Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-10

shadow boxing and road work, and then
they announce loudly that they are fit
and eager for hard battle.
Recently the public prints carried the
story that the ambitious managers of
Ted Lewis and Charley White were in a
spirited dispute over the earning ability
of their respective sCrappcrs Each man
ager called attention to the long list of
engagements that his man had filled,
quoting figures of purses received and
outlining list of future battles that
would keep the boxer busy indefinitely.
In some cases it was stated that two
matches were scheduled for one week.
1t is incidents like this that have sick
ened the paying public of the boxing
game. Naturally, it stands to reason that
when a fighter has so many engagements
to fill his main object when engaged in
battle will be to protect himself from in
jury, and he accomplishes this by adopt
ing safety-frst tactics. The result is that
the match develops into a boxing eXhi-
bition rather than u fight, and the fans
who have paid out good money to see
real scrap do not get an honest return for
their coin.
Need Cooperation
These matchmaking methods of certain
boxers probably could be curtailed, by the
way, If the commissions that have control
of the sport i'm the leading fistic centres
would cooperate to put a stop to the
practice. II ought to be a simple matter
to adopt n uniform rule barring scrapper
from engaging in matches too closely in
succession, and if this rule is backed up
by another one which would suspend n
fighter for several months If he failed to
put forth his best efforts in a fight, then
the evil besettlng the sport would quickly
be eliminated. There would be honest, de-
cisive fighting then and not so much jab-
bing and clever footwork
When men like Ketchel, Papke, McGov-
ern, Corbett, Cans, Wolgast Nelson, etc,
were in their prime the game fourished
and prospered, but the present-day meth
Ods of certain iistic celebrities, who are
safety-firSt boxers at all times, cannot
help but make patrons sour on the sport.
1t has been noted that since the start of
the present season there have been only
five matches that drew receipts running
into five figures. New York city had
three of these, New Orleans one and st.
Paul the other. In practically every other
boxing centre the average gate for show
ranges from $1,000 to S50O0 1t takes
match of exceptional promise nowadays
10 draw out the fans In the metropolis
they like the ring mastodons, and any
time the headliners in this division are
matched big house Is sure to result. The
Crescent City is partial to the midgets
and lghtweights while the SANITY City
falls hard for any attraction in which
the peerless Gibbons is featured.
New York Money Centre
The big matches of the 1915-16 season
to date drew gates as follows:
observation-disclosures ..........,...S5S S5S,000
Moran-Coney ...''..'''''-....'' z2,OOO
Moran-C Coffey OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. $4,000
Gibbons-AheaTn ................. $4,000
Williams-Burns ..............,.. $4,000
New York naturally has been the big
money centre, but there is only one match
now remaining for the metropolis that will
attract the coin in bundles from fight
fans This is the proposed heavyweight
tilt between Willard and Moran. Receipts
Of 100000 are forecasted for this con
test
Minnesota enjoyed its record gate under
legalized boxing when Gibbons and Ahearn
met recently. There are two matches in
sight for the Twin Cirres that would eX-
ceed that amount, one being bout be-
tween Gibbons and Dillon, the other with
Gibbons and Darcy.