Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-08-22
ENGLAND FIRING
OF BOXING GAME
No Chance for Sports While
the War of the Nations
Is On.
BY Ed. L. keeA.

(London Correspondent of the United
Press.)
London, Aug. 22.-While Europe re-
sounds with the clash OF armed men
there is one bunch Of warriors in Eng
land whose presence as sort of army
of occupation is becoming more than a
little ttresome. These are the aspir-
ants fer worlds pugilistic champion
ship honors who flocked here when the
country went fight mad over the
Welsh -Ritchie and Smith Carpenter
mills of last month.
There are plenty, of good light and
other weights ready for champion
ship fight, but while Carpenter is the
idol of the ring eevry man who scales
152 pounds or over thinks himself en-
titled to challenge for the worlds white
heavy title. Among the principal
heavies and alleged heavies are Jack
Johnson, Sam Langford, Joe Jeanette,
Sam McVey, Gunboat Smith, Frank
Moran Carl Morris, Colin Bell. Bonn
barber Wells, England's most defeated
but still most popular champion; Tony
Ross, Young Ahearn, Dick Smith, Tom
Kennedy, Bandsman Rice, Bandsman
Blake, Jins Coffey and Con O'Kelley.
But all have their eyes on one man,
Carpenter, and British fight fans are
growing weary of this persistent stalk
ing, when a number OF interesting
fights might be arranged between the
stalkers.
True, Johnson and Langford are al
legged to have been matched, but | will
believe in the fight when 1 see the men
in the ring, for it would be impossible
now that England is at war to get
gate big enough to give LII Artha one
tenth of his $4,000 irreducible mini
mum, not to mention something for the
Boston Tar Baby and the promoter.
Bombardier Wells has been promised
the next fight with Carpenter and
Gunboat Smith the one after, but as
the French boy is with his company
fighting Germans with a gun the
chances of his ever setting foot in
ring again are remote.
1t was the big purse question that
killed last months boom, for the aver
age Britisher still swears by the Ma
tional Sporting club, which put its foot
down sternly on W. / or d. irreducible
minimums. The attitude of the n. s.
C. is shown by Manager Peggy" Bet
tison's offer OF $4,000 purse for a
Carpenter Eddie McGoorty fight, de-
spite the formers declaration that he
would not accept less than 100000 as
his share.
One reason for the rurity of big
purses in England is that tHere is no
boxing hall big enough to hold the
money. Your average British fight fan
does not consider the hall mark of hon
Z esty has been put upon contest I'M
less 1t is staged at the National Sport
ing club, and the Covent Garden es-
Enlistment is too small to accommo-
date much more than a $4,000 gate.
Olympia, where the last big fights were
held is not the natural home of boxing,
and is needed for other purposes, while
the Stadium, which was the venue of
the Carpenter Ahearn fight, Is not
suited to the game. Promoter Dick
Burge cannot crowd $4,000 into his
boxing palace, the Ring. and although
a new Stadium, with accommodation
for IL, 900 people is being built by
Harry Williams, in South London,
prices of admission will have to be
such as would exclude the possibility
of mammoth purses. Successful as he
has been, Dick Burge has found that
fashionable west-enders, who pay big
Nhames to mingle with a Black friars
T. Camberwell mob" while South
Lndon simply hasn't the money.
young Leicestershire clergyman
win be more careful in his choice of
Language when writing for his parish
magazine in future, for terrible humili-
alton sas come upon him through the
careless use of the word tight" The
parson wrote a humorous description
OF a paSochial picnic and ended his
account II the pleasant time that was
had with the words I'VE reached home
the sameevening happy but tight"
The printer failed to improve mat
tiers by quoting tight" and the shock :
ed pariShoneys promptly demanded ex-
plantations of the surprised parson and
at the same time called upon the
bishop to censure the shameless