Norwich bulletin., 1914-08-03
MlDDLEwEIeHT FIELD REDUCED
Three Men Prominent As Contenders
 for the Honors.

The middleweight championship of the world, which has been bantered around for night onto four years-or ever since Stanley Ketchel was laid low by slayer's hand at Conway, Mo-, on October 15. 1910-will shortly be in possession of one who will be uni Versally recognized as the champion of 15S-pounders. The field of contenders is simmering [ wn. and the number of eligibles for the title can now be counted on the digits of Mordecai Browns pitching hand. And baseball lore tells us that the ex-Cub has three fingers on that mitt.
 So 1t is with the middleweight sit uation. There are just three men in that division who are so far super or to the rest of the crop of pretenders that the only way to clamp the middle weight crown down on the head of the rightful owner would be to hold round robin of bouts, the ultimate vic tor to be proclaimed the world OCT as the middleweight champion.
 There are any number of fair mid dies" but the trio who should be fight ing it out for final honors are Mike Gibbons, Jimmy Clabby and George Chip. If Gibbons will only enter the controversy we are likely to have an undisputed champion in the 15S-pound division before the current year rolls l by. If Gibbons could only be induced l to tamper with the men whose dis ] placement IS 10S-DOunuS, H6 WOulu 1 have no difficulty in showing to the world in convincing fashion that he is l the only and legitimate successor to i the title vacated by the late lamented l Stanley Ketchel.
 1 Gibbons has done nothing of late to l startle the pugilistic realm, but hls record substantially bears out his class. <! Chip and Clabby demonstrated just a fortnight ago that their pretensions to the title must be given due and serious 1 consideration. In faraway Australia l Clabby took 1t upon himself to elim-
 mate the most dangerous man of his ! weight in the world. He beat up Ed i die McGoorty so handily for a few rounds that McGoorty deliberately fouled him in the eighth. The defeat 1 puts McGoorty out of the running for 1 the title he once imposed upon him self. and of which he made Australians believe he was the rightful owner | At about the time Clabby was show 1 ing up McGoorty George Chip knocked all the championship aspirations out of Billy Murray in Is rounds. Murray was being looked upon as a second Stanley Ketchel'' when he collided with | Chip He proved such for a few rounds. and then the bubble burst | Murray twice previously had beaten Al McCoy, who scored luke knockout l over Chip.
 Looking over the field again, there l is still another middleweight whose l work in the past entities him to con ! sideration. Jack Dillon is the man in mind. His defeat on Independence Day of Sailor Petroskey, who gave Clabby great fight for 20 rounds,
 stamps Dillon as fighter of merit. Dillon is capable of giving Gibbons, Chip or Clabby all they could handle
 in a fight over the route. Dillon has fought Chip about seven times, and
 came out unscathed in his tussles with l McGoorty, Moha and Klaus.
 Clabby and Gibbons have fought
 three times, the verdict going to Claboy
 once and the other two bouts being mo-
 decision affairs The best way to de-
 termine the champion would be to
 stack C1abby against Gibbons, and
 the winner of this bout against Chip If the law of the ring were ad
 hered to. Al Mccoy, the Brooklyn
 fourth-rater, would be the champion ot
 middleweights at this writing The
 Flaw of the ring" is simply this: That
 when champion dies the title reverts
 to the previous holder. Thus, wher
 Ketchel was murdered the crown shift. ed back to the brow of Billy Papke
 Papke lost to Frank Klaus on a fou
 in Is rounds over in Paris, makins
 Klaus the champion. Klaus. in turn
 was knocked out twice by George Chip
 who, in his order succumbed to A Mccoy in a punch.