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Show I Benny Leonard; a Clean Fighter Who Calls His Mother by Long Bis- I tance Tele-J Tele-J phone AfterEach I Battle Away from Home, Always Seeks to Land a Sleep-Producing Sleep-Producing Punch and Wants His Opponent to Do the Same. BY GLEN" L, WAILAB. yjp-) v UT of t10 raultltude arises the exception. For the ft past decado tho old-timo I I j followers of tho boxing I I 1 game have beon be- J moaning the fact that SJ the present-day aggre- - Jf gatlon of fistic, experts havo been gaining fame and fortune without hardly as much as blackening black-ening the cyo of the opposition, whereas, In the days, of a generation ago, a boxer would hardly be recognized, let alone idolized, unless m ee cameu mo om "gooa-night" wallop ih his H CXltts for his biggest asset In scoring victories. m Tneso wore what tho veterans of tho sport R today would term "In the gooa old days," when fl H dim and Jim put up a great mill, with Tim H n Winning on a right cross flush to tho jaw after M fee himself had barely escaped taking the count H th the earlier rounds. H' B Tho opportunity for tho followers of Sullivan, B I Scmpsey. FJtzslmmons, McAuliffe, McGovern B I C:id any number of former prides to again havo B I Rhe same old thrill lake command of their H I Cental condition Is onco more a thing of reality H Mistead of uncertainty, and New York City. H 9 lower East Side, gains tho noteworthy distinc tion of producing the boxer who stands out In tho fistic world as tho Statuo of Liberty does to an American who has been tied up on tho other sldo of the ocean for several months. Ho is the lad who is hammering his way to a title by the knock-out route a boy who, at this writing, has put ten of his opponents of tho last year to the' mat for the count', and every one of his victims ha3 been recognized as championship cham-pionship timber. His name Is Benjamin Lelner, known to tho boxing fraternity as Benny Leonard, tho change In name being an accident Instead of a dcslro, due to a mistake of an announcer on Benny's flrsi out before a regular organized club. Pete Prunty, ono of tho best known announcers In the East, was tho man who gavo Bonny the name of Leonard, not getting the little fellow's pronunciation of Lelner on asking him who he was. The papers carried tho name of Leonard, and as he had been successful, the boy and Billy Glcason, now his managor, but at that time only his friend, decided that It would be well for Benny to hang onto his new cognomen; Wot Yet of Age. ' ALTHOUGH today ono of the most proml- , nent boxers In the country, Leonard Is still a kid. Ho will not be of. age -until April 7, and Is Just as fond of his boyish pranks as any lad In his teens. Even when In tho ring facing-ca facing-ca dangerous opponont it Is a hard matter for Benny .to remain serious during the entire con-'tost, con-'tost, although it must bo said that ho is never careless and is one of tho most careful trainers the ring has today. His dissipations are of minor Importance, ho never using Intoxicants or narcotics. Ho Is also very careful as to his diet, whether ho Is in actual training or not. Leonard has been encaged at boxing as a profession since January, 1912, but it has only been In tho last two years that he has Jumped Into prominence. He started hla career In the , roped arena as a featherweight, but eoon be-' be-' camo a llttlo too heavy for the 122pound clas3 and then began going after tho bigger boys, and it Is in tho lightweight division that Benny has mado hla reputation. The ability, plu3 tho capable management of Ellly Gibson, who la also the manager of tho Falrmount Athletic Club, located In Benny's homo neighborhood, has the llttlo Nov.- Yorkor within grasp of tho lightweight championship, and about all that Is now needed to acauiro the . ' Jjf ' Sftes 4JSI It ' On left, Benny feinting with left, his usual tactics when sparring for an opening title 13 to lnvclglo Freddy "Wel3h, who at present pres-ent has the honor, Into a match other than a no-dcclslon affair. Leonard and Welsh engaged In two clashes during the last year, but the Englishman covets his tltlo to such an extent that both of the bouts w.cro of tho uordeclsioa kind Tho only. Benny's unmarked ace, despite many fights. 1 chanco that tho little New Yorker had of dethroning de-throning tho Englishman was to put. him away, and us the Briton is recognized as" ono of tho greatest defensive boxers the world ever dovel-oped, dovel-oped, Leonard was unequal to tho occasion of putting tho' champion down for tho count, a feat which has never beon accomplished. "Welsh has never been knocked out. Leonard probably camo as close to turning the trick as any boxer ever did, as In their first engagement, held In Madison Square Garden, New York, on April 7 last, Benny had tho champion In bad way In tho seventh round, but ho weathered his way through to the bell, andvdurlng tho minute's min-ute's rest recuperated enough to stick out tho remaining threo rounds. The newspaper decisions