The New York herald., 1922-07-18
BOB ROPER VICTOR
OVER FRED FULTON
Plasterer Is FloOred Twice by
Former Army Boxer in
Newark Ring.
BY CHARLES r. MATHIsoN.


Fearless Fred Fulton, hero of many a
farcieal fight. added another painful de-
feat to his long record when he was
outpointed by Capt. Bob Roper In a tu-
multpous twelve round contest In the
open air arena Of the Broad a. c..
Newark. last night. The fight was 30
full Of opera bouffe situations that the
1000 spectators divided their ime be-
tween hysterical laughter and urgent re-
quests to Fulton to fight or get out Of
the ring,
With the advantage of twenty-four
pounds tn weight. a foot in height and
several inches In reach. the pugilistic
giraffe from Minnesota seemed to have
too much of a handicap over the small
yet grimly determined soldier
Yet the fight was barely under way
when it was apparent that the smaller
man was not to be whipped without a
strong resistance on his part. When Full
ton answered the gong for the opening
round 1t was seen that he wore a white
patch over his left eye and mouse colored
trunks. the latter in delicate allusion TO
the courage of the elongated Mirpesotan.
This manifested itself IN the eighth
round. when Roper put the pallid
plasterer on the floor twice with heavy
left handed blows to the pit Of the
stomach.
Fulton curled up on the ring floor
with look of intense anguish on his
features and tried to give the impress
sion that he had been hit foul. Referee
Henry Lewis did not take that view Of
the case and counted nine over the
writhipg form of tall Frederick, The
plasterer managed to get on his feet
before ten was counted over him and
lasted throughout
In the ninth round Roper hit Fulton
another solid smash on the helt and
the referee cautioned him to keep his
blows UP higher.
In the final two rounds of the con-
test. Fulton. having recovered his
breath and his courage. made a show
of amazing aggressiveness and man.
aged to land some telling thumps to
the Captains face. Roper was cer-
tainly tired man at the close, hut
he had forced the fight from start to
finish. had scored two knockdowps and
Was on his feet at the close. The gall
liant little fighter, both in the ring and
the trenches. certainly was entitled to
the verdict.
Omcial MixuD I'm Third.
The battle nearly came to an end in
the third round. due to a misunderstand-
ing between Boxing Commissioner
Lyons and Referee Lewis. Fulton had
hit Roper glancing blow that cut the
Captain over the right eye. Blood
streamed profusely from the wound, and
while Roper was mot seriously hurt or
weakened by the cut. yet 1t looked so
bad that even the valiant Fulton turned
q shade more sallow than usual
Commissioner Lyons called to Lewis
to examine the cut. as under the New
Jersey rules referee may inspect a
boxer at any time with view to ascer-
tanning II an injured man is fit to con-
tinue. Lewis misinterpreted the order
to mean that the bout was to be stopped
and he waved both men to their corners.
Fulton, scenting a glorious victory for
himself, climbed out of the ring with a
proud smile of victory on his drawn
face.
Roper. thinking the fight had been
stopped. daaced about the ring in a
frenzy of rage, denouncing the action
OF the referee. Lyons finally made him
self understood and Lewis called the
astonished and not overpleased Fulton
back into the ring. The timidity Of the
overgrown Fulton enraged the onlook-
ers. who shouted dismally at him and
asked him not to run away from that
little fellow Roper
Roper fought desperately when the
bout was resumed and forced Fulton to
break ground. Roper opened the fourth
round with a furious attack on face
and body, and made a good impression.