El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-05

~ ing that Stanley Ketchen does
not deserve to be mentioned in
the same breath with Fitzsimmons
Dempsey and LeBIanche has brought
forth a great deal Of comment from
both sides of the fence.
C. w Kennedy, for one, has written
a splendid letter in which he endeav-
ors to extol the virtues Of Ketcheu.
Like most others we believe it is wei
to speak Of the dead with all possible
praise and as Stanley was killed prac-
tically in his prime in very unfOr-
tunate manner. we would be indeed
glad to rank him with our greatest
middleweights- This. however, is utterly
impossible. In addition to the fighters
already named Tommy Ryan at least
should be added to the list Of those far
superior to Ketcheu-
Mr.. Kennedy states KetchelPs record
entities him to a place Immediately be-
hind the great Bob FitzsimmOns and
ahead of Ryan, Dempsey or LeBlanche-
But this is simply a case Of figures do
sometimes lie" Whom did Ketcheu
ever whip that was anywhere near the
equal Of the great four mentiOned2 Alb
sOlutely nobody. KetCheu did perform
the hitherto unheard of feat Of regain
ing the championship from the man
who had previously won the crown
from him, when he knocked out Billy
Papke in II rounds in san Francisco
Nov %. 1908. This bout came only a
little more than two months after
Ketchell had lost to Papke. Ketcheu
deserves no great credit for defeating
Papke, for Billy was probably the
greatest in and outer the game ever
produced.
A Slam Bang Fighter.
Ketcheu was strictly the slam bang
fr-7,a Of n nnv16
slug the flock of middleweights into
submission, because he could easily
shed their blows and when one
of his sledge hammer blows landed
it was curtains This ability TO with
stand punishment coupled with Won
derful recuperative powers and ter
rifle blow in either hand enabled him
to defeat the Sullivan twins. Mike and
Jack. Hugo Kelly, Philadelphia Jack
O'Brien, Joe Thomas, Tony Caponi and
numerous others in addition to Papke.
But with the exception of Papke, all
were either well on the down hill path
or were the Veriest dubs. And in his
last fight with Ketchell, PapNe showed
such a reversal of form that it was the
general opinion that a dozen fighters
who were never considered even good
second raters. could have whipped him.
Wasn't Gutter.
Mr.. Kennedy further states that Tom
record book shows that Lee
Blanche. the Marine, quit in two of his
battles. Tom never compiled that rec
ord, at least, for he is admittedly one
of the squarest and best Versed fight I
writer's in the country today and one
of the very best we ever had No man
who has ever seen LeBlanche fight as
Tom doubtless has would accuse Le- |
Blanche OF being gutter. And further !
no gutter could ever attain a cham
pionship, nor defeat ''The NOnpareir' !
Jack Dempsey, even though it was &C |
cOmplished by what was then called a
foul blow, the pivot. Billy Papke is an !
other who has been accused of being a |
1uitter In a certain local gathering /
51ace for race and fight followers there /
is a picture of Billy Papke beneath /
which is written. 1.-THE biggest streak /
Of yellow that ever lived" This is one /
Of the most unjust writings in the his
tory of any line of sport Billy was 4
simply an in and outer Just as there !
are in and cutters in horse racing, foot /
-acing. hurdling, jumping, baseball,
football, basketball and all other lines
If sport. When Billy was right he was ]
/ great fighter but when he was off he I
vas simply miserable.
Others ExceIIed in Science.
But to get back to Ketcheu and the
others. As has already been stated, (
stanley was simply slam bang fight
II with a terrific punch, but practically
10 science. A great many of his knock |
,uts came from hip pocket swing"
IN the other hand Ryan, FitzsimmOns, /
Dempsey and LeBlanche were all very
lever boxers, could stand a world of
and could hit harder than
<etchelL This may sound somewhat
TRANCE. but no man who ever saw any
# these men fight viii make the slight
st attempt to deny it. While Ketcheu
lad a blow that would fell an OK, he
lad to set himself to deliver it and it
vas usually that hip pocket swing"
While the other four had developed hit