de-cisions were almost unanimously in favor of Leonard, stating that the champion received a good trimming. "Wants Pight with "Welsh. LEONARD and his manager aro hoping to bo ablo to lnduco Welsh to agree to a decision de-cision bout or a contest of at least twenty rounds. Both Benny and Gibson are confident that if Welsh will step Into tho ring against him In a bout scheduled for twenty rounds that a decision will not be necessary. According to the llttlo New Yorker there could only be ono outcomo in a long bout and that would be tho mat for Welsh. Tho champion, whllo not old by any means, Is far from being a youngster, young-ster, being in the 30s, and he Is not nearly as careful In regard to his mode of life as Is Leonard. The Englishman Is quite a sociable fellow. n the meanwhile, Leonard Is picking up a comfortable fortune by eliminating all othor championship possibilities. Two yr-ars ago each boxing center had its own coming champion. Tho country was full of boys who were going to take the crown Away from Welsh. During the last twelve months Leonard has taken all tho buzz out of tho majority of theso would-be champions. As faat as ho meets them Just ono Ainora la eliminated. Today there arc but two boyB besides Leonard, who can bo classed as material worthy of being champions, theso contenders being Johnriy Dundee, the clover Italian from New York, and Charllo White, the feard-hUtlng-Etebtew, froJChJcaot As Dundee apparently is minus 'tho "kick hf- is rated third among the Big Three. Dundee is staying at the top owing to his speed and cleverness, not winning one-tenth of his bouts , by the K. O. route White, whose i-orroct name ' la Charles Anchowltz, owns a toi rifle left hook 'hat puts miiy of his opponents down foi the count, and he can 00 ranked along :.idc Df Leonard as a boxer who often calls upon the old punch to win fo olm. f White Can Have Match. WHITE Is ono of the few good lightweights of th entire country t'oai Leonard has not met. Two years ago Manager Gibson had tho'opportunlty of pitting his youngster against the Chicago slugger, but Billy was ontlre'.y too foxy to take a chance on ruining the ca reer of a promising lad by over-matching lilm and refused tho bout. White can have tljo match, though, now, and according to Gibbon the Chlcagoan has been ofTered a big purse to meet the little New Yorker. Gibson Is conll-dent conll-dent that Leonard now has the ability to defeat de-feat White, he being much stronger than two years ago, and also has gained the needed experience. ex-perience. Leonard and Dundee havo boxed four times, all no-declslon affairs In which public opinion was divided as to who had tho advantage. Tholr first meeting was on March 2, 1015, in New York and ten rounds. Tho remaining three bouts were boxed this year, two ten-round affairs af-fairs In New York and a six-round contest In Philadelphia, the short bout beln- their final clash, being hold on November 1G. It was a great contest with both boys doing somo spectacular spec-tacular work, but In a long bout there is hardly any doubt but what Leonard would be an easy winner as Dundee would loso somo of his speed after tho early rounds and ho has not the "kick" to offset tho heavy hitting powers of Leonard. Leonard's first big Jump toward the top occurred oc-curred on December 17, last year, In New York, when he knocked out Joo Mandot, of Now Orleans, In the seventh round of a contest scheduled to go ten. Tho Southornor was a prominent contender for lightweight honors at that time. The victory of Leonard by a knockout knock-out resulted in his name being heralded to all parts of the country. The punch shown in that bout has now becomo an ordinary feat for him, as In nearly two dozen fights, against good boys ho has walked out of tho ring a victor by 'a K. 0.k In ten of them whllo In several others his opponent had a narrow escape. Some of the Knockouts. JIMMY MURPHY was put down for the count In tho fifth round. Phil Bloom went to tho eighth round and then was forced to succumb to Leonard's punching ability. Sammy Sam-my Robldeau was keeled over In tho fifth round. Joo "Welsh also suffered a K. O. In tho fifth round. Eddie McAndrows was another ono of Leonard's opponents that could not get past tho fifth stanza. Shamus O'Brien reached tho seventh round then was stretched on tha mat for tho count of ton. Franklo Cannefry was toppled over In tho sixth round. Ever Hammer and Harvey "Fighting?' Thorpo managed man-aged to get in tho twelfth round before becoming becom-ing unconscious from tho Easterner's terrlfio wallops. The boys besides Freddie Welsh and Johnny Dundee who have gone tho scheduled dlstanco against Leonard this year, aro: "Rocky" Kansas, Kan-sas, ten rounds; Frankle Callahan, ten rounds; Joo Azevedo, ten rounds; Johnny Nelson and Johnny Tilman, six rounds, and Stanley Yoakum, Yoa-kum, ten rounds. Tho two six-round contests were in Philadelphia and Leonard had his op-ponontb op-ponontb in a bad way In the last round, but they managed to pull through. Against