Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-30
MONA IS CONTENDER FOR
MIDDLEWEIGEiT HONORS
Milwaukee Boxer Appears to Have Chance
Against Others Who Are After
Title-Other Gossip.

sometimes put some sawdust under.
neatn. Then comes a couple of husky
DoAers, and one OF them hits the can
vas Instead OF the soft padding, he
strikes the hardwood flooring, and un-
less he has an extra hard skull an
injury is liable to result.
IL Is only another one of many reasons
why every state should adopt a boxing
law. and put it under the control of
commission, SO that just such things
could be supervised. To begin with.
every ring should be padded with at
least an inch to one and half inches
OF felting. with a quilting over that
and then the canvas.
This would give nearly two inches or
mating beneath the canvas and a boxer
who might fall or be knocked down
ting hard substance. IL the ring is
properly padded and the canvas stretched
tight 1t need not be slow, as some boxers
claim the padding makes it. However.
much better to have four inches of pad
ding on 1T than to have one injury, no
matter whether the boxers kick or moi.
Then, too. the ropes should be covered
with cloth. so as to prevent boxers from
having their sides or backs burned In
striking against them. The posts ana
hooks which hold the ropes should also
be covered with plush or some soft sub
stance. There should be an extension
OF at least foot or more outside the
ring SO as to prevent boxer from fall
ing Off In case he should go through
the ropes. And last, but not least the
seconds should be instructed to see that
the pals, bottles. etc. are not left in
the ring between rounds. az a boxer
might be seriously hurt should he fall
end have his head strike the edge of a
pail or the top of large bottle. These
may seem trivial little items i'm connec-
ton with a boxing bout, but they are
most important. and all promoters viii
be wise to see that they are adhered TO.
II stars of the athletic world could
keep up their bright side of life until the
end what n grand proposition IL would
be! But there are few Of them who have
the right finish.
Twenty-Five years ago George tSpikep
Kelly was a flashy young man and one
Of the real good lightweights of those
days. He had plenty of money. with all
the good things that 90 with it. and he
was dined and wined a plenty. Later he
became trainer of boxers. and has
handled some of the best i'm the country.
among them Battling Nelson. whom he
helped when Bat was just beginning 10
blossom forth AS a lightweight of the old
school
Today poor Kelly is a helpless cripple
and blind. depending upon what help he
can get from friends and what aid his
good wife has been able 10 give him
also the aid of his faithful bulldog. who
has brought in many dollar by his
clever tricks for the unfortunate trainer.
"A lew Years ago Nelly was ndTdiyZeG ana
could only get around with the aid OF
crutches. He lived i'm Denver and all
the boys were good to him, lending a
hand whenever possible. He sold books
and trinkets, and with his trick dog did
fairly we'll. A year ago he lost the sight
of one eye, and q few months ago had
trouble with the other one. He went tn
San Francisco I'm the hope of saving the
sight of the remaining good one, but last
week he lost that one also, being totally
blind. He returned to Denver and Isl
now having a hard fight TO keep going.
1t was Kelly, who got Battling Nelson
one of his early fights that helped push
him to the front. He matched Bat with
Adam Ryan at Little Rock. Ark, i'm 1905.
and the $500 which Bat got for the bout
helped him to more good ones Kelly
also trained Bat for q time and it must
be said that Bat helped the poor fellow
more than once, not forgetting the past
fayors.
The hardest blow of all, however, came
= little over a year ago when Kelly was
At Salt Lake City. He had gone there
ahead of time, thinking the Johnson
Flynn fight was to take place in that city.
He wanted to sell some novelties and had
gathered $500 together. He was relieved
~ the 500 by some one Ca person he had
rusted) and 1t put him to the bad en-
irely. Even with all his trouble Kelly
look the matter in philosophical man
her and said: We'll perhaps the person
needed the money worse than | did. but
inc must have been in awful straits. If
lie has any conscience | pity him.