The Washington herald., 1922-12-26
PANCHO VILLA,
ONCE A WAIF,
EARNS TITLE
Oriental Kid, Whose Home Was
Manila Streets, Wins Ameri-
can Championship in Short
While.

CdIl CiidIiipioilot'p w S"o't
While.
NyEW YORK, Dec. 25.-When
~ little "Pancho" Villa, who
~ meets Terry Martin in Madi-
son Square Garden next Thursday,
socked Johnny Buff for a goal re-
Gently he fulfilled the one ambition
of an Oriental kid who once made
the streets of (. Manila his home
until he was beffiended and adopt
ed by another Filipino, Francisco
(Paquito) Villa, assistant match
maker of the Manila Olympic Sta
dium.
"Pancho" Villa, the Mexican ban
dit, was then in his heyday and was
very popular among the natives OF
the Philippines. so the little Villa was
Immediately dubbed "Pancho" tthe
robber) by his fellow Filipino boxers.
Little Villas early history Is very
hard to trace. He believes that he
was born twenty-one years ago in
Iloilo, Island of Negros. Philippines.
and that his mother still lives there.
Who or where his father is he does
not know. but he always called him
self Pedro Tinzor before he was
adopted by Villa. who is with him In
New York.
From the first he showed a re-
markable aptitude for boxing, enter
ing the professional ranks when he
weighed but ninety pounds, winning
from a much heavier Filipino boxer
named Kid Moro. This was in 1910.
II. IDa k.TNff haa NoE
part in fifty-one ring contests. win
ming forty-two referees decisions and
two newspaper verdicts. losing four
referee and two popular decisions and
fighting three draws.
The boxers who can claim the
credit of victories over Bluffs con-
queror are:-Frisco Conception Ia
Filipinol. Eddie Moore. of Seattle. on
a foul: Battling BallerinO. a soldier
boxer; Abe Attel Goldstein and
Frankie Genero GwiceD.
KNOCKED OUT MENDIES.
Villa accomplished nothing start
ling until December of last year.
when he astonished the boxing
world by knocking out George Men
dies, flyweight champion of Aus
tralia, in three rounds. Mendies
was on his way to England to fight
Jimmy Wilde and stopped off in
the Philippine capital to pick up
some easy money" He returned to
Australia a sadder and much shat
tered battler.
The remarkable showing of the
Filipino boxers here is vindica-
tiOn for 'Globe-trooter" Joe Water
man, the eX-navy man, who spent
many years in the Philippines while
in the service of Uncle Sam. When
he returned to New York last year
Waterman told sport writers. boxing
promoters and others of the won
derful form being shown by Fill
pinO boxers and predicted that some
Of them would be champions before
many years. He was laughed to
scorn by the wise ones.
Signing up the crack Western
bantamweight. Bud Ridley, the ex-
saiOir returned with him 10 Ma
nila- The manner in which the
native boxers gave battle to a boy
Of Ridley's caliber convinced Mr.
Churchill that his boys were as
good as any in the world. so he i'm
ported George Washington Lee. the
Chinese boxer. TO fight villa. as
Ridley was considered too tough for
fd"'np Al tndJ time. Lee na0
fought Midget Smith. Pete Herman
and Buff. hut none Of these cave
him the beating that he received
from the Filipino
CONVINCED OF ABILITY.
This convinced Churchill that
his hOys were the goods so taking
Elmo Flores. "Pancho" and the
latter's foster father. he made the
long trip to New York with the
result that today the two Filipino
boxers are the talk Of the boxing
world. II is said that Churchill
risked over $4,000 in 'bank-roll-
ing" the venture. but from the
present outlook This will be repaid
q hundred fold
Which is the better of the two
Filipino champions is mooted
question, though the ma jority of
the fans seem to favor Flores as
the Classiest and the harder
punCher. But Elmo in order to
get TO the top must wade through
some tough opposition such as
Benny Leonard, Tender and
White. whereas Villa has had no
competition amounting to much.
With Bluffs retirement comes
q cry from the friends of frankie
Genaro thai the little New Yorker
Is the real American flyweight
champion because of his two vic
tories over Villa and because
"Pancho" is not an American cit
izen. They point out that the
Philippines are a possession. but
not a part of the United States,
and that Villa has never applied
for naturalization papers.
But "PanchO the PunChO' is not
worrying much over this. He can
always stick out his chest with
pride and point to the record
books 10 the fact that he knocked
out Johnny Buff in eleven rounds
That is enough for him. Accord
ing to experts on international
topics, Villa. regardless of Gen
eros claim, is and will he the rec
ognized American flyweight cham
piOn until such time as he is
defeated.