The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-08
FIGHT FANS ARE
 FEARFUL LEST ALL
 TALENT IS POOR

San Francisco. April 7.-The so- called elimination tournaments are a delusion and a snare. Like desert trails they lead nowhere in particular. The best in store for anyone who fol- lows them is a glimpse of mirage or something equally unstable and mis- leading.
 | In the memory of man about the only elimination tourney that held the even tenor of it's way and produced a prac- tical result was the one inaugurated at Los Angeles for the purpose of de- veloping a challenger for Abe Attel. 1 For further particulars see Johnny Kilbane.
 | The main purpose of elimination journeys is to give promoters a chance to work up interest in the operations of relays of no-good fighters. Just at present two far western match handlers are in the throes of middleweight chm ination journeys. McCarey of Los An geles is running one, and Coffroth of San Francisco the other.
 | It looks as if each of sne promoters is I impaled upon a double-norned dilemma. He has no material worth while to carry on with and he has failed 10 arouse anything that savers of en- thusiasm so far as the public is con- cerned
 | It is with the San Francisco tourney that this article has mainly to do. So l far, in the line of elimination bouts, we have had Frank Klaus and Sailor Petroskey; Klaus and Jack Dillon. Klaus came to us reralded as the most promising middleweight in sight with the possible exception of Eddie McGoorty, and he has proved a good deal of a disappointment In his first ! encounter he wasn't equal to the task | of stopping the fellow who wears a blue jackets uniform between matches and who knows more about the dog | watch than he does about the technique of fighting. In the next affair he gained the decision through superior condi- tion, but apart from his tendencies to- ward perpetual. motion, uncovered noth- . ing to leave lasting impression on the minds of those who watched him at work.
 It is said now that there is some hitch over the bringing together of Klaus and McGoorty. They may box later in the year, but if the bout falls through altogether so far as San Fran cisco is concerned no particular disap- pointment will be fei, around here.
 The local fight followers know noth- ing about McGoorty, but if he Is mere ly a rival of Klaus--and the term rival lcarries the usual suggestion of some . thing approaching equality--it is felt that McGoorty can be no great shakes | California patrons boxing feel rather glum over the outlook of the middleweights. With a cessation of ac- tivity among the lisntweights: with the featherweight problem nearly worked out, and with heavyweight sit uation all head and points on account of the malign influence of one Jack | Johnson, 1t was thought that the mid dies would be able to keep the ball rolling and supply good entertainment But, juding from what has happened so far, the- middleweghts are a poor lot.
 What would Stanley Ketchel have done to your Dillons and Klaus?' asked the man coming away from Coffroth's arena
 "Or what would Papke have done tc them when he was fighting well, or Hugo Kelly when in his primer re- marked another. "Of course, if fel- low recalls the boxers of even year or two ago, he is accused of living ,r the past, but why should there be such la falling away in fighters when the world is progressing by leaps and bounds in every other direction?"
 The middleweight division is certain lily in an anaemic condition and needs an infusion of new blood--good hot figh ting blood at that. That there will be a Klaus McGoorty match is inevit- able and it may be that Klaus vii show better than he 'ias vet done, but
 in the meantime there is a suspicion that Mike Gibbons is the youngster who Is likely to injeGt a little ginger int middleweight pr&llisn.
 ' Word has be-h received here that Gibbons, finding himself growins heavier, is going to toss his chapeat