The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-23
JEWS HAVE LONG
BEEN PROMINENT
IN FIGHTING GAME:
Jewish Race Has Contrib
uted Many Top Notchers.
Abe Attell Greatest
Representative

New York. November 22.-The Jewish
race has been prominent in pugilism since
the glove came into existence during the
regime of the famous John L. Sullivan, a
little more than three decades ago, yet a
careful perusal of the dope of today shows
that there are fewer classy fighters of
this race in the game now than at any
time in the last 80 years.
In seeking a solution for the paucity of
Jewish fighters one is confronted by
bunch of arguments, none of which salts
factorily answers the question. The most
logical explanation, it would seem, is the
retrogression of that sport due to a num-
Der of reasons, principally that which has
had to do with making boxing unlawful
in many sections of the country. But that
explanation applies to fighters of all races
as well as to the Jews, so 1t really ex-
plains nothing.
What the Jewish race has contributed
to boxing in the past has been aplenty
Where a few years ago Joe Choynskb
shone as one of the greatest heavyweights
In the world. there is today not a Jewish
heavyweight in the game. 1t is true that
big Jewish fighters always have been a.
exception, and his record shows that he
possessed class akin to that of the great
est fighters of his time.
Attel Greatest
Undoubtedly the greatest Jewish fighter
that ever donned the spangles was that
marvel of the ring. Abe Attel For years
Attel ruled the featherWeiyht division
meeting and defeating the boys of all
other nationalties-and that too, by such
wide margin that no doubt was left as
to his superiority. Attel not only trounced
the fighters who could notch the same
weight as himself, but he was so good
that he had to- do more than that Abey
was forced to go out of the featherweight
class to find opponents, in order to make
boxing profitable business As a result
he stacked up against lightweights and in
these battles he held his own showing
what remarkable fighter he really was
AS showing what a really great fighter
Attel was it is necessary to explain some
of the ring happenings of "Abey'' in the
last couple of years that he held the
title. Attel in that time never lodged
any opponent that sought battle. and al
though he wasn't the "Abey" of old by a
long ways, none of them was able to put
him away One of the toughest fights
was that against a youngster named Joe
Coster of Brooklyn. Coster was a hard
NUT for any of them to crack at that
the popular verdict belonged to the
Brooklynite.
There was really only one thing that
Attel possessed that permitted him to
stay the limit of 10 rounds against Cos
ter and that was ring generalship Round
after round he stacked that generalship
against hard punching and rough boring
in tactics. and, although outpointed.
ABBEY never was in danger of being
knocked out. In his fights that followed
it was necessary for Attel to play his
generalship as his top card. That was the
only thing he had left, and he played it
so well that he hung onto his title for
nearly two years, when Kilbane came
along to dethrone him
In Light Class
The Jewish fighters have been more
prominent in the lighter class than in
the heavier divisions. Aside from Attel
Droba bly, the best was kid, Herman
the Chicago lightweight. Herman. who is
prospering in the floral business In Seat
tile, Wash. made great headway toward
the championship, but his one great
chance was failure Herman did not
possess the class of Attel. but he was
a rough and ready sort of battler. with
fair amount of cleverness His record
shows many victories, but he lust fell
short of being a champion. That he was
not of championship caibre was shown
when he worked his way up to a battle
for the title with Joe Cans It took that
wonderful negro fighter just eight rounds
to end the bout with a knockout
Monte Attel. a younger brother of Abay.
made great strides early as a boxer. but
never got far. Monte did not possess the
headwork that made his brother famous
kid" Goodman of Boston few wears
ago was just about as tough a battler as
ever entered the ring, but, like Herman.
he was lacking in the class to make him
champion
1t was only the other night another Jew
ish fighter was showed from the title when
Champion Ritchie beat the Gotham dent
ist. Leach Cross Cross had been going
great until he met Richie, but Ritchie
proved the better man.