OCR Text |
Show YOUNG GILBERT, local lightweight, who is matched with Eddie White of San Francisco in Manhattan club's first 1917 show. );:! I mmmmmmi I ilsiiiiaiM I laiiiiiiifftii ES- Mgyja zi-.juZ CHIP UNDERRATED Bl JOHII KILBANE Benny Leonard's Improvement Improve-ment Was Too Startling: for Cleveland Eoy. If you had laid a bit of a wager on Johnny Kilbane to beat Benny Leonard in Philadelphia you have a trifle of consolation con-solation at least. You may realize that while you were being fooled some of tho supposedly smartest minds in the world of boxing were fooled right along with you. Keforence is made especially to Kilbane himself, than whom there is no smarter boxer in the world, in or out of the ring, and his manager, Jimmy Quinn, likewise a wise master of situations and a conniver from 'way back. Thev were as completely fooled by Leonard as anybody possibly could be. It was about this way when it came time to gather in that nice bunch of kale for a Leonard bout: Johnny and his manager got together and, taking tak-ing 6tock of all that they knew, past and present, about Leonard, decided the match was an excellent thing for Kilbane. Kil-bane. You see, Johnny had boxed Ben before. It happened some time back, on April 2!1, 1915, to be exact. Leonard was a long way from being a champion then. He "merely gave the symptoms of coming greatness. They went the full ten rounds and Johnny had a considerable shade. Since that time Leonard went fast, and time and again, when he has boxed, Johnny and Jimmy merely sauntered into New York to size him un and see how good he was getting to be. They couldn't figure a great deal of improvement in Benny, and thus it was that thev made the match, and Johnny got a clip on the chin that almost lifted him out of his shoes. So if you were fooled and are looking for sympathy, there yon have it. Leonard and "White, you ask? Not just yet, perhaps never. There'll be scads of dough in sight for this, and Benny is willing to battle, but, it appears ap-pears that "good management" dictates dic-tates something else just at this time, and White will have to wait. It would be one of tho most attractive matches that possibly could be made. There "s one nice thing about the Leonard-Kilbane mntoh. Jt silenced tho croakers who had stamped it a fake in advance. |