Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-27
ODD POSITIONS.

Reference was yesterday made to the ex-
tended REPORTS in the San Francisco papers
Of ring fight before one of the athletic
clubs of that city that was altogether
disappointment to the spectators, because,
after over sixty rounds had been fought.
neither man was conquered, nor was either
injured. In short, according to the ethics
Of the ring, il was fraud" The Presi-
dent of the club is reported to have en-
tered the ring and driven the pugilists
out, exclaiming at the same time, that he
was too disgusted to fttingly express him
self. The spectators who had assembled
10 witness brutal exhibition, and thus
crafty the morbid taste that prize fighting
caters to, were also loud in their denuncia-
tion of the boxers because there was no
siogging, since it was that they had
come to see. The club makes public de-
Tense on the same ground, that it was
tame affair in effect, and that there was
no slogging. Now it is not denied that
there was scientific boxing in plenty by
the matched men, and since the claim of
these athletic clubs is that they are en-
eouraging the "manly art of self-defense,"
and are not promoting brutal exhibitions,
She position of the club provokes smile.
Was mt the contest in the highest sense
an exemplifcation of the "art?" Were
not these men so skillful in ''self.defense"
that neither was able to do the other in
jury? If two professional boxers can stand
up and give and take through sixty odd
rounds and each so well protect himself
from the other as to escape without
scratch, is it not one of the best evidences
of skill in the "manly art?" Let the
truth be told the disgust of the club Off
GERS and the Spectators was caused by the
fact that the men were such accomplished
boxers that neither had his face beaten
into jelly, nor his ribs smashed, and
neither was knocked insensible, or made
a tit subject for the ministrations of a
surgeon. These clubs have repeatedly pro-
tested that they we're not promoting
contests in which there could be any harm
come to the contestants; one of the organ
izations not long ago appeared by its off
GERS before the officials of San Francisco,
and with heat insisted that the men who
box under its auspices cannot hurt" one
another, and We believe that is the general
claim of all the clubs. Here, however, in
the contest referred to, is proof positive
that the drawing" feature Of the enter
tainment was the expectation that there
would be injury of some degree inflicted,
and the entire crowd was hugely "dis-
gusted because there was no injury done,
and because the boxing was scientific and
not brutal. This is all very amusing, to
be sure, since it so neatly strips the mask
from these so-called athletic clubs, and
exposes them in their true colors as brutal
and bloody gangs of men who, through the
agency of organization, pander to the
lowest of tastes.
But even more ludicrous is the position
Of the San Francisco Bulletin. Here is a
journal that has uniformly and vigorously
opposed the slogging match, and anathe-
matized the athletic clubs that promote the
brutality. But it is led to say in its issue
Of Wednesday, in its editorial columns,
that which really presents it in a most
ludicrous aspect. 1t exclaims:
The fzzie OF the California Athletic Club last
night viii perhaps do more 20 discredit pugil-
ISM than any action by the municipal authOri-
sies or public opinion on side of sporting circles
u viii tend to kill IL in the house of its friends
When fighting becomes taxing the end is near.
Does our contemporary wish,,to be taken
at its word? Is its complaint against the
match in quest. based upon the same
grounds as the disgust OF the club? Is it
also disappointed that the boxing was
scientific to such degree that there was
no slogging-the technical term for beat
ing, battering and rib-smashing, etc.-and
does it really intend to be understood as
saying that pugilism without wounding,
boue-breaking, and possibly killing, is
faking?"