New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-20
Like Many of His Calling,
He Wants a Crack at
Man Out of His Class.
KID" WILLIAMS
IN THE RING, TOO
Must Test for Themselves Old
Adage of Good Big and
Good Little Men,"

ton, and none strive harder thsn the
heroes of the roped arena. Let man
become champion Of one class and hs
Immediately hurls his defiance at the
title holder In the next heavier di-
vision. This has held during days past,
and now there are two of our boxing
champions who sigh for new worlds TO
conquer. Johnny Kilbane, the feather
weight king, has ambitions to tight the
lightweights, while "Kid" Williams, the
bantam, is out with a challenge to the
featherweights. Jack Britton, light
weight, wants to meet Mike Gibbons.
Kilbane has already tried his hand
at fighting the l33pound men. lie mes
Joe Mandot, of New Orleans, az Akron
in a twelve-round bout recently, and
the referee called the match draw.
II was the consensus of opinion that
Nandot won by a vide margin. MI.
banc, however, is unconvinced aud
wants another chance He declares
that he can surely whip the Southern
lad. Williams has not ventured out Oh
his cwn realm as yet, but, like Barkis,
is willing.
The ambitions Of these vigorous
Young men bring to mind the old adage
Of the prize ring: "A good big man
can always beat a good little man.
This might be revised, perhaps, TO read
that a good big man can generally whip
good little man. Occasions there
have been when an understood pugiiiss
held his own, but only until a man OF
superior physique came along VINO
could meet him with all other things
equal.
The annals Of pugilism are replete
with instances in which little men tried
in vain TO wage successful battles
against bigger opponents and failed:
Then. too. there are some cases o.
wonderful big little men, like Joe VOL
colt and the greatest fighter OF all time,
Bob Fitzsimmons. II is the exception
however, which proves the rule.
There was never a greater all around
fighter in the lightweight class than
George Lavigne. the Saginaw Kid" who
won the worlds lightweight champion.
ship from Dick Burge, the EngIisp
fighter, in seventeen rounds, in Londo6s
on June I, 1896. Lavigne could box, no
could hit, he could fight. He was ono
of those rare gems of the ring TO whom
it made no difference how his opponent
fought. He accepted the gage OF bat
tie as offered After winning from
Burge, he met Charley Mckeever, Jack
Everhard among others, and, finally, ne
was matched to fight Joe Wolcott. Tho
boxing world stood still when Lavignt
actually fought the BLACK Demon" into
the ground and beat him in twenty
rounds.
His success against Wolcott fired La
vigne with desire for greater deeds
| and, finally, the time came when he was
matched to fight Mysterious" Billy
! Smith, q welterveight, and good well
terweight. Smith bad every physical 40
vantage, and not the least considerable
was that Of some four or five inches in
height and reach. The bout was fought.
Levigne. fearless as Spartan, did his
best. He ripped and tore at Smith, but
the mysterious" one fought back with
Just as great fury and better effect. As
the bout wore along, il developed into
test Of strength. There could be
only one result. In the fourteenth
round the seconds of Lavigne tossed
the towel into the ring and the bout
was over.
That defeat took the best of Lavigne.
Right after that he lost to Frank Erne,
and was Knocked out by George Sci
bows" McFadden. Jimmy Britt defeat
ed him in eight rounds. and when, in
1907, he attempted come back,
Young" Erne stopped him in six
rounds in Philadelphia.
A careful search through the pages
of boxing history fiscloses no better
fighter of his pounds than Joe Choyn-
ski, the California middleweight.
Choynski was unfortunate in his ply
sique. He was just bit too heavy for
the middleweight division proper and
far too light for the real heavyweights.
But Choynski fought them all, and it
may be said that while his strength
held out he was at worst the equal Of
his opponent. His defeats at the hands
of Corbett, Sharkey, Maher and kid"
Carter were the result of lack OF ply
sique rather than superior skill on the
pat of his opponents.
Jack Dempsey, the one time middle.
weight champion, was called THE Nom
pareil" by the boxing enthusiasts. He
ruled supreme in his class until the
grea. and only Fitzsimmons came along.
They were matched and fought. The
match took place at New Orleans on
January Ia, 1891. Fitzsimmons
weighed 154 pounds, Dempsey only 147.
How Fitzsimmons defeated the heroic
Irishmsn is part of ring history. The
end came in. the thirteenth round sf-
ter Fitz wore his man down not only
by his great skill, but by sheer
strength. IL is well known how the
Cornishman beat Corbett in that mem
orable battle at Carson City on March
IL, 1897.
But the long roll was soon sounded
for Ruby Robert. jim Jefries, Of
California, began his climb some time
after Fitzsimmons defeated Corbett,
ord To cn.h hafOEfg that the nun.
lie demanded that he be matched TO
fight Fitzsimmons. So on June Q, 1899.
they met at Coney Island. Fitzsim-
mons laughted when the match was
made. II has been said that Fitz me-
elected his training. At any rate, JET
won by Knockout in eleven rounds.
He repeated the dose three years later.
There was a good, big man against the
best little or middle sized man who
ever stepped into the ring
The triumph of Jack Johnson over
Tommy. Burns is just another link In
Tie long chain, and more might be
added. Freddie Welsh, lightweight,
whipped Abe Attell, who was then
featherweight champion, and even
Stanley Ketchell. the wonderful Michi-
gan middleweight, one OF the most
natural fighters the world has ever pro-
duced, failed when he tried to beat
Johnson at Colims, Cal, on October II,
1909.
Balancing the beam slightly was the
mighty Joe Wolcott. He never both-
cred about the weight of his opponents.
That he could beat any man he could
hit WAS part of Joe's religion. He
picked on Dan Creedon, the middle
weight fighter from Australia, knocked
out Joe Choynski in seven rounds. and
used to maui poor kid" Carter
around. His triumph over Choynski
was not so glorious, for it is said that