The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1913-10-06

use his Judgment. as an accidental
foul is excusable when no harm is
done. But an intentional foul there
is no excuse for.
In years of action in the capacity
of a judge of pugilistic aspirations in
thousands of ambitious fighters.
will venture the assertion that a
cheater never qualities for cham
pionship honors. He is 50 II separat-
ed from the better elements OF square
boxers
Rule No. 4 reads if either man fails
through weakness or o,hcrw Sc he
must get up unassisted. ten seconds
to be allowed for him to do so. the
other man. meanwhile. t. return to
his corner.
Say for inst ance, that 4 knocks h
down. in AS corner. According to
this rule. A would have TO stand
directly over b. while b was getting
on his feet. What ruling could n
referee make in this case? claim
the rule IS defective. as ii makes no
provision for the referee TO substitute
in this emergency. He must there
fore use his own judgment
Take the fight between Philadel-
phia Jack O'Brien and Al Neil of
San Francisco that took place ~
Oh 'cago in 1902. when O'Brien knock
ed Neil through the ropes into the
audience and Neil's seconds and
friends rushed 10 where he was
lying and helped him back into the
ring.
Harry Gilmore. who was referee.
let the bout continue. which. ac,
cording to my opinion, was the prap-
er thing TO do. yet in rule No.
it says If either man fall through
weakness or otherwise he must get
up unassisted | say in this case
referee has got to have his head
level and use good judgment
A ten round contest between fast
evenly matched fighters on points.
where a hair-line decision is the
only enc in order, IS the cause of
many arguments and protests by the
boxer who loses by some few points.
seen only by the referee and taken
into consideration in his decision.
which is final.
These arguments are pleasant pas
time for the referee. The boxer who
loses on points is half wild and he
s accompanied by his trainers. sec
1nds and manager. all trying to tell
the referee he is wrong in as many
different ways as there are people.
and all yelling out their opinion of
the decision of the referee. The
fight fans who have been roofing for
the loser are kissing and hooting
kill him"
The safest way for referee to
make a decision under these circum-
stances is through a lcng distance
telephone.
There are boxers, to all appear
ance TO the audience. and even to the
ringside seats, who are so evenly
matched as to make any decision
but draw seem impossible, yet I
can see the most glaring faults in
every movement the men make in the
ring and in the way they handle
their offense and defense
A natural fighter is born and not
made by lessons in boxing taught
by some gymnasium professor, and
he can't help fighting. He gets in
trouble at school for fighting. and
he never stops fighting till he reach
es the top He is the master then
Of what is his second nature.
He has style of fighting all his
own. which he has gained from hard
experience The other fellow never
gets past what referee would call
clever boxer and he hasn't a
chance on earth with natural born
fighter A fighter will soak up pun
ishment like a sponge will water in
contest with another fighter like
himself, and will be in the height of
his glory with both eyes closed, his
nose out of plumb and his face
pounded out of shape
His opponent has taken as much as
he, with the exception of having enc
eye still open. Their efforts from
then on are confined to the ambition
OF one try ing to close the good eye
and the other to keep it in an un
damaged condition
They fight round after round
never losing their head, and, strange
as it may seem, these two gladiators
and born fighters are not mad al
each other. even when they are
taking the worst kind of punish
ment.
1t is the one game they love anf
they play at it coolly and collectedlS
as two expert billiard players
The next day after the fight the,
meet on the street and talk over the
performance with no more show o
had feeling toward each other thai