El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-06

! but the little champion has been un-
able to accept any Of the many chal-
lenges hurled at him from the east and
west, as his doctor has advised against
it, A champion is supposed to defend
his title in a real championship maUCn
at least once in every six months but
in case Of this kind where the tide
holder is really ill., he must be given
some leeway.
Two of his most persistent chal-
lengers have been frankie Burns, the
Jersey boy, and Kid Williams, the Bal
LmOre whirlWind. who recently beat
Eddie Campi, the Pacific coast star, in
a hard battle at Los Angeles There
IS no denying the ability Of Williams as
fighter He is a little whirlWind and
no mistake and it wiz take just such
a clever ring general ike Johnny COu-
lon, to defeat him, but not until he has
been through a tough battle. AS for
Burns. 1t can be said that COulOn has
already beaten him, at New Orleans,
so that Williams is the one to fear
most
Johnny writes me that he hopes to
soon be able to take on some light
matches, that is over the six or 10
round distance, after which he will be
prepared to accept Williams challenge
for a championship battle over any
distance and for a side bet in addition
The little champion tells me that his
health IS improving right along and
that he viii begin light practice at
viii open the way for worlds title
match between the winner and the
champion Of Europe, at present held
by Charles LedOux, Of France There
have been few international matches
for the bantam title since the days Of
Jimmy Barry, the Chicago wonder,
back in the early SOS
Funny, how quickly opinions change,
especially in regard to the ability OF
IighterSi It is not many months ago
that many writers and followers Of the
boxing game were calling Johnny Xii
bane a paper champion" and claim
ing he had won his title from Abe At
tell by a fluke. These charges were by
no means pleasing to the little Cleve-
land boys ears, but he kept quiet and
said nothing. Then came the story OF
an ALLEGED fake fight in a Pennsylvania
town with his own sparring partner,
which was afterwards proved that
Johnny had nothing to DO with How
ever, it all hurt the reputation Of the
little champion, and 1t was up to him
to make good. He went about it in
businesslike way. stopped few easy
ones and then headed for New York
Johnny put up a cOrking good fight a
few weeks ago against tough young
ster and followed this up with battle
against George KirkwOOd, of st. Louis,
considered a very promising ~
FOUNDER Eilbane showed his real class
and ended by practically knocking his
man OUT IN the SlALn LOQLN II Was q
clean cut victory and the eastern crit
les sat up and took notice, giving
Johnny full credit for his work Now
he is matched with Johnny Dundee, the
hardest piece Of fighting machinery
about New York at 124 pounds. The
contest viii be decided before the Nc
Carey club at Los Angeles. in April I
and 1t viii be the marathon route
20 rounds. Kilbane will find Dundee a
hard man to beat, for he is a powerful
little fellow and can stand lot OF
punishment
It viii be the fighter against the
boxer. but as the distance is none too
far for a man Of Kilbane's make up,
the shade should be on the champions
side from the jump It will be the first
cal title bout Johnny has had in many
months. but there is every reason TO
believe he will give the fans real
battle. even though ne
las been tardy in getting into action
lgain- KiIbane is a fighter somewh hat |
fter the style Of Jem Driscou, the
British featherweight champion, beng
splendid boxer. with fairly good
punch when called on to use II, out
1referring to win with his cleverness
f Dossible and not relying on single /
swing to score a knockout