1916-11-06 Pete Herman W-PTS20 Johnny Eggers [Louisiana Auditorium, New Orleans, LA, USA]

1916-11-07 The Daily States (New Orleans, LA) (page 11)

HERMAN OUTCLASSES EGGERS
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HERMAN QUALIFIES FOR SEMI-FINAL OF 118-POUND TOURNEY
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New York Bantam, Strictly Left Hand Boxer, Makes Game Showing, But Is Outclassed In Scrap At Louisiana Auditorium.
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BY COL. CLUKE.

Pete Herman qualified for the semi-final round of the bantam elimination tournament to be staged at the Louisiana Auditorium Monday night. He defeated Knockout Eggers of New York in 20 rounds. Herman's victory was decisive, Eggers admitting defeat as Referee Burke awarded the mill to his opponent.

Herman outclassed Eggers and was rarely ever in trouble. Except for a brief period which extended from the ninth to the fourteenth round, when Pete rested or loafed, the result hardly ever in doubt. Herman piled up a big lead on Eggers, but missed a number of opportunities to put the "kayo" wallop over.

From the outset it was evident Eggers lacked not only speed and science, but class to cope with the local Italian. Pete repeatedly bounced blows off Eggers' head and face during the early part of the mill and ringsiders predicted a knockout by the tenth round. Eggers' stamina, however, or it may be that Herman lacked the punch, allowed the scrap to go the limit.

Eggers Strictly One-Hand Fighter.

Except for a slashing left-hand punch to the body--almost the same type of wallop that Frankie Burns employed on Pete in a scrap at the West Side A. C., the New Yorker had nothing to offer in the Queensberry line but his ability to take a lacing. He got it. Of that there wasn't the slightest doubt.

Herman's showing was ragged in spots. At times he fought as though he requires more ring work. His idea of resting or loafing was freely commented on. Pete seldom slows down during a scrap, and for a little while Eggers not only carried the fight to him, but really disposed of his man in A-1 shape.

If Eggers could use his right hand to the same advantage as his left, chances are Kid Williams' crowd would be regarded in danger. He is strictly a one-hand fighter, however. But, even so, his body punches were sufficiently heavy enough to force Herman to turn color at times and continually draw his body away from every clinch.

Herman outgenerals Eggers In Early Rounds.

Herman outgeneraled Eggers. Pete repeatedly put the Easterner on the ropes where he shot heavy right crosses, hooks and swings to the jaw. The starboard blows bothered Eggers more than any other wallop Herman showed.

The fourth and sixth rounds were perhaps the best of the fight. Herman showed to better advantage in these periods than in the others. A series of rights and lefts to the jaw in the fourth ripened Eggers for a ten-second count, the New Yorker having no defense whatever. In the sixth Eggers' nose was badly swollen and his eye nearly closed. Herman fought his opponent all over the ring, retreating at times to draw Eggers into a trap, where probably the hardest blows of the scrap were struck.

Herman apparently tried to finish the scrap in the seventh, but Pete lacked the punching power. His arms seemed to become unusually heavy, and by the time the ninth was reached he started slowing down. For a little while Eggers took the offensive and Herman began sprinting. Pete covered a lot of ground. His fighting surprised the spectators. Herman had seldom shown an inclination to duck the issue, but there was no denying that he tore off considerable of the Don Scott stuff.

Pete started fighting again towards the end of the twelfth round. He ceased sprinting and abandoned the shell-like defense, also the Frankie Russell gag, fighting the last 30 seconds of each round. From the fourteenth to the twentieth Herman finished with a rush, and clinched the decision.

The contest was tame in a number of respects. Had Herman been at his best, or cut loose the speed he has shown against Kid Williams, Frankie Burns and other boys, chances are the bout would not have gone the limit.

The semi-final was rather tame, Kid Kelly beating Kid Cattano with ease. Cattano had height and reach on Kelly, but simply didn't know how to fight. The preliminary was won by Benny Loup from Young Jack Britton.


1916-11-07 The New Orleans Item (New Orleans, LA) (page 11)

HERMAN GREATEST LITTLE MARKSMAN IN BOXING RING
(By Will Hamilton)

Pete Herman must have trained for "Knockout" Eggers in a shooting gallery.

