Evening star., 1938-04-29
POUNDACE SCALE
OFTEN IS IGNORED
WeIter Champs Skill, Not
Extra Heft, Cha||enger's
Main Concern.
By JOHN LARDNER,

NEW 1oftrA, April ZS.- weight
don't make no difference" said Mr.
Dumb Daniel Morgan, gently embed
ding his teeth in your correspondent S
ear and taking a firm grip upon the
lapel Of your correspondents coat.
Armstrong don't have to worry
about Ross extra weight. Ross
science is what he has to worry about.
But not his weight. Look at Britton. "
Sooner or later, but mostly sooner,
the name of Jack Britton slides into
all Of Mr. Morgan's conversations
though I do not think "conversat tions"
Is exactly the word I want. 1t takes
two to make one of those, doesn't
1t? Anyway, Mr.. Morgan was Mr..
Brltton's manager through thick and
thin. and whenever he wants para
BILE to illustrate point, he draws it
from the life and adventures of the
old welterweight fox.
If your ribs come loose easily, I
advise you to give Mr. Morgan a wide
berth when he discusses Britton.
Dumb Dan goes over those fights
with gestures. They say Britton
couldn't hit, but Mr. Morgan can,
and when he shows you how Britton
dug a right into Ted Kid Lewis
body, he holds nothing back. Lewis
fought Britton approximately 1877
times. Mr.. Morgan fights every one
OF them over, skipping no single
punch. Seven hours and 18 victims
is his record for the course.
Britton Gave Away Weight.
"Britton," said Mr. Morgan to your
correspondent. was a light welter
but when he went up to fight middle
weights the difference in weight didn't
make no difference. Say, that re-
minds me of something that come
of in our twenty-third fight with
Lewis, or was it the seventeenth? !
was walking along one day
We will leave Mr. Dumb Daniel
Morgan to his memories at this point
1t is not as easy as it sounds, involv-
Ing as it does the loss of one good
coat, left dangling in Mr.. Morgan's
grasp. However, Daniel has made his
argument He says that the disad-
vantage In Weight-possibly 6 or
pounds-Will not make any differ
ence to Henry Armstrong in his well
terWeight title fight with Barney Ross
next month.
It's a funny thing, but weight sell
dom does make much difference among
the lighter fighters. 1t never made
any difference to Benny Leonard and
Lew Tender, who fought for the
lightweight championship so nonchal-
antly that nobody would have guessed
except by looking at them. that they
both weighed well over the lightweight
limit.
Benny and Lew were Philadelphia
lightweights, as the saying goes. A
Philadelphia lightweight is anything
from heavyweight down to a welter-
weight.
Cans Kept to Limit.
"There was some suggestion at the
time in private circles" recalls MI
Leonard, "that I should try to make
the limit. My doctor told me I could
do it easily if I cut off my right leg
But 1 didn't feel that I could spare
1t. Tender would of had to cut of
both legs"
The weight limit was a pretty hexi-
bic thing in those days and in the
days before them. But when one of
the fighters was slightly colored, as
Joe Cans was. the weight limit be-
came vital to the issue
On the day of his fight with Battling
Nelson II spell Battling with one "t'
in difference to Mr.. Nelson, who al
ways insisted that that was the way
to spell it, they made Cans weigh in
three times. Normally a fighter
weighs in at noon and then goes out
and packs away a sunptuous meal.
He has considerably more strength
and nourishment in him when he
enters the ring than he did earlier in
the day.
But they kept Cans on the scale
steadily until ring time.
Il got the weight off, and kept
1t off," the old master used to recall,
''but 1t wasn't weight-it was just
blood and bone"
AtOSS w IL ht dk 1tSs
That was the same Gans-Nelson
fight in which Nelson drew the major
share of the purse and Cans the
minor. although Cans was the cham
pion and won the fight.
Ross has agreed to make 142 pounds
for his battle with Armstrong-or as
close to that figure as he can possibly
come Barney is a light welter. His
best fighting weight is around IA
pounds. Armstrong may be able to
build himself up to 1873, but the
chances are that he will scale closer
to 1876 or 1856. He is engaged now
down at Hot Springs in the task of
adding solid flesh to his curious torso,
which is shaped like baseball bat,
with the thick end uppermost.
Mr.. Dumb Daniel Morgan's con-
temporaries are by no means thor
oughly in agreement with Dumb Dan
lei about weight differences. Most
Of them seem to feel that the dis
parity in size will win for Ross. They
have made Barnabus an eight-to-five
favorite You can find all the takers
syou want, though.
When last seen Mr. Morgan was
discussing the fifty-eighth Britton-
Lewis fight.
II went up to this guy. see," said
Mr.. Morgan, "and I said say"
That is good place to leave Mr..
Morgan.