Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-24


the promoter is billing 1t is battle for
the middleweight championship or the
world.
Probably. at no time since the unfor-
tunate ending of the peerless ketchei mas
the championship muddle been nearer
settlement than at the present time. The
legitimate aspirants and runners-up num-
Der not more than four, and within the
next few months 1 expect to see one of
this limited coterie established as undis-
puted boss of the division,
In addition to Klaus and Dillon (and one
of these will very likely De eliminated
as a contender this afternoon), there are
two other gents" who come pretty close
to filling the bill in the matter of cham
pionship accomplishments. These are Nike
Gibbons, the speed wonder from St Paul,
and Eddie McGoorty. the Oshkosh crack
erjack- Gibbons is to have trial over
the ten-round route in New York next
Tuesday evening. He boxes Jack Den
ming, who has made the best showing OF
any of clever Mikes opponents in his
Gotham battles. / predict victory Tor
Gibbons and look for a knockout before
the ten rounds notwithstanding that sew
eral newspapers gave DennlnS creulI LOT
having the best of II the last time
I watched the men carefully on the oc-
casion of their former meeting, and While
Denning gave a good account of himself.
and probably boxed better than at any
other time in his career, Gibbons did not
extend himself until near the finish This
was due to palpable lack of condition, and
not to any desire to permit his opponent
to stay the limit. Rather il benOoved
him to husband his strength as much as
possible during the early rounds Glib
bonS later on explained that the severe
winter weather of his northern home
had interfered with training operations,
and that when he arrived in New York
there was not sufficient time to prepare
properly. AS Mike is an unusually level
headed young man, he would not take un-
necessary chances during the contest, and
IL was not until the last round or two that
he cut loose his bewildering array OF
straight jabS, hooks and uppercuts- What
he showed then was enough for me TO
pick him as an easy winner over Den
ming next Tuesday.
Jim Coffroth, who is trying to corral
all the middleweight stars. advises me
that Eddie McGoorty has been matched
to meet the winner of todays Klaus
Dillon bout, and that he hopes to obtain
Gibbons consent to visit the coast to par
ticipate in the finals of the championship
tourney he is promoting. AS l said in
this column recently, / shall not be sur
priSed If McGoorty and Gibbons are the
pair who will eventually do battle for the
title
Packey Mcfarland made short work of
Kid Burns in their return match at
kenosha. Burns, whose sole claim to
fame rested on the black eye with which
he decorated Mcfarland when the boys
boxed in New York some few weeks since
was never in the hunt and his seconds
were forced to throw up the sponge in
the eighth round. Friends of mine who
ran up from Chicago to see the match
say that Packey fought like member OF
the vendetta. He was merciless in at
tack and cut Burns face to ribbons. The
New Yorker was hopelessly outclassed.
L \;
white hope" honors in the east. l see
where he disposed OF big Jim COffey, re-
Gently over from the old country with
the reputation of the best man Ireland
has produced since the days of Peter
Maher and Tom Sharkey. Coffey was
given several matches with third raters
and made good. but when he bumped UP
against the Soldier it was curtains"
L saw Kearns box a preliminary the
night of the Attell-knock-Out Brown
fasco and recall how favorably the
makeup and style Of the young giant
impressed me at that time. His work
was very crude. but his punch was
mighty. and if / remember correctly he
knocked out his man in the first round,
same as he did with Coffey. the Irish
man. the other night.
Kearns and Palzar are the sort that
can be developed into contenders for
the highest honOrS in heavyWeig ht
pugilism. They are both jewels in the
rough, and what they need most is
the right sort Of tuition and training
20 put on the polish. PalZar is fortu-
nate that he hooked up with Tom
O'Rourke so early in his career As q
result he is now generally recognized
as the most dangerous white heavy
weight before the public. I do not
know who looks after kearns but I
hope he is In god hands. II would
be little less than d crime to mar the
future prospects OF this promising
youngster through incompetent train
Ing and advice,
The crop Of old-tine fighters with a
desire 10 shine I'm the fistic armament
is not diminishing so very fast The
rumOr Will not down that Jim Jeffries
has determined 10 make another bid
for the championship. The big fellow
denies any such intention when the qucs-
ton is put directly TO him. but word
reaches me from Los Angeles that the
former champion IS daily doing a bit
OF quiet training and that he is en-
pected before long 10 publicly announce
his willingness and anxiety to take an
other chance.
Then there is Tommy Burns one-time
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