El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-19

New York. Oct. 18.-Whos white
champion now We all know the Ath-
letics are champions of the baseball
world. but how about the boxers?
Around town mere fight fans had
come to regard .Gunboat" Smith as the
class of all the white fellows. and his
record looked pretty good at that. IN
til last week. anyhow. when the huge
Dattleship. Carl Morris. was warped
alOngside-Smith didn't look quite so
good then as we had him figured
Ever since experts and newspaper
critics have been divided over what
happened in the fifth round Of that
match-when the gigantic Morris was
fOuling his lighter. but harder hitting
opponent Some contend the "GunbOat"
was a beaten man at the time, and.
realizing that he was I'D against it de-
cided the easiest way to escape a beat
ing was to claim a foul-which the
referee allowed.
Still others argue the "GunbOat" had
the original white hope licked to a
fragile and that Morris deliberately
fouled to escape the iEnominy of a
knockout
Being baseball fan. l was in Phila-
delphia to watch the Giants and Ath-
IetIcs play and am therefore not IN
position to speak except from hearSay-
However. nv representative was on the
ground. and L consider him good
judge Of a boxing match as anyone [
'Gunboat' was struck a foul blow in
the fourth round. but that It was unln-
territorial on MOrris'S part and. anyway.
it did no damage and did not warrant
punishment In the fifth rOund-Wh hen
the claim went in and was allowed
my representative states the blow was
not foul at all and furthermore 1t
looked as if il had been blocked by the
''GunbOat's arm Nevertheless. the
latter Immediately put in his claim and
the referee allowed it. It looked to
h,r he 4 lib orb Of
CarIS corner. where the men were en-
gagged at the time. as II Smith quit
cold turkey"
Now. 1 am not going to attempt to
judge any fight I have not seen. al
though I have talked with at least a
dozen well posted men since the bout
my representatives stOry-that Carl
was given the worst OF it and 1t looked
like he had the "GunbOat" going. None
of these men is Dreiudiced one way or
the other either. and. even so. be-
Geve would tell me the truth.
Instead of helping clear the heavy
weight situation the fight Just sort Of
tangled things I'D more. There Is onIv
one way out of the difficulty that I
can see and that is to have them fight
it over again. Morris is willing. I I'M
derstand. but Smiths manager saws the
"Gunboat. is booked for a trip abroad
and that he viii do no more fighting
until he returns.
Meanwhile Carl is willing to take on
any heavyweight in the business
Morris is no longer the big. green boy
of two years ago when he came east to
the Dugilistic world At that
time he knew absolutely nothing about
the game of fighting at all He was
lust a big target for everything in
shape of a punch that was aimed at
him He was the best WallOp assimilat-
or that had happened along in many
a year and when it licked over the
wires not so very long ago that he had
been knocked out by Luther McCarty.
the fight public was greatly surprised
He had seemed a bit more than human
when it came to taking punishment and
knowing that McCarty was no demon
local fans who had seen both
n action could hardly believe the re-
port. Later Carl said he had been
jobbed" and after looking the big fell
Ow over again. one is inclined to be-
ieve that there is something in his !
story.
Morris will give any heavyweight a
battle from now On-White or black
His enormous bulk and weight give !
lin a great advantage over his rivals, |
With the possible exception of Jess vii |
ard. who has him tied. or perhaps beat !
IN in size But Willard is not the |
ype of fighter Morris is. or at least |
vas not the last time he showed here |