New Britain herald., 1922-12-19
|KAPLAN IS BEATEN
 BY 'BABE' HERMAN
Californian Removes All Doubt as
 to His Superiority

The winning streak of Louis Kid" Kaplnn Of Meriden was halted last night when Babe Herman, q prod uct of the Pacific coast, out-boxed and out-fought the Meridenite, right In the latter's bailiwick. lp award ing the decision to Herman, Referee McAuliffe did the only thing he pos sibly could do, though it was some what different to see Macs hand above some other boxer than Kaplan
 The victory of the clean-cut Cali fornian was beyond question and there were few dissenting voices when the award was announced. In view of the fact that the admirers Of Kap- Ian are naturally biased at times in their sentiments regarding the little battler, it will be generally accepted by those who could not get into the hall last night, that Herman must have won by mile. As the bout neared its end, wild talk regarding a draw was heard from some quarters in the building, but 1t was idle chat ter.
 Beaten at Last.
 z It was the first reverse that kaplan has suffered since he met Kid" Wag- per early last spring. On that occa- sion it was a case of a boxer outpoint- ing his opponent. Last night 1t was a case of combination boxer-fighter winning all the way over a mauler Kaplan tried hard. as he usually does, L ,,k LA Silver City with bag full of tricks, and the manner in which he em- ployed them at times made Kaplan look like a novice. When Kaplan tried to slug, Herman usually beat him to the punch.
 Herman Gets Started.
 After a lightning first round in which the honors were even, Herman went out into big lead in the sec ond round. It has been argued time and again by admirers of Kaplan that 1t is impossible to hurt him or knock him out. Foolish talk, of, course. Last night Herman stung Kaplan in the second round. and for time it looked as though the latter would hit the canvas. Only his superb condi- -tion kept him on his feet. Up to the seventh round, with the sixth even, Herman was continually piling up points. Kaplan won the seventh and eighth round. He did manage to sting Herman with hard smash to the head, that sent Babe" up against the ropes. The Californian was not in any trouble, and the punch seemed to urge him on to greater speed in the remaining rounds. The tenth, eleventh and twelfth rounds were all in Herman's favor.
 Decision Is Boocd.
 In the semi final Willie Shugrue of Waterbury and Young Silverberg of Ansonia boxed fast eiGht-round bout. While the Meriden and Hart ford admirers of Silverberg booed Referee McAuliffe's decision of a draw, the award looked like good choice. Brothers Joe and Johnny Shugrue, attired in bright green jer- seys, attended to Willie between the rounds.
 Fast Prclim.
 Johnny Mason of Bridgeport and gloves for eight rounds in bout that pleased. It was called draw, but many expressed an opinion that Ma son had had the better of it.
 Wins Diving Henors.
 The short distance diving cham pionship was decided in the opening bout when Young Leonard of Wall- ingford scored a knockout over Joey Gibbons of Waterbury, a protege of Dan Buckley. It was the only poor bout of the night and, while it went less than two rounds, it was long enough. Gibbons hit the canvas in the first round, but the ring must have hurt his head, because he got tip for more. In the second stanza, he was more successful in finding a soft spot, and when he went down, he stayed down.
 Travers on Deck.
 The bouts were well attended, the band-box affair known as Town Hall being taxed to capacity. Mickey Travers of New Haven, was intro duced just before the big bout was on, and he issued challenge to Kid" Kaplan. The announcer told the crowd that Travers has posted s1,oo0 with the state boxing commis- sion to bind the match with Kaplan As usual the Meriden fans ragged Mickey; but, as yet, KnPlan has to gain an award over the Elm City boy.