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Show ! iHTERS FAIL TO . F1GHTTHESE DAYS j Public Pays High Prices- to I See Modern Pugs Kill i Time. I Hy Tribune Special Sport Service. NtW YOKK, Dee. 0. Baruum probably prob-ably had some of the lovers of pugilism pugil-ism in mind when ho inado his famous utterance. Can a man be regarded as other than n "pucker" who pays cm it from $1 to $10 in these days to see the hippodrom-1 hippodrom-1 ing of the present day "fighters" whose only ambition is to shake down the promoters pro-moters for hugo purses and give in return re-turn n burlesque on prize fighting-It fighting-It is beyond understanding how men can be beguiled time after time into paying big prices to see farcical bouts; lo pay them not once or twice, but continue con-tinue to pay out the money knowing each time that they aren't going to get their money's worth they are going to be cheated. Where else can they be classed except in the "sucker" division divi-sion ? Most, prominent among tho boys who have brought the sport of boxing into disrepute by their awful exhibitions are Jack Dillon, Battling Levinsky, Freddie Fred-die Welsh, Mike Gibbons, Kid Williams, Johnny Irtle, Johnny Kilbane, Al McCoy Mc-Coy and a score of others. It is about time for the promoters to force those "stallers" to fight or refuse to hire them in future. Shirkers All. Jack Dillon hasn't fought a worthwhile worth-while battle Bince he mixed it with Frank Morau. lie has been content to take things easy to the utter disgust of the men who were his warmest admirers, ad-mirers, who bet real money on their fa vorite and lost it. As t or Mike Gibbous Gib-bous well, the oldest inhabitant may recall Mike's last good showing. None of t lie younger generation seems aTilc to shoot memory back as far as that. About tho only thing N1 ike has accomplished accom-plished except loafing in a long time was the knockout of J ako Ah earn, a vastly overrated scrapper. Battling Levinsky hasn't "been quite as hippodromish as' the other two hut he has been bnd enough. He has contracted con-tracted that "in-and-out" habit so ; common among the fighters of this day I and there 's no ' ' doping ' ' for his bat- ties. He lams the wad ding out of a ; giant one week and looks like a novice apainst a midget in his next start. One of the myteries of the fight came just now is how the public continues con-tinues to stand for those bunk Dillon-Levinsky Dillon-Levinsky affairs. They've fought each ; other a dozen times or so, and never , once have thev seemed to civo their ! - best. Each seems to harbor some love for the other that forbids slugging and the fights for the most part have been nothing but hugging matches, with each taking equal turns in winning. The next promoter who suggests another an-other Dillon-Levinsky "fight" deserves de-serves to be guillotined. And the same fate should befall the gink who tries to foist another Welsh-White Welsh-White meeting upon tho public. Prac- j tically cverv "time they have met the verdict has' been: "'What an awful farce! ' Paving out money to see Al McCoy, "middleweight champion," in action is equivalent to dropping it into the briny Atlantic. It needs two persons to make a fight and Al can't fight. If you care to see a man assimilate punishment punish-ment Al's tho man to watch. If you want to see a slam-bang battle well, the "cheese champion" can't produce. Williams hasn't displayed a worth- while battle since he won from Coulon. And as for Frtle well, he's a bit worse. The St. Paul kid lays claim to the championship because Williams fouled him. Ever since then Ertle has been trying to convince that he is a real bantam champ and how miserably has he failed! Oh, for those rare old, fair old days that our dads talk about the days of ! Lavigne, of ISJaher, of Fitzsimmons, of Sharkey, of .UcGovern, of Dixon, of Cans, of Kuhlin, of Sullivan, of McCoy, i of Choyinski the bygone days when i pugilists were fighters. |