BOXING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VIII, Issue 405, 28 April 1898, Page 13

BOXING.

Thus a late New York exchange : —lf Robert Fitzsimmons will stop his.coquetting with public favor and decide to fight, the sporting world may yet see a fight for the biggest sum ever put up for a ring battle. William A. Brady (Corbett s manager) has received from Joseph Harvey, of Ban Francisco, a telegram offering 50,000d015. for z a fight between James J. Corbett and Robert Fitzsimmons. He also notified Brady that, as soon as the men signe i articles he would deposit 10,000dols with a reliable and responsible firm in San Francisco, the deposit to be a forfeit and an evidence of his good faith, .if he fails in any way to carry out his part of the agreement, and \ by his failure the fight fails to take place, the 7 money is to be divided between the fighters. As soon as Brady received the telegram be wired to Harvey :—“ Will accept. Send on the articles. Have notified Corbett.” Corbett is now at St. Paul, and Brady says that although the former champion has announced his retirement he will re-enter the ring to meet Fitzsimmons, whom he believes he Brady, like many other sporting men, believes that the champion is afraid to fight again. This belief is growing all oyer the country, and is due to the actions of Fitzsimmons. His little popularity is all gone, and his strength as a theatrical drawing-card is almost nothing. Corbett is still drawing crowds, which is due to the belief of a majority of the people of the country that he really wants to fight. Few persons believe that there will be a fight even now, when a fortune is temptingly held out to the Australian, who, it is generally thought, will not accept. ’ The much-talked-about fight between Sturgeon, of N.8.W., and Archer, of Gympie, took place on March 29, at the Theatre Royal, Gympie. There was a very large attendance, says the Sydney Referee, and the Gympie populace was pleasantly surprised at seeing a genuine contest take place in their midst... Proceedings opened with four good willing rounds between Henderson (Gympie) . and Son Watsford (Sydney), after which the principals appeared, Archer being seconded by Stagpool (late of Melbourne) and Liddy, Jack Baxter, Watsford, and Henderson being behind Sturgeon. Mr J. Chapple, a well-known local sport,' acted as referee, whilst Messrs Reid and Ridley acted as timekeepers and lOsec check respectively. There was a great disparity noticeable in the size of the men -as they faced one another, the local man standing over 6ft., whilst Sturgeon would touch the beam at about 7ft 7in. Archer was a pronounced favorite, offers of 6t04 on being made freely. Directly on the call of time Ihe men got together, and Archer used his lef’ freely on Sturgeon’s face, the latter confining his attentions to the body, putting in some warm ones on the kidneys, one of these, visitations bringing Archer to his knees. ■ Sturgeon tried to finish matters thus early, and received a warm right uppercut. Vicious fighting was the order right through the round, at the end of which Archer was plainly the more distressed of the two. For the second round both,came to the ring fairly fresh, considering their efforts in the initial round. Archer made a vicious drive with his left, but it went harmlessly Over his opponent’s head,and on Archer stepping back Sturgeon hooked him on the chin with his left, sending him to the boards for Bsec. On his' rising Sturgeon repeated the hit, which settled

Archer’s pretensions, ana lie remained down until counted out. The audience was a very orderly one, and, although' the local man was beaten, was perfectly satisfied at seeing a straight “ go ” and the best man won. We clip the following from' the Sydney Referee's report of the boxing match between Peter Jackson and Jeffries Peter Jackson went down to defeat at Woodward’s Pavilion. He went down with colors flying at that.* That all-important factor, “condition,” had no chance to assert itself, and it wasn’t the case of the ghost, of Jackson’s past life gibbering at him over Jeffries’ shoulder and mocking him. Peter was the pacemaker. He was neither slow or staggery. He was fighting like a steam-engine, sending in clean-cut and apparently punishing right-handers under Jeffries’ heart when the tide of battle turned. Prior to beginning this bombardment of Jeffries’ ribs Peter electrified the crowd with his ducking. Jeff’s favorite and most damaging punch is a left-hander for the head. It is always a swing, and has at. times an upward tendency. But whether, coming from the direction of the hip or whizzing through the air from the level of the shoulder, Jackson managed to get under the blow. It was .a t reat to see him dive under that arm (as big as a leg) and come: up grinning on

