Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-11-02
Fighters should
NOT GIVE away
MUCH WEIGHT
Ruin Their Chances by Con-
stantly Making Matches with
Heavier Merl-Some Men
Who Failed in This

They say a good little man can a.
ways beat big one, but ne can't
not If the big man is proportionateiy
good. Faith in tie old saying has STOP
ped some of the best little fighters the
game produced. ~ -
Go back to the days of George Dix
ON. George fought at the bantam
weight limit, 115 pounds. and then at
the featherweight limit, which was
lis. He almost constantly met men
TO whom he conceded several pounds
of weight. And finally the end came.
The Nemesis was Terry McGoYern,
the Terrible. Terry fought Dixon for
the, featherweight championship. NJ
Govern weighed 122 pounds. He beat
Dixon. = II.
Then what happened to McGovern?
Did Terry let the fate Of his predeces-
sor serve as example? Not much.
Terry took them on weighing pounds
more than he weighed. And his end
also came in the same way that Dix
on's had arrived. McGovern fought
Young Corbett for the title. Corbett
weighed 126 pounds, He beat McGoy-
ern in two rounds.
And did Young Corbett let the fate
of Dixon and Terry McGoYern stand
ac an example to him? lie did not He
agreed to fight Jimmy Britt. and the
versatile James weighed 1873 pounds.
just the lightweight limit. Britt closed
the career of Young Corbett. He whip
ped him, and Nelson came along and
whipped Britt.
Take the case of Kid Lavigne, whom
George Siler called the greatest light
weight who ever laced on boxing
glove" There was some excuse for
League. He won the lightweight
championship and cleaned up every
body in his class. He had to meet
bigger men or quit fighting. He con
ltantly left his class TO battle. He
met Dick Burge in England Hprge
was a welterweight and stood i've
inches taller than the Saginaw Kid,
but LaVigne whipped him. It took him
seventeen rounds of fierce lighting TO
accomplish it. ..-. .s..s y Ivy
Lavigne bucked the rule OF weight.
and It finally got him the way It got
all those who went before him. His
finish came when he tackled Mystic
riousn Billy Smith, a welterWeight
and also one of the toughest baetlers
in the history Of the ring. LaVigne
went up against him and In the four;
teenth round of that fight on the coast
March 10, 1899, Layigne's brother
tossed up the sponge to save George.
The Saginaw Kid was never good
afterward. LaVigne had three ribs
shattered in that bout, and his career
as lightweight title holder was prac-
tically closed. July 8, 1899. he met
Frank Erne in Buffalo. The light
weight title was at stake. Erne beat
Lavigne In twenty rounds.
Erne successfully held the crown
until he began meeting men out of
his class. His Nemesis was RUDE
Ferns. At that time Ferns was well
terweight champion. Ferns and Ernie
met Sept. 30, 1901, at Fort Erie. Erne
was knocked out in the ninth round.
That finished Erne, for in the follow
ing May Joe Cans knocked him out
in the first round in a fight for the
title, staged at Fort Erie, the same
Il Cl AAou OINPOo NAO
clever Erne. e.
And so on down the line. When
ever they get out of their weight they
take a chance. Tommy Ryan as vel
terweight title holder took on Kid
Mccoy. The adventurous Norman
Selby was fighting under the name of
Mccoy at the middleweight limit Nc
Coy beat Ryan in fifteen rounds.
Taking off weight constantly is as
bad as giving weight. Joe Cans killed
himself getting down to the light
weight limit, and Battling Nelson can
blame his loss of the title on weaken
ing himself to reduce his weight to
1873 pounds. The task was too big.
The best boys and the big money rest
ed in the lightweight division, so Cans
and Nelson hung on as long as drying
out processes, starvation and physi-
cal torture enabled them to make 1873
pounds. 1t beat Nelson and it killed
Cans.