The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1912-09-27
Oh, How Well Miss Johnny XII.
bane, Who Says HeiA Never
Appear Here Again!

Johnny KILBANF. back in Cleve-
land, sore and dlsgruniled over
his failure to. make a BIZ In New
York, says thaa New York boxing
contests arc "'f.erely parlor affairs"
and not at az to his liking. Johnny
odds that fever. never. never again
will he Wit New York and allow the
Snapprf/t iative New Workers. to gaze
With ESTATE Joy upon his marvellous
hsti o feats--or words to that effect
Hereafter he'll ignore US entirely.
md let us struggle along As best we
can without his inspiring example.
He'll drop US. old. and then we'll
sss how we like II. Yes, New York
can 60 to the bow-wows. and Johnny
won't lift q hand Tor sling q mitU to
save us. Perhaps. when we see how
impossible II 10 to exist without the
cheering influence Of his sidestcp and
how dull and gray and prosaic life Is
without even glimpse at his artistic
ducking. we may feel sorry that we
ever treated him 40 lightly. Then. II
We apologize. Johnny may relent
and unbend from his iron determine
ton to show us where we belong, and
once again condescend to come here
--for q proper money consideration.
note, however. that several Of our
most prominent boxing promoters. nota-
bly, the McMahons and Billy Gibson
twho were "stung'' in tho various XII
bans bouts) aren't circulating any petit
lions begging Johnny to come back
again.
AYEw YORK my be critised in .
III few ways. but there's one thing
about this town worthy Of com
mandatory mention. You can't sell the
aams Eold brick 10 New York more than
three times. Kiibane bricked Us In his
bouts with Frankie Burns and Johnny
Dundee and O'Kesfs. The first time we
spaiisd indulsenuy and ascr!bed Johnny's
hckadaisicai EFFORT to the fact that he
he'd only recently won the worlds
championship from Attell. and that he
had Q natural inclination to take II q
little easy on coming hack to the ring.
The second time. with Dundee. our
smile was less expansive. but We made
faint excuse for Kilbane by saying that
he could have done much batter ~ he
had felt like II. Later we heard from
Johnnys manager that Johnny had been
s'o6 his oats" IN the Dundee affair. and
that he'd show u.s. when no met
OKesfe.
Well. no showed US. He met O'Keefe.
saA It was evident that he did his level
bsst-that Is, his level best when one
takes into consideration his great natu-
ral aversion 60 being unused up. he
boxed a. well ~ he could without
taxing any risks. Klbane sbhors q
RISK a. greatly a. nature abhors q vac.
Vum. He moved swiftly and broke al
worlds records for jumping backward
But. on the whole. andor compels US Il
admit that he wasn't a success. III
wasn't real champion In action. by an,
means. And II wasn't because he faile,
70 try. He simply couldn't deliver tn
That was the third tims-and. a.
tnd before. New York seldom pur
ohases the same gold brick more thai
s0vo u"'es III QuiVn suoSesnioh.
A CURIOUS thing about Kiloane 1
~ that many people insist .ha, h
q = had ability as a boxer before h
became cha lpion. Perhaps the rel
trouble 70 that he has lain awak
o. nights wondering how much none
u would cost him II he ever lost ths
title. Perhaps fear of losing his tli
has made him ,imid. I've seen chan
9lons like that before. But I've see
. lot Of the other kind. too. and the
were the genuine, hall-marked. dye
in-tho-woo champions.
There never was a day when X.
LAvigne. Frank Erne, Joe Cans {
Battling Nelson feared 10 night ana d.
fsnd his honors. and among a
fsatherwelghts little george Dixon ar
Terry McGovern and Abe Attell q
1oyed meeting the best men that cou
b~ brought against them. SO d
Young Corbett who was famous a. q
man who beat MoGovorn. even II
wasn't a fea'herweight champion ATTIC
ward. Corbett was so absolutely sci
esnfident that he'd have fought bui
saw " his manager made the match q
hAn.
side Is Jack Johnson. who is
= afraid OF losing his title III
he refuses offers OF $4,000 to ng
Jeanette or Langford. and Is willir
% meet only little fellows or secoi
rAters. Since Reno Johnson has deft
stdestepped all offers but that to me
Flynn. an easy mark for him at al
time. Jim Corbett sidestepped riskil
his title until he was practically fore
by the criticism in the newspapers
meet Ftzsimmons. Yet both Corbs
snd Johnson did great work In 4
ring against the best men of the tin
until after winning the coveted worlt
championship. Md after losing h
title TO Fitzsimrnons Corbett took de
psrate ehsncss 9th Jeffries and Sha
tsy. sspsns W WIN ms way back TO {
~ again u.