Omaha daily bee., 1917-03-25
MANY GOOD LITTLE
FELLOWS IN GAME
Score of Bantamweights OF
First Water, but Very Few
of the Big Boys.
GIBBONS CLAIMS TITLE
By RINGSIDE,

| SUlIdRO, N dllI w IN u'i Nt~
respect to the old guard, it is prob
able that never before in the history
of the prize ring has there been such
plentiful supply of classy little TEL
lows and such lack of big 'uns as
there is today.
Whereas there are more than a
dozen boys who can do llS or even
l16 handily and leave little to choose
between them over a limited course,
there's only one heavyweight who
seems to have the real class-and
Oueensbury 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 pleasant task
to consider the classy little fellows
now before the public, that there is no
use to start longwinded argument
anent the heavyweight possibilities.
By way of clinching the argument
here's a list of active bantamweights
of today: ,..,
Kid Herman, New Orleans; Kid
Williams, Baltimore; Johnny Ertle,
St. Paul; Johnny Coulon, Chicago;
Pal Moore, Memph frankie Burns,
Jersey City; Johnny olsberg. Brook.
lyn; Lew Tender, Philadelphia; Al
Subert, Boston; Dick Loadman, Buff
falo; Kid Wolfe, Cleveland; Joe
Haley, Cincinnati; Jabez White, Al
bany, N. Y. Benny Mcneil, Windsor,
Canada, and Joe Burman, Chicago.
OF that list the first half-dozen
named probably are the class OF the
lot, although some of the others may
show something soon that will topple
them over. Just how good the big
little" six are might be figured on
the basis that Johnny Coulon, who
for the first time in his life was
knocked out and off the championship
pedestal by Kid Williams, is doing an
apparently real comeback He has
been cleaning 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 has shown well
against most of the field. Burns can
hardly be considered a possibility for
first honors.
Coulon, one of the grandest cham
pions OF all time, has seen his cham
pionship sun sink behind the horizon,
1t looks now as il the honors lie
between Herman, Moore, Williams
and Ertle. Moore is laid up with a
bad arm right now, but expects to
be back in the game shortly.
Possibly some grizzled fans will re-
sent the rating of the bantams men,
toned above and sneer. They may
even say that Terry McGovern,
George Dixon, Harry Forbes or Ped
lar Palmer could have laid any OF
them cold with one hand tied, May
be $50. But our chief argument is
that there's a whole lot of mighty
good little men showing their boxing
wares to the public these days.
Langford Fighting Time.
Father Time seems to be having
one of the greatest battles of his
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 mule, as fighters who
face him now and then in a local
gymnasium 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 heavies, and there are
few of them who want his game. In
fact, Jack Johnson lodged it success
fully and Joe Jeanette and Sam Nc.
Vey were the only ones during
Tham's long career who really gave
him battle. Probably many of those
affairs on the Langford- Jeanette-Me-
Vey circuit were not real blood-thirsty
affairs.
Popularity Wanes.
Les Darcy's dazzling appearance
here bids fair to become but faded
memory, unless he can get action
against some of the middleweights or
light heavies in Denver. Branded a
Stacker" in the east and middle west
because he ran away from the Euro
pean war, instead of fighting with
other Australians. Darcy's popularity
waned quickly. He has hardly any
one to blame but himself. He repu.
dated manager who took charge
of his affairs in good faith. Greed
for American dollars apparently was
the cause. And now it seems that