Evening star., 1916-05-14
BOXING EXHIBITION SEASON
NOW SHIFTS TO OUTLAWS
Regular Clubs Shutting Down and Future
Sparring Events Will Be Shown
Only In Large Cities

and out from pneumonia at his home In
! Indianapolis.
James ]. Smith, better known to
| the boxing fans as Jim Smith. of New
York. who has been out of the game
the past two years. is anxious to make
| his comeback among the heavy
| weights. At present Jim is making
his home in Wheeling. W. Va. and he
has had number of minor battles
| just to keep his hand in the game.
Smith writes me that he would not be
averse to meeting any of the so-called
| heavyweights of today. and if he fails
| to win he will be willing to go back
to Russia and start a school of boxing
| for the Russians. And without joking
| there will be fortune for some good
boxing teacher who will go to Russia
after the war and teach the young
men of that country the game" writes
Jim. Smith has fought many of the
| best heavies in the east and he wants
,, to meet Jack Dillon or Charlie Weinert
now. just to show that he still is there
not be worse than some of the heavies
who have made their appearance of
late, and he might be a great deal
better.
Martin Denny. the oldtime light
weight and welterweight, who had
many good battles on the coast in the
early COS ara Who seemed to have
disappeared 'he ps st decade or so, now
is running a saloon at Butte, Mont.
number of years. where he boxed many
times. Denny was in Australia be-
fore coming to the coast and his last
battle of importance in the antipodes
before leaving for America was with
Young Critic. the cleverest of all box
ers of those days, which went twenty
five rounds to a draw This was In
1898. After his campaign in the states
he went into the saloon business with
Tommy Tracy, the wonderfully clever
Australian welter, in Portland. Denny
writes that Tracy, about Ave weeks
ago. was irlan auto accident and had
five ribs broken and was laid up In the
hospital for some time. Among some
on the coast were Dal Hawkins. Spider
Kelly. George Dawson. Danny Need
ham and others.
Jack Dillon. the Hoosier bearcat or
giant killer, as some Of the fans call
him. has been matched to meet any
middleWeight or light heavyweight the
club may select at the base ball park in
automobile speedway race, May 80.
For two years there have been no
matches at Indianapolis owing to the
scrap between the promoters of that
city. but it seems that matters have
been adjusted. and tn epopular Hoosier
champion will be given a chance to
show himself. Who his opponent will
be is not known yet, but the club man
agement announces that one of the
best men in either division will be OBJ
tanned to test Jacks ability. Here
would be great chance to bring Mike
Gibbons and Dillon together, but the
st. Paul phantom has a match billed
for May 23 and might object to an
other so close. 1t is just possible that
Frank Moran may be the man, but
again the money question will come up
and the indications are that the Hoos-
ier promoters will not take a chance
on paying out a big guarantee to the
Pittsburgh heavyweight.
Bob Devere. the Kansas City heavy
weight, who was taken in charge by
George Lawrence, manager of Sam Nc
Vey, the colored star, is becoming dis
couraged and may retire from the
about week or ten days ago when he
defeated Gunboat Smith at Syracuse.
n. Y. besides making a hit in other
matches, but he thinks the game is
too tedious. Devere is ambitious to
climb higher in the fstic game but he
says that if it takes as long to get to
the front as it does to get any encour-
aging kind of matches he will be an
old man before he goes far, and for
that reason he would rather look for
job now that will at least insure him
a living. Manager Lawrence thinks
very well OF Devere and is endeavoring
to push him along. but Bob's idea is
TO get into championship match right
on the reel or quit. The chances are
Bob will have to quit