It is true that the world cham pionship prize fight was the great, est affair of America's national cele, bration because allover the wort ism for developing the humor, body to its utmost physical perfeetion, It is true tnat the "young men whose skill at fisticuffs focuss: ed the close concentration of this nation on one sporting event were heralded asthe best of their kind the race has been able to produce, That is why boxing, as the journal whinsically says, "is not intrinsically sport, nor do prize fight acute pain even when they are losers for any boy who plays football in a high school contest takes as much punishment and is exposed to more danger than the average prize fighter." But this is meroly q half-truth Boxing in the United States has not developed in professional circles on quite such altruistic lines. When Jack Dempsey or any other heavy for light weight champion delivers or accepts a challenge, the frst thing sight is the dollar, not the true sport. If the dollars are forth: coming the fighters will fight—not unless. In all fights the amount each contestant is to receive agreed upon beforehand, and if it not shown to be practicable, then the fight rarely takes place. No, the dollar comes first; the true sport second, "Collier's" in a way deals with thie danger, this very curse of in this country. It says cal danger in the recent prize fighting tics in the use which crupalous business men make of In the recent event the fact that Dempsey was able to retire {from the ring with an enormous fortune to his credit for halt an hour's hard work and some risk went far to assuage his disappointment at having lost his title as the heavyweight champion, And must be admitted that the reward, was altogether out of all proportion to the game he played, "Sport above all (I quote again' from this writer above referred to) must be fair and above suspicion, If the public were convinced that matches were fixed so that the best man could not win, the goose of that business would be completely cooked." And there you have it, Where the financial element is so strong, itis an extremely hard thing to keep sport in this country fair and above suspicion, All over the world there are ends and crooks who excep {nto sport. We find it unfortunately occasionally on the turf, and in all games which take place in the form of great financial events,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.