Evening star., 1927-04-24
RY BENNY LEONARD.

=
Retired. Undeiested LiightYeght Champion
of the World.
N VIEW YORK, April 23.-What is
the most essential attribute
necessary to make success
4 full fighter?
l put that question to man
who has seen most OF the important
ring contests Of the last 20 years,
and who has had personal acquaint-
ance with most of the real fighters
of that time. He is regarded as an
expert" He answered just as L
expected ne would, but / venture to
say that there are not many of my
readers who will give the correct
answer. What would you say?
A knockout punch? Speed? Clever
nessa
My friend, verscd as he is in fistic
lore, thought a few minutes before
he replied:
Stamina Most Essential.
"Stamina-the ability to take It.
| to assimilate punishment-that. in my
| opinion, is the most essential thing
| for fighter to have in order to climb
| to success in the ring. I'll tell you
| why"
know. You hit il right on the head.
| Ability to take it is the most neces-
sary attribute in a great fighter"
! Now, kind reader, I'm going to
| explain to you why think ability
| to take it's is SO necessary in a
| fighter.
No matter how clever a boxer is,
no matter how hard he can hit, no
matter how fast he is. if he cannot
take it" he'll not get very far. for
| the simple reason that sooner or
| later he will run into a wallop that
will bring him down. and then all
| his skill avails him nothing. / could
cite hundreds of instances where
clever boxers were relegated to the
third, fourth and finally fifth raters
| simply because of their inability to
/ take punishment.
Case of Young Otto.
There was the case of Young Otto.
the butcher boy, brought out some
| 20 or SO years ago by Larney
| Lichtenstein. Here was lad who
possessed everything needed to make
world beater in his class, or even a
class or two above It. for that matter.
He was a lightweight, and. boy, how
he could punch! / think he was the
| hardest puncher of his size and weight
| that ever lived. / remember seeing
| him knock over a score or more of
fighters. each time in remarkably
| short and convincing manner. Otto
/ believe. holds the world record for
one-round knockouts. / know of at
| least 19 that he put out in the first
! round.
And yet, he couldn't take it. So,
| despite the fact that he had sure
knockout in either hand--I remember
| seeing him knock out a man with
left-hand jab to the face-he never got
to the top. simply because he lacked
that great essential, the ability to
take or withstand punishment.
Then there was BombarClier Wells
truly marvellous boxer and an ex-
traordinary hitter. But Bomby. old
dear. couldn't take it." True enough.
he did get to be the English heavy
weight champion, but this was not be-
cause of his ability, but because his
opposition was SO terrible.
Folded Up Like Tent.
Wells came over here, met second
rater named AL Palzer, cracked him
on the granite jaw that AL possessed
and Topped Mr.. Palzer on the floor
But AL got up, and then he hit Bomby.
and the English heavyweight cham
pion folded up like a tent and went
outs
Remember Peter Maher? Peter
came before my time. but have heard
tales of his terrific hitting, his great
! fighting ability and his inability to
take it." This lack kept him from be.
coming a champion.
Joe Choynski wasn't so very good at-
standing the saff. they say. but of
that / have no knowledge.
Now let's look at the other side.
Battling Nelson rose to the light
| weight championship merely on a
sheer ability to withstand punishment.
This fellow Pauline, who is invading
the heavyweight ranks today, can
take it, and nothing else. Jim Jeffries
could take it. and 1t wasn't till he had
held the title for some time that he
learned bit about boxing. He looked
as il he was a better boxer than he
really was when he met Corbett the
second time, but that was because
Corbett had slowed up considerably,
and Jeffries looked fast by comparison,
Jess Willard could take it, and he
had a great punch, because OF his
size and bulk.
Sullivan, FitsimmOns, Etc.
John l.. Sullivan. Fitzsimmons, Vol
CAST, Ritchie, Leach Cross. every
fighter that ever got up to cham
pionship, had that stamina that car
ried them through.
They might have been inferior as
boxers or hitters, or they might have
been slow. but they could take it."
OF course, you might mention Joe
Grimm, but I'll counter by saying
that Joe was foolish. He was only a
light middleweight at best, and be-
cause of his ability to take it he was
,