On Boxing

The boxing world's greatest labor of love was ended. Nat Fleischer, the ring's most avid fan (TIME, Nov. 22), published his third and--according to him--last edition of the All-Time Ring Record Book (O'Brien Suburban Press, $5). It is an ungrammatical, unprofitable but authoritative history of fisticuffs going back to Cain v. Abel.

To the records of 1,982 prizefighters and over 60,000 bouts, indefatigable Nat Fleischer has added the first directory of the world's promoters and managers, a war-service honor roll, and a collection of many fistic firsts and superlatives. Items:

P: First champion on record: Theagenes of Thasos, Olympic victor of 450 B.C. His standard punching equipment included the cestus, a fist-stiffener of leather bands loaded with iron. He won 1,406 contests, in which he killed most of his opponents.

P: First woman boxer on record: Elizabeth Wilkinson. She fought--presumably men--in the pubs of Clerkenwell, England, circa 1722.

P: Greatest one-night stand on record: in 1916, in Manhattan, Johnny Gaddi won the national A.A.U. middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight crowns during a single program.

P: High score for one-punch knockouts: four, by Lightweight Tommy Nelson of Vernon, Calif., in the seasons of 1918, 1919.

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