The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-17
- Up to the Minute
~ SPORTING NEWS
NJ FROM EVERYWHERE.
LuG-
BIG FIGHT FAKE
KiIbane and Leonard viii Stage
Fracas ON July 90.
Jack VeiOck Thinks Public VIII
Get Stung.
BY JACK vEIoCK.

New OrK, july ll--bOXlnO AdhS "a
Philadelphia and other cities within
easy reach of Quakertown are going
to be given the golden oI portunity"
of their lives to play the sucker on
July %, when Johnny Kilbane and
Benny Leonard get together in a six
round bout.
The promoters of the Leonard-Kil-
bane tango tea have guaranteed the
boxers a flat sum of $4,000 for the
terrific exertions they will be forced
to endure in six rounds OF tangoing,
and naturally enough the gullible
boxing public will be expected to pay
the freight.
With all due respect to the fight
ing ability of both Kilbane and Leon
ard, the greatest little meI of the
present day. it appears that the match
is a big sell. considering the fat purse
that is to be paid over fCr eighteen
minutes of boxing in a stale where no
decision can be rendered.
Dope for Public.
The press agents who will inject
the come on boosts into the public
press will dwell on the wonderful pos
sibilities of a knockout and the chang
ing hands of a championship. But
the only thing that will change hands
will be perfectly good currency-bales
of it-and the boxing fans will hand
it over.
The articles call for 1913 pounds at
O'Clock on the night of the fight
This means that the only way cham
pionship can change hands will be for
Kilbane to put over a knockout punch,
which would win him the lightweight
championship. Should Leonard knock
Kilbane out Kilbane would still be
featherweight champion because of
the weights, and if we know anything
about the methods of present-day
boxers and their managers it is a
foregone conclusion that eonard isn't
worrying over what will happen to
him in six rounds
Leonard is a good ring general, and
clever enough to hold his own with
any boxer of his weight for six rounds.
Kilbane, fast and clever as he is, can
never wear a sturdy opponent like
Leonard down in six rounds ard his
chances of putting over a Knockout
punch are Just about as brilliant as
Nick Romanoffs chances of recover
ing his throne.
Fans Will Be Suckers. ~
The coming tango party, therefore,
will no doubt go down in fistic annals
with several other grand fiascos. The
boxing fan who shells out his honest
coin to see it will leave the. ringsfde
with the realization that he is a suck
er, and the conviction that Barnum
was right. There's a sucker born
every minute and two to take him.
Look back at the McFarland-Gib-
hons burlesque at Brighton Beach, n.
Y, in 1915, when the boxers pulled
down a purse of $4s, 900 for ten unin-
teresting rounds in a no-decision bout.
Pipe the Willard-Moran practical joke
in 1916, when Willard got S47.500 and
Moran $23,750 for initiating a couple
of trick elephants in a ten-round, mo-
decision affair. The memory OF these
two joke bouts is still fresh in the
minds of the fans who paid to see
them.
1t is a safe bet that no high-pr1ced
boxing bee, involving champions will
be ever anything else but a joke un-
less the referee is empowered to rem
der a decision.
No one can blame Leonard or Kill
bane for jumping at the chance to col
lect $4,000 apiece for six-round
bout. They are not to blame for an
| imposition on the public, but the soon
er the boxing fans teach promoters
that they are not going to be wheedled
| into paying the fiddler who doesn't
furnish any music the better it will be
| for boxing in general