The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-25
Old Time Mtt Artists Wonder
 At High Purses
ny JAMES J. CORBETT

Old-time warriors groan a Dit when- ever they read about the guarantees paid to even the most ordinary fighters these days. And there's plenty of reason
 The other night Johnny Dundee, never champion, mixed 'it for b rounds with Joe Welling, and drew down reported SIR GOO for his share of the gate And Dundee's fight, lacking in aggressive ness was a disappointment to the cro"o.
 Twenty years or so ago Mysterious Billy smith and Joe Wolcott mixed It for % of the most furious rounds ever fought, and the winner got si,m. me fight was staged in the old Lenox A. 2. in New York City on the basis or oo Der cent of the gross to the fighters which purse" was split 601aO by the contestants.
 IN THE OLDEN DAYS
 In the olden days the fighter gambled with the promoter, which is only fa'r thing. If the fight drew well, the !" per cent purse for the principals was good for those days If no great crowd ap- peared then the purse was small
 It always happened that promoters made a little something out of every show they put on-20 and 25 years ago. That's because guaranteed purses were unknown and the promoters always got 30 per cent of the gate for themselves and to pay the expenses.
 NOW promoter IS lleu uP " P"y Is~f'' where from s1o0oo to s50,o0o before his show begins. Another 5000 to $lo,OOO al ready has been paid out for expenses That means he must take in from $lo,- 900 to S60 900 before he is even 1T he takes in more that's his profit. IT IL s less then he loses the difference plus his time and labor
 All of which doesn't seem auite equitable And some day if fighters don't stop whooping up their guarantees higher and still higher, the promoters will suffer such big and repeated losses that thell get disgusted, and quit.
 In the old days aspirants to titles and champions as well. were m.gnty glad to fight gruelling 20-round battles for purses which they knew wouldn't total more than s1 .OOG or sl 800 at the most. In this day even the youngster recently grad uated from the prelim class scoffs at anything less than $500. and the sea- soned warrior usually refuses to put of a glove until guaranteed four or five times as much as champions got when defending titles 20 and p years ago.
 The old Lenox A. C. in New York seated around 5000; the Broadway could house about 5,0O9 The prices ranged from sl to B. with the average around s2. That meant that when crowded the Lenox gate wouldn't total more than SG O00 and the Broadway not more than sl0O0o Yet in both of those places champions time and again, risked their titles for portion of 50 per cent of the gross.
 Whenever the Broadway was packed to capacity it meant a 5000 purse at the most. of which 5000 went to the victor and s2COo to the loser. And when the bout went on in the Lenox the fighters share was only S30oo, $l,s00 to the win fer and sl200 to the yanquished ring man.
 Can anyone imagine Pete Herman, Johnny. Kilbane Benny Leonard, Johnny Wilson or any of the others risking their crowns for purse which at the best would net them only $3,000? Those boys won't take on even the worst dubs in the game in no decision contest for such a sum- Is it any wonder that the warriors of long McAuliffe McFadden, Maher. Choynski, Erne, Lavigne, Hawkins and the others-w,ho fought to the limit of their endeavors for few hundred, have gasped in this era which grants to even the most mediocre of rngmen the price of kings ransom for brief nights work
 Copyright 1920. by King Feature Syndi-
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