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Show JOHTfNY Johnny Kilbane's H Victory Over H Freddie Welsh I Proves Day of H Undersized, but H Game, Boceer Has H Not Passed. f BY J. B. SHERIDAN. B tfrsmr HE recent victor of Johnny H -yf Kllbano, featherweight bot- H er, over Frederick Welsh, H If lightweight, renows the oU issH; ll """ contention of "a good little W 1 j man" being good enough to fl V' J" A beat anone. Theoretically, i-i i nr- Kllbane 13 11 pounds lighter than Welsh, or 122 pounds to 133 pounds. thc3fe '-nires being the limit In their respective passes. Eleven pounds makes a vast differ- H enco at the lighter weights While It means 1 less among heavyweights, it does mean a lot' H to men under 150 pounds. Yet thoro have been M Instance -without number In which the holder M of a lighter championship has been capablo of H beating the holder of one or two classes above. j Golnpr back to the old days, Jack Belcher. j who fought in England about 1780. was rated H bs good a man as his brother Jim, a crack j heavyweight. Jack Belcher was but a lSf- j pound man. Experts of tho day held that H though Jim Belcher was a star at 165 pounds, H Brother Jack, 133 pounds, was quite as good a H man. Nat Langham, a delicate middleweight. M who died in early life of tuberculosis, defeated m, Tom Saycrs, a heavyweight, who held the H famous 200-pound Hecnnn, the "Benecla Boy, j xo a draw. Sayors was not a heavy man. He H weighed about 160 pounds, yet was so good In 1 his day that his weight was accepted as a H standard. H Savers' success gavo birth to the Baying j that a good 160-pound man was big enough to j heat a man of any size. While thero has been H a disposition to question this ancient shlbbo- Hl loth of the ring since tho advent of tho mon- H Btrous Jeffries, Johnson, Wlllard, Morris, ct al H "the case of Fitzslmmons, the grcateat fighter Hl that ever lived, goes a long way to prove that H the old boxing experts wero not far wrong whoa they set 1C5 pounds as a safe standard for B heavywelghta. H Fitzslmmons could fight strong at that H weight: Indeed, It is doubtful that ho over H weighed any more in the ring. It ia true that H Joffrici, did beat Fitzslmmons, but It was Jef- B fries' odd crouch, not his weight, that won for HHf him against the "Dingo Farrier." H Sheer weight alone rarely has won a cham- 1 plonship battle. A man must have superior Hl iill as well as weight. Jeffries was rated .not H pvcrly skillful. It is true that ho was not a H phowy boxer, nor tho possessor of a lot of H tricks. Like the cat, ho had one good trick H his crouch. That crouch made him practically Jnvulnerable, The man waa unquestionably ob- H JTuscated with somo soporific used by his sec- nnds for some silly purposo when ho was H' beaten by JohnBon. Not that Johnson could H hot have beaten Jeffries, in any event. He H probably could. Yet had Jeffries stuck to his H prouch, it 1b doubtful that Johnson could have whlppod him with tho name consummato case. H H Jack Hand all a Good One. H While tho behemoths have always been in H tho ring, the little chas have often beaten, or H )iave been quite capablo of beating,. the giants. B pack Randall, llghtwoight of tho early nlno- B leenth century, was good enough to beat tho boat heavyweights of his day. Dick Burke, K when lightweight champion of England, was H Seemed a bettor man than Jem Smith, the B heavyweight champion who fought Jako Kl'. H fain to a draw in 18S7. If memory serves mc B fright, Burgo did heat Smith, though I am nor clear on this point. I do know, however, that tnany good Judges fancied that Burge could H lick Smith, who was rather what is known in H jmerlca as a "shine" champion. nTzsioNs3 j Ijjr, ii v.-' ftf SS 0fk Coming down to modern times, wo find that Jack Dempsey was qulto capablo of beating the beet man In tho middleweight class Demp-Bey Demp-Bey never was bettor than a 142-pound man. Yet he beat a Btrlng of good mlddlowolghts and bucamo middleweight champion, though he never weighed more than 110 pounds In the ring. He gavo away from 10 to 15 pounds In many of his fights, gavo them away to the best men, bar himself. In the middleweight class. Dempsey also boxed many a good heavyweight in his day It is in my mind, too, that ho could havo beaten Sullivan had ho not been Impr6sscd with tho common idea of Sullivan's Sul-livan's unconquerable jjreatnoss. Dempsey weighed but 147 pounds when ho lost the middleweight championship to Fltz-slmmons. Fltz-slmmons. Tho New Zcalander wa3 something new In the way of mlddlowolghts Prior to his time, the middle-class chaps averaged about 5 feet 7 inches in height, Fitzslmmons was a freak. He was 6 feet 1 inch tall and could weigh around 