Atlanta Georgian., 1913-03-04
BY Battling Nelson.
Greatest Of ali Champions. J


story on the three hardest
blows that were ever landed
on my anatomy and also the three
hardest blows | ever landed on an
opponent In order to preserve my
well known reputation for modesty,
| viii begin by giving the other fell
lows the credit and then end with
the story of the three blows | con
slider the hardest and most timely |
ever landed myself.
Three fighters stand out in my
memory as the hardest punchers l
ever met. They are Martin Canole,
Young Corbett and Aurelio Here
ra. True, Terry MCGovern landed
two flush on my jaw at the same
time in Philadelphia that made my
head spin; Joe Cans hit me nine
billion times, by actual count Cat
least | believed | was hit that many
times); Rick Hyland almost killed
me for three minutes. and Leach
Cross made me want to just climb
out of the ring with ? right to the
face. But Canole, Herrera and Cor
bett did the damage.
uERRERA'S blow was to the
head. and III never forget it.
We were matched to fight in Butte,
Mont, on September ;. 1904 Her
rera was a peculiar fighter He
always fought from a sneak" BY
that | mean he always advanced
well covered up; then, quick as
Serpent's sting, he would unlash
right hand to the jaw, head, face
any placc-and the referee would do
arithmetic over his unfortunate
opponent
l had formerly been his SpaIriug
partner, in the ham and beans days.
and knew his style, also knew
about that right hand. For three
rounds | kept it away from my
head used every artifice my lin
tied knowledge Of boxing afforded
to stay off that one punch. Final
ly, however, in the fourth round the
lights went out. ! was coming at
with both hands for the body. Sud
denly the roof fell in, A 10x12 tim
Der hit me on the head--at least,
il felt that way. | went down.
clawing for grass, and peacefully
slept.
| saw nice large stars, fireworks.
beautiful blue flames, owned an au-
tomobile. had money in the bank
and not a care in the world.
Then | woke up. \ man was
standing over me tolllng off the
numbers. l thought it was the
Judgment day and | was the first
man up and Mr.. Gabriel was an
nouncing the numbers and posi-
tions Of those who would wear
golden crowns. But. standing a 1T
tie distance from the referee, was
figure not intended to grace any
ethereal picture. 1t was the MeNi-
can, Herrera knew his habits
knew how he drank smoked and
used profanity, and knew that he
didn't stand a chance OF being
'AlAlcAS tAA'HN Noll' N AN NIsRi'i iNt htt
the first chorus SO | climbed up to
put him out of the throne room. and
then realized that ! was in a fight.
rushed at him and cluug TO him
like Ions lost brother He wasn't
bit glad-he tried to push me
away. but I chung on until the end
Of the round. and then my head
cleared. and ! really began TO fight.
gave Herrera an artistic laciuG,
but that punch hurt me for a week,
and was not able to knock him
out That was the last time VIC
ever met. too, as he came in away
overweight in our next proposed
meeting and the match was called
off
THAT grand little fighter, and
fine fellow, Martin Canole, also
did a fine job at denting my anat-
omy. We met in San Francisco.
Cal, May 20. 1904 Canole was
wonderful au-around fighter, who.
If handled pronpl1y ,Digbt how,