Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-12-08
WILDE GOOD ONLY
IN HIS OWN CLASS.
Expert Thinks Weight Alone
Caused Defeat at Hands of
Jack Sharkey
WINNER DID THE RUSHING
nv ED w. SMITH

OnlCagO, ILL.,, Dec. S.-lhe pity OF
the whole thing about Jimmy Wilde is
that the little fellow has got to fight
big men like Jack Sharkey. Weighing
only 1OT or SO himself, he is forced to
| take on men who outweigh him by at
lenst ten pounds and possibly more than
that, Jimmy was beaten in a Mil
waukce fight Saturday night and got
quite II trouncing. Sharkcy had it on
him in the poundagc by such II wide
margin that the British terror proved
nothing but mild scmblance of what
his advance notices indicated
There is nothing about the form that
Wilde showed Saturday night that
would indicate that he is a world bcatcr
excepting in his own class. lie isn't
a bantamweight and cannot cope sue
ccSsfuly with the best of American
bantams.
Tho betting was as good as 3 to 1
that Wilde would be- returned the win
ner, aud the Italians who we're game
enough to follow their cOuntryman
through made quite a FORTUNE.
Unexpected Stunt
Sharkcy's most unexpected stunt was
pulled in the first ten seconds of tn"
battle and it won him the fight right
there Instead Of standing off and box
ing with Wilde, as everybody thought
he would do, he walked right up to the
British terror and smashed him on the
nose. And the fresh little Dago boy
didn't stop there aud see what the
effect of his effort was. lie kept rjgh, !
on going and inside of thirty seconds
or SO Wilde was 40 diSComCCrtod that
he was II thoroughly whipped man,
gGr'" us he is.
There is little doubt that Wilde was
surprised mau during the first min
ute of his battle. That any American
fighter should have the tcmcrity to step
right out and take the play away from
man of his reputation appeared to
completely habbergaSt the Whole colony.
They couldn understand at all After
that first terrible minute jimmy never
got into his right stride.
Whatever held Wilde up and on hh
feet during this tremendous lombard
mcnt will ever remain u mystery. Per-
haps it was that Sharkey must go dowL
into ring history as n fcathcry puurhcr
and cannot knock the derby hat off
your head, even if he takes u running
jump at it.
Appeared Bored
Wilde, entering the ring, gave out
the impression of great boredom. He
seemed utterly out of Joint with the
situation. He accepted the kindly
offices of the corner with much the
manner of man totally out of sym
pathy with what was going on arouno
him. His tired strained looking face
Indicated that even the rccompensc of
S11 900 or more was little or nothing
to him. His mind might have been
back i'll Wales for all he seemed to.
care.
Funny, but true that thc price
dropped as soon as the fifth round had
been entered. Matt liinkel, Of Clcvc-
land, sitting at the ringside, was pre-
pared to offer Jimmy as good as $1,000
! to box ten rounds in his city within
the next two weeks When the end of
| the tenth round came the price hau
dropped down to $4,000 and Matt WASP
even sure that he wanted him at that
| figure,
Johnny Coulon. who sat at the ring
side with Jimmy Barry and Harry
| Forbes and other great former cham
pions. watched the work narrowly. He
said aftcrward that Wilde's work was
not impressive to him and that he
would bet $1,000 that he could beat
| him right now in six rounds.
Forbes inclined to the belief that
Wilde is making a mistake in giving
away so much weight.