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Show II Larry Foley Schooling Would Have Helped Fred Fulton I II I 1 BT J. B. SIIEItEDAN 'I htHE rocent death of Larry Foley 5 jj in AuBtralla and tho Labor j i Day victory o Fred Fulton j , , over Carl Morris at Canton, Olilo, I. turns ones fancy to thoughts of tho ; hoxers. Tho baseball season Is over, tho football season Is not yot good and rlpo, and It may bo pleasant to cogitate a llttlo on tho exponents, past and present, of the manly art f ; of self-defense. (. Larry Foley was ono of tho makers i ' of modern boxing. Ho conducted a i boxing hall In Sidney, what tho ' French call a "sallo d'armcs," In con- ( . ncction -with his saloon and restaur ant Ho was a clever chap, with a head on him. Likeable, a good manager, mana-ger, a thinker, and he turned out Homo great boxers. ! When all is said and done Foley's school was tho connecting link be-,j be-,j tween tho old and tho new In boxing. 1 Ho taught what was best in the old ) i school and invented many things that ! are now in tho curriculum of the new 1 . school. Ho helped Sullivan to tako 1 i boxing out of the slums and put it ln-i ln-i to the drawing rooms. Thinking about Fulton, tho newest, r thing in American pugilism, you think about Peter Jackson and Bob Fitzslin- mons, and aro onco more driven to I Foley's school of boxing. For it was , there that Jackson, Fltzslmmone, Grit- J fo, Dawson and a host of other celc- I j ! bratcd boxers got their first lessons ' in the art of boxing. They were propyl prop-yl or lessons, too. Out of that liltlo boxing school camo two of the great-I great-I est fighters and boxers the world has j ' j ever seen. Right hero we may stop ( to say that the whlto man has no i i, , great cause to boast pugilistic excel-j excel-j i lenco of his race. The greatest box- ers have been negroes. If Peter Jack- L I son was not the greatest of fist fight- j ers, Jack Johnson undoubtedly was. I' J Tho question of fistic supremacy of all i ' , 1 times lies between these two black, j J very black, men. There can be no J j doubt of that. J Jeffries "Was a Leader. 1 1 Somo years ago I went Into pugilis tic history aB thoroughly as possible, j and, using all available data to guide i I reason and logic, I was forced to ar-1 ar-1 rive at t3io conclusion that, up to that time, James J. Jeffries was the great-! great-! -est pugilist that had ever lived. Peter j ' Jaokson was a close second. This j was before the day of Jack Johnson. i Lator came Johnson with his decl- t I sivo defeat of Jeffries. There arc those I who insist that Jeffries was far from , ' being himself when Johnson beat him. There aro others who insisted, long before Johnson and Jeffries over mot, I that the black man was tho white man's master In any number of rounds up to twenty. They figure J that while Johnson would outpoint ' Jeffries in a short fight, James J. j would wear down tho negro in a long ; I bout. Granting that Johnson could beat Jeffries for twenty rounds, there has not been anything in Johnson's subsequent subse-quent fights to lead anyone to believe that tho negro would have failed to beat Jeffries in forty, fifty or any other j number of rounds. 'This sets Jeffries back and fetches Johnson forward as the chief of all fist-flghtlng men. : , I base my opinion of Jackson's greatness on Fltzslmmon's estimation ' of the black man. Tho world knows M' that Fitz was the greatest man of his weight tho ring ever held. He was an 1 utter stranger to fear. He met men mWr GO pounds heavier than himself, and took two cracks at Jeffries, tho giant of them. all. ' Fltzslmmons, though, freely admltt- ( cd that ho would not enter the ring with Jackson. Ho took on Corbett, i ' Maher, Choynski, all the good men of I his day, without a thought. He al- ' ways conceded Jackson best. j "I'll fight any of them but the big smoke," Fitz cried In the early '90s 1 when Jackson, Sullivan, Slavln, God- ( dard, Maher and other heavyweights were striding up and down tho land. Sound Style of Boxing. Fltzslmmons knew Jackson from Larry Foley's school, and he did not 1 wlBh any part of him. f Foley taught a sound style of box- Hl ing, tho Mace, old-English school, tho straight left, with the right crosa, and no such a thing aB a swing, a hook or an upporcut. It was a beautiful and H perfect stylo of boxing. The point of H j it was that you must bo careful -when, how and where you hit a man lest you HI j hurt your own hands worse than you !i hurt him. That stylo mado for clean, H careful, accurate hitting, grace and H finish. H Jackson was one of the prettiest hlt- H 1 tcrs tho