The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1912-10-26
PUGILISTS RUIN
CAREERS FIGHTING
HEAVIER MEN

They say a good little man ran always
ttht "a blk oue. hut Dee can't not - 'h.
.if man - proporuonateiy good. Faith
IN The Did saying has stopped SOM. 81
dvced.
go back 20 the days Of George Dixon
limit. u pounds. ami then ~ the featn-
erweight limit. which VAS MS IL A.
most constantly met men to whom he
Terry McGpvefn. the Terrible Terry
fo1snt Dixon FOR the feath-rwcight
'nampiouship. McGoveru weighed 12e
pounds. "a" beat Dixon.
Then what happened - McGovernr
lnd Terry 10, the fate ~ AIS preiccr -spr
serve a. example. Not much. Terry
lr weighed. Aud his end also came in
tl" same way that Dixon = had arriN ed
n.'i2vern fought Young Corbett for the
title. Corb>tt weighed 12s rounds. lie
beat McGoN.tn ia two rounds.
And did N"uug Corbett let the fate OF
Dixon and Terry McGuvern sand az an
example 20 HIM. lie dil not. Hc a. reed
o. fEht Jimmy Britt. and the versatile
James weiEhed 1913 pounds. just tu"
lightweight limit Britt closed the
career OF Young Corb-tt lie whipped
MIN. and Neison came along and whip
Ped Britt.
Take the case Of Xii I.svigne. whom
s''Lt- Sl"r 'al4ed ne greatest light
weight who ever laced ON a boxing
glove There was some eNcus" Tor La
Nigne. lie won tie lightweight cham
piOnship and cleaned up every body iu his
class. lie had To- meet bigger men ~ qult
fighting. tie constantly left his class 10
battle. lie met DICK Burge iu Ems nj.
Hurge was welterveigEt and stood five
inches taller than the Saginaw KID. but
Lavigne whipped him n took him sew
entecn rounds OF fierce fighting TO ac-
CompliSh II.
I.dvigue bucked the rule 81 weight. and
u finally got him tie way u got all those
WI" went before him. tliH finish came
ntN \ -
smith. . weltcrweight and also one ~
me. toughest battlsr- in the history 90
tie rims. l-ivigr" went up against him.
ami lu the fourteenth round - that ~ ght
uu the coast. March 90. 1883. Law ilsue's
brother tossed ~ tie spong" To- save
The saginaw kii was never good az
t"rward. i.tvicne had three ribs shat
tered in that bout. ana Eis career ~ a
iightweIght title holder was practically
cl"s'L July 3. 1899. De met Frank Erne
in buffalo. Tine lightweight title was at
stake Erue beat Lavigue iu 20 rounds.
Erne successfully held the crown untii
De began meeting men out Of his class.
His Nemesis was Kuh- Ferns. At that
time Ferns was welterweight champion.
AT Fort Erie. Ernc was knocked out In
the ninth round. That finished Erne.
for in tie following May Joe Cans
knocked him out in the first round IN
a fight FOR the title. staged at Fort Erie.
the same ring I'm which Ferns had stor-
ped the clever Erne.
And so ON down the line. Whenever
they got out Of their weight they take
chance. Tommy Ryan as wclterWetght
title holder took on KID Mccoy. The
adventurous Norman Seiby was fighting
under the name OF Mccoy at the middle
weight limit. Mccoy beat Ryan In 10
rounds.
Taking or weight constantly - "a hal
as giving wcignt. Joe Cans killed him
SELF getting down To- the llghtws ght
limit. ana Battling nelson can blame his
loss or the tifl" on Weakening himself 20
re.I.cf. I!s Wel.-ut Co 1913 pounds. The
task was too big The best boys and the
biz money rested IN the lightweight divi-
sion. So Cans and Nelson hung on az
lonc uz drying out processes. starvation
ani Thr ~l.il torture enabled them 20
make ~ pounds. Il beat Nelson aud u
killed Cans.