The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-03-26
BOXING ENJOYING ITS GOLDEN ERA, SAYS JIM CORBETT
Young Fellows All Over Coun- try Are Taking Up the
 Mitt Game
By JAMES J. CoRBETr
Copyright, 1922. by King Featur

Copyright. 1922. by King Features
 Syndicate, Ine.)
 This is the golden era of pugilism.
 There never has been a time like it. The fight game has known pros porous periods in the past, but none within a million miles of that which 1t lives today.
 The resumption of the sport in New York state in 1920 served as the impetus which has carried the game along to the greatest financial height which it ever has known-an1 brought into ring harness a greater number of men than ever battled at the same time.
 Lured by the tremendous sums of money that are being paid nowadays to even the most mediocre fighters, youngsters all over the land have been forgetting about going into ord- mary professions or into the trades They have been working feverishly to acquire fistic education.
 Many Young Boxers
 As result. every town in the coutry trots forth at least several local brides and it's likely that there are at least six times as many pro fessonal ringmen today as existed before New York brought back the padded ring sport.
 The very fact that New York state fight fans paid out nearly s5,OO0. 900 in 1921 to witness titular combats. is concrete proof that this is the most glorious period in all boxing history. Wonderful as the game mi ght have been back in the days when I was among those present. it was but a piker proposition in the matter of money, compared with to- day
 Back in the old days, when the boys, in fanciful moods, used 10 vision the day when some promoter would hang up $100,000 purse, the bulk of the fans laughed. That idea seemed as ridiculous as would s10,000.000 purse now. Yet the s100, : 900 purse became a reality, dozen years ago and within the year s5oO.- 900 has been doled out to two fight CTS for fistic efforts, which, at the maximum, would not have gone be- yond 36 minutes.
 Times Have Changed
 If memory serves me correctly. I doubt whether all of the purse offer ings for important fights during the 10 year period between 1887 and 1897 totalled much beyond the s500.00 which Carpenter and Dempsey split in Jersey City. 0
 When I was in the game, we used to consider $15,000. S25, 900 and s35, 900 purses not only wonderful. but mag nificent, superlative and almost un- believable.
 It always makes old timers run tkeir fingers through graying hair whenever they note the purses which are paid to some of the fighters of today Again and again I have wit messed bouts where the principals, mediocres at their very best, were given bigger financial rewards for their efforts than Sullivan, Mitchell. Fitzsimmons, Mccoy, Sharkey, Maher and the others earned for half dozen battles.
 Golden Era of Boxing
 This truly has become the golden era of pugilism-one without equal, without parallel. There was nothing like it in the past-and I doubt whether the future will make it any more amazing. It is my thought that the zenith has been reached win reference to purse offerings and to gates"
 It seems to me that we have reached point where there is the possibility of a revulsion of feeling toward paying so much money to fighters and there is the Likelihood Of revolt at the box office on the part of fans who are asked to pay huge admission prices so as to con tribute their individual bits to make up the astonishing purses