ring ever saw, a long, perfect H straight left, a sound right cross. H Jackson acted like a master in the H .ring. Ho was a big, dignified negro, Wm ' always deferential and polite, in a H ' , man-to-man way, not tho servile 1 Southern- darky style. He seemed to H domlnato tho ring when ho entered It H fHe boxed pretty much as a hospitable host servcB dinner, with a dignity, a desire to serve, a grand air. Ho was always erect, cool, precise. He never missed with a wild punch, never fell into an ungraceful or undignified attitude, at-titude, but was quite tho fino gentleman gentle-man through It all. Tho man was naturally nat-urally well bred, a descendant of somo African chief, no doubt, and he learned nothing that was to his disadvantage dis-advantage in Larry Foley's boxing school. Fltzslmmons was not by nature adapted to the Foley methods, as was Jackson, but there was ono thing that Foley always taught his pupils. That was to fight Fltzslmmons learned that as perfectly as Jackson learned the straight loft and right cross. But Fitz novor was a clean-cut Quccnsbury fighter that Jackson was. He was a straight-left and right-cross man until ho carao to tho United States and picked up the wild swings mado popular popu-lar by John L. Sullivan. Fitz, who was an open-minded sort of chap, adopted the swings, moro as faints than anything else. It was his straight left and right cross that saved him when Peter Maher caught him that unholy wallop under tho car at New Orleans in 1802 and almost destroyed tho most famous fighting career of all time. Griffo never was a fighter, and I doubt that ho was in any sense a true pupil of Larry Foley. Griffo was a wonderful boxer, a slipper with his head and a truly wonderful blocker. Griffo did not block with his elbows or his forearms entirely. His best block was one at arm's length, when he would reach forward, and, by touching tho arm of his opponent block, smother or deflect a punch Just as It started. Griffo was an uncanny boxer, undoubtedly the cleverest of all time, but he never could hit hard, and ho never could really win a fight. Then his only ambition was to tipple, in which art ho attained a preeminence pre-eminence far beyond his feats In the ring. George DawBon, for twenty-five years boxing Instructor of tho Chicago Athletic Club, was another of Foley's pupils. Dawson had some good fights to his. credit He beat Danny Need-ham Need-ham then second to Tommy Ityan among welterweights, and ho was, good enough to scare Ryan himself Into In-to tonsilltis when they wero to havo met at New Orleans. The nickname, "Tonsilltis Tommy," was affixed to Ryan after that fiasco. Dawson beat Needham, Tommy Traccy and hosts of other good men before ho retired to his natural habitat, habi-tat, the berth of a boxing instructor, for which ho wa3 eminently fitted by skill and nature. Dawson, llko Jackson, Jack-son, was a beautiful fighter, with tho straight left and a right cross. It was Dawson who brought tho often-barred kidney punch into prominence by using us-ing it to beat Neodham in tho early 90s. To turn out four such pastmasters insldo of four years, or practically at tho same lime, was, indeed, a feat for ono boxing school. Yet In tho middle or early 90s Larry Foloy practically supplied the champions of tho world, and they wero all In America, too. Ho had Jackson among the hoavyweighta Fltzslmmons nmong the mlddle-woights, mlddle-woights, Dawson for the welterweights and Griffo among the light and featherweights, for, if ho could have been got fit Griffo could havo done 122 pounds. As it was, ho fought at about 140, and boat all comers up to that weight Then there was a chap named Abo Willis, from Foley's school that wont a long way among tho bantams, ban-tams, In fact, It took a good boy of tho class of Cal McCarthy to tako Willis' Australian taw. Influx from Anstralla Felt Tho Immigration of Australian boxers box-ers of tho first quality left its impress In tho American ring. Tho first American Amer-ican city to feel tho effect of tho Influx wns San Francisco, where the Dingo boxers landed. So Corbett, Choynski and scores of other Americans lcarn-od lcarn-od from the Australians who came out of Larry Foley's school in Sydney. That tho public exhibitions and matches of the Australians had its of-, feet upon, the American style of box- lng may be Imagined. So, in the light of the past, the present pres-ent Is Interesting, and thought of Larry Lar-ry Foley and hla sallo d'armes gives us a better understanding of the overlords over-lords of tho ring of today. SInco tho days of Jackson Corbett, Slavln and Fitzsimmons, Fred