New Britain herald., 1925-09-01

Herman fight in Waterbury last Thursday night. but the writers who witnessed the bout and who are commenting on the decision are about evenly divided with regard to the business of the decision.
 Knowing as we do that Kaplan of last Thursday night was not the kaplsn we have seen on past occa- sions. we believe that the stories ennanatins from Meriden as to the champions condition, malaria and all such. have truth in them. Rap Ian nor his managers, have no alibis to offer. the Kid himself simply stating T was away off
 Ed Van Avery. known as one Of the keenest minds among the sports writers of the present day, and columnist for the New York World, states that In his opinion the bout was too close to give Herman the decision over Kid Kaplan. One of his paragraphs strikes us as being just the thing needed. It follows.
 That there was basis for the charges that Herman was jobbed out of his title, is unjust to the fair spirit shown by the sporting ele- raent of Waterbury, and 1t Is unjust to the efforts of George Mulligan, who promoted the match, and Tom ponahue. sole head of the Connecti- cut boxing commission"
 To read some Of the New York sports writers and then see the same thing contained in some of the Con- necticut papers. especially a near neighbor, one would think that Con- necticut was filled with high handed robbers Of every description New York, of course. gives fighters al! square deals. Take for instance the bare faced robbery of the light heavyweight title from Mike Nc Tigue In favor of a native son.
 Anert the weight question, Every has something pertinent to say. He vas right there when Kaplan step pen on the scales and here is what he has 10 say about this episode:
 'It Is charged that Kaplan was permitted to come in at least half pound overweight. I was permitted to see the weighing in and am sat isfed that the champion barely made 12s pounds, but he made it. The beam balanced steadily the sec end tims he jumped on the scales" Then again, on the question of
 hort rounds o.ar which Jimmy ely made such q Ea!lyhoo at the lsngside, Fiery has the following to , 1y:
 On the point ot short rounds: !os Jacobs, at the request of Jimmy II ally, Hernan's manager, held ...opTatch on the rounds Instead Of ths rounds being short Jacobs yiasisted several were too long, The 18th ip particular, was 25 seconds .tco long, according to Jacobs. In he 18th round kaplan was in real trouble for the only time Of the ght Here was one time when g hott round would have helped Rap i2n. Tn the others he needed plenty # additional seconds in his endeayor try and wear Herman down" 
 So much for that. We don't be- ; liaps that the rounds were short. Tn fact we were sitting close to Her mans corner and Kelly had 3 man there with a stopWatch to keep track of the rounds We know that in one instance wherein he claimed that round was short he didn't clock with the bell He was talking to g friend nearby when the gong sounded and he lost quite few sec ends in stopping the watch. Nat urally he was waiting for the bell at the end of the round and he clocked short. This we know from our own rersoral observation and we believe that the rounds were full length.
 That doesn't take back what we said the, other night about Kaplan. He vas only q poor third-rater in the fight against Herman, but also for. a challenger Herman was in Kaplan's class For champlon- ship fight, the first re eyer saw the exhibition was much poorer than many more fights we have sat n on. We believe, however, that kap!an was away off and he had enough stuff to bluff Herman into beng so cautious that he lost the fight De- cause of his lack. of aggresslreness' With the "Old Sportsman we De lieve that Kaplan in shape can beat Herman, because kaplan is VICIOUS fehter and Herman is boxer
 We have to smile at the cracks that some of the NeT York Trl'ers make over the kaplan-Herman hou'' and double smile UreatheS over our featuresaat the way some of the Connecticut, Writers play the part ot the Ives" men; We hlhK the oe- cisicn in the fight was q poor one in that if Herman won the bout on points, as, it is said he won it by five points then he should have been given the championship
 Baseball championships are won by one run, golf championships are won by one stroke, horse races are won by a nose. and why not a prize fight by one point, much less five However, we. stated that Referee Jack sheehan has an enyiable fepu- tation as being a square arhiter in the ring and he might have seen enough in the ring 10 call the bout a draw Then, when all IS said and done. Sheehan was in there at