THE, WORLDS LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1064, 28 July 1910, Page 12

THE, WORLDS LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION.

OWES HIS POSITION LARGELY TO MANAGER JONES. While the sporting public is singing the praises of Ad Wo'gast, Michigan boy and lightweight champion of the world, little do they stop to think of the man,' who, in a measure, has a

great deal to do with the remarkable success attained by the Cadillac youth. Since his sterling victory over Battling Nelson at Point Richmond, Col., February 22, Wolgast’s life, battles, and in fact almost everything he ever did in his life has been recounted in the newspaper sporting pages until even he is pining for the quieter life within the sacred precincts of his father’s farm.

Wherever the champion goes he is the storm centre of a crowd of hero worshippers, who appear to think that the world would cease to revolve should they fail to pay homage to him continuously while in their midst. Wolgast, as much as any other boy who has won a championship, is entitled to all the glory he can get, but at the same time there is a man close to him at all times that should at least get a small portion of experience of Tom Jones, now the the credit so liberally handed out to the champion.

Rarely if ever does the manager of a champion boxer share the glory his charge attains in the prize ring. Many instances can be cited where a manager, though he sweated and lived through sleepless nights, planning a campaign to the championship after success once was attained, was forced to stand in the background and watch the public rave over the lad he brought from oblivion to the pinnacle of greatness. Sometimes, after the goal of their ambition, was reached, the boxer cut loose from the man who practically had made them and a fortune, hook up with another and let him reap the harvest.

One of the most striking illustrations of this sort can be cited in the pilot for Wolgast. For students of boxing game its needless to state that Jones was the first manager Papke, the Mexican thunderbolt ever had. Jones took Papke when the Kewanee boy was little better than a novice. Then Papke needed somebody with a level head to nurse him along the path to a championship, if the stuff was in him.

Papke had the stuff and Jones possessed the ability to bring it out, and in little more than a year the ‘‘Thunderbolt" was the sensation of the fighting world. That was before Ketchel attained the prominence he now assumes. But when Papke’s reputation was assured and he was in a way to reap in the wealth, Jones was cast off in favour of Papke’s brother. For that stroke of business the Wewanee boy was censured by the fight followers on the coast. But it didn’t worry Papke. Under the management of his brother, Billy went along fighting just the same, getting the glory when it was coming to him, while during that times Jones, the man who made Papke, was forgotten. Jones was a derelict on the pugilistic sea, waiting for a tow. Keen critics of the game assert that Papke’s move in cutting adrift from Jones practically lost him the middleweight championship, which he at one time was the possessor of. Papke never would have been allowed to meet Stanley Ketchel, after once he defeated the Michigan assassin. Papke’s brother did, in fact, urge him to. The result 'is history. Papke was beaten, and with the defeat went all chances of theatrical engagements, and incidentally a goodly portion of the tainted stuff that keeps body and soul together.

WOLGAST PICKS HIM UP. But Jones was too good a pilot to leave standing idly by. Wolgast, in search of somebody to groom him for a title, grasped the chance to security Jones, and to-day he is the world’s leading lightweight pugilist. Of course, Jones is not entitled to all of the credit for Wolgast’s rapid rise to fame, but it’s not at all improbable that some other good boy would have beaten the Cadillac representative to the Battler had Ad been in tow of any other than Jones.

Jones’ careful planning and methodical plodding brought Wolgast to the goal he desired, the lightweight championship of the world, and to a point in his career where the mere matter of earning money is a bore. None realise the splendid work of Jones any more than does Wolgast himself. And he is showing himself to be levelheaded by standing by the man that made his fame and fortune possible. To-day with the lightweight crown resting firmly on the brow of Wolgast, Jones is not without a charge, but still is the pilot of the conqueror of the wonderful Battling Nelson, the lad who mowed down everything, even Joe Gans, the old master, until he encountered a more rugged youth and a better fighter. Still, however, it is all Wolgast wherever the pair happens to be. When reference is made to Wolgast, 'they will add, “and his manager, Tom Jones.” That’s the nearest the maker of two world’s champions ever comes to beraking into print.