150 pounds All hlB weight was in his huge shoulders and arms. His head, the heaviest portion of a man's anatomy, was ridiculously small. It ha3 been estimated that the smallncss of Fitzslmmons head alone saved him C pounds. Then he was very alendor from tho belt down. In a word, Fitzslmmons was not so much a man as a freak, designod to meet all requirements require-ments of Quoensbury rulo3. Had the old mar-quls mar-quls mode plans and specifications for a man especially designed to take advantage of hi-j rules, he could not havo designed bo perfect a machine for his purposes as Robert Fitzslmmons Fitzslm-mons of Elston, Cornwall, England, and Tlm-aru, Tlm-aru, New Zealand. a Dempsey First a Wrestler. Dempsey was tho sweetest of the sweet, the bravest oi tho bravo. A charming, quiet, modest mod-est fellow, ho feared no man. Dempsoy was a perfectly proportioned little chap, 5 feet 7 Inches tall, well developed everywhere, a little Apollo. A wrestler boforo ho becamo a boxer, he was rounded out at all physical points. Ue wan a corking two-handod borcer, stylish, clean, a cutting hitter, but novor aggresalvo nor cruel. His gooi naturo mado Dempsey a gentleman, not a porfectly tempered fighting man. Ha fought coolly, quietly, as ho might cooper a bnrrel hla other trade. Ho never bocamo angry: an-gry: no ono over hcaid him speak Illy of anyone. any-one. He defeated scores of good mlddle- ' t s ' weights when no was really a woltcrwolght. Dempsey was so good that Tommy Ryan, then welterweight champion and a very great fighter, would not havo any of his gamo. Withal, With-al, I bellovo that a few years later Ryan, who becamo a mlddlowolght, was a hotter fighter than Dempsey ever was. Ryan was much llko Dompscy In build, tho same height, a little heavier, strong iwary whore. Ryan had a perfect per-fect fighting foinprjr. lie was tho essence of offectivciiMS of cm ally in tho ring. I havo t always held that Tommy Ryan was tho greatest great-est two-handed punlsher the ring over saw. 1 have seen him deliberately torturo opponents by cutting, bruising, hitting, slowly beat them into a torpor, when ho might have mercifully put them out of their mlsorlcs with ono punch. Rynn's disposition was suited to a fighter much better than Dcmpsoy's was. 1 think now that Dempsey could havo beaten Sullivan after Sully started down In 1S87. Dompsoy lost to Fltzblmmons in 1800. As set forth above, Fitzslmmons sot a now fashion In mlddlcwolghts. Prior to his timo they wero usually under 5 feet 9 Inches in height. FiU-Blmmono FiU-Blmmono and the Australian, Hall, mado the mlddlowolght, though, over 6 feet tall. Hall. I bellovo, had trouble doing bettor than 160 pounds, when he mot Fitzslmmons at New Orleans Or-leans about 1891. Fltr novcr had any trouble ranking mlddlowolght. He could do 154 pounds any timo whon in his prime. Thoy say that tho vory appearance of Fitzslmmons, Fitz-slmmons, a heavywcglht to all Intents and purpose's, astonished little wclterwolght Dompsoy Domp-soy when he first saw him at New Orleans. Dempsey had never 3cen Fitzslmmons until the ruby one stopped Into tho nng Ther. ho gasped. Ho gave Fltz a gamo fight. That's all. Tlo nevur got near the Cornlshman. Fltr. begged him to throw up tho sponge. Hoartbrokcn, for ho was a. proud man, Dcmpsoy refused. "You'll havo lo knock mo out, Bob," he said. "I won't quit." Dempsey was really killed that night in Nw Orleans, His pritlo was broken From that day he declined into his rose-covered gravo at Portland, Ore., far from his natlvo covo of Cork. Sullivan Had One Blow. If there be any doubt about tho ability of Dempsey to whip Sullivan, thero can bo no doubt about tho ontlre capability of Fitzslmmons Fitzslm-mons to dethrono tho big Bostonlan. Fitzaim-mons Fitzaim-mons could havo whipped John L In a punch the best day Sully ovoi saw. Sullivan did have a great right swing. He could knock out any man ho could hit. Fitzslmmons had ton blows, swings, hooks, straight punches, upporcuts, Inside In-side crosses, body blows, with left or right, each ono of which was more effective than Sul-llvan'i Sul-llvan'i mighty right swing. Sullivan never could bov. Ho had ono blow, that right swing. His plan of battlo was it. scare an opponent with a beetling brow and a great reputation; rush, tear down his guard with the loft hand ni'd swim; tho right hand for the jaw. That was all that Sully knew about boxing or fighting. Ho would have been to Fitzslmmonu what Terry McOovcrn was o Youni? Corbott a mark. McGovorn was alwajs a cinch for any good boy who would stom his wild tattoo of blows with ihe left arm and then cut in with a right punch to the Jaw That is what Cortott did. Tho Donvorito was a cool card, quite undismayed