The Alaska daily empire., 1917-04-25
EMPIRES SPORTING DOPE
 aINo-MAT AND GENERAL ITEMS


 fore in the history of the~ prize ring has there been such plenti- ful supply of classy little fellows and such lack of big 'uns as there is today.
 Whereas there are more than a dozen boys who can do 118 or even 116 handily and leave little to choose between them over lim- itced course, there's only one heavy weight who seems to have the real class-and Queensberry save the mark-if Jess Willard can be said to possess the high attributes such as some of the giants of other days.
 However, it's such a pleasant task to consider the classy little fel- lows now before the public, that there is no use to start a long winded argument anent the heavy weight possibilities.
 By way of clnching the argu- ment, here's list of active ban tamweights of today:
 Kid Herman, New Orleans; Kid Williams, Baltimore; Johnny Ertle, St. Paul Johnny Coulon, Chicago; Pal Moore, Memphis; Frankie Burns, Jersey City; Johnny Sols berg, Brooklyn; Lew Tendler, Phil adelphia; Al Shubert, Boston; Dicl Loadman, Bnffalo Kid Wolfe Cleveland; Joe Haley, Cincinnati; Jabez White, Albany, N. r.; Benny McNeil, Windsor, Canada, and Jot.l Burman, Chicago.
 Of that list, the first half-dozer named probably are the class ot the lot. although some of the others may show something soon that will topple them over. Just how gooG good the big little six are might be figured on the basis that Johnny .Coulon, who for the first time in hif life was knocked out adn off tho championship pedestal by Kid Will. Comeback. He has been clean ing up lately.
 That figures Williams as a bear But Kid Herman has copped the champs crown. Johnny Ertle won from Williams on foul, Pal Moore beat Williams in a limited contest and Frankie Burns hal shown well against most of tho field. Burns can hardly be consid cred possibility of first honors Coulon, one of the grandest cham pions of all time, has seen his championship syn sink behind the horizon. sltg looks now as if tho honors lie between Herman, Moore s Williams and Ertle. Mo0ra is hiG) up with bad arm right now, bu expects to be back in the, gam, shortly. 1s 08 &A1Fa 6e0t
 Possibly some grizzled fans will resent the rating of the bantams l mentioned above and sheer. The, may even say that Terry McGoyern George Dixon, Harry Forbes or Ped der Palmer could have laid any o them cold with one hand tied Maybe so But our chief argumen is that there's whole lot mighty good little men showing their boxing wares to the publi. these days.
 Father Time seems to be having one of the greatest battles of hit career It's with Sam Langford the Boston Tar Baby. Of course Than eventually will take the count, just as they all do. But boy, oh, boy! That black man, who has just celebrated his forty-third birthday, still packs the kick of a mule, as fighters who face him now and then in the Eastern gymnas- iums will testify. Sam knows he's slipping and that internal fat would prevent him from ever again fitting himself for a bout that had a championship angle Yet he could clean up even today with most of the alleged heayies and there are of few them who want his game. In fact, Jack John son lodged it successfully and Joe Jeanette and Sam McVey were the only ones during Tham's long car reer who really gave him battle. Probably many of those affairs on the Langford-Jeanette-M -McVey cir cult were not real bloodthirsty af- fairs.