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Show NelsonBylaod Fight Should Be Great Contest i i : : ; : day it' was 136 pounds, which meant that by drying out the Dane could have reached 133 at twcntyrJour hours' notice. (By W. W. Naughton.) It is evident that the sporting public pub-lic is taking the Battling Nelson-Dick Hyland contest seriously. When the match was first spoken or very' lew considered Hyland a worthy opponent for the Durable Dane, but now it is different. Hyland, by his conscientious conscien-tious work and the determined spirit ho has shown, has won hosts or admirers. ad-mirers. There is little likelihood, or course, that he will be made the favorite favor-ite or that he will sell even with the hard-headed Norseman, but ho has j impressed , any number of thinking sports with the belier that he will bo . a capital short-end investment. , Hyland remarked a few days ago ! that Nelson had done his best work when pitted against ''ring generals," and that it would be almost a new sensation for the Battler to be opposed oppos-ed to a man who fought along the Fame lines as himself. The logic of this appealed to the ring followers, and it set them to thinking. Then other matters for consideration cropped crop-ped up. It is only necessary to keep track of the dally reports from Croll's to know that Hyland, who is naturally natur-ally a sturdy fellow, is undergoing the preparation of his life. Ills gamcness has been proven, while as for his power pow-er to assimilate it is claimed that only once and that in his first bout as a professional was he put off balance by an opponent. Man of Nelson's Own Type. ' As to Nelson's reputation being built mainly on the thing he has done to ring generals, it is easy enough to recall the way the Durable Dane plied after Joe Cans and Jimmy Brltt and beat them down after he had taken the best they had to give. Just what would have happened in j some of Nelson's affairs if he had been opposed to one of his own kind I has often been a theme for those who love to discuss pugilistic possibilities. I In Hyland it is felt that Nelson will i ! meet just such a man, and, if it should ! be that the wear and tear of many grueling fights have left a weak spot in Nelson, the youngster, Hyland, la likely to locate it. ! It almost goes without saying that when Nelson meets his master the ; Dane will contribute largely to his own defeat. Most fighters are tricky when stung to the quick. They duck or clinch or sidle away until the cobwebs cob-webs clear from their vision. They ' do everything, in fact, calculated to help them out of a tight corner, i It Is doubtful if Nelson would know bow to "stall," to use a trade term of fighters. Neleon knows nothing outside out-side of boring in, and whether strong or staggering, winning or losing, he would probably be pressing toward his man, and inviting defeat, If defeat de-feat were imminent. As somo one remarked, re-marked, when the bout which mcani the downfall of Nelson comes along he will probably be found bumping Into In-to clanger like a blind kitten against a fence. Bat Confident of Success. Now, there' Is nothing in sight, of course, to show that such a day is at hand. If one were to Judge by the j jollity of Nelson's manner. He Is as confident of success in the coming fight as he was on the eve of any other battle he engaged in. Nelson is not influenced by criticisms critic-isms or comment. Ho is self-oplnlonect through and thiough, and, Instead ot trlng to reassure his friends when they think they discover flaws In his 1 training or condition, he chuckles and 1 is amused. 1 There have been times, in fact, when the Dane has contrived to make it appear as though some or the suspicions sus-picions entertained about him were well grounded. When he trained for his Colma fight with Jimmy Britt he was a frowsy-looking Individual. He had a three-months' growth ot hair and his face hadn't felt tho edge of a razor for many weeks. He over-. over-. heard someone say that he looked like a tramp, and that his work was in keeping with his appearance. He ' laughed inwardly and remained unshorn. un-shorn. To refer to what he did to Jimmy Biitt would be to arouse pain- j ful memories. j In the present Instance the Tact 1 that Nelson was In touch with his fighting weight a couple of days arter he went into camp is regarJed as a bad sign in some quarters, it was known that Nelson had not been in training for the better part'of a year, yet. after a few hours' work on his first day at Miller's It was given out that he scaled 137 1-2 pounds. Next |