Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1911 — GENTLEMANLY BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GENTLEMANLY BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION

When a boy of any sort of family Jumps into the professional fighting game there is a wail from one or both of his parents which can be heard for miles around. Many a fighter has quit the game because a mother or father, kicked, but the father of Johnny Coulon, the bantamweight champion, not only permits the . gentlemanly little chap to battle, but makes his matches, and acts as his chief second, says a writer In the Memphis Commercial Appeal. In fact, Papa Coulon is the whole works when it comes to the business end of the matchmaking and fighting. Johnny Is Just twenty-one, but arriving at his majority hasn’t given him the self-sufficiency to try to run his own affairs. “Better see the old man,” is Johnny’s answer when Johnny Is approached regarding terms for a match. Papa Coulon is mighty proud of the gentlemanly Johnny, and when he passed through Memphis last winter he madei no mild remarks to the effect that his boy was the greatest little man that ever lived. The only other ring daddy was Jim

Neil of San Francisco, who guided the destinies of his son, Frankie. Neil pere was a turfman, but he loved fighting so well that when Frankie turned professional he left his horses in other hands and proceeded to be manager, .adviser, chief second and press agent for his kid. He saved Frankie, too, in his first professional fight. As amateurs there was a most lovely rivalry between Eddie Hanlon and Frankie Neil. They met twice in amateur tourneys, and, although Hanlon obtained decisions both times, he refused to admit that Hanlon could lick him. Under the pressure of back-and-forth talk factions formed for each and the wrangle finally resulted in Frankie and Eddie being matched for fifteen rounds in Oakland. Both were about eighteen years old at the time of the bout and both were out to murder the other fellow if he could. The Hanlon gang challenged the Nell adherents to a few fights al fresco, while the Neil supporters kicked a few wellplaced kicks into the countenances of the Hanlon tribe. It was one of the greatest fights ever seen on the coast.

Johnny Coulon.