The Washington herald., 1916-12-10
that FAMOUS Saying
RUNS true TO FORM
Dillon, Levinsky. Welsh. Mccoy and
Ertle Have Caught Many.

New York, Dec. 9.-Barnum probably
had some Of the lovers of pugilism in his
mind when he uttered his famous utter
ances.
Can q man be regarded as other than
a sucker who pays out from 81 to SO
in these days to see the hippodroming of
the present-day fighters whose only
ambition is to shake down the promoters
for huge purses and give in return a
burlesque on prize fighting?
1t is beyond understanding how men
can be beguiled time after time into pay
ing big prices to see farcical bouts; to
pay them not once or twice, but continue
to pay out the money, knowing each time
that they arenftS going to get their
moneys worth-they are going to be
cheated. Where else can they be classed
except in the sucker division.
Most prominent among the boys who
have brought the sport of boxing into
disrepute by their awful exhibitions are
Jack Dillon, Battling Levinsky, Freddie
Welsh, Mike Gibbons, Kid Williams.
Johnny ErtIe, Johnny KiIbane, AL Mccoy,
and a score of others. 1t is about time
for the promoters to force these STALL
crs' to fight-or refuse to hire them in
future.
Jack Dillon hasn't fought a worthwhile
battle since he mixed it with Frank
Moran He has been content to take
things easy-to the utter disgust of the
men who were his warmest admirers,
who bet real money on their favorite-
and lost it. As for Mike Gibbons-well.
the oldest inhabitant may recall Mike's s
= last good showing. None of the younger
generation seems able to shoot memory
back as far as that About the only
thing Mike has ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS loaf
ing-in long long time was the knock
out of Jake Ahearn. a vastly Overrated
sCrapper.
Battling Levinsky hasn't been quite as
hippodromish as the other two-but he
has been bad enough. He has contracted
that "in-and-out'' habit so common among
the fighters of this day and there's no
doping for his battles. He lams the
wadding out of a giant one week and
looks like a novice against a midget in
his next start.
One Of the mysteries of the fight game
just now is how the public continues to
stand for those bunk DiIlon-Levinsky af-
fairs They've fought each other a dozen
times or 50, and never once have they
seemed to give their best. Each seems TO
karbor some love for the other that for
bids slugging-and the fights, for the most
part. have been nothing but hugginG
matches. with each taking equal turns
in winning.
The next promoter who suggests an
other Dillon Levinsky right" deserves to
be guillotined
And the same fate should befall the
-ink who tries to foist another Welsh
White meeting upon the public. Practi-
caIly every time they have met the YER
dict has been-"what an awful farce"
Paying out money to see Al Mccoy,
middIe-weiGht champion" in action, is
equivalent to dropping it into the briny
Atlantic. 1t needs two persons to make
a fight-and Al can't fight If you care
to see man assimilate punishment AIS
the man to watch. II you want to see a
slam-bang battle-well. the cheese cham
piOn' can't produce.
Williams hasn't displayed a worth
while battle since he won from Coulon.
.lnd as for Ertle-well, he's a bit worse
The ST Paul kid lays claim to the cham
piOnship because Williams fouled him
Ever since then Ertle has been trying to
convince that he is a real bantam champ
and how miserably has he failed!
Oh. for those rare old, fair old days
that our dads talk about-the days OF
I.avigne. of Maher. of Fitzsimmons, OF
Sharkey, of McGOvern. of Dixon. of Cans
of Rubin, of Sullivan. of Mccoy, OF
Choynski-the bygone days when pugi-
lists were fighters.