Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-27
Three Times Faced Men Of
Championship Calibre
-. and Failed

punchers, boxers, dancing masters.
they crawled between the ropes, last
ed their few cyclonic rounds, and tele-
scoped under the slow moving arm of
the referee. -
Who that saw them car forget the
cruel light in Herrera's eyes as he
stood at one side, his superbly muscl-
ed, copper-hued chest, shining sweati-
ly In the sunlight. rising and, falling in
the moment OF. rest that had come to
him, his nostrils widening and con-
tracing; his lips thin and vicious, the
muscles in his thighs ripping from the
strain he had subjected them tof
Why He Didn't Reach Summit
Knockout after knockout was writ
ten In his record, and victory followed
victory On his score, And. suddenly,
the sporting world began to question:
"Why isn't the Greaser the light
weight champion, of the world 2"
I'll tell you why. 81
Down the center of his heart,
mighty when the tide was running his
way, ran aNtiny strain Of saffron.
Everything else in the boxers roper
toire was his. No entry in the index
OF a champions qualities did he lack
save the fighting heart. Three times
he faced genuine heroes of pugilism,
and three times did he falter when
and where a fighter OF potential cham
pionship caliber would have summon
ed his last fading ounce Of courage and
consciousness and battled all the more
desperately.
Terry McGovern, glory of tho scrap
ping Irish breed, 100 ounces below
the Californian's poundage, leaped
from his corner, gray eyes blazing into
black, whipped a right uppercut from
his knee to the point Of Herrera's
chin, stepped back, and laughed aloud.
The black yes wavered before the
glare of utter fearlessness that shone
in Terry's orbs. and the Native Sons
heart quivered within his bosom. On
May 20, 1901. Herrera's long list Of
tr1un9phs was broken and he sprawled
to his launches in the fifth round,
while the fatal toll was counted above
him.
Dynamic Jewish Featherweight
Abe Attel, San Francisco Hebrew,
whose heaxt was of the red and fear
less fiber thht~scorns the h%ardships
and anguish Of the losing fight, weigh
ed fifteen pounds less than the mar
velous Mexican-and whipped him to
a Whinlpering FRAGILE in Oakland In
fifteen rounds on October Is. 1902.
:. But Herrera was too great a natural
fighter to be permanently discouraged
by these two defeats. Once again he
commenced to chalk up his victories,
sweeping all before him, until Sep
TENDER S. 1904. Z
That date was the turning point in
his life. And the man who started
Herrera down the. hill to draws" and
mo decisions and knocked out by
was the earnest nan who ever reached
up with blood-soggy gloves to pry
open his blackened, blinded eyes until
he found his enemy, that he might
fight him still more iercely and never
give an inch--Battling Nelson!
Ask those stalwart citizens of Butte,
Mont. today what. in their opinion,
was the greatest fight Of ring history,
and they will tell you that it was
staged that early fall afternoon when
Nelson broke Herrera's heart, stepped
by him where he had stood an obsta-
cle0n the road to the title, and went
on to glory and profit and everlasting
fame in ring annals.
Freak As Well As Fighter
The celebrated mannerisms of Her
rera might be dwelt upon-how he
smoked a big black cigar and drew
copiously from a whisky bottle in
stead of sniffling smelling salts be-
tween gOngs; how he taunted the men
he beat insensible-but it would serve
little to the purpose Of this narrative,
except perhaps to show that his body
could not forever withstand that
abuse.
The point Of this story is that had
his Latin forebears, the type. of hu-
man that gloats over disembowelel
horses In the bullring. been able to
transmit to Aurelio 'gameness COM
mensurate with his other remarkable
abilities, he would have become a
champion with whose tributes the nit
erature ,of prize fighting never had
been surfeited.
(The next article will tell the story
OF Percy C0ve.)