The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-15
BY JAMES J. CoRBBTT Former Heavy-weight ChannFion of
 the World.

the World.
 1S,e<.say to the Evening Farmer)
 New York; August 15,-We have always considered ourselves rather. speedy and up-to-date in sporting as well as other lines But Auscralla' has us beat to a fare-you-well Here we haven't recognized m1ddie- weight boxer as champion since the demise of Stanley Ketchel. In Aus tralia. it is quite different. There the title changes hands with every scrap the nnidd1e-weights indulge fn- Sev-5 4eral months ago Eddie McGoorty copped the prize by beating Dave Smith, Austraila's representative. Then he cIinched the honors by get ting decision over Jeff Smith, of New Jersey. Along comes Jimmy Clabby who loses to Jeff but gets on top again by winning from McGoorty via the foul route. Now Jimmy has just made it good by defeating Dave Smith in less than round
 If the sports of any other country can beat that stuff, or even tie it, am willing to put in with them. It is certainly going some. Every fight championship match, and a title to the winner guaranteed Not only have they given Clabby the mid dle-weight title, but they also regard him as heavyweight champion ac- cordfng to the recent cables In the latter connection where do they if gilre big Sam McVey, who has been making his Headquarters in Austra- 1ia for several years past. and woh has beaten all the heavies who have faced him barring Sam Langford?
 But besides their rapfdity in shift ing the ownership of championship titles Australia can do other things well in the sport line. Take for ex- ample the splendid achievement of Snowy Baker, the leading boxing prornter, who has succeeded in per suading the educational3 authorities of Australfa to establish boxing as .. course in public schools throu tout the country. MT. Baker will person ally interest himself in the inaugura- ton of the classes Of instruction by l taking charge of the pupils of the Melbourne High School.
 From all accounts sporting men Of Australia are the real sort. Leading men in all lines go in for sports of every description and boxing is one I of them most popular of all, as 1t I should be everywhere and will be when it's great benefits to humanity are recognized. My plans for next l spring call for a trip to the Antipo- des, and I certainly will be glad to have the privilege of visiting a coun- l try where boxing is not looked upon l as a degrading spectacle. and it's ex-
 
 l highbinders.
 l When Ritchia was lightweight champion of the world he didn't pick | easy marks. Every man he has met l since winning the title is azfrst class l performer, namely Rivers, Cross, l Wolgast, White and Welsh Not a l sucker in that bunch. Will Fred dy Welsh follow in the footsteps of I his spredecessor? Evidently Manager Harry Pollock has other plans in l view for the champion, or rather had until the war spilled the beans. I Read this cabIegram from Danny McKttrick. now in England, to Dan lny Morgan in New York: .Don' t l send Knock Out Brown here. Other American fighters can't get away l The scheme was to have "Knock- Out" Brown go to England, adver- tise him as one of America's leading light weights, and then have him box j Welsh for the title (?1 and the big mazuma- Two years ago that might have been fair enough, but there is hardly lightweight of the second class around New York and Brooklyn who hasn't taken a. slam at poor lit tie overworked and muck-licked ttK O." the last year or so.
 Joe Jeannette and Battling Jim Johnson had another ten round ses- sion at local club last week. On this occasion they didn't put the gin | ger into their efforts that character ized previous battles. This is the
 third or fourth time the men have met in the last few months, and ii
 may be that acquaintance with one
 anothers methods is responsible for
 the poor showing Of the fighters When one boxer knows his opponent's
 style. particularly if he is more sci
 entific and brainier and has a whole.
 some respect for the other fellows I ha Ha rrf ,f &I,<
 dangerous wallops, and naturally ir that way confines himself principaIIJ
 to defense.
 say that might have been the
 cause of the dull and uninterestins
 contest, but the probability is that the
 men didn't try very hard. Jeannette
 and Johnson find it almost imp ble
 to secure matches. The Boxins
 Commission will not allow whites ane
 blacks to meet, conditions force
 fellows like Jeannette to save an op-
 Ponent as much as possible for fu. II ture use. They have to live just the
 same as the white boxers, and while
 not condoning the offense, if there be
 one, it must be admitted that the rule
 in vogue here in New York state i,
 kind of hard on the coIored fighters
 For several years the only match Jeannette could get in this neighbor- hood was with Langford. They put
 up several corking battles, but theil J last effort was a joke. That killed
 them for the time being, and the only } fellow Jeannette has been able tc
 draw nickel with lately is big Jim
 Johnson.
 In the meeting of the men previous
 to last weeks match Johnson knock
 ed Jeanette out clean with a punch
 44I the pit of the stomach. However as the referee claimed not to have
 seen the blow and as there was a dis
 pute as to whether it was a foul ol
 not, 1t was decided to have them fighi
 it out. After Jeannette had rested for about ten minutes the bout was
 resumed and went the limit But
 all through that battle Johnson was
 fighting his head off in the effort to