Show I FOUR CHAMPIONS LOST THEIR TITLES Ii Last Year Wa WaS Wa a Bad ad One for Pugilists Pugilists Pugilists lists lists Who o Were at t the e Head e d of ot the the- theL L Ladder r. r The year 1901 n-my n not may not be said to have have i been a good on one for tor the fighters Not Noto Not o only was there more or less of a ban o on the fighting lighting g game me throughout the country courtry during the year but it also brought grief to an unusually large number of champions champions' Danny Dougherty who held the bantamweIght bantamweight ban ban- weight tam premiership bestow bestowed d on him by Terry McGovern whose sparring spar par ring partner he w was s came to grief in inan inan inan an encounter with Harry Har y Forbes of Chi Chi- cago ago Dougherty was deposed after a session that lasted asted but two rounds Terry 1 was was vas another nother fighter that thai had his crown lifted For nearly two years McGovern l held head the featherweight featherweight featherweight feather feather- weight honors He see seemed ed next to InvIncible in invincible in- in and In n the majority of of his his fights he made his hir opponents look Jook cheap But just as he had been beer In hl the habit of winning In time jig-time so he l lost st I. I Young Corbett Corbett- walloping him soundly in Hartford Conn Thanksgiving day me victory o of Young Corbett probably probably ably was the biggest surprise of the year There were but few sporting men inen that saw where Young Corbett even had a ar r chance but th the Denver boy had ad s sOmeI some something sOme sOme- meI me- me I thing dung thing up his sleeve and Terry was given given en a clean knockout In the I second secondI I round There was no joy in Terrys Terry's I Thank Thanksgiving giving day turkey Earlier in iA the year Matty Matthews of i New New York a clever fellow with the mitts mitts bore the title of the welterweight welterweight welter welter- weight c champion a mon Fighters went after I o the title but bul Matthews was always able to retain his laurels nUt one one d day y I a Kansas scrapper by the name of ot I Rube F Ferns canie came cam along and at the en end ena of ten rounds Matthews was on his back and the ref referee re- re tolled ot off ten sec sec- The nickname of Rube was given to Ferns because he vas thought to be a sort of farmer pug with little or no ch chance nce of doing anything anything- note note- worthy Ferns's tenure of the title was briefer than Matthews's He got through with his next two fights without yielding and then tackled the hued ebony-hued Joe Walcott When Walcott Is right and his heart In place he is Js a dangerous proposition for anybody or anything to tb go against Walcott w was s in this con condition con con- the night he fought Ferns and five rounds sufficed to put the Kansan on the he shelf helf |