El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-03-11

" HE cover up naDiL Wnlcn IS
getting TO be second nature with
4 most boxers, is. becoming a very
disgusting one to the spectators at
boxing shows and meets with almost
as much disapprovaI as the -'spitbalI"
pitcher in baseball.
When you get two boxers who have
the cover up" habit then look for
rank contest, for neither one seems
willing to start the fireworks. with the
result that they both stall through the
six or eight rounds and disgust every
one present 1t is all right for a boxer
to resort to the cover when he is in
hard straits and needs a chance to re-
cover himself. but for a boxer 10 de-
Iberately start out in a limited round
bout to cover" before hitting a blow
il is going too far; in fact. it is not
boxing, but stalling.
The crouch was brought into use by
James j. Jeffries and was worked out
by Tommy Ryan. who was teaching
Jeffries the art then. but Jeff never
let it interfere with his work; it only
enabled him to better evade the
straight punches of an expert like Jim
simmons. Ihe1 came the cover Up"
among some Of the New York and
Philadelphia boxers, although Eddie
HanlOn, the San Francisco lightweight.
had used it effectively before Leach
Cross and his crowd got the habit
At a show held in Milwaukee not
long ago a Ground bout was spoiled
entirely by the two boxers being Of
the same style-bOth Of the cover up
variety Both started with their faces
covered and for fully two and a half
minutes not a clean blow was struck
Neither one would take a chance.
Then one Of them cut loose for 80
seconds and fought The same per
fOrmance resulted for five rounds,
when the referee threatened to throw
them out Of the ring They tried to
mix in the sixth for about so seconds,
but that was all, as they both got into
the cover again and refused to come
out of it 1t was rank exhibition and
all because of the cover up used by
the two men The crowd hOWled its
disapprOval and whenever a boxer aD-
peared again that night with any
semDlance OF a cover ne was given
an awful roasting The cover up"
may be all right as I said before,
where a boxer is in a tight hole, but
aside from that stage it should be
tabOOed by the boxers for their own
good and also by the promoters, if
they want TO make the game popular
and please their patrons
If the New York boxing commission
has fun power to act in creating new
rules, etc. for boxing, why not pass
a rule that viii at least curb the prac-
tice OF covering up IN contests OF
limited rounds? The commission
might at least put a time limit on the
cover up" Perhaps 1t would then
be necessary to have an extra timer
10 keep tab on the "cOVererS. There
should be some way Of putting a stop
TO the continual cover up during
bout, for IL does the game no good
Wisconsin seems to have jumped to
the front all Of a sudden in the mid
dleweight line. Three husky WiscOn-
sin boys have broken into the lime
hght-we might say -fOur-abOut the
same time. They are Eddie McGOOrty,
the Oshkosh boy whom Teddy Muir
ply developed Jimmy Clabby another
Milwaukee wonder; Gus Christie. the
who was a heavyweight short time
ago. but reduced to the commission
weight and won what he claimed IS
the title at that weight Mona start
ed all the hurrah by giving Cyclone
Johnny Thompson a defeat at 145
pounds. but il developed afterward
that Bob only weighed 100 pounds and
he announced that he could easily make
go and if necessary the middleweight
OF 15S pounds This mas resulted IN
the matching OF Bob with both Nc
GoOrty and Jack Dillon, the two con-
tests TO be decided in the near future
If MOha makes the weight easily and
his hands hold good he VIII make ali
the middies take notice.
George Chip, the sensational fighter
whom Jimmy Dime dug at Newcastle
Pa. stirred things up by knocking out
Tommy Gavigan, the Cleveland boy.
who was going along 50 nicely and
winning some really good battles. 1t
made Chips stock take a sudden rise
and there are people in the coal re-
gions now who will back the chunky
youth to meet his old rival, Buck
Grouse. and also Frank Klaus, another
Pennsylvania product Chip is now
considered among the real cOntenders
and is out with a chip" on his
shoulder.
jimmy Clabby. the globe trotter was
not to be Outdone. so Jimmy took on
Freddy Hicks, the Detroit middlefeight
in place OF Ernie Zanders. who was
taken i'll and could not so on with the
bout at Hammond. Ind. Jimmy put up
one of his best battles and made the
Hicks aspirant look like an Australian
aboriginal. Clabby had all the class
and wei known judges Of boxing did
not hesitate to say that he is one of Z
the real 15S-pOunders who can lay [
claim to the crown left by the late
Stanley hetcheL At 15S pounds ring |
side there is no one whom Clabby has [
not got a good chance to beat
The greatest surprise Of all how |
ever. was brought off at Fond du Lac, /
Wis a few miles from Eddie Nc
GoOrty's home town. when McGOOrty
and Gus Christie, of Milwaukee, met !
for a 10-rODnd battle. Christie had [
been trained TO the minute by Foxy I
Teddy Murphy, while McGOOrty, think /