Kansas the llttlo New Yorker missed getting credit for a knockout b tho small margin of three soconds. Benny connecting with his K famous right to point of jaw R the knock-out punch. ft Kansas was on tho mat taking the count when 1 W1 . tho bell rang, ending the bout. 1 K1 Benny Is ono of a family of ten. He has four K brothers and three sisters. His father and, moth- ' E1 or are living. Ho Is a great mamma's boy. B When away from homo he writes her every day 5 M and Immediately after each match he calls her E upon long distance telephone to assure her that m lie 13 all right. Since gaining prominence-, Leon- r m ard Is quite a social favorite when at homo & W and 'attends quite a number of functions, cspe- wL ' dally church affairs. He Insists upon his moth- . m er accompanying him to all theso events, and m she is the guest of honor. ' M f h Has righting Blood. , t I vn -ty"? .'s somewhat polyglot, as to nation- l I '.O.ailty. Of course, he Is an American, being ': I born In New York, but his mother is a G'.r- j I man, was born in Berlin, Germany, while his , II father Is a Hebrew, and first saw tho light of ; II this" world In Austria-Hungary. It matters Ht- J tie to tho little fighter of what blood he is. as tfl It is Amorica first and all the time for him, and he has good friends of many clans. BilW , Gibson, his manager, is Irish, and Benny says ' he never had a truer friend thnn Billy. ; One thing certain, the blood In Benny was ; and is of a fighting nature, as the little follow began wielding his fists whllo quite a young- ? stor. As a kid Leonard whipped all of the bos around his age in the block in which he lived, ! ' and was known as the Ninth Street King Bee. ; Of course, each block had its champion, .and '( as Is the custom In the poorer neighborhoods of ; a big city so-called social clubs would get tho ' champions of the different blocko to battle In the back yards. j Leeward's first out against a champion of another block came when he was 12 years old, his opponont being Joe Fogcrty. The lookers-on collected a purse of 50 cent.., of which Benny was given o0, he being declared the winner of the bout. ThiH was his first money gained with, , j tho padded mits, rather Insignificant in com- ! 'J parison to his end of tho $550,003 house which wltnessod his first bout with Freddlo Wolsh this . year. f For tho next couple of years Benny boxed $ around theso little clubs without any serious 5 thought ns to the future. He really was too ' young to give It much consideration. His par- cnts were very much opposed to the fighting spirit of their son, and reprimanded him every , time they susplcloncd that ho had been wielding tho gloves. His mother, especially, was set j against him boxing. A purse of $20, his first amount of what looked like big money to him $ then, had much to do with overcoming tha ' projudice his father had against him boxing. 1 J After a severe call down and obtaining an ac- knowlcdgcmcnt that ho had been boxing tho K father asked Benny how much money he got. ' Tho little fellow stunned his "dad" by handing hand-ing over a twenty-dollar bill. Mother was given i tho money with Instructions by father to be sure and koep tab on when Benny fought again, i When Benny "Was "Fired." DESPITE his success Mrs. Lelner was still very much opposed to her Bon becoming X a fighter. Sho could not see her Benny bocom- lng a great man If he followed that vocation i and in addition sho was so afraid ho would get hurt. Unablo to persuade him to discard the mitts despite his affection for hor, sho pursued pur-sued different tactics. She went to hla bosa at the printing shop and arranged a scheme to scaro tho llttlo fellow into submission. l Tho plan was that tho boss would get hold g of Bonny the following day after ho had been In a fight and dismiss him. Then tho mother tj was to tako tho boy back and regain his Job ; on tho promlso that Benny would never fight j$ any more. But the two older heads were given a rude shock. The little boxer had wanted to $ quit for sometime, but hesltatod on account of l' his mother. On being "fired" though, he was perfectly contented and ho could not bo coaxed ' back on tho Job. Ho immediately went to bin j: nowly-mado friend, Silly Gibson, and told tha managor that he wanted to fight at every op- portunity. It was then that Gibson took a seri- ous interest in him and Benny has never re- j turned to tho print shop except as a visitor; j: and today he probably has enough money made during tho short time slnco he was technical- 1; ly "fired" to buy tho plant. Benny Is not the only member of the Lelner J family who 13 acquainted with tho antics of ;. the padded mitts, although, of course, he Is the most prominent. Charlie, two yeara younger than Benny, Is a boxer of more than ordinary ability and probably would ret near tho top jj If he was as enthuBlastlo about the pert as ( Benny. In November, 1015, Charlie won the Inter- ; national amateur title in the 125 pounds clast at tho Panama Exposition held in San Fran Cisco, if |