undis-mayed by McGovern's great reputation He lot Terry rush, covered up his chin with tho left forearm, bided his timo, sot himself and knocked McGovcrn out wtlh a right to tho Jaw. Fitzslmmons would havo beaten Sullivan in ten Ways with any punch ho chose, with either hand. Sullivan was rated a tremondous punoher. He did havo a poworful right swing But It Is much moro difficult to mako a swing count than it Is to mako a hook or a straight tBwW"E.5S punch or a good cross-counter, which Is a hook, or an uppercut or a solar plexus wallop, count. Ryan and McCoy. The swing covers a wider orbit An oppo-nont oppo-nont has much better chanco to soo and slip It than ho has to avoid a hook or straight punch. Any timo the head turns with the swings tho blow losci power Of ten swings, nlno will fall to do vital Injury On tho other hand, Fitz-Simmons Fitz-Simmons rarely wasted a blow His sure snappy cracks wero as effective as Sullivan's wild swings. Then Fitzslmmons was uncannily clover in his caroloss, slouching way. No use In talking about It, Flzsimmons was the greatest great-est fighting man that over pulled on gloves. Jack Johnson was bigger, cleverer and probably prob-ably could havo beaten Fltz when tho latter was at hly best, but Johnson did not have tho fighting instinct of Fitzslmmons. No man of tho ring ever did havo such fighting Instlnot as the Cornlshman. Ho had an uncanny senso of "when' and "how" to do It, when tho "break" war coming and how to force It to corao. Yes, there is no doubt that Fitzslmmons could havo whipped Sullivan when Fltz was middleweight and Sullivan heavyweight champion cham-pion FiUisImmons had no vision. Ho was manatrert by men who did not have vision enough to seo him whipping John It, Ho could havo done It as easily as ho whlppod Mahor. Tommy Ryan could and did whip good mon who were two classes heavier than ho was. Ho beac Jack Bonner, tho "Coffoo Cooler,"' and a host of so-called mlddlowolghts who really wore hoavywelghts. Ryan was doing 154 pounds then in hla street clothes. He could hnvo done 140 with training, but ho could not get opponents at the wclterwolght, and he got plenty of them? at middleweight. Ho nevor had any troublo with any of the larger men except arcCoy, and, I believe, that he and McCoy met at wclterwolght or closo to It. McCoy do-celvcd do-celvcd Ryan into believing that thoro would not be any fight, that McCoy know ho had no chnco and that they would merely sage a good enough fight to got somo money. Ryan did not train. McCoy, who had Improved -vastly since ho had been Ryan's sparring partner, 1 fitted himself fully. He got the verdict over K Ryan. He nevor cared about trying the Ho- B brew's gamo again. M I bolleve that Ryan could havo beaten Sulll- H van, though ho was 70 pounds tho lighter man H and champion of the 140 class, whereas Sullivan H was hcaiywelght champion and weighed 210 H pounds. B it Coca without saying that Joe Walcott H could havo beaten many good heavyweights. He twlca defeated Joo Choynskl, who gave Cor- bett and Bob Fltzslmmono tho battles of their young lives. Yet Lavigne, a 133-pound man. beat Walcott. who was a 14 4 -pounder. Walcott was at his best. too. Lavigne also defeated H Dick Burgo when Burge weighed 147 pounds. fl This means that Lavigne could have beaten Jem Smith, for, I think, Burgo did beat Smith. ffl It also means that La.vigno could have beaten Choynskl. the best 165-pound man of his day and the man who gavo Corbett and Fitzsim- mons nil they cared about taking. Corbott beat Sullivan. Does It not all mean that La- M vlsno might havo beaten Sullivan'' Ws Since the advent of Jeffries, Johnson. Wll- W lard L Morris and other lovlathans, it has been T hastily assumed that tho "good little man" haa VBjt sured anCC Uny m0r' ThlS l3 by n means a3' W There wore good bs men in the early days of ft SirJ S'6rS' t,me' Hconan- O'Baldwin. ft SS Ptn Slasher'" the "Staley Bridga V Infant a man bigger than Wlllard or Morris. A ZJ he3,,1n,cn met their masters in much K smaller fellows. Tommy Burns was the last 1"" "!a" t0 h0,d th heavyweight champion- sheer luck He ' BUr"S Wn that throuh M Bhoer luck. He was not even a "good little fl Hwas a Good all-around athlete, with thai SJ ,k"wledge of boxing. It i's true bea SSjlm C9' th flrSt 0t th0 lants' d,d beat Fitzslmmons. tho king pm of all "good but nnT"' , anU that Johnaon' mother gSnt. 5t jL"? S0 M the man he qucred, did H beat Jeffries, and that Wlllard, a much larger iTclv thaTwn"30"' that " ,3 S! like that Wlllard, for instance, could havo H beaten Flzsimmons when Fltz , "d PI that any b.g man can wln m b J JH his huge proportions In other words, the y ? men must have something besides size! ' l : P |