His marksmanship Monday night was marvelous. His average shaved the 1000 mark.

It was so good that Eggers quit trying to cover up. When he covered his face, Pete found his target in the mid-section; when Eggers tried to protect his body, Pete kept his head bobbing up and down and back and forth from well-timed punches. If the tip end of Eggers' nose protruded from the barricade, Pete hit it, or if an inch of the forehead was exposed Pete scored with the same remarkable accuracy.

There was nowhere above the belt that Pete didn't hit "Knockout" Eggers, and in the twenty rounds he barely missed once.

But He Can't Stop Eggers

This is not to say that Eggers wasn't there with a fight. He was. He kept right along with Herman most of the way, but from gong to gong in about 13 rounds out of the 20 he was running a bad second.

From the second round to the ninth Eggers made Herman fight his best to keep a good lead. For that space it was a rattling good go--just the kind of a bout everybody looked for. But no pair of battlers, not even well-conditioned bantams, often keep up such a pace for 20 rounds. So the bout slowed up. Herman let Eggers carry it from the ninth to the fifteenth and then he came again. Having a big lead he didn't take any unnecessary chances toward the last, was wary at all times of the K. O. boy's chloroform left, and kept himself just busy enough to see that Eggers, who is a strong finisher, didn't get so gay toward the last as to get a draw with him. He had seen early in the fight that there was no chance to stop the New Yorker. He hit him until he got arm-weary with little effect. Eggers sometimes dropped his guard and let Pete shoot as he pleased, which was shooting some, for the time has passed when this Petro boy had no wallop.

Petro, the Invincible

We would like to see the bantam who could have beaten Petro last night. It simply could not have been done, we think, even though a Frankie Burns or a Kid Williams had been his opponent.

Pete seemed stronger and a better fighter in the first eight rounds than he ever was in his life. His timing and measuring of blows was a revelation and his blocking as pretty a piece of defensive work as you would want to see. He hit with both hands and used an uppercut so effectively that twice in the third round he made Eggers grab for support. In the fourth Pete stalled a little while, evidently to see what Eggers had in stock. And Eggers showed something, too--a left hand that cut the air with a swish, and landed with the force of a mule-kick. But it's a semi-swing, and many times Pete was prepared for it. This was in contrast to his own hitting, which was always straight and quick.

Eggers' Smile Comes Off

For the first four rounds Eggers wore a broad smile, confident-like. Pete looked mean, and he didn't like that smile. So in the fifth and sixth he set in to knock it off. And he did.

His hitting in the sixth round was something to look at. As the saying goes, he hit his opponent with everything but the water-bucket. A round or two he kept this up, and then contented himself with a shade lead until the ninth, when Eggers began to show more stuff. Pete didn't seem to mind it, though, and let Eggers whale away until the twelfth round, when he caught a couple of those lefts in the side and that woke him up. The mixing in the thirteenth and fourteenth was good again, and it was hard to tell who had the better of it. Then Pete came again, and set the pace all the way to the finish.

"Champion in 1917"

There being little or no chance to get Johnny Ertle down here, Herman will now be matched with Frankie Burns or Champion Williams. Pete prefers to take on Williams without having to go up against Burns, but he is determined that he will not dodge Frankie, who will be on the scene in a little while.

"Champion in 1917" is Herman's slogan now, and if he watches his step and doesn't stump his toe any more the ambition should be realized. It should be realized just as soon as he can get Kid Williams into a ring. Pete gave this young champion the fight of his life last February and finished with a leg on the title. He should be even better the next time they meet.

O, Yes, Dick Is There

The Monday mills at the Auditorium were all pretty good and witnessed by a couple of thousand fans.

The Kelly-Catano bout was not a bad one by any means. "Old Man" Kelly, as his seconds called him, was there with a big T. and won because Catano didn't know how to employ his natural advantages and keep him off with his long range. It was a lively ten-rounder. Denny Loup beat Young Jack Britton in the curtain-raiser of four rounds.

Buddy Griffin refereed the prelims, and of course Dick Burke held forth in the main go, just as Herman said he would. Nor could Eggers possibly register a complaint against Dick's work. The big arbiter kept hands off and let the boys fight it out as they pleased--which is usually the best way when two such willing and energetic workers as Herman and Eggers are in the ring.


