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Show boxing days in re YORK STATE RECALLED AS THE KHELLJSSOUNDED Game Will Not Die in Other State Over Nation Despite Edict of the' East " By Robert Edgren BOXINO In New York slat win soon point to ll glorious paet. At pree-nl pree-nl perhaps only for short tlms tt la under a clouil. Tat It mar ba rears bafora another Krawley law la enacted ao that the aport can CO on again under proper rontltrtom?. A great number of atatea have boxing lawa and boxing commissions now. and although New Tork haa gone back to th dark ages boxing will go on under proper legal raatrictlona In a score of cities, and the oounlrjr will (at the benefit bene-fit of It. Boxing will g on. slso. In the I'nlted tatee nary and the United States army. Which la a falrlr mod recommendation for th sport. New Tork haa been the scene of many famous Una battles that will be remembered remem-bered when petty politicians who have tried to kill boxlnff are forgotten. Th Horton lew days were the glorious days. Then New York bed twenty and twenty-five-round bouts, with decisions. Th hard fighting In th longer bouts, with the knowledge that one would leave the ring a winner or a loser, develop real fighting men th greatest; ring men th world has seen. THI GRCATBST FIGHT. Take the great Fltsalmmona He was, without doubt, th greatest fighter of any weight In hit time. A middleweight, he beat heavyweights and won th heavyweight heavy-weight title. And his losing was no ) heroic than his Winning. ntsatmmons loot In hla flrat real battle after winning the champlonahlp two yeara after tha Careen fight, for ha nao tieen fighting etaadlly for yeara and felt hlmaelf entitled to a rest. When ha fought young Jim Jeffriee, a new giant from the Weet. he expected to win, aa ueual. Hut Jeffriee had eomethlng that had been lacking In the other big men Fltaalmmona had knocked out. He waa an Iron man phvaically and mentally. He planed a battle to offeet Fltaalmmona'a aklll and terrific hitting. Ha atuck to hla plan. After a hard driven left had .truck Fltaalmmona Flta-almmona on the throat, knocking him down, the champion realised that he waa In danger of defeat. From that moment on Flteelmmone fought the meet deeper-eta deeper-eta fight ever put up by a loalng champion. cham-pion. There waa no "etreak" In Flta-aimmena. Flta-aimmena. He fought with abaolute falr-neaa falr-neaa to the and, carrying a ruahlng fight to the big Callforntan until tha final alow dropped him for tha ten-eecond count. I think tha greateet heavyweight In a hundred years won that night. Jeffries, Jef-fries, In his prime, was a better fighter ' than the more elgentlo Wlllard, for he waa alwaya ready to defend his title. Jeffries' record both before and after becoming champion waa far batter than wtii.M'. kln who have erven Wlllard hard fights never would have claased with Jeffries at all? And It wss New Tork that saw Jeffrie leap hit fame. Th moat desperate ring Battle remembered remem-bered by old timers waa fought at afaa-peth. afaa-peth. and In It Kid Lavlgne beat Jos Wal-eett. Wal-eett. known as the "Black Uemon." and later aa th "Giant Killer." looking at Waloott'a record It seems Impossible that a small whits lightweight could hay fairly fair-ly whipped him In fifteen rounda Yet that (s lust what lavlgne did. Ths fight Is as famous In tha annals of the ling aa the battle of Waterloo In the world's military mili-tary hlatory. SKILL. STMNOTH AND COURAGE. What marvelous boxers competed In ths eld days In New York. There w.e Tom ftharkey. phyaloally the moat magnificent specimen of a man, for hla Inchee, that ever fought with glovea There wsa ths crafty McCoy, king, alendar, smiling, who fought like a desperado and outside the ling waa a figure In the society of the time. Extremes met when Sharkey and McCoy fought. Twice McCoy knocked Fherk.y flat on hla back. The amaaed sailor roee. rushed, and his swishing left doubled McCoy up Uke a lackknlfe and ended the battle. Where waa there ever another such fighter aa Terry McUovern, bora in Brooklyn end made famous when, almost al-most unknown, he knocked out Kngllah Champion Pedlar Palmer In leas than three full minutee of fighting, and short -fr afterward when he knocked out th. great featherweight champion. George fnxon. and aucceeded te hla title? Gana Inxon. Waicott. Langford, Jeen-ette, Jeen-ette, Johnaon six of ths most remarkable remark-able negro boxers since the time of Mol-byneux, Mol-byneux, all became famoua through thalr performancee In New York rings. Jim Cor belt, a great boxer, made on of th. moat aanaatlonal "comebacka" ever even In a ring when, under the Horton law. ha fought Jim Jeffriee twenty-three fast rounds, outpointed the gleet, and waa knocked out when a decision In his favor seemed only minutee awsy. Famoua John L. Sullivan fought In ltadleoa Square Garden. Who of the eld timers has forgotten tbe feat of Bob Fltsalmmona, who knocked out Sharkey and Kuhlla a few days apart, and offered to fight Jeffries and give hia share of the Bursa to charity, char-ity, within another week ? Famous ones? Why. there was Frank Brne, c lev reel lightweight who ever held the title: Monroe, Forbes. Maher, tyan. Weet, Rice, I .eon. Smith, Matthews and eeore of ethers no less famous nil developed In New Tork. A glortoue peat I Tea, It would be a pity te think that It fee all over. And perhaps, when the time eome that politic isa't placed above right, boxing will come back Int It awn. |