Fulton, tho Kansas-born bricklayer, is the most distinctively American boxer. The big conqueror of Langford, Morris, Mor-ris, Welncrt and many other good men Is American all through, In looks, lineage and temporamont He is big enough and good enough to whip any living man. That ho can, or cannot do S0j is a question of gamcness, stamina, stam-ina, fighting Instinct, general temperament temper-ament SInco Fulton put Morris, the pet of tho fight trust, out of the way, he Is tho only possible opponent of Champion Cham-pion Willard, who has heen, tho world will ngree, a mush champion. Willard is somo 3G or 37 years old. IIo never was and never will be an attractive fighter. He Is a great whale of a man who can fall on his opponent and smother them. Willard is no Queens-berry Queens-berry champion. Thereforo the best that can happen to the good old game, which, for all Its faults, is a man's sport, Is that Willard shall retire, or better still fight Fulton and get out. While Whipping Wns Good. It Is as certain as most things that Willard never can bo got into condition condi-tion for a good fight He is immense, 4 ho is ancient, he has been fed up on hog and hominy until he is a very mountain of a man. Ho cannot be got fit for a fight and it Is by no means certain that, if ho could bo fitted, he could, tho best day ho over saw, whip Fulton. Truo, ho did whip Johnson when Johnson was old and fat and when it was advisable that Johnson, should be whipped. For Johnson was no longer a tool whereby money could be minted. It Is well to understand under-stand that Johnson could mako more money by being whipped than by whipping, that he was broke and needed tho money that could be made by being beaten. It is no secret among followers of tho P. R. that Its major motions are controlled con-trolled by a syndicate consisting of three major officials and many minor officials. Thoso major officials once managed Johnson. When their tool broke tho laws of tho United States and was obliged to flee tho country or spend a long term In prison his value was done. He was no moro good to himself or to them. Lawyers had plucked tho unfortunate black clean of his money. Ho was a stranger in a strange land "stone broke." The sj'ndicato was not making any money. Neither was Johnson. Both needed money. How was it to bo got? Clearly not by Johnson beating any other fighter. Johnson could not show in tho United States after tho fight Pictures showing a black man beating up a white man wero not popular, especially es-pecially In states below the Mason and Dixon line. Tho syndicate had found that out when they tried to show the pictures of Johnson beating beat-ing Jeffries In Southern states. Manifestly, the way to mako money was to beat Johnson. To that end Willard was selected,, a big, strong, cumbersome, healthy soft of a cowboy. cow-boy. Johnson was old, lie did not train and ho did not care very much about winning. So Willard became champion of the world. Forced fruit novor has tho flavor of tho naturally grown article. A forced, hand-made, rnisnd-iindor-niass cham pion, never has tho flavor of a natural, obstacle-overcoming, gallant-fighting champion. Willard proved a dismal falluro as a money-makor for the syndicate. Cut Loose from Syndicate. Not only that he proved himself a tightwad. Ho made somo money, but so soon as he found himself In ?, position posi-tion to go it as an Independent lie told tho syndicate to go to, that he had bought his own circus and would not fight or divvy any more. Clearly It was up to tho syndicate to do something. In the first place it had to protect Its prestige or else it could not hope to dictate to on to own fighters in the future. So It was Its business to get Willard licked or make him relinquish the money-making title of champion. , To lick Willard the syndicate picked Carl MorrIsr the Sapulpa giant, who was already one of Its working men. Morris is Just a big felow who can take a beating, a sort of a much magnified mag-nified edition of one Battling Nelson, only not so fast nor so attractlvo a person as Nelson, just a whale of a man who could take a punching. Morris Mor-ris can't give much of a clean punch. Pie can maul a man, crowd a man, roll on a man, weary a man, but he can't cut in with a owift punch and hurt a man. In a word Morris is a good-natured big chap, but tho last man In the world to attract tho admiration of the people. So he was a bad man for the picking of the syndicate. But the syndicate could not see the difference between a fast, attractive, shining chap who could put up brilliant fights and shine in the newspapers, and