The New York herald., 1921-07-31
BANTAM DIVISION
in DECADENT STATE
Entirely LaAing in Class That
characterized 1t in Days of
Dixon and McGovcrn.
WILLIAMS PUGNACIOUS
Recovery of Title by Defeated
Champions Not Rare Oc-
currence in Roped Square.
BY CHARLES F. MATHIsoN.

Never before in the history of pugil-
Ism has class been so conspicuous by
its absence as in the case of the bantam
division at present. It's two leading
exponents, who have held the titular
honors between them for several years
past, are Joe Lynch of this city and
Pete Herman of New Orleans. Com
pared with preceding champions and
contenders Lynch and Herman are a
pair of fair second raters Neither
possesses any of the qualities that
brought fame 10 champions like
Jimmy Barry. George Dixon. Solly
Smith. Dave Sullivan, Terry McGov-
ern. Yourg Corbett or Kid Williams,
when the latter was at his best
Neither Lynch nor Herman has the
ability that characterized contenders
for the title like Patsy Haley, George
Monroe, Caspar Leon, Joe Bernstein,
Harry Forbes, Oscar Gardener, Tim
Callahan, Sammy Kelly, Eddie Santry,
Tommy While, Pinkey Evans. Harry
Harris, Tommy Feltz and a cluster of
other notable figures in the class.
Many OF those famous men of the ban
tdui tiNiSiOH were lcTTlllC DunCNerS,
while others excelled in boxing skill The
contests between McGovern and Haley
and Monroe were notable combatss be-
tween pile driving hitter and wonder
fully scientific boxers, and the man with
the pinch won.
Joe Bernstein, the iron man of the
Ghetto, stood up under the tornado at
tack OF McGovern for twenty-five siz-
cling rounds and while Terrible Terrys
"a Aor tka nte;@
the champion failed to knock Joe off his
feet
Thrilling Combat.
Tho bou. be.veen McGovern and
Forbes az the Pelican A. c. on Oct /, 1898.
was this mort thrilling encounter ever
seen In the class For fourteen rounds
theI purumeiied each other all about the
ring. and In the fifteenth round, while
standing toe to toe. McGovern shot a
right to the chin that laid Forbes on
his face.
Nearly Ill the battles between the
early croc os bantams were intensely
interesting, because they were fighters
in addition to being boxers and hitters
Kid Wiuiau,A from whom Herman
took title, was not the same Williams
who hattenec Coulon in three rounds.
stopped Ledoux. then IN top form, In
ultceH hUu-u6 6Du iSilOtkeu out EuQle
Campi one Of the cleverest bantams
in the hirtory OF the class. in twelve
rounds. WC1iams had deteriorated sadly
when he MAJ Usrrnan.
Even 20 tho veteran held the whip
hand at tie end Of twenty rov ds and
really earned the decision on points.
Since then the only noteworthy feat by
Herman was the stopping Of Jimmy
Wilde in seventeen rounds, the winner
tTcv ftn dxyn pto ,ls,
Since becoming tho leading figures In
the bantam class Herman and Lynch
have staged two distressing exhibitions
ono at Madison Square Garden when
Lynch was adjudged the victor at the
end of fifteen listless rounds. and the
other at Ebbetts Field after fifteen
rounds of atrophied effort that saddened
the spectators. Unfortunately for the pa
irons of boxing 1t appears that Lynch
and Herman are planning for an in
terminable series of championship"
matches with the prospect of frequent
exchange of the title.
1t will, however, be difficult matter
for this pair to arouse much popular en-
thusiasm In their future matches.
Neither hits with much force. and in
boxing science each T. Uediccre. AS
both lack aggressivenAss and initiative
there is small ahance OF tem furnishing
a contest worthy of public patronage.
However until there is developed a
bantam of real class the suffering pa
irons of boxing will not be able to escape
the weird championship" combats of
this ingenious pair OF ring performers.
Much amazement has been expressed
over tho fact that Herman .egained the
title after having lost It, II Herman
and Lynch fight in future matches as
they did In their two recent contests
there Is small reason to doubt that each
will 'win" and lose" the championship
several times before the completion of
their series
Not a Rare Occurrence.
The regaining OF the lost title. how
ever, Is not SO rare as some astonished
historians seem to think. HerTnan's re-
covery of the championship after hav-
ing lost II marks the first time of such
an achievement In the bantam class. but
1t has repeatedly been done in the
feather welter and middle weight divi-
sions
In the welter class Rube Ferns won
the title from Mysterious Billy Smith
at Buffalo January 10. 1900. on n de-
cision of foul In round twenty. Ferns
successfully defended his title In n fifteen
~ound bout at Detroit September /.
700, but lost the championship 20 Mat
thews October 16. 1900, also In fifteen
round bout at Detroit On May %. 1901.
at Toronto, Ferns knocked out Matthews
in the tenth round, and thus regained
the championship.
Jack Britton, recognized rs American
welter champion. successfully defended
his title against Kid Lewis at New
Orleans April "a, 1916. IN twenty
round bout that went the limit. They
met in a twenty round bout at Dayton
Ohio. June 20. 1917. and Lewis got the
decision and the championship.
Britton got return match at canton.
Ohio, March II, 1919, and Knocked out
Lewis In the ninth round, thus regaining
title. Previous TO losing this bout Lewis
lad knocked out Albert Badoud. welter
champion OF Europe. thus making Lewis
welter champion OF the world. When
Britton stopped Lewis the victor became
the worlds welter champion, which title
he still holds.
Dixon's Experience,
In the featherweight class the situa-
ton was more complex. but Dixon re-
gained title after once losing II. Dixon
iost a twenty round decision TO Solly
Smith in San Francisco, Oct. 4, 1897.
When the boys came East, the Horton
Law Boxing Trusts representative who
also managed Dixon, attempted to de-
prive Smith OF the honors he had fairly
earned.