El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-03-30
PRIZE FIGHTERS ARE 0VERPiID:
MAEELHRGE FOR TUNES 00Ei5ILT
Welsh, in Past Year, Has Made Between $4,000 and
$4,000 Through 1917 Hours of Actual Fighting Other
Fighters Have Also Made Large Sums With Little
Effort; Fight Fans Sho uld Resist High Prices
BY FRANK G. 1IENKE.

7 Is about time for the prize fight
FANS to stop being boobs-and to
stop their present practice Of sub
uniting so tamely to the holdup game
mat is being carried on by the prize
night promoter. the prize fight man
ager and the prize fighter.
Inc practice Of gOuging the public
Tor rom 81 10 SO for the privilege of
watching couple Of low brow law
youths perform for about 50 minutes
50 that those athletes NAV be assured Of
rom $1,000 70 $4,000 for about 80 min
ules' OF socalled work" is revoltinr TO
an extreme degree. And thel practice
should be abolished
II lne 1anS rose up and refused to
pay those prices. the firhthrs verv
soon would be willing to ght for
Whatever price they could at And
lnen the fight fans could didate the
Terms Ihey could refuse TO a Y more
than from % cents to 81 for he hest
seats at even an all star bout That
would mean only from $500 to $500
s so me ana 'als ssooo o&g5jJs drop rom
would be mighty glad 10 get over
Freddie Welsh. in his first year as
lightweight champion Of the world.
VIII draw down over 500, 600. Think
Of it. A salary larger than that given
10 the president Of the United States
an income eight times larger than
mat OF any Of our cabinet officers ana
from i've TO so times greater than that
earned by many doctors, lawyers and
other professional men.
Fights Il ID Hours
welsh VIII have fought-or rather
appeared IN about 20 battles before
June marks the first anniversarv of
MS elevation TO the lightweight
throne. Those 20 battles each will be
for about 80 minutes duration. That
means that during the year the Rriton
Will have aauurn-1rn7rH .
hours IN the prize ring. And for that
work he draws between SIS. 900 and
$4,000. The other money that makes
up his income for the year comes from
theatrical and newspaper work.
It is something Of a blot on the in
telhgence Of a civilized world that a
prize fighter who couldn't earn $500
a year at any other job. can milk the
year simply because he can hit little
harder blow or run from danger faster
than the next fellow
They Went soft Living.
The prize fighting element, as a
rule, is made up Of a lot Of youths
who are too shiftIess to learn some
regular trade OF profession That
spells work for them-and work is
and easy living without going to any
real trouble TO secure it So thev
turn TO prize fighting.
And il is the men who work-snd l
work hard-that make it possible for !
those prize lighters TO shirk work.
The fight fans are made up Of work 4
ing men Their wives don't wear dia-
monds. Their families don't ride /
around in automobiles But the wife 4
Of the fighter usually is bedecked /
with diamonds and the majority Of the /
top notch prize fighters have from one /
TO three automobiles.
Examples of Overpayment.
welsh is not the only instance. The
fighting world is fun OF instances Ad 4
Nolgast made about $500. 900 in the
ring So did Battling Nelson. Leach
Cross has amassed a fortune Willie
Richie has drawn down around $3.50
0Oo- Jack Johnson got nearly 500. coo I