The Washington times., 1921-02-20

They remember him as slim,
active. clever young champion Of the
world, and naturally against this
young fellow the present day crop
of feathers may not seem to class.
But we repeat. the slim, active Kill
banc has naased away. In his place
stands gray-haired. rather pudgy
man who has done little boxing for
long time. and whose eye cannot
possibly be as keen as the eye of the
Kilbane of few years back. and
whose former skill has undoubtedly
been dulled.
FIRST ONE Is LUCKY.
Meantime these present day chal-
lengers are strong. rugged young fell
lows who are boxing steadily and
gathering knowledge Of their craft
every day. The first one that gets
kilbane in the ring. over route,
granting that he is one of those who
is in the first flight of challengers.
will probably be the new feather
weight champion of the world.
The authorities look at Seiger.
Beecher, Va,gar. CLANCY, de Foe and
the rest, and wag their heads and
say that such az these will never do
against the skillful. experienced Cieve-
land man. They have nothing Of
Johnny's old form. They cannot hit
like Johnny. and so forth. Then some
night they will see Johnny in the ring
against one of the rugged. ambitious
youngsters, and 1t will be the old
story.
1t is not in the fistic cards that
man can lay off as long as Kilbane at
his age, take on weight, and develop
soft muscles, and then hope to COM
pete with a strong, fast young fellow.
Incidentally, no one knows this any
better than Johnny kilbane. The
featherweight champion is no fool
He has seen a couple of his challeng-
ers in action, and. while they may not
have impressed him by their ability.
Johnny knows that they have one
tremendous advantage over him, and
that is youth.
NINE YEARS HAVE GONE.
washington's Birthday. February %,
will be the ninth anniversary of Kill
bane's victory over Abe Attell. The
lad from Cleveland, then twenty-three
years old, beat the thfn-legged, slip-
perry boy from San Francisco In
twenty rounds, Charley Eyton, the
old Los Angeles referee. giving him
the decision.
Kilbane has now held his title
plons. He won at 122 pounds, but II
is doubtful II Kilbane today could
enter the ring under 12T pounds, and
some say he could not make 13O.
He has been knocked out once since
he won his title. and that was when
he went out of his class and met
Benny Leonard, the lightweight
champion. Johnny Dundee held him
to a twenty-round draw the year after
he beat Attell. and therein Dundee's
manager made a slight error in not
Immediately advancing the claim that
his man was as much champion as
kilbane.
Johnny had a world Of class when
he was at his best. He was a master
boxer and could hit when he felt like
hitting. The last time he was seen
In these parts he boxed Benny Valgar
over in New Jersey, and Kilbane's
showing then proved that he was on
the decline.
There are quite a number OF promis-
ing youngsters in the featherweight
class just now. or at least in that
division called the featherweight.
where they permit them to come in
weighing up to 1877 pounds.
sEIGBR LOOKS BEST.
Sammy Seiger, who weighed 124
pounds the other night, when he met
Billy de Foe at Madison Square Gar.
den, seems to be about the best of fhe
newcomers II he improves, as he
should, over the form he displayed
against de Foe. Seiger's chief asset
IL that he can hit.
De Foe, a besdy, experienced boxer,
IL around twenty-seven years old. and