Jack Johnson was stopped He claims to have had some kind of q stomach ailment just before his bout with Palzcr which caused him to lose seven pounds. He attributes his defeat to this fact.
 All of these excuses may appear very well in the eyes of the Britons. but they do not take very well with tue American fight fans. And the fact still remains that England is sadly lacking in the way of capable pugila,ie material This condition not only prevails among the heavy weights. but among the men of the lighter classes as well. One of the most widely advertised boxers that eyer performed came here to seek trouble and jumped into prom that man Was Matt Wells. He not only found that aforesaid trouble in abundance. but he also found that he was novice in the eyes of the New York critics when he met the wonderful Packy Mcfarland in New York some time ago For ten rounds the elusive stockvards boy b"wildered Wells with jabs, hooks and uppcrculs without being in serious danger of having mark on himself; in fact. he left the ring without the slightest indica- tlon If being ill an encounter.
 As another illustration of the worth of foreign boxers one has only to look to the recent occasion of the meeting Of Fred Storbeck, tho South African champion, and Jim Stewart. the Brooklyn fighter, in New York. Stewart who never vas much better than trial horse" decisiyely whipped the man from the Transvaal
 The one thing about foreign fight CTS that has always proved mys- tcry 10 me is that they all come To this country with the title of champion attached to the names But when they meet some of our boys they fail to show championship form.
 The only boys who made any kind of an impression on the Yan- kees were Freddie Welsh. Owen Moran and Jem Driscoll. All three fought Abe Attell soon after their arrival in this country. Welsh beat him at Los Angeles, but not for the championship, as they fought at catchweights. Moran fought him a couple of draws in California but the best Driscoll could do was to go ten rounds to no decision" The last bout named took place in New York. and some of the Gotham crit ics said that lhe English boxer shad ed the little Hebrew. At the same time they said the boys put up one of the cleverest boxing bouts ever seen in an American ring The Cali, fornia promoters wanted to match the boys for a longer bout after they fought in New York, but Dris- coll, for some reason, departed for his native land.
 There is no reason why the Eng fish boxers should not be good They fight under the clean-rack rule and have every advantage to gain by