Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-18
MCFARLAND BILLED
TO FIGHT GIBBONS
Bout On Between Very Clever
Men Looks to Be Al
most Ideal.
SEVERAL GOOD MATCHES
AMONG LIGHTER BOXERS
Richie Is to Meet Tommy Murphy
and Britton to Go Against
Mike Glover.
BY JAMES J. CoRBETT.

Former Heavyweight Champion of the World.
special, Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, January 17-After squab-
bling over terms and weight conditions
for several months Packey Mcfarland
and Mike Gibbons have arrived at an
agreement and will meet in a ten-round
contest at Madison Square Garden early
next month.
This Is one bout local fight fans and
the newspapers have been roofing Tor.
On paper it looks the ideal match. True,
Gibbons may have to work harder than
usual to make 10 pounds at o CLOCK on
the afternoon of the contest, but he will
have at least six hours to eat good
PropaDly guess OF las or l43 would
come close to hitting his weight when he
enters the ring to pox his c.ever rival
from Chicago. And MGR ariano. II wnat
The recently tod me IS correct. and 1
have no reason to doubt 1t, Will weigh
in the neigupornood OF Az or l43.
So wnlie III sense 1t will be regarded
as a ..hand.cap' match, We VIII nhe.s
discover that fackey very wen hhe"
what ne was ABOUT when he signed the
arlnaes OF agreement. don NOV
" nelner he Was present at the Mcdoofty :
Gibbons bout neId III the odioen yea
ago last Iall, uul no DOUBT ne uSufes lHdl
1lnuous under lJU pounus Is mol lAe
gibbons VINO SHOWS SO wen IN uo4.s
around the country at catch "e.snts' any
more than ne himself Is wnen .oiLpeAie0
10 90 d inquire near inc lightweight ALlil1-
Mcfarland has mad considerable eAper-
ience III weisI.tlItnilI5 aIu hidtciIiudh4hS'
upOn AOl u Lane
the worst IL, Especially "nen Tie oeAei
leioW seeks the md.eh anu napPehs ~
ue sucn a ciever nsnlef DIS 1ioooAs.
W men Pachey Hnaily consented 10 Inc
match AT 40 at o. loeh YOU can Oct
ne was Reasonably sure tnat That IS the
lowest poss.DIe " elguL Mine IAN make at
any time and tnat lie also hno"a lhae
the strenuous work winch the o.. faui
man VIII pe forced to go through ~ m.Ihe
that low Inquire VIII certainly not tenu
70 hur1 mis- ,racAey 81 own cnancee any.
Mcfarland and gibbons are potn goa
business men. They are tar specimens
OF the commercial boxer. Neither
scorns TO tame advantage Oh every op-
portunlty to put one over on ah W
ponent, and the o4d saying that a match
We'll maze is hail won is the sululns
principle OIL both men.
But it ought to make a great mill.
ougntn't lt-Irom scientific point OF
view!
GIBBONS sensational defeat of Bob Nc
AIlIsler may throw a scate INTO The more
tln.u of TIE Mcfarland aunerenis, but
VIII have little effect on those stuueHts
OF physical conultion WHO can ieSt-
ize what it sometimes costs man
10 take OF an extra pound or Two. Mike
was at his best lguu no We-aht last MON
day, ana as strong as a bear. ne "lt
he Irou three to nve pounds isnter "heu
ne boxes packey. That difference may
spell ms defeat.
But / believe Gibbons. allowed to weigh
in at his heaviest, can Deat any lesil-
mate middleweignt in the game TO-DAY.
Ii ne were to nSht GeoIse emp, Tor III
stance, as he fought BOD Mc<Aiuster tne
coal miner would De lucky to stay ten
rounds With the hard hlttlnS, cleVef poA-
ing ST. Pau man.
Following Mcfarland in his plunge
into the welterweiSht division is the
stock yards boxer old rival, JACK BIT
ton. In a recent match at the Garden
Britton scaled, SO it was announced, los
stripped. His opponent. Phil Bloom, a
local lightweight, weiahed l34, or It was
given out that way. Ii Bloom weighed
that much, then Britton must have scaled
pounds heavier. Possibly his appear
ance is deceptive like Mcfarland s
and others who frequently outmaneuver
their rivals in matchmaking strategy.
Britton is matched to box Mike Glover
at Tom O'Rourhe's National Sporting
Club next week. The poundaSe agreed
upon is 40 rinSside. That should suit
Jack much better than any lower weight.
Britton and Glover have met before
about six weeks ago at the Irving a. G..
in Brooklyn. A majority OF ne" Spaper
accounts at the time gave Glover the bet
ter Of the milling But l doubt ii Brit
ton realized that he was to meet man
with SO much class, and, like many an
other before him, neglected his training,
thinking he had sucker match. OF
course that's a poor alibi after bout
which does not turn out as one expects.
However, Jack promises to turn the
tables this time.
Watching Britton box this Bloom boy,
one was impressed with the notion that
he is a long way from his best form.
Young Bloom is novice compared with
the Chicagoan, and naturally was out
pointed, but Jacks showing was hardly
tiaItering to such a recognized expert.
Possibly the veteran has begun to back
up. Old Father Time slows US all up in
our turns. There is no lodging him.
Lightw Fights will hold the center Of
the pugilistic stage for the next few
weeks. Willie Richie, the champion.
and Tommy Murphy are scheduled to
climb through the ropes at Jim Cof-
froths arena. l say scheduled be-
cause these boys have been trying to
get together a year or more, and
something has always prevented. They
We're practically matched last summer
when the Vancouver offer to Ritchie
for the Freddy Welsh match made the
champion pass up the Harlemite and
hike for the northwest. OF course
Willies reason for the sudden change
of mind at the time was the big guar
antee offered him by the Canadian pro-
moters.
Richie came east after the Welsh
match had collapsed and scored an i'm
mense hit with New York fans by
beating Leach Cross. Murphy was still
on his trail, however. and as Tommy
is a big card in California the match
was grabbed by Jim Coffroth. who set
the date for December 10. 1913. For
once in his career as promoter Cof-
froth was wrong on the weather. and
the match had to be called off on ac-
count of rain. Richie refused to go on
with the bout day or two later. and
was perfectly right in the stand he
took. as he had developed an abscess
in the nose and would not have been
doing justice to himself or treating his
fairly If he had consented
to box Murphy while in such poor
condition.
AS the public still clamored for the
match Richie and Murphy again