Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-12-22

made the match. The result was that
one of the greatest fighting machines
in the world met his first defeat
crushing loss. Good as Lavigne was
he could not give away weight to a
man of Mysterious Billy's" tonnage.
In the fourteenth round of that battle
Billy Lavigne threw up the towel in
token Of defeat, while the wonderful
ly game Kid cried and moaned, What
made you do it, Billy? l had a doz-
EN- fights left in me YETI
On Down Through Time Little Man
Has Always Lost.
Again, when Jim Jeffries and Bob
Fitzsimmons met at Coney Island for
the title, Jeffries was a good big
man." Fitzsimmons was a ''good lit
tie man"-by comparison. The good
little man did his best to stem the
tide, but the good big man rushed
matters until the weaker vessel of
humanity had to succumb. In all
things was Fitzsimmons the equal Of
his oponent, excepting in weight and
power Of resistance in assimilating
punishment He could not overcome
the handicap with which nature had
favored his antagonist and in the end
lost the title as we'll as taking the
worst beating he was forced to accept
i'll his ring career. The same pair
met again in San Francisco at a later
date and again Fitz had to surrender
after eXhausting himself walloping
the big man before him. Again the
big man was returned winner.
When Johnson met Tommy Burns
in Australia, the latter was the best
man of his weight and inches in the
world. Good as he was, however, he
wasn't equal to the task Of defeating
a man who was nearly as good, hay-
ing the advantage of weight over him.
Again We have the illustration and
again the proven fact about the
smaller mans chances against the
larger man, all other things being
equal.
Just at this time we note where
Jack Britton, one of the topnotch
lightweights, is clamoring for an op-
portunity to face Mike Gibbons in the
ring. If Britton is wise he'll forget all
about such meeting-will erase it
from his mind forever. What Gibbons
would do to Britton if ever they met
would be shame to relate. Elusive
Michael would make Britton look like
the proverbial thirty cents worth of
dog neat-and then some. We often
wonder who advises these misguided
fighters In their intentions, their de-
sires and their aims. 1t almost causes
us to shout in rebuttal-"And yet
claim that Thaw's insane"
Joe Choynski was a grand fighter.
Unfortunately, Joe was lacking some
twenty pounds in weight, which we
attribute as the sole cause that pre-
vented his reaching greatness in the
fighting game. zoe was too heavy
for the m ddles and too light for .he
heavies. Yet, In order to secure en-
gagements, he was forced to cast his
lot among the colossi OF the ring and
this generally landed him at the flstic
Golgotha. Twice, for instance, in
Australia he had Joe Goddard beaten
to fragile only to be himself knock
ed out by the Barrier" champion
when his strength was gone, when his
stamina surrendered to superior
weight. Strange as it may seem, when
a smaller man engages a larger man
in battle, the pressure behind the
punch seems to evaporate so far as
the former is concerned after a few
rounds fighting.
WnlcOtt the One Execution.
Now we turn to the exception to
the rule, for every law, precept and
principle boasts Of this qualification
We want no better subject in making
reference to this item than the yery
same Joe Choynski referred to in the
above paragraph. It was In the glo.
rious days of the Horton Law
when Tom O'Rourke decided to match
Joe Walcott against the Californian
Wise-acres at the fight game shook
their heads and thought .O'Rourke
had made q serious mistake. Imagine
1.-THE surprise Of the country the next
t.