a sodden hulk of a man who was about as attractive ' in the ring as a fat porpoise. However the syndicate wanted a tractable man and they found him In Morris. He could be dependod upon to split his earnings with the men who control fighting for no one else cares to control It in tho United States. In order to qualify Morris for a match with Willard they matched Morris against Fulton In New York. Fulton would havo made a good man for the syndicate but for one thing ho was too keen an American to hand it 80 per cent of his earning. Which was moro good reason why Morris should whip Fulton. A syndicate cannot can-not bo a syndicate unless it can make its people behave. To the end that Morris should whip Fulton no pains were spared. In these affairs it Is most important that tho referee shall bo "right." This does not mean that tho referee shall bo crooked. Not at all. It means that he should be the stylo of man who will stand for the peculiar style, or styles, of tho boxer you want to win. When the syndicate chose a referee for the Fulton-Morris fight they chose a man who was famous for his fancy for rough work, clinching, pulling, hauling, butting, elbowing, palming, the thousand and one tricks that enable strong and heavy men to ovcr-como ovcr-como a slighter opponent Morris fought In total violation of all Queensberry rules. Ho clinched, hugged hug-ged like a bear, butted like a bull, pulled like a wrestler and kicked like a steer. Fulton did not like this sort of fighting and got back in kind. For which he was promptly disqualified. But tho American peoplo novor havo fallen for a mado champion. ,They refused re-fused to Uxko Peter Maher when Corbett Cor-bett "resigned" in his favor. They re- i fused to take Luther McCarty when jmm Jeffries handed him the belt They re- : fused to accept Morris when a referee , mado him champion. j The syndicate did not profit much by the decision which gavo Morris tho victory on a foul over Fulton. But this decision had its peculiar psycho- logical effect Having won In the eyes i of the referee, the syndicato fancied ; that Morris might really and truly whip Fulton in a fair, square match mW under a real Qucensborry referee. So do the prejudices and passions of men deludo them. Jl So the syndicate matched Morris to iiJB fight Fulton at Canton, Ohio, on last K&yijJ Labor Day, Matt Hinklc of Cleveland vffl referee. Morris fought as always, foul, and was promptly disqualified after Fulton had given him a very nasty cutting up. ; In Grip of Syndicate. Now Fulton Is the man that Willard must fight or resign to. So far the syn- 'l dlcate has no hold on Fulton. Proba- fH bly the syndicato will get somo hold, if not on Fulton, then on Fulton's earn- IH lngs. Fulton will want to fight, will have to fight to make money.' Now comes his harvest It is easy to "queer" a prize fight Tho syndicato IH is adept in that art So. in order to fight and to make a living, Fulton will ' havo to stand for what amounts to blackmail. I There are things about Fulton that I do not like. Pie does not seem to care for an uphill battle. It does not i 'H appear that he is a deadly game, cool JVk man. Ho has been up against the p "brace," It is truo. So has many jfifl another good mnn.' The trouble is not with being up against tho "brace," but with the fight that Fulton put up against it Fulton did not "go good" when Morris had tho refereo with him In Now York. He acted peevishly. Nor did Fulton go well when he had a.squaro referee nnd got the decision at Canton. He walked out of tho ring because Hlnkle would not disqualify jH Morris for fouling. EH Morris fouled all right and should jH have been disqualified. Hinklo was tho best judge of when to do it Fulton has no business acting pettishly and quitting, for that is what ho did whon he walked out of the ring. Walking jH out of the ring would have been tiken as cowardice In the old days, and It H merited disqualification for Fulton at 'H Canton. Hinklo had not disqualified Morris when, Fulton walked out of tho IH ring, then he should have disqualified 'VH Fulton. The fact was that Hinklc wanted to givo the spectators a run for their j money, which is right after all. But what Is the use of having rules if jH these rules are not enforced. Hinklo should havo disqualified Fulton, and left him to settle with tho dlsap-pointed dlsap-pointed crowd. !H It Is rather a pity that Fulton was 'jjJ not reared in tho school of Larry iH Foley, where men wore taught to tako -H tho worst of it, hit hard, fight cleanly and then win. I ;i 1 m :. I AtHon,c' ;. v . . 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