The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1916-12-26
PASSING YEAR
BLOW To BOXING
TIE YEAR HAS BEEN ONE or IN
ACTION AMONG FIGHTERS
AND MANAGERS.
BIC BOUTS SCARCE
Only a Few Bouts OF Amy Importance
Were Staged During 1916.
Prospects for 1917.

t0ulIeu Press StHII OOfItspohutHN.t
NEW YORK, Dec ga year OF
inaction by fighters and their mana
gers, another year of demands for
enormous sums to box, and year In
which some of the flabbiest cham
pions ever produced have been con-
tent to sit securely on their laurels,
is the pugilistic analysis of 1915.
Championship bouts of high cali
Der have become so scarce that the
man who formerly became all work
ed up over the prospect of seeing
champion and a near-champion get
together grows very little excited
nowadays when the word Is passed
out that a title-holder is about to
risk it. No-decision bouts and the
mercenary tendencies of the fighters
have done their duty. The old fight
game is laboring under tremendous
handicap.
In the year that is just slipping
by there have been mighty few bouts
for championships. The elusive
Freddie Welsh, lightweight title
holder, has engaged in two mixups
over a marathon route. .st he
tackled Ad Wolgast, poor oia wobbly
Ad, who still thinks he can beat the
best, and then he shared Charlie
White and the public for a twenty
round affair in Colorado Springs.
Both bouts were ridiculous from
the standpoint of champion-making
exhibitions. Neither of the men
could be classed as worthy of cham
pion's skill. Aside from these bouts
Welsh has engaged in many ten
round affairs and has demonstrated
that no one can catch him over the
ten-round route when he chooses to
run.
Jess Willard, the heavyweight
trail blazer, has been even worse.
Following a circus in the summer
months, and protesting against pub
Iicity at other times, the big hulk.
has engaged in only one bout, and
that with Frank Moran over the ten
round route There seems to be no
chance of getting him into a longer
bout, although several attempts
have been made.
Johnny Kilbane has defended his
title just once in bout of more than
ten rounds. and he easily disposed
of George CLANCY on that occasion.
There is some excuse for Kilbane,
| for there are no men of his weight
competent to give him a real thor
ough fight. He has been angling for
match with Freddie Welsh, and if
he gets it, he may help stir things up
in the game.
AL Mccoy still is the alleged mid
|dleweight champion, with no one
taking his claims seriously.
Les Darcy has taken on everything
he could find in Australia and is
now in this. country for new
fields. 1t may be that this youth
will help bring back the old time
pep.
Tex Richard, the man who made
the worlds championship bout be-
tween James j. Jeffries and Jack
Johnson at Reno, has been doing his
best to kick little life into the dy-
ing game. Negotiating for Madison
Square Garden and some of the best
bouts the world could produce, this
master promoter has promised a re-
vival of championship contests thai
will liyen up New York to suit any
one.
Aside from the Carpenter Willard
go. one between Les Darcy and Jack |
Dillon or George Carpenter, Richard |
has announced that he will go afte- !
a bout between Welsh and Kilbane. |
He also is figuring on an elimination |
that viii place Stanley Ketchel's !
crown on some deserving head.
The coming year now promises
much more than the one nearly ov-
er. Ii it doesn't pan out, the game
of hit and run viii take an awful
shoot down the incline.