The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-30
cBy James j. Corbett. Former Heavy
weight Champion of the World.1


Well here is the story of my
white hope''-as much as I know
about him. His name is Tom Cow
Ter and he is an EngIishman by birth,
stands 6 feet 2 1v2 inches in his hole
proofs, and weighs in the neighbor-
hood of 22o pounds.
I am not writing this as an adver-
tiseTnent, but in response to numer-
inquiries made by sporting writer's
and fans throughout the country
since it was announced recently that
had taken man under my wing
for development Therefore anything
have to say about him here 7 trust
VIII be taken by my readers In the
spirit I am writing it-AS q matter
Of news and not an attempt to OBJ
tain some free advertising for my
boxer. If he develops into the man
7 confidently hope and predict his
record will speak for itself and there
will be no other boosting necessary.
I first met Cow1er about q month
ago, when he called on me at the
stage door of Pantages theatre in
Portland; Oregon. He asked me If
| Z would look. him over as he wanted
/ to learn more about boxing and be-
1ieyed / could teach hiIn His manner
of talking and his actions Impressed
me favorably, and it is no new mat
tier for me to talk with aspiring
lheavies, believe me. 7 have met them
iby the score sincce ferries defeat by
/ Johnson, of all shapes and sizes,
weights and peculiarities. One or
two of the more prominent Of those
now before the public asked me to
take them in charge several years ago,
but none looked good enough In the
crude state to warrant giving up my
time and attention IN an attempt to
develop them Their present stand
ing in pugilism is proof that made
no mistake in passing them up.
To <aieziJ1
portland and gave him q try-out. And
l IN spite of what those who may inag-
4 inc am passe as q boxer may say or
think 1t was a good workout. And
this youngster, although very crude
In the matter of boxing, made q hit
with all those present by his actions,
land style, and willingness and quick
ness to learn. I lost no time signing
i q. contract to take him with me on
d my Australian trip next month
In San Francisco last week ar
q ranged to give Cowler q good work
out for the benefit OF the newspaper
4 writer's and my old friends at the
Olympic cIub-an organisation by the
way that has turned out many great
boxers in the past quarter of a CEN
tury Cowler,s opponent In q three
round bout. on that occasion was
: Rude Peterson, q, young heavyweight
who is being groomed for the ring by
IGeorge Green. the original sYo Dung
n
s. of twenty years ago. CoWler toyed
with Peterson and would unQuestion-
ably have stopped GREEN'S fighter
even in that limited space of time but
for the fact that Peterson fought al
most entirely on the defensive, and
at covering up is bird. But read
what one Of the Frisco newspaper ex-
perts has to say about CowIer and
the bout with Peterson This is from
the Chronicle and one OF the mosi
conservative stories written Of the
! try-out-
: ..CowIer is green, Of course. but
! there are many points in his favor
: Taking the milling of yesterday pure
> ny on it's merits and Cowler would
| have been returned the victor as he
! / left a decisive mark on Peterson:
: fright eye and had the local man stag
: gering around the ring with none too
. clear an idea of what was happening
ssCowIer is remarkably fast on hi
Ill feet for SO big man, and shapes
4. up like a boxer. He is fast with hi
4 punches, and evidently carries gooc
: one, although he must needs leaTl
: some of the finer points in deliver
5 ling it with better effect Peterson
3 lowered up considerable, SO much 81
: that Cowler could do but little will
his left and had to await his oppor
= ltunities with right upper cut.
"A ton the whole If he is brough
h along in easy style he may have Z;
8 bright future. And Jim Corbett j
. the best tutor in the world"
: I leave for Australia on vaude
! vile trip next month. I am takin
Il Cowler with me as it will give me
IS great opportunity to work with hir
regularly, teach him what can, an
- also give me the chance to Try hir
: out thoroughly in regular matches be
- fore bringing him back home to pi
IS his skill against the best in this coun
! try .sSnowey' Baker, the Australia
II promoter has already communicate
sEwith me asking me to sign for
/ match or two between Cowler and tn
Elbest of the big men over there, an
= just as soon as have given Tom
thorough coaching and have put hiI
through systematic training cours'
will see that he gets all the rim
work he needs.
CowIer is no raw novice as he hs
been fighting about two years in Eng
land and Canada. In fact, he he
boxed with such men as mbardit
Wells, Frank Moran, Ian Hagu
IGeorge Rodel, Denver Ed Martin an
others of more or less notoriet
CowIer boxed the Rombardier, whe
I, a raw beginner, an eight round M
decision exhibition. He lost to Fran
Moran in seven rounds on foul Z
knocked out RodeI in six, Ian HagJ
~ in eight and Denver Ed Martin
two rounds. So my readers will al
"a preciate that it is not exactly a ra
recruit that have taken hold of.
- His record has been sent to me
a friend, but I refer to it here on
lss to acquaint my friends with the ia
- that Cowler has been boxing wi
ID fairly good men and has not bee
g beaten SO far. with all his lack
b experience. However, his preyio
H efforts have cut no figure with me
q sizing him up. 1t is what he will
III in the future that will interest n
81 from now on. But the fact that
81 has held his own since entering tt
b field and with comparatively no traf
b ing is proof that he ism ade of pref
81 good stuff
b believe that he is one of the har
d est natural httters 1 have ever m
81 with. His blows apparently car
q Z PIT