New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-02-20
Heard at the Sign
Of the Cauliflower
Bv w. o. MCCLELLAN

Vow that another struggle for the
heavyweight championship is about 20
be staged, il might be more or less IN
ieresting to consider what Il is hal
makes champion bulk, punch or
brains. In the lull before the battle
the students Of the art which was Der
fectcd by the Marquis OF Quoensberry
are noisily comparing the new fighters
with the old.
Above the clamor OF the aTsumen.
rises one shrill voice with touch OF
brogue in H. And this voice maintains
truculently: There never was
grarder fighter than Jawn L. Sullivan.
And so the debate proceeds. OF course.
we do not expect 10 arrive at any par
ticular conclusion by passing the seven
American heavyweight champions in
review. The best VIC can hope to do
is 10 draw some insulting letters.
We will Legin. Of course, with John
L. Sullivan. Pugilism in the United
States begins that way. Sullivan was
Il fighter. pure and simple. He is cred
tied with having discovered the right
hand punch TO the Jaw, which is stil!
the most popular and expeditions blow
for ending a fight.
At the age Of twenty-five John l.
made a nine months tour Of the United
States, during which he demonstrated
the efficacy Of this punch by knocking
out fifty men within four rounds. Some
Of his victims were ready to drop be
fore they entered the ring. The very
name of John l.. Sullivan became :
charm which turned hard jaws 20 glass
He had a growl that made the roar oil
Il Gagged lion seem like the soft note 81
bel canto tenor.
Sulllvan's ighting technique was
sublimcly simple He stood before his
man and dashed out with the right
hand until the man went down before
him.
Sullivan could hardly be called z
giant. He was five feet ten and hal
inches tall. His best weight was vel
under 200 pounds. The John /. Sulli
van who defed anything on two leg:
10 stand before him was not much big
ger than Porky Flynn, another Bos
tonian.
Just as Sullivan had established il
the mind of the fight followers th'
superstition that the only way TO fgh
was TO stand up to scratch and batter
down an opponent with right hand
straight-out punch to the jaw, james
J. Corbett, slender California bank
clerk, doomed up on the pugilistic nor
lion. A lot OF things have loomed W
or that said horizon since. but th'
figure of Corbett was the most star
Ting loomer-up.
1t was a terrible shock TO the stu
dents of the earlier day when Corbet
jabbed and jolted the old lion, John l..
into a state Of exhaustion at New Or
leans. The feat Of Corbett initiated ;
new school of pugiism. He demon
strated that il was possible for a boXel
to down a fighter. The Californian
made what is known as ring cleverness
OF course. the fall of John l.. hit the
followers of the old school financially
and morally. The type Of pugilis
changed in 4 day. The reign Of The
roaring, eat-them-alve slugger va!
past. Corbett showed that the idea
fighter should work on the plan Of tax
ing the minimum amount of punish
ment, while administering the maxi
mum. He also showed that a variety Of
blows and an accumulation Of punche.
would do the work which John l.
seemed TO think could only be done
with q right hand punch TO tho jaw.
Also Corbett demonstrated that there
we're many ways in which a heavy
weight champion might capitalize his
prestige. "Gentleman jim actor and
sartorially perfect. became the new
idol of the small boys. No less a per
son than George Bernard shaw admit
ted that Corbetj was not such q bgc
actor. either.
The next strange igure TO appear on
this habitually cluttered-up horizon
was Ruby Robert Fitzsimmons. the
Cornishman who had whipped all the
htayyweights and lightweights in Aus
t-alia. Fitzsii.:aons is the man who
has maintained that bulk is d minor
requisite for a heavyweight, champion
for he held the middleWeight and the
heavywe lght titles a. me same time
Fitzsimmons was essentially a fight
tr He vas the possessor OF terrific
punch. but. unlike John l.. Sullivan. he
had notion that u would De effective
II il were landed on other parts Of the
anatomy besides the jaw. When Fi;z-
simmons met Ccrbett az Reno. New,
Gentleman Jim cut him 20 ribbons for
thirteen rounds. Just as Corbett was
gTinning derisively at him in the four
,santh round me right hand Of Eitz-