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Show CHAMPS HAVE TO WAIT FOR HONOR New York, Aug. 30. The records show that champion pugilists are all developed slowly Luther McCarthy, wltii a record of but a dozen or so bouts with other novices, should not, therefore, become discouraged because be-cause he 'failed to stop an experienced experi-enced man like Jim Stewart. It took Jack Johnson seven years of battling, during which he met scores of fighters of all calibers, before winning tho championship from Tommy Burns . Burns had been fighting five vears before he laid claim to the post "of honor left vacant by the retirement re-tirement of Jim Jeffries. Jeffries was something of an exception, ex-ception, as he had only beon fighting throe years before grasping tho crown then held by Bob Fitzslmmons. But Jeffries won that fight more because be-cause of his immense physical advantage ad-vantage over Ruby Robert than because be-cause of superior skill. It was not until un-til he had been in the ring five years that ho reached his beBt form. Fitzslmmons had been fighting for fivo years In Australia previous to coming to this country before winning win-ning tho tltlo from Jim Corbctt. Cor-bett Cor-bett boxed as a professional six vears before defeating Champion John L. Sullivan Corbett also had considerable experience as an amateur ama-teur before taking up the professional profession-al end of tho game In all the other classes down to the bantams the same rule applies. Stanley Ketchel took the boxing world by storm wihon he jumped from obscurity ob-scurity by defeating Joe Thomas, yet Ketchel had been gathering experience experi-ence in minor bouts for four years before bursting forth as a shining star. Frank Klaus, who claims the mlddlowelght title at present, did not attract attention until he had been In tho gamo five years, when he stood off Ketchel in a six-round bout No Attention Pad. No attention was paid to the ring exploits of Mike Gibbons until he came to New York last fall and began be-gan his sensational boxing. But Gibbons Gib-bons had beon performing in tho rings of tho middle west for five years without doing anything out of the ordinary. It took Ad Wolgast four years of hard fighting to win his title of llghtwolght champion, Johnny Kilbane was five years In acquiring ac-quiring tho skill that enabled him to outpoint Abe Attell In a bout for tho featherweight championship, Johnny Coulon had been In the ring five years before he laid claim to and obtained recognition as tho champion bantamweight. In the ordinary course of events It should take something like flvd yoars before a McCarthy or a Palzer could bo developed into a champion. But the present situation In the heavyweight heavy-weight class is different to that of former times In the days of Fitzslmmons and Jeffries hlgh-'class heavleB were plen-tlfuL plen-tlfuL Also there was no white hope problem for tho reason that no uegro was allowed to try for the championship. cham-pionship. Nowadays high-class white hoavyweights of experience havo disappeared dis-appeared altogether and n trio of dark-complexioned warriors are disputing dis-puting the title left vacant by the retirement of a fourth. |