The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-08-21
m'FARLAND HAS
BIG TASK ahead
II He Beats Gibbons He'll Be
Wonder Of The World.
HAD TWO YEAR LAYOFF.
Paokey Who Has Been Enjoying Him
self, Must Beat First Rate Man In a
Class Heavier Than Himself and Who
Has Been Fighting Right Along.

Class FeaNier Than Himself and VINO !
Has Been Fighting Right Along.
If Packey Mcfarland is able to do |
what he thinks he is going to do with !
and to Mike Gibbons when they meet !
In a ten round 90 in New York shortly |
he will be the wonder of the world |
Why? Because he will have accom- !
plished a miracle never before done by |
any fighting mango back into the /
ring after nearly two years of idleness |
aud beat a first rate man, q class
heavier than himself who has been
fighting right along. If Packey does
that he will be the most astounding
pugilist ever known.
This is no knock at Pacley Any
one with a grain Of sense and appre-
citation of real artist in the fighting
game takes off his hat in admiration
whenever he thinks of the Chicago
marvel-thinks of him, that is, as he
used to be when he was in the ring.
But that was nearly two years ago.
A great deal of water has run I'M
der the bridge since those days of
Packey's glory. During two years he
nus EAuNAA i'm slllNt NcACd Ldl, anu
not once in all the long months has he
raised his hand in violence toward
his fellow man; a poor preparation
for battle with the finest master of the
boxing art now in the ring-one, more
over, who can hit like cannon shot
when he chooses.
And during all this time Gibbons has
been in constant battle practice-not
peCking daintily at sparring partners,
but fighting with mon who were trying
to take away his fame and his fortune,
which is decidedly something else
again. His struggle with Packey will
be, let us say, the climax of his ca
reer. 1t will come as the last step
in the long and laborious and studious
climb he has been making for more
than six years. The step viii be taken
in its regular course, without any de-
lay to throw him out Of his stride.
Packey, however, viii undertake to
take up his stride where he left off
long, long ago. He who was at his
best at 1871 pounds has now increased
to 15T pounds. But the way the fat
has grown on his body is not a cir
cumstance to the way it has grown on
his judgment of speed and distance.
The HAPPINESS that weakeus. n mental
faculty which has lain idle for two
years may be we'll compared with the
corroding effect of fat on the physical
capacity.
Jim Corbett had not fought in two
years when he went into the ring with
FitZSimmons at Carson City. He had
lived in luxury. To make up for this
he trained for six weeks at a pace that
might be called furious He burned up
the roads for miles every day. He
gave handball champion Al Hampton
all the work he could do, and he sent
five big sparring partners to bed thor
oughly tired every night.
Old FitZ romped and played through
his training period. He was really
enjoying life after years of steady bat
thing. His hitting eye and his judg-
ment of distance were perfect from
long and constant battle practice It's
long, long way to Carson City, and
this is no place to start anything, but
there are many good judges who be
licve that the result would have been
very different if Jim had been fighting
right along instead of acting. And no
one Will pretend TO say that even the
great Packcy is q better man, pound
for pound, than Jim Corbett was.
1t would be easy to fill the column
with other sad examples of the bad
effect of idleness on fighters. Jim JEFF
fries, four years retired, let the people
and the papers nag him into going
back into the ring with the negro
Johnson.
Oh yes; we all know that Packey
has lived an exemplary life, not only
throughout his ring career, but during
the two years ne has been out of tn,
ring. So have some hundreds of thou
sands of other strong, young Ameri
cans, but they can't fight a little bit
Living n righteous and sober life is
great help to n fighter, but it isn't tn,
whole thing by any means. Battl
practice is the greatest factor in fight
Ing. Packey will undoubtedly jab ant
wallop the four sparring partners h
has hired until they feel like yellin
for the police. But we all know wha
sparring partners are
Who ought to do best in the field o
battle, the sharpshooter who has bee
fighting steadily on the actual field o
battle or he who has been shooting a
the timid deer-that never shoot back
Moreover, there is ring proven
that dates back to the times of tn
venerable Figg, "a good big I'm ca
beat a good little un." Mike Gibbon
Is middleweight who can come dow
to weterweight and be strong, Will
Packey is lightweight who has ia
tened up to welterweight. Moreove
Gibbons has shown at times the puncl
ing power of heavyweight
II the bout is fought for all it
worth - no gentlemen's agreemer
about a return match-and if, undo