Evening star., 1915-01-31
MANY ANGLES AND CLAIMANTS
TO THE MIDDLEWEIGT1T TITLE
Clabby Entitled to Championship of This
Country, But Australia and England
Have Different Belt Holders.

Freddy Couture. a Milwaukee boxer.
VINO formerly lived in San Francisco and
had all his training there. came into the
/ Office. and remarked:
THAT WAS the most wonderful thing
in boxing I ever saw In my life. ]
would not have missed it for $50. l
thought I knew great deal about the
game and had seen all the clever men
| perform, but the work of Gibbons and
Clabby was beyond belief. They ap-
peared to me like some great opera
singers against the vaudeville war
blers.'
! The Massachusetts legislature has
! been asked to reduce the number of
/ rounds OF boxing in that state. and u
| bill Will be introduced 10 that effect.
Some OF the cities have had ten rounds.
/ some twelve and some fifteen. and it is
possible that all will be made uniform
say ten rounds each. There does not
| appear to be any objection to the box
! ing game. but merely to the number OF
| rounds. During the past week well
! known minister at Cincinnati delivered
u sermon. and in the course of it said
| he believed IL more ministers got into
! the ring and were knocked out they
| would emerge better men for the ex-
perience. He also said: Scientific box
| ing Is not damaging to the soul" Dur
| ing the Clabby-Gibbons contest in Mil
| Wauhee lnefe were more than seventy
| five members Of the state legislature
present at the invitation of the club.
to pass judgment on the way things
were conducted under the Hedding
| law, and they went away entirely sat
! isfied. One elderly member said when
| he returned to Madison: Had l know n
| what boxing really is ] would not have
voted against the bill when 1t came up
| for passage. l have been converted
| and will vote for the bill in the future
|
| only goes to prove that the people who
| make the greatest howl against the
boxing game are those who know
| nothing about it.
The training quarters have been pre-
pared for Jack Johnson and jess Will
lard at Juarcz. Mexico and soon every
thing will be booming in that section
| of the country-that is, in the sporting
line. Willard will be established this
to keep him busy. Johnson. according
TO information at hand. Will not need
the long training that some people pre-
dict. He has been working lights.
work than anything else to "oIish off
his training. Once the ball is set in
motion. the interest will begin to in
crease and then it will be a case Of
placing the odds.
| It was unfortunate that Charlie
White. the Chicago lightweight, should
be taken i'll on the eve of his match
with Freddy Welsh. the world cham
pion, before the Madison Square Gar
den Club in New York. 1t had been
Welsh in Milwaukee last November 10
have another try at the champion. but
at weight, and he felt confident that
he could defeat the title-holder. He
had trained faithfully for the contest:
IN fact. he was overturned no doubt.
Charlie also is out o. pocket about $4.5oo.
as his end would have amounted to about
that sum with the percentage he vas
| getting. He will require z short rest
before starting active training again.
1t is not likely that the New York
promoters will stage the match be-
tween White and Welsh right away. AS
some extent by the postponement, SO
that they will hardly get together be-
fore spring. In the meantime Welsh
lwiil have plenty OF matches to keep him
busy. He .-ill have rather IA hard nu,
to crack when he tackles Johnny Grif-
fths at Akron. Ohio. February 8. for
the latter has all that goes to make
up a great boxer. Efforts were made
/. by the ministers to stop the contest,
,but the authorities decided that it was
not in violation of the law and granted
Z permit for it.
| Gene Melady. I well known stock
! commission man of South Omaha. has
| LdhcH GHuSGaI iltSlSSl III lil' poAti5
game. simply because he likes the
! sport. and he Is making strenuous eff
! forts 10 have L law passed in that
state that will permit the holding OF
limited round contests. Mr.. Melady at
tended the contests held at the big
auditorium in Milwaukee and was SO
enthused with the manner in which
they were c2nducted that he got busy
: in his own City and started an aSita-
/ tion i'm favor of Il measure similar to
the Wisconsin law. Mr.. AIelady says
he has witnessed the real prize fight of
earlier days. but that there is as much
difference between that style of mill
ing and the boxing bouts of the present
| time as there is between day and night.
He has taken the matter up with many
prominent stockmen Of Omaha and
other we'll known business men, and
intends TO do all in his power to push
it through to successful conclusion. 81
agree with Mr.. Heddins. father of the
Wisconsin law" says Mr.. Melady. that
ii is better to have the sport legalized
and under the supervision of the
authorities than to have real prize fights
held under our very eyes IL barns and
woods. and "here much harm can be
done