JEM MACE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 843, 27 April 1888, Page 13

JEM MACE.

' (Written for the N.Z. Mail.) (Continued.) The Second Fight with Tom King—A Big- Man always Dangerous—Three Encounteks with Joe Goss—Forfeits to Coburn—Matched avith Wormald and Dr. Baldwin—Rstirement from the Ring—Departure to America. The second fight between Mace and Tom •King came off on the Home Circuit on the 26th November, 1862, the stakes being £2OO a-side and the English championship. On this occasion both men fought at very different weights to. what they had scaled when they met earlier in the year, for Mace weighed 10st 121bs, and King 13st 31bs, so that the champion was giving away twentynine pounds weight. Mace was seconded by Bob Brettle and Bob Travers, and King by Bos Tyler and Jack Macdonald. The weather was terribly cold, and Avhen the men began to spar in the ring for the first round they dropped out of range by mutual consent, and briskly rubbed their arms and bodies to assist the circulation. Presently King started business in earnest, and we will take this as our starting-point in describing the fight. Round I.—There was little or no lnttmg in this bout, King obstinately refusing to start when tempted to do so by his opponent. Round 2.-— Mace led with the left, as was his invariable practice (he did nearly all his hitting with the left), but did not get home, and King was allowed first blood for a. hit flush on the mouth, following a left-hander ou Mace’s head. Mace put in one or two light ones and then closed ano. went down. Round 3.—King got his left on to Mace’s cheek and followed with a round hit on the side of the head. A little close fighting ensued, of which Mace had the best. The round ended in both men .coming to grass together, Mace underneath. Round 4. —After some preliminary mancenvring, Mace put in a heavy left-hander on the jaw. Both men got to work, and tho first reaf set to of the day followed. They fought all across the ring, Mace getting all over the big man with both hands. In the fall at the finish King was thrown heavily. Round s. —King, acting on the advice of his second, went in to force the fighting, and put in a nasty left-hander on the cheek. Mace showed wonderfully good generalship, and except for this blow, retreated safely all round the ring. Getting into a corner he suddenly assumed the aggressive, and drove right and left twice over on to King s frontispiece with terrible force. Finally he closed with the big man and throw him. Odds offered on Mace. . Round 6.—King continued his rushing tactics, and got both left and right on to Mace's head. The champion retaliated with his left, and another rally followed, of which at the fall Mace had the best. Round 7 and 8 were uneventful and short. Round 9.—King got his left well on to Mace’s right eye and received in return a hot one on the nose. The round ended by Mace being pushed partly through the ropes. Round 10. —King returned to the charge full of pluck and some hot fightiDg ensued, the end being that Mace threw King. Round 11.—King led with his left on the cheek, and got his right on to the other side of the face. Mace responded with a tprrific hit on the nose which fairly staggered the big man. King went in again as fresh as ever, but was driven back by a hot lefthander on the nose. Mace shifted his ground, and King dashed in head down, whereupon the champion put in some very pretty upner-outting work. Again King ran in and closed, bat was thrown. Round 12.—This was a very warm spell, and ended in Mace going, down underneath. PtOUND 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 were hotly contested, Mr.ce, however, havmg all the best of it, and punishing his opponent severely Round 18.—John Gideon (Sayers’ backer), offered 6 to 1 on Mace and found no takers, King being considered a beaten man. After somi close fighting King slipped on to his Mace, and found no backers. Ma ( ce went in to finish his man, and was weaving in to get an opportunity to end the fight when he got into a part of the ring where there was a Blight hollow. Here he opened for the pur-

pose of putting' id ii heavy drofid-countei with his right, but as he wa3 ddiug so King* with a last effort, delivered a terrific round blow which took Mace on the cheek. Mace staggered for a moment, and then fell all of a heap. Betting even. Round 20.— Mace staggered out from his corner, and King promptly followed him with a blow oil the nosd. It was clear now that Mace ivas suffering - to such an extent from the blow King had given him in the nineteenth round that he could not stand up to iviu. He persevered, however, and told his seconds not to throw up the sponge. King himself was badly done, but had plenty df ctrength left to enable him to fin sk.

Round 21 and last.—King was first in the field, and Mace iollowed in a deplorable condition. When ho got opposite his man he was scarcely able to stand. His face was swollen all over, and his mouth, nose, and ears weTe bleeding from the effects of the blow. With a sort of humaneness which did him oredit, King did not strike at his opponent, but gave him a gentle push which sent him down. Thereupon Mace’s seconds threw up the sponge, and King was deolared winner and champion of England, after one of the most extraordinary fights in the annals of the ring. Time of fighting 3S minutes. Maco’s defeat in this encounter Avas undoubtedly dtls to his Avaot of Caution, for he had King badly beaten in the ninhteeflth round. The affair created a great deal of surprise, and some suspicion of crookedness ; indeed Mace had been charged with selling the fight. Be that as it may, his mistake on this occasion (if mistake it was), was the only one in his history as a pugilist. His subsequent actions would appear to indicate that tho fight was a square one. Later on in the same day Mace sent £2O to Bell’s: Life as a deposit for another match Avith King. The latter did not accept the challenge, and Mace a", once offered to fight without any stako, and to give King £SO to fight him for the belt aloue in a fortnight. This offer was also refused by King, and the belt was then handed back to Mace, who was declared ohampion of England once more. Mace’s next appearance in the ring was when in September, 1563, he met Joe Goss, a Northamptonshire man. Goss was, like Mace, a light fighter for his class, and resembled the champion also in that he had come very rapidly to the front. He stood sft Sin high, and weighed lOst 61bs Avhen he met Mace, "ho was lOst 91bs. Mace laid £6OO to £4OO. Goas played a very wily game with his opponent, and ran round the ring until Mace was nearly tired oat following him. In the nineteenth round, however, Goss, after taking a good deal of punishment, received a right hand cross-counter on the jaw which knocked him on to his hands and knees, and disabled him for half an hour. The fight lasted over two hours. Mace’s friends now began to look abroad for fresh worlds for him to conquer, and a match was made in 1564 with Joe Coburn, who had just won the American championship by defeating Edward Price, and Mace and Coburn were to fight for £IOOO in Ireland in October of the same year, but there was some hitch about appointing a referee, and the match fell through. In 1566 a match was made with Toe Goss to fight for £2OO a side and the championship. The encounter took place on the 24th May, each man weighing list 71bs. The fight was an extraor Jinary and unsatisfactory one. Goss refused to assume the offensive, and Mace was very chary of making a start because of a bad leg. One round only Avas fought, and that lasted an hour and. five minutes, at the end of which time a draw was declared. Three months later they met again, for the same stakes, this time at a spot in the vicinity of London. Twenty-one rounds were fought, and eventually Baldock (a name well-known in connection with the recent Smith-Kilrain fight), Goss’s second, threw up the sponge'. In 1867 Mace was to have fought Dr. Ned Baldwin, * the Irish giant,’ for £2OO a-side. Mace, however, was arrested and bound over to keep the peace. Joe Wormald, another man who had sprung into prominence, then challenged the champion, but had to pay forfeit on account of a sprained arm. Later on Mace was to have fought Dr. Baldwin in America, but nothing resulted but Avrangling. It was often said of Macathat he was £ afraid to fight the Irishman, but whether that it so or not it is hard to say now. In 1869 Mace decided to retire from the ring, and after travelling through England with a circus he Avent to America, where he was made a small hero of. With his fights with Tom Allen and Joe Coburn in America w© will deal next week. (To be continued.)