The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-01
Nick Ward, "Y ellow- est'' of Champions,
 Born on A pril 1

A man who is a clever boxer may win a pugilisttc championship, but it< takes courage and,s fighting spirit to hold it. This was never better dem onstrated2 than in the career of Nick Ward. who for brief period in 1841 had a precarious hold on the British heavyweight title. It was quite ap- propriate that Nick Ward was born on All Fools Day, for on many oc- casions he made fools of his packers The s'yelloWest'' of all champio onsf was born 102 years ago today. April ], 1913, and was one of three pugi- listic brothers. lem Ward the Black Dfa1nond,' thirteen years his 1 senior, was for. several years the champion of England, and was as brave as they make 'en1. John Ward also made a fair reputation in the l ring The older brothers we're anx- 1ous that Nick should maintain the lighting reputation of the family, and from his youth he was trained in all the arts and tricks of the bruiser. He was also encouraged by his mother, who was regular Amazon, and her self fond of fist-nght-
 The Wards, although they lived in I England, were Irish. and Jem and Johns had all ythe fighting spirit of that fighting race. Nick had none at all. Under the instruction of Jem 1 Ward, Nick developed Into a heady. 7 i powerful physique and coupled with his speed and c1everness he carried a 4 punch that would f1atten out the toughest opponent. l In short, Nick had about every thing 8 boxer needs, except courage l If the yellow streak could have been eliminated he would doubtless rank among the greatest scrappers in all
 history Jem hoped and believed that Nick's cowardice was due to Two II
 would gradually get over it, but he
 was doomed to disa appointment. Nick
 simply couldn't bear the sagft of his
 own blood, and one hard blow from
 an opponent cooled all his fighting
 ardor.
 Nick. was twenty-or1e when he
 fought his first bout, defeating Harry
 Lockyer- In that bout he had every
 thing his own way, and his opponent
 was unable to land a blow. Jem
 then matched Nick with Young
 Molineaux, a clever and experienced fighter. On the eve of the battle
 Nick got cold feet and had himself . arrested in order to avoid having to
 meet Moineaux. ~ A little later he was pitted against Sanabo Sutton, aN good
 black fighter, and was winning with
 ease when fSambo managed to land a
 stiff punch son Nick's smelIer. That
 ended 1t, and Nick deliberately quit.
 Sambo guyed him so unmercifu11y I1ASdl NICK cOASSuI00- meet the. nS- gro again, but the cops got wind o1 the affair and arrested Sutton and |, chased Nick for thirty miles before ' he escaped.
 1, tS Ward then met lem Bailey and got the decision on g, foul, but sidestep- !, ped a return engagement on the plea that he was sick. The sporting world
 was pretty well disgusted with Nick
 but Jem Ward persisted and matched : his brother. with Deaf Burke, the ex- : Echampi on. Burke was then on the : down grade and for two hours Nick
 avoided the Deaf 'Un. A cold rain . was falling and when Burke was SC chilled he could hardly stand the
 shifty Nick waded in and beat him
 unmercffulIy. It was disgracefu
 affair, and didn't add to Nfcks rep
 utation,= although he was the victor In 1841 Nick was matched to ffgh1
 Ben Caunt for the title. Nick agaiI
 adopted his dodging and running
 tactics, and managed to keep away x from his c1umsier foe.A At last, made
 desperate by Nick's refusal to stand up and fight, Caunt struck a fou
 blow, and the victory and the title
 were awarded to Nick. The affai1
 was so unsatisfactory that another
 match was made. This time Caun 2 | did not lose his temper, and the : l thirty-fourth round Nick Ward, al ] 1 though he had suffered nothing worss 7 than a tap on the nose, deliberately , ] selected a soft spot the turf ant : l deposited himself thereon, refusing tt i refusing, to get up. That was the
 end of Nick Ward as a pugilist-