The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05
ID Georgia Cities Are Endeavoring To Reorgani
ARE BOXERS OF TO-DAY EQUALS OF
THOSE OF A GENERATION AGO?I

New York, January Are the box
ers of today the equals of those of a
generation ago?
That's question frequently asked
and mighty hard to answer Harking
back to the days OF Joe Coburn. Billy
Edwards. Arthur Chambers. Paddy
Ryan. John L. Sullivan. Jack Dempsey.
Jack McAuliffe and their like and com
ing on down the list to the present day
champions | am inclined to line up
with the old-timers and while willing
to admit that some of these latter day
"pugs' may be able to battle as did
the old-time giants of the ring. none
of them do il.
Tom Sharkey's Opinion
Tom Sharkey. who was some fighter
in his day. after seeing the willard
Kearns' fight remarked. I've seen en-
all Palzer McCarty, Kearns, and the
others, and there amt one o. them
worth a silver quarter. These big guys
nowadays don't know how to fight
They just stand up and maui each
other, getting the dough as easy as
they can Jeffries may have been
dead one when Johnson beat him. but
when he was right. like the time he
fought me at Coney Island, nobody
could have whipped him. Old Bob Fitz-
simmons could have whipped all those
here white hopes on the same ring. the
same night and the same goes for me.
Id have eaten them up in one big
gulp.'
Sharkey's memorable fight with JEFF
....y1 alt H..
sore spot with the eminent saver of
the long green. For eighteen rounds
Sharkey carried the fight to the cham
pion but after that it was fearful
slaughter Sharkey had two ribs
broken. while his nose was smashed and
his right hand was crippled. Referee
George Siler properly declared Jeffries
the winner. considering the condition
OF the men at the end of the mill, but
Sharkey insisted that he had been rob
bed. The best proof that Sharkey la
bored under a delusion, however, lay in
the fact that while he was being taken
in an ambulance to a Brooklyn hospi-
tai Jeffries was outside the arena pop
ping corks for an admiring throng.
Sharkey admits now that he was
beaten.
do not know If Fitzsimmons could
have beaten all the white hopes in one
night, but he surely would have made
monkey of any one of them.
- Three of the Greatest
1t Isl doubtful if there ever were three
such champions at the same time as the
three Jacks-Sullivan, heavy; Dempsey,
micdle, and McAuliffe light. There GER
tainly is not now.
There is a disposition on the part OF
some of the new generation of experts to
belittle old John l.. Sullivan, but L don't
see any of the SUCCESSORS of John l.. fight
ing all comers, guaranteeing TO put any
of them out in four rounds and doing II.
Talking of old times in the fight game
recalls naturally George siler. He was
one of the best referees who ever made
the third man in the ring
When II came to a question OF deciding
a bout on points he was in his element.
Siler always kept track of blows landed,
leads footwork, defensive tactics with the
arms and general style. He caused sem
sation in Chicago once by declaring
winner in the case of a boxer who had
been knocked senseless five seconds before
the bell ended the last round The FALLEN
boxer had scored the greater number oil
points in nine rounds, and was far the
better man in this respect. so that mas
much as he wasn't technically Knocked
out in the tenth round, the result of
ruled that he was entitled to victory.
Siler died several years ago. and 1t was
said that he was practically broke. II ne
had been dishonest he could have maze
a fortune for thousands of dollars were
wagered on the battles over which he pre-
sided, and the gamblers were always ready
to fix him.
New Rules Discussed
The new rules of the state athletic COM
1,a ral received
ing authorities in this country, but much
fault is found with the scale of weights.
| have heard many criticisms 10 the ef-
feet that the commission should nave gone
further in this respect. 1t is argued that
In addition to raising the limits In the
feather and lightweight classes to 10 ana
l35 pounds, respectively. the commission
should have increased the weterweight
limit to 14s, and the middleweight limit to
1fO mounds to conform with the weight
scales prevailing in England and France.
II is also asserted that the commission
should have abolished ringside weighing,
which is believed to be hardship also
means of taking an unfair advantaee.
The commission might have passed rule
empowering referees to disaualify con-
testants guilty of delivering foul blows.
Men Not Always Credited
Not every boxer who has beaten
champion has been credited with the
title, and many a pugiiist VINO never
had any claim to a championship has
gayly paraded as the titular mead of
a class
In the featherweight division three
men who won the title beyond all doubt
never were credited with the champion
ship. They are soliy Smith, Dave Sui
livan and Brooklyn Tommy Sullivan
Smith got a refrees decision over
George Dixon, at weight in San Fran
cisco in 1897, and was the champion OF
the class until the following year. wnen
he met Dave Sullivan at Coney Island.
Smith suffered a broken arm in the
fifth round, was compelled to stop and
sullivan became the champion.
Three months later Dixon took on
Dave at the Lenox Athletic club in
New York and beat him decisively, the