The Washington herald., 1912-02-23
Abe AtteI| Loses the Feather weight Crown
ATTELL WHIPPED
In 2O-ROUND BOUT
Johnny Kilbane Wins Feather
weight Championship from
Veteran Boxer.

Los Angeles. Cal, Feb. 22-Able Attell,
extend himself to the very limit OF his
ability and endurance, was decisively
| whipped by the young. Queensberry
whirlwind, Johnny Kilbane, this after
neon.
A championship reign OF eleven years
| was exploded when Referee Charles F.
/ Eyton, at the finish of the twentieth
round, grasped. Kilbane by the left wrist
ard hoistea the Cleveland boys arm in
token Of victory, victory that carried
with It the title of worlds 122-pound
champion.
Boxing before the biggest crowd that
ever saw a ring contest I'm Southern Cali
fornia, the feather-weight staged a sem
! sational struggle in the Vernon arena
Of the Pacific Athletic Club. II was
| battle Of brains as well as of muscle. II
was the finer points, the scientific edges,
that stuck out from the opening bell.
Not a knockdown featured the fight
Truth to tell. hard blows were few and
far between. Kilbane boxed better.
knew more, and was actually quicker
than the marvellous veteran who has held
| the title for so many years. Some idea
of Johnny's great superiority may be
gained from the fact that in one round
the eighth-the Ohioan drove Attelrs
head back with nasty jabs sixteen con-
secutive times without taking a return
OF any kind
1t was what is technically known as a
dirty" bout, with most of the dirt"
coming from Attelrs corner. Early in
the fight Attell complained, and not un-
justly, that Kilbane was pinioning his
hands and holding tight during the
clinches. With a probable idea of get
ting even, Attell ''heeled" Kilbane many
times, and in the seventeenth opened a
bad cut over Johnny's right eye by but
ting him in a deliberate manner. At the
start of this round Attell came out with
his body covered with oil. Eyton stopped
the contest and Cleaned Able.
Were the full twenty rounds TO be dis
sected. blow for blow, Attell's friends
probably could pick out two rounds in
which the champion held himself even
and two more in which Attell had the
shade. The other sixteen rounds were
so decisively in kilbane's favor that Ey-
tons award was easily predicted from
all ! arts of the vast auditorium.
Four separate and distinct features IL
Illuminated Kilbane's winning battle for
the championship: a straight left jab,
which he must have landed a hundred
times on AtteIrs mouth. nose and eyes:
side-sweeping left, which he famed
to the champions chin coming out OF the
Il SnOTI uppefCuI
plowed its way to Abie's face whenever
Johnny found this arm free; last of all,
Filbane's perfect defense. No sooner
would Jonnny's scoring infuriate Atten
into making a rush than Rilbans- would
duck, sidestep or clinch, and pin Attelrs
two arms in such a way that he was
helpless.
Coming out of the pavilion, two popu-
lar verdicts were rendered. One was
grT- arTNFTa f,,lf has h,,SI
a shadow OF his former self. The other
was an enthusiastic babbIe proclaiming
Kilbane more clever than Attell ever
was.
The Attell Of to-day was far from
being the AtteIl OF old. In but one or
two instances did Able show so much as
a flash Of his old form. He was slow
on his feet. lacked that continued tigerish
aggressiveness that has kept him in the
championship seat since 1901, and in other
ways showed that Father Time has
''right-crossed" him.