El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-13
Middleweights Anxious For Tourney
Boxers May Soon Determine Championship Of DiviOnFhte
Admit They Are Going Back Until They
7 ANDREWS
By 7. S. ANDREWS.

Z of years until a short time ago when
/ BIZ johnson, rising young light
I weight Zone of the new SCHOOL,, got
( after JabeZ for a match. Jaby tried
I hard to come bach and for Is rounds
J fought with skill. but lost the deci-
/ sion He was clever, but that was all
! needed to prevent his being stopped
by the yOungster and Jabez was con-
tent that he did stay the limit.
It is the same with many Of the
I good Oldtimers. They think they can
/ 90 as well as ever. afer long lay offs,
/ but once they start they soon discover
! their mistake
The question is being asked many
times of late, What is a prizefight.
and a Milwaukee business man comes
out in the open and gives an idea Of
/ what real prize fight is
A B. Nichols does not mince matters.
either, in giving his version and it
might be wei for some of the reform
ers to note the difference, according
TO Mr. NichOlss idea, between the real
article and uptOdate boxing.
I have noticed many articles Of
late" said Mr.. Nichols, regarding
prizefighting and boxing and I want
to say that there is all the difference
in the world between the twO-as
much difference as there is between
night and day. l will give you an
idea of the real article first. 1t was
in 1873, If I remember rightly, that 1
was living in St Louis and all the
boys were interested in a priZefight
between Tom Allen, the Englishman,
and Nike McCOOle, for the worlds
championship. They had met before
and I understood that Allen had been
robbed OF the decision and another
match was made It took place up the
river on one Of the big river boats.
They fought with bare knuckleS under
the old London prize ring rules The
round did not end until one man was
knocked down and then they rested
only 80 seconds. For seven rounds Al
len battered McCOOleS face to q Jelly.
1t reminded me of piece Of raw beef
and he was a sight while Allen was
unmarked Finally McCOOle was bat
tered into a helpless mass and his sec
Onds carried him away on a Stretcher.
That was a real prizefight and with
out gloves, padded ring, etc, such as
they have nowadays Since then L
have attended many contests, but IN
der the new rules and with big gloves
the present day boxing is like a pillow
fight between children compared to
that prizefight 1 saw near st. Louis.
To my way of thinking the pres
ent day bouts are real boxing con-
tests and nothing more, and you can
not make anything else Of them The
big gloves are used, the ring is well
padded, the rounds are limited to two
or three minutes with a minute rest
between each round, and the referee
stops the bout the moment one man
shows his superiority over the other,
making it a clean sparring contest 1
did object to my son playing football
when he went to school, but I never
objected to him boxing. There are
less accidents in boxing than in any
other form of sport outside of tennis
or ping pong. for 1 have followed ii
closely and know whereof I speak
1T is nv opinion that the churches
make a mistake in trying to oppose
boxing. Let the ministers pay more
10 their flocks and give
young America chance to develop. If
boxing makes the boys a bit rough.
then / prefer to see them that way and
with red blood in their veins rather
than of the cigaret species r. What we
need is a sane boxing law to regulate
the sport and I know of many business
men who take the same view Of II
that I do"