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Show SMITH IS FAVORITE OVER ART. PELKY San Francisco. Dec. 30. Whatever the outcome of the ' Gunboat" Smith-Arthur Smith-Arthur Pelky glove contest and whatever what-ever it may accomplish In the matter of adding to or detiacting from the reputation of the victor there are some fights, as for instance, the Wil-lard-Morrls affair, which injure rather rath-er than enhance the winner's' reputa tlon It must be admitted that Thursday's Thurs-day's heavyweight championship bout at Daly City is causing more discussion and arousing more Interest Inter-est than any match which has taken place since the Reno disaster. If one were to be guided by the bettingthe bet-tingthe price la 10 to 8 on Smith with a plethora of Smith money it would be natural enough to suppose that expert opinion is very stronsL In favor of Smith For that matter expert opinion as It exists among the men who wager habitually on ring events those wiseacres wise-acres who weigh the chances of pros- u'Ctiw fights with an apothecary's scales haa evidently ranged itself on the side of the gunner But among the non-betting classes, where, bv tlu-way, tlu-way, scores and scores of excellent judges of boxing are to be found, opinion opin-ion in regard to the merits uf the two hopes is rnthrr evenly divided, although al-though there is :i flight preponderance preponder-ance in favor of Smith. In analyzing existing conditions one is forced to the conclusion that quite a compliment is being pild to the sagacity sa-gacity of Tomim Burns Of course, the knowledge Pelky nas a handy ri-ht and the suspicion that a world of force lurks in said right has a ot to do with engendering respect for the ; sturdy French Canadian heavyweight, I but when all is said, few fighters gain adherents through what they show on the training mat at their quarters. It's all very well to say of "Gunboat" "Gun-boat" Smith, or any other 1912 model In the boxing line, "He wouldn't have in ted a round In front of Jim ( or-bett or-bett or Jim Jeffries or Peter Jackson Jack-son " Maybe it's a fact but we can't prove it and we never will be able tt prove it And, aboe all, there are no Mm I Corbetts or Jeffries or Jaeksons now I adays, and we have o Judge fighters I by the company they keep, or rather, bj the men they are required to cope with When we ha done 'his We must admit reluctantl) or otherwise, that 'Gunboat" Smith's record, now that hr- baa earned the right to bid for the championship, is as Imposing as the record of Mm Jeffries or an other championship aspirant at a similar stage of his career. And there is tlv's to be said: Some Of our champions and this goes for other classes besides the heavy made headway by defeating men who were on the downgrade whereas the 'GunbOaf has been a?ainst the most robust roughnecks and hard-headed huskies the game affords. It may be, Indeed, that thP "Gunner" "Gun-ner" is fated to le more honored in defeat than while working his way to the front, that If he is downed by Pelkj some thinking fight fan ' will start him on the road to popularity by ohservlng "He rolled up quite a record, did the Gunner', but he never got what was coming to him in the way of credit " There have been such cases, you know. on |