Evening star., 1914-05-11

Special Correspondence Of The star
MILWAUKEE. Wis. May 9.-Johnny
Coulon. the bantamweight champion OF
America. will have a new rival for the
worlds title in that class. provided he
wins from Kid Williams of Baltimore
when they clash in Los Angeles in June,
in the person of Curley Walker. the lat
est British bantam champion. whose de-
feat of Digger Stanley. the former cham
pion. came as a big surprise TO the fol-
lowers of boxing In letter here Walk
er states that he is going after the
worlds title. He says he will meet the
winner of the Johnny Hughes Charlie
Ledoux contest for the European cham
pionShip and that he will. if successful,
then go after the winner of the Coulon-
Williams title match at Los Angeles
Walkers manager is prepared to put up
a side bet for Walker to box either Cou-
Ion or Williams within the next three
months. and if necessary will stake SD
900 on the issue. This is going some for
a two-day-old champion a Yankee who
saw Walker in the match SAYS: Il do not
share the confidence of those behind
Walker. who did not convince me Mon
day night that he could beat Digger
Stanley on his merits. and / should not
care TO wager overmuch on Stanleys
chance against Coulon or Williams The
eX eX-champion is very bitter against the
referee for ruling him out in his bout
with Walker. and he certainly has some
grounds for complaint. There can be no
disputing the fact that he did hold a lot
during the bout. though it seemed to me
that Walker was nearly as much to
blame.
have seen far more clinching in
title match at the National Sporting
r{yl,f
the principals have generally escaped
losing their chance. Certain irresponsi-
bic writer's make a vast amount of fuss
over the tendency of boxers to hold, but
they overlook the fact that in modern
boxing certain amount of clinching is
unavoidable. Provided that a boxer
does not foul or hit IN holds I do not see
why he Should be disqualified, but until
referees are subject to some sort of
animation ! suppose we in Europe will
have to submit so their vagaries''
The money bug has at last struck the
boxers in France. A well known sport
ing man of London in commenting on
the latest phase of the money mad
fighters writes me as follows:
The old idea that a boxing show was
necessarily a brutal exhibition is hap
PLY passing away, and with continual
Communications from judges and people
in high places the sport is sure to gain
the patronage and support of people who
have hitherto kept away. The only
thing that may spoil it is the greed OF
the champions. Some of these latter
have gotten the notion that their abili-
ties paid for at a rate that compares
unfavorably with their brethren in the
United States, but they overlook the
fact that money has "a different purchas-
ing value III America from what it has
over here. Further the British boxing
fan has been accustomed to getting his
shows cheaply and any violent increase
III admission rates is certain to affect the
receipts. The big purse craze was start
ed here by Hugh d. Mcintosh. when he
contracted with Bill Lang. Sam Lang
ford and Billy Papke but the shows put
on We're not charged excessive commits
SionS. he relied on big attehddnceS 10
repay him. The National Sporting cub
of London is about the only place that
charges admission rates that compare
with those charged at the big shows IN
America and they would not stand long
if the club crowd was not conflned 10
the select SWellS.
1T is very seldom that a big purse aHalr
In this country proves TO he worth the
money charged to see it, and | believe
that the committee of the London Sporting
CLUB will hesitate awhile before II o1efs
any more een-thousand-dollar purses.
When Hugh d. Mcintosh first came to
this country he started a boom in boxing
that has steadily mounted to its present
high position. Encouraged by ms sue
cess, small horde of small promoters
sprang up all over the city, with the re-
suit that the thing was overdone and the
first to suffer were the boxers themselves.
one enterprising promoter started a con-
tract system. whereby boxer was SIGH
ed up for say, dozen bouts Tor nxed
sum. AS this money had to be paid III
any event, whether the boy lost or Won
it dawned upon the promoter that II
would be to his interest to see that his
contract fighter was not beaten. o'hef,
wise his value as drawing caro- "oulo
cease To further the scheme the pro
moter secured referees who would
for !: consideration, render a satisfactory
verdict. so that the boy went through ms
contract bouts without deieat. occasion
auy pIans went wrong through the boy
getting knocked out by his opponent, but
this rarely happened. as the boys engaged
to meet the stars We're given 10 urdeF-
stand that they were marked Tor deleat
before they went into the ring | was
,,pdar the impression that this system
had been stamped out, but ! see that IT
still prevails in certain quarters \ Varla-
tion of this scheme has now cropped up
. bie financial gambler has under con-
tract bunch of leading scrappers to
whom he paws a fixed sum each week as
salary. They have to box when he tells
them and with whoever he selects as an
opponent The fuancier finds any SIDE
bet should there be one required. ana
he grabs all the purse money. On the
face of it there does not seem TO be
much in it for the promoter of the idea,
bur have been working the leading
string of this bunch and nnd mat II IS
a very profitable business. Naturally the
boxer is not put to very serious tasks.
OF herWise A defeat would mean money
paid for nothing. One of the contracts |
have seen is the most unfair ever drawn
up. and question if ii could be held to be
valid in a court of law. The boxer is re-
auired TO give six months notice OF
termination of the agreement. but the
III a a
moments notice.
The European boxers who have been
getting the money bug of late have moth
Ing on some of the Yankees. In fact,
they do not compare with the boxing
tinanciers of this country. Willie Ritchie.
the lightweight champion, has them all
heaieu when il comes 10 finances. De-