1916-11-07 The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) (page 9)

PETE HERMAN PROVES TOO FAST FOR EGGERS
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Pete Herman's speed and cleverness mastered "Knockout" Eggers' smashing left hand in most of the rounds of their twenty-round fight at the Louisiana Auditorium Monday night and Referee Dick Burke justly awarded Herman the decision.

Eggers, depending solely on his "sleep-producing" wallop, at no time attempted to keep on even terms with Herman in the matter of points. With bulldog tenacity he stuck to his self-appointed task of knocking Herman out, and kept his wicked left smashing at Herman during every minute of that long, hard, twenty-round battle. But his efforts were in vain.

Herman earned clear advantages in fourteen of the twenty rounds. Four were even and two--the second and fourteenth--were credited to Eggers.

After giving Eggers an even break in the first, and taking things so easy in the second that Eggers won the round, Herman opened up in the third, and from then on until the finish the result never was in doubt--throwing out the possibility of a knockout.

Packing a wallop many lightweights would like to own, Eggers was dangerous during every second of the fight, and Herman knew it. The clever local bantamweight fought carefully until he had solved Eggers' head-feinting offense, and until he had learned to block the terrific left. He then had the situation well in hand and was never headed.

At times Eggers, realizing Herman outclassed him in boxing, allowed his opponent to rain blows to his head and body. On many occasions Herman backed his stronger antagonist on the ropes and showered a fusillade of punches which bewildered Eggers. Eggers stood up well enough under a straight left jab, but when Herman changed the pace and came in with a varied attack, the visiting bantamweight could do nothing but grin and take them.

HERMAN TOOK PUNISHMENT

Though a winner, Herman was compelled to assimilate some of the hardest punches he has run into since meeting Kid Williams. At least a dozen times during the fight Eggers rocked him with a terrific left hook to the jaw, and every time Eggers got his left hook through Herman's elbows, the local battler was shaken from head to foot.

But none of the punches dazed Herman, and though the body blows undoubtedly stung, he weathered the gale, and the nineteenth and twentieth rounds found him fighting faster and harder than Eggers, despite the fact that Eggers appeared the fresher of the two.

Eggers' right eye was cut in the seventh round, but his handlers drew it up neatly, and it gave him no trouble. Herman's mouth and nose began bleeding after the tenth round, and at the finish his face showed considerable wear and tear, while his body bore evidence of the heavy blows which Eggers kept driving in.

While Eggers' punches were much harder than Herman's, a tab on the blows which landed cleanly showed the New Orleans boxer landed about four to one during the whole fight. This gave him unquestioned right to the decision.

Herman took his second wind in the fourteenth round, and his loafing in this session allowed Eggers to win the honors. But in the fifteenth Herman opened up harder than ever, and showed that he had not weakened by giving Eggers the worst lacing of any preceding round.

Ability to take Herman's punches without suffering much damage kept Eggers in the running throughout, and his ever-threatening left hand made the fight an interesting one in every round.

HERMAN TOO CLEVER

In the last two rounds it was "do or die" with Eggers, but he found it hard to penetrate Herman's clever defense of arms and gloves, and was made the target of Herman's lightning-like left hooks, jabs and right uppercuts and swings.

The semi-final was a corking good bout from start to finish. Kid Kelly, though completely outclassed in the first half, came so strong in the last five rounds of the ten-round tilt that he was awarded the decision over Nich Catana. Nicholas operated a nice left jab, but he was on the short end of matters when the going got rough, and it was Kelly's toe-to-toe work which decided the fight.

Bennie Loup boxed rings around Young Jack Britton in the four-round opener. In private life Britton is a messenger boy, and he fights like one. Most of his blows are telegraphed. He sent several hundred messages of this sort to his opponent, but Ben was not on hand when they arrived. Young Jack is of no relation to the original Jack Britton. Young Jack's real name sounds something like "spaghetti."

Joe Thomas and Joe Rivers were introduced from the ringside. They meet in a twenty-round bout next Tuesday night.

Buddy Griffin was the referee of the preliminaries.