The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-14
BOXING NOTES

Although it will be only thirty years
 tomorrow since William Melody was
 ushered into the world at Charles
 town, Mass, the ring fame of the once celebrated Honey seems very aIr-
 cIent history. Honey" as he was
 populariy called, was about the last
 of the welter1veight title ho1dersJ a
 pugilfstic division that once boasted
 such great boxers as Billy Smith.
 George Green, the original .sYoung
 corfoett'':: Joe Walcott, Tommy Ryan.
 Shadow Maber. Danny Needham.
 George Dawson. Rube Ferns and Mat
 ty Matthews. Me1lody'S career as a
 champion was brief, and came only
 after long years of striving. As boy
 he etoiled as a tinsmith, and took up
 boxing as sidenne. At first he
 fought as an amateur, and made an
 excellent record, but his professional
 premiere was disappointing. He had
 determined however, to stick to the
 fighting game for a livelihood, and
 by begging away heA finally won
 triunphz over some of the best men
 of his weight. That won for him the right to. fight for the title with Joe
 Walcott. Melody was then g conner, while the Barbados Demon was on the downgrade. Nobody thought Honey stood a chance against the freak black man, who, in his prime, had whipped good heavyweights, but they got a big surprise. After twelve rounds of hard milling Melody fairly . won the decision. He agreed to an other match with Walcott, and that time he made Joe quit The title didn't stay with him long. In 19O6 he accepted a challenge from Joe Thomas, a California lad who had in vaded the East after winning several victories on the Pacific coast. Mel lody went down to defeat before the IofS n the limelight of fame very 1ongs for on his return to California he con- scented to meet a, young fellow from Montana who called himself Kid Ketchel. In the first bout Between and Ketchef, the decision was a draw. They soon fought again at Colma. and Thomas was knocked out in the thirty-second roupds A third battle also resulted in a triumph flor Ketchel, who soon went into the mid ! dIeweight division, and the welter- l weight class petered out. It looks as though Georges Carpen- tier, the French champion, is going to | make the same mistake that great i many other white. boxers have made l in the past Carpentier, after his de- | feat of Bonn bardier Wells in London, became innbued with the idea that he r was almost invincible and ready to
 
 ness. Joe Choynski, one of the great est fighters who ever put on a glove, was one of the same frame of mind f and went out of his class to tackle all | the heavyweights in the business. Joe, however, really was wonderful fight CT, although he sealed when at his best only 160 to- 165 pounds; but he that with all his great fighting ability he could not cope sue cessfully with men much bigger than himself. Carpenter. from all ac- counts. has proven himself a very fighter, but he weighs when fin condition, only about 16s l pounds and it is a question whether he can give away 25. pounds or more to a veteran fighter like Joe Jeanette | The coIored man has been one of the I hardest fighters in the country to H beat, as Sam Langford and Jack John son will attest. Joe is getting along
 in years now, being thirty-thres y@ra of age, but despite tlIis fact he is well preserved and battling just as hard as sver, as his recent twenty round con- est with Sam Langford demonstrated. -arpent4er may be a wonderful fight ar, but it looks as though he is mak-
 ng mistake in going against such aard game and giving away that amount of weight Of course, if he ;an defeat Jeanette, he will be. hailed as a worlds champion; that is. aJnNng he white men. I