East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1922-11-08
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NE,W YORK. NOV. S-(U. P.)-
Possibilities the boXine game provide
for a willing worker and a good man
aeer arc well illustrated in the case OIL
| Willie jackson. New York lightweight
and until very recently prominent
| contender for Benny Leonard's title
Jackson's financial success in the
ring was made public recently by
Frank "Doc" Fagley, his former man
! ager when the pair decided to sever
business relationship that had exist
ed for eight years
Back in 1914 Jackson was a sixteen
year old STRIPPING, weighing ninety
eight pounds and working as an er-
rand boy for the large sum of So
| week.
Like Benny Leonard and many 9TH
er prominent boxers, Jackson hau II
keen interest in the boxing game ana
he used to spend most of his spare
time around the gymnasium and the
4 old Fairmont Athletic Club which was
then the "garden" of New York.
Bagley was then handling number
of boxers and he saw more promise
in the youngster and after some little
! training and tutoring he landed jack
son in preliminary at the falflnoulit'
for which he received SO. His devel-
| opment was slow but he was carefully
/ handled and brought along by shreWd
/ management until 1917 when he pc
! came q headliner by knocking out
/ Johnny Dundee in two minutes ana
| thirtv-six seconds of bout in Phlla-
| delphia.
/ Dundee had never been Knocked
| out before and he never has since that
! time. Jackson naturally was hailed
as q prospective champion and bouts
for big purses came thick and fast.
In the last three years, Bagiey
claims Jackson earned $25O,00O, Of
which S12O. O00 was brought i'll in thir-
! teen months.
He began slipping last winter and
perhaps he is passed the stage where
he ca nimprove, but he is still good
card and his earning power has by no
means been stopped.
= Benny Leonard, Jack Britton, Joe
! Lunch and other prominent New York
/ boxers have become wealthy in their
business because of a large personal
following of friends that pack the
! house every time they work.
jackson, never popular, cashed in
almost as much because the house
was packed every time he showed with
fans who came in the hope of seeing
him get the worst Oft
! Both Bagley and Jackson knew of
| the feeling against him and instead of
working to overcome it they shrewdly
| played it up so that he became one of
! the best drawing cards in New York.
! How much of an attraction Jackson
was is shown in the figures tpresented
/ by Bagley that in eight bouts in Madi-
! son square Carbon, he and his oppon-
| ents drew in excess of $4S6,000. One
| bout with Dundee brought a gate of
/ $46, 600 from 1900 spectators at
prices of 81 to So. Another bout with
Eddie Fitzsimmons drew $66,OOo and
a match with Rocky Kansas brought
in $SS,000
Bagey claims that their break was
not caused by i'll feeling and that they
are still on good terms. Jackson
wanted to make a trip to Australia
and engage in some four-roundcrs iN
California and Bagley, having big
stable, could not afford the time, 80
he turned over five year contract to
! Sammy Goldman, manager of Pete
Herman, former tantamweight cham
pion.
Herman, by the way, is in bad shape
in New York and is on the verge of to-
tai blindness. Several years ago a cat
aract developed on one of his eyes but
he gamely stuck to his business against
the advice of doctors anG the results
were SO serious that the doctors now
fear that they will not be able to save
his eyes.
Herman has done well. He has
made lot Of money and has invested
it wisely, according to his friends, so
that if he is forced to give up boxing |
his wife and two little girls will not |
be in need.
His wife insists that he shall retire
from the ring if he does recover, but |
little Pete has an idea that he can win |
the bantamtitle again and make a rec |
ord of having won q championship |