Jen's port quarter, as it were. The crowd yelled with delight at thin clever trick of avoidance on Peter’s part, and had Peter continued to duck these left handers all would have gone well with him, at least for a few rounds longer. I hate to think that the enthusiasm manifested in Peter’s behalf outside the ropes affected Jackson, but really it looked that way. It seemed to arouse the martial spirit as t he bugle call stirs the old cavalry horse, and he began taking chances. - He had given Jeffries a taste of that unerr.ng left jab between the eyes, and he had also managed to drive his left solidly into the big fellows midsection while ducking. He should have continued that style of warfare for a while, He took to using the right-hander at the heart, the blow with which he stopped George Godfrey’s gallop ten years ago. In order to land this blow the more effectively he left himself open to that dreaded left swing. The pity of it is, 100, that the heart punches did not disturb Jeffries to the extent that they have disturbed men of frailer frame. Jeff has the torso of a cannonball tosser, and raps on the ribs punish him no more than they would a big hairy mule. Gnce Peter found that it was easy to land the heart blow he ducked no more, but gave his whole attention to peppering the Los Angelan’s left side. Jeffries drew out of range repeatedly, and sidled around the colored champion. Peetr went after him, and the crowd yelled more and more They were now in the second round, and the beginning of the end for Jackson was at hand. His blood was up, and he was for mixing on every possible occasion. Bang would go his ri 'ht at Jeff 's ribs, and the inevitable left, swing at the head from Jefferies would either find Jackson stepping back or glance off his shoulder. Just as Peter had planted one severe right on the ribs, and was drawing away, Jefferies’ big left arm came around with a sweeping motion. Only the half of the Dos Angelan’s glove overlapped Jackson’s chin, but the impact was enough to cause the Australian’s knees to sag and his body to sink to the floor. He fell on his haunches and rolled over on his side. Then he scrambled slowly to his feet, and Jefferies stood a couple of paces away so as to give him a chance to throw himself into position. With the fighting instinct strong in him, Jackson raised his arms and stepped towards Jefferies. Hie brain was partly clouded, though, there was no trick in nailing him now. Around came that ponderous left again, and feter fell a second time. He rolled to the ropes, and was in the act of hauling himself to his feet when the gong sounded. Peter’s seconds (Young Mitchell, Patsy Corrigan, and Vincent White) seized him and dragged him to his chair. One of them splashed him liberally with water and he rebelled. He pushed the towels away from his face, an intimation, I suppose, that he wanted air more than anything else. He rested his gloves on his knees and kept an eye on the timing clock. When the signal for the third round to begin sounded he Caught the end of a towel, wiped his dripping face, and walked rapidly to the centre. He was still dazed, but he was game to the core, and to the dismay' of those who had his interests at heart, instead of playing for time he courted a willing fight. I, for one, was in hopes that, he would begin ducking again, or at least content himself with straight lefts at the face, blows with which I had figured out before the contest he would be able to discount Jeff’s advantages of youth and strength. But no. Peter had little thought for anything but the last punch, and he began using it again. In view of the other fellow’s deftness with the left swing, these tactics seemed suicidal, for the position Jackson assumed in sending in these blows left his head directly in the line of fire. He got in one punch and escaped a return. He tried again, and that ham-like first of Jeffries found his jaw as he was stepping back. It was pitiful from that time on; Jackson was dizzy, and his vision was blurred. It is doubtful if he could see Jeffries, Referee Jim M’Donald, or anything else. He was at Jeffries’ mercy, yet

the big fellow failed to bowl him over. Blow after blow fell on Peter’s head, neck, and jawHe spread his legs and braced himself, rocking on his seet and refusing to go down. Then Jeffries sent in an extra hard swing. 11 caught Peter on the chin, dnd knocked him against the ropes. He sank until he was in a sitting posture on the lower rope, and his head dropped. “ Stop the fight!” yelled a score of voices, and the referee j umped between Jackson and further harm; To. Jeffries’ credit, be it said that he seemed to have no intention of returning to the assault.. He. Y just stood at a respectable distance and awaited developments. A captain of police and some of his men pressed towards the ropes, and the captain ordered the referee to call a halt. “ The police have stopped the fight, and I declare Jeffries the winner,” said M’Donald. It was a just and sensible verdict, for if the fight had gone on Jackson could not. have lasted out the round. It was as clean and manly a contest as ever was seen within the ropes. To the surprise of all the one or two infractions of ring etiquette which occurred were committed by Jackson. The men agreed not to hit in the clinches, but Peter forgot himself and placed his right on Jeffries’ ribs,on one or two occasions when they were partly entangled in an embrace. The con-, test created more excitement in San -Francisco ’ than any that has taken place since the big mill at Carson a year ago. From the outset Jeffries was the favorite, opening at 10 to .6. One day when a goodly amount of Jackson backing hove in sight the price shortened until even betting became the rule for a while This did not last long, and on the day before the contest it was 10 to 7 on Jeffries, with plenty of money on both sides. The holding capacity of the Pavilion was tested to the utmost., Out on the streets the crowd — began to bank up as early as 6.30 p.m.

For a race with only two starters, the Hurdle Race run at Doncaster recently about look the record for sensationalism. Wood Oak ran round the first two hurdles, but continued as though nothing had happened out of order. The other starter, Change, after running off at the second hurdle, jumped it, but fell at the last jump and cleared out riderless. Noticing this occurrence, Wood Oak’s rider did another round, presumably: with the idea of compensating for his first offence, and finally the stewards declared the extremely _ interesting affair “ no race.” : /