, 1923-10-23

Several years ago Dundee cut
away from scotty Monteith, the
clever manager. who had brought
out and made one of the greatest
little fighters in the ring. Like
many other boxers do. Dundee got
to the point where he thought II
was an Unnecessary expense to have
q cutting in on % per cent
of his earnings and. believing that
he could handle his own affairs.
Dundee dismissed his manager.
Now that his earning capacity
has been doubled or trebled with
the possession of a worlds cham
pionship. Dundee's actions In sign
ing Up Jimmy Johnston, a high
priced manager. to do his business
for hfa1, IS mn obvious admission
that he found himself unfit to do
both the fighting and the handling
Of his business.
It has long been debated whether
managers are an influence for good
or bad with n boxer. There r
examples 10 support both sides of
the argument. but there arc vastly
more boxers who have succeeded
with managers than those who have
gone It alone to the tor.
Johnny K1lbane. former worlds
featherweight champion. was per
haps the most prominent example
of a boxer who succeeded in hand
ling his own affairs. No boxer In
tho history of the game got more
out of the Investment of such little
time and labor as Kilbane did. but
his was n very unusual case. Crafty
business brains are very seldom
any part Of a BOXERS equipment.
Kiibane cut away from Jimmy
Dunn and he remarked when he
retired from tho ring, that he
thought Dunn was the geratest do
veloper and trainer in the business
but he had too much OH his hands
10 give the proper attention to the
business end OF the game.
Jack Dempsey certainly would not
have gone as far in the heavyweight
division II he had not been guided
by Jack Kearns, tho greatest Of all
Dempsey had the nat
riral ability to reach the heavy
weight championship without much
guidance. but no certainly would
not have commanded the fee for his
services that Kearns was able TO
get for him.
Benny Leonard might have be
come the lightweight champion with
some manager other than Billy
Gibson, but It iB very doubtful.
Leonard Is gracious enough to give
Gibson the full credit for his rise TO
the top.
Jack Brittun owed much TO Dan
Morgan for bringing TO him the
worlds -welterweight championship
and a fortune that has made him
carefree for tho rest Of his days.
Georges Carpenter never would
have made his fortune or gained the
fame hat he earned with a manager
less shrewd than Francois Des-
camps.
There are as many examples. or
perhaps more, of boxers who suf-
fered by poor management. Eu-
gene Criqui's case was the most
recent. Criqui won the worlds
featherweight championship and
lost II In the abort space Of two
months. No smart American man
ager would have allowed him to
take on a dangerous challenger In
his first fight as n champion
True. Criqui was forced to post
n forfeit of $4,000 that he would
meet Dundee IN his next fight be-
fore he was allowed to fight XII
bane, but he could have gone back
10 France and forfeited his money.
Ho was blaokjacked by unfair
methods into the agreement and IL
would not have been n breach OF
faith to demand a fair chance aH
the champion.
He would have made money even
II he did have TO pass up $4,000
and thereby get the opportunity
for a number of matches. but he
would never have lost the forfeit.
as the New York Boxing Commits
sion could not legally claim tho
money and Dundee did not have a
case to take It into court
Tess Wizards terrible blunder In
discharging his manager and train
ers after he won the heavyweight
.ha~ntan.htn ro-t him tina tftia and