Evening star., 1929-06-30
BY GEORGE H. DACY.

- HEN ..Dempsey's double" aggres-
. sive Max Schmeling, climbed
AZ into the four-sided circle re-
w Gently to battle Pauline Uzcu-
dun the buffeting Basque, an
ednnt tossed into the ring new tailor
49,. aahting gloves, the one hundred and sew
;szssiN thousand set Of the kind made by "Sol"
T,svi1,sSn who has provided the leatherware for
ali the title contests Of the last quarter cen-
tury.
The digits of Schmeling's dynamite right"
and Paulino's dynamic left were taped py
expert hands and then incased In lambskin
gloves padded with curled horsehair produced
by q master Of curious profession, who Is now
the undisputed dean Of boxing-glove makers IN
this and all other countries
The interesting tale Of Levinson's entrance
into the boxing glove business carries US back
some 80 years to the old National Gymnasium,
in San Francisco where Ernie. Herger, who
fought successfully in the middleweight class
under the ring name of Young Mitchell" was
training for q title fight. In those days Levi
son was q dress glove maker by training and
trade, benchworker whose spare-time hobby
was athletics As an amateur pugilist Levison
had progressed gradually toward the crest OF
the pack among the simon-pures. He was even
more adept,at Throwing" gloves IN the squared
circle than at making them in his skyloft
shop.
Herper. friend of Levisons and one of his
tutors in the scientific art Of hitting and not
getting hit, hurt his hand in a practice beut.
Angered by the injury, which was due to an
limiting glove of the style then used Herger
said "Levison, you're professional glove
maker; why under the sun don't you devise q
satisfactory boxing glove? If you do you can
win a fortune from mitten making"
THAT timely suggestion caused the dress
glove maker to inaugurate remarkable re-
search. For the next several months he de-
voted his idle hours to experiments with leath-
ers padding, thread and Innings, He tested and
retained this material, discarded that, made
various models tried the best Of his fight mitts
out in the practice ring-and eventually pro-
duced a set Of padded gloves which even salts
fed the critical Herger. From then until now.
the digits of both defending champions and
title contenders have been protected by this
new variety Of gloves In all championship bouts.
The outstanding feature OF thc new boxing
glove was that 1t was made TO mt the hand OF
the individual wearer and that 1t was so pliable
that it could be opened and closed readily by
slight movements of the fingers. The fighting
gloves which it replaced had required the pres
sure Of a rigidly clenched fist to hold them in
proper position. In the olden days, the pugi-
lists who used these gloves suffered frequently
from boxers cramp," due to the necessity Of
keeping their hands closed tightly for long
periods.
The old-tiners viii tell yts you question
them closely that knockouts were more plenti-
full during the days when Corbett, Fitzsimmons,
Sharkey and Jeffries were in lighting form than
they are today. And there is a technical rea-
son for this plurality of draws and no-decision
combats which are now being written into the
pugilistic records. 1t Is because Of revolu-
tionary change in the materials used in boxing
gloves as result Of revisions several years ago
in our national game laws.
How In the name OF Hector" you ask, "can
the laws regulating the interstate shipment of
game influence the far-remoyed business Of
x-hghting?"
Simply because deer hair, which formerly was
the prize padding for professional ring gloves,
is no longer available Your Uncle Sam put
the quietus on the use Of deer pelts for any
such purpose when Congress enacted new laws
prohibiting interstate commerce In deerskins.
Some years before national legislation removed
the kick" from our most popular beverages, 1t
eliminated much OF the kick from the fight
ing gloves of the paid "pugs' in the guise of
the deer hair, which was Disseminated against
oficially for any such use
DEER HAIR used padding material In
boxing gloves resembled the moot lively
base ball. In that IL added increased resiliency
and snap to the boxers blows. It was o per-
feet conductor Of punch, 30 to say. Witnesseth
; the multiplicity of contests won previously by