PRIZE FIGHT BETWEEN TWO GIRLS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 963, 7 March 1911, Page 4

PRIZE FIGHT BETWEEN TWO GIRLS.

Indignation has been aroused by a degrading exhibition given at Tulsa, Oklahoma, when two young girls, named Bennett and Martin, fought six rounds in a regularly arranged prize fight. At the end of the contest both were in a very exhausted and battered condition, and steps are being taken for the prosecution of the promoters, principals and spectators. Oklahoma is a new State, and methods there are primitive and wild, but there are more than enough respectable citizens to resent such displays, and to secure the punishment of the participators. The two girls, whose united ages do not reach 40, are both prominent athletes in their own districts, and have indulged in friendly boxing bouts before, but, of course, strictly “ under the rose.” The affair, however, was a prizefight, on strict Queensberry rules, of six three-minute rounds. Bessie Martin was advertised as the “ Champion of Oklahoma City,” and Nellie Bennett as the “ Champion of Chicago.” They fought in costumes that would never have passed the Chicago Censor for Salome dances, and nearly 1000 spectators, of whom a large proportion were women, yelled encouragement and praise to the contestants.