THE RING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 839, 30 March 1888, Page 12

THE RING.

Slavin met a Carterton pugilist named Schwaßß at Masterton, on Saturday, undertaking to knock him out in four rounds or forfeit £2O. The fight is described below by our special correspondent.

The Smith-Kilrain Affair.

FIGHT OR FAKE ?

Upon arrival of the Kilrain party in America they were interviewed, and some very curious stories were told. Johnston, who was sent across by Richard K. Box to act as Kilrain’s umpire, denied that he was left behind in a barber’B shop in Rouen, but said he was sent to one hotel while the party went to auotner aud ‘gave him the slip.’ James Wakely said, wheu asked about the fight, ‘l’ll give it to you straight, and Charley Johnston and Phil Lynch will agree with me. As a great deal of talk has been going the rounds about our being left after g , i„g about 6000 miles to see the fight, I want to say that Charley Mitchell aud -fake Kilrain were sent to one hotel in Rouen, France, and Charley Johnston, Phil Lynch and I went to another. We wore to start for the battle ground at 9 o’clock a.m., but they say the hour was changed to 7 30 a.m., and wo were not notified.’

Phd Lynch said : ‘ It was a put up job between 1 Pony ’ Moore and Charley Mitchell to have Smith win at all hazards. We had plenty of mo oy from friends ou this side of the water to place on Kirrain, and I can prove that ‘ Pony ’ Moore had a £IOOO bet with Tony Sage, a Dublin bookmaker, on Smith. Half the sporting men in England are of opinion that it was a “fake.”’ Billy Marton, who was ou the Umbria, said : Sullivan and Mitchell will surely fight on 9th March.

How dees Sullivan look ? Pale, but in good health, though rather corpulent. Does he drink anything ? With a laugh he replied : ‘ Well, every now and then. But Sullivan will win if he will onl* get down to training. He must do that, as' Mitchell is in first-class condition. A good big man can lick a good little man. If Sullivan will only stand still and put out that lelt 1 duke ’ of his Mitchell can’t get near him, but if Sullivan will follow him up, Mitchell will dance around and is liable to “ play Tug Wilson ” on him, and even if Mitchell does not win he will worry the big fellow a bit.’

This is the version given by Harding, Fox’s confidante :—There had been a good deal of talk about the fight being a • fake.’ Some days ago the Herald reporter saw a private letter from Harding, written before the battle, in which he said that every effort would be made to favor the Englishman, By foul means if necessary, to make him win. A good deal of money had been betted on him, and when he had beaten Kilrain it was arranged that Smith .and Sullivan should < star ’ together. Smith’s friends had got a ‘ tough ’ crowd together to make things go as they wished--a tough party. This party consisted of Tom Bates ; Jem Smith’s brother, a bigger mau than ‘Jem Rob. Abel; Dick Roberta, a prize-fighter, who made a chair of himself every time Smith wanted to sit down : lack Harper ; Jack Picton, of Paris ; Tommy Marsehaud, a ‘ tough,’well known in Paris ; and Jack Baldock, one of the seconds of Smith, who tried to gouge Kilrain’s eye, and who nearly came to blows with Charley Mitchell in the ring. ‘ These men,’ said Harding, ‘ were all armed either with loaded canes or knuckle dusters ; against them were only myself, Mitchell and Donnelly. There were several foul blows struck on both sides, but the fouls were not allowed. It was to be a fight to a finish, but even under all the adverse circumstances, had there been another hour of daylight Kilrain would have knocked Smith out. He knocked Smith down 33 times. He had the first knock-down blow aud first blood. It was soft, marshy ground, and it was that alone that saved Smith from being knocked out by the falls alone. He soon saw that Kilrain was a better man than himself, and was told to hug him, and he did. What could Kilrain do but throw him every time ? Smith was a good wrestler, but so was his opponent. In this respect Kilrain had improved wonderfully. Mitchell, who is an A 1 wrestler, had been giving him lessons. Kilrain, however, wanted a fair stand-up light. I firmly believe that if he had only a few more friends present to cheer him on, he would have done even better, and knocked his man out without a doubt, but Smith had all the cheerers, sod this somewhat discouraged Kilrain, who, nevertheless, did wonders. The timing *vas a mere farce. Smith was allowed to lie ou the ground to give him a chauce, and the time was not taken until he was carried to his corner. I must say that Kilrain, too, at the start, wanted all the time he could get. for he received smashers in the eyes and on the ear. Smith’s used-up condition ! You should have seen the doctor’s description, of Smith after the battle. Smith was terribly punished, and for days after breathed with pain and difficulty, so heavy had been the blows he received about the body, but Kilrain was able to go about and see the sights in Paris, just as if nothing had happened. There was one other thiDg against Kilrain ; he hurt his right hand early in the fight, and even when I left England it was not quite well. loan tell you that Jake is a dandy, andean whip Sullivan. On the Sunday before the fight, when in Rouen, Kilrain said :—‘ It might be that Smith might kill me or I kill him, so if I went to church I don't think it would do tne any harm/ Capt. Lynch said : ‘ Why,’ see what they did to Johnston. They got him to go 6000 miles to assist Kilrain, and then deliberately gave him the ‘ gaff.’ They didu’t want us to be at the fight, because it was fixed for Smith to win or have it a draw. Under no circumstances was Rilrain to have won, and Jake knew it. The English fellows were told that Johnston, Wakely and I were bad men and shooters from the West, and that if we got to the ring side and saw anything queer wo’d use our guns. So they had us left, and that was as pretty a job as ever you saw. If we had been there Kilrain would have won

in the eighteenth round. He had his man licked, but it wasn’t the scheme to let Jake win. Johnston, Wakely, and myself had a good doal of money up for ourselves and for friends on thiß side, and the English didn’t want us to get away with it. . The £IOOO that Fox cabled over to Kilrain to bet on himself was a blind. It was put up with Tony Sage, a Dublin bookmaker, who is an old friend of mine. Sage told me after the match that the understanding was that the bet was not to go : that’s the way they managed the affair. Why I told Kilrain, and Smith too, that I had a middle-weight over on this side that would whip either of them for money.’

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

March 26.

The glove fight between Slavin, the Australian boxer, and Schwass, the Carterton man, took place at the Theatre Royal on Saturday night. Slavin had undertaken to knock out hia opponent in four rounds, and in case of failure t > forfeit L2O. As compensation for any risk he ran he took the door mcnejt. There was a moderate attendance only, the majority present having apparently come from places outside Masterton. There was a good deal of amateuristic sparring before the event of the evening came on ; most of ir, between boys about 12 .years of ago. There was a marked difference between the two principals when they showed themselves together on the stage, Slavin’s fine figure making Schwass, with his awkward shoulders and sunken chest, look very insignificant, though the latter was said to turn the scale at 13it 7lb. The fight, in which five-ounce gloves were used, needs very little description. The local man, in place of using all the dodging tactics at liis corninaud, went in for hard hitting right off, and lie succeeded in landing a very awkward one fair in Slavin’s face. The latter did not seem to relish this, for he forthwith abandoned all idea of defence, and hit out with the utmost freedom. Both men pounded away with all their might; but woilo Slavin got all the blows on his face and shoulders, he, in return, aimed at hi 3 opponent’s wind. The result was that Schwass went down twice at the end of the round, through being winded, rather than from the force of any single blow. Ho failed to come up to- time for the second round, and Slavin was therefore declared the winner.