Ogden Evening Standard | 1913-01-16 | Page 2 | Kid Lavigne Was Great Ringster

KID LAVIGNE WAS j GREAT RINGSTER . - I I Freddie Botran, at one time feather- , ! welpht champion of the Pnciflc coast I wlnninp that title by defeating Del I Hawkins In a battle that lasted over two dars. watched the recent contest between Willie Ritchie and Ad Wol- gast, and in a letter says, in his opln. ion, Kid Lavlgne could have whipped i the two in the simc ring in less than ten rounds. To some extent this will give latter-day followers of the rlnc sport an Idea of the quality of the boxers of fifteen years aero, as compared with ! those of the present time. There Is no doubt but that Bogan is correct In his estimate of Lavigne, Ritchie and Wolsrast The Saslnaw boxer was one of the preatest rinjr champions the game ever knew He was not the past mnftor of the finer or clever points of the game that Joe Oan6 was I but my. what a dine-donpster he was There were few men of his time who could withstand his vicious, smashing style Lav icne was a combination of grit, stamina lulling aggressiveness and wonderful strength In this rc-fl rc-fl spect he was hardly human. Take for Instance, his two battles with Joe Wolcotl. There is no need to discourse on the merits of Wotcott. j He trimmed all the lightweights with the exception of Lavigne. and then went Into the welterweight class and I cleaned up, after which he dlf; away with all the middlewcights who dared face him, and topped this all off by putting a number of our then best ' heavyweights out of commission, a 'few of them being George Gardner, ! Blllv Stlft and Joe Cboynskl. No boxer in the history of the ring has made anvthlng like such a record as the one the Barbardoes Lemon hung as was Joe Wolcott. George Lavlgne was better Those two battles bat-tles between them will go down in hlxinrv as the greatest . Lilly the ! ono at Maspeth and the most spectacular spec-tacular ever seen In a roped Inclos-ure