Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-08

have always held that despite his unattractive
methods McCanrey is as quick as any man to-
day. OF course he is not Mace, and, in some
EMsSgse IaE Oenlnd 9I M15cnen @ as ,p Po1ss Dut f
gloves. At any rate. deem him superior to
Kilrain.
British Opinion OF Smith.
Doubtless the following opinion Of Henry
Sampson regarding the Smith-Jackson affair
will be of considerable interest. AS have
often remarked Mr.. Sampson is one Of the
best authorities in the world on boxing and
pugilism. He saw the Smith-Jackson contest,
and writing of it says: 'The fight as it is called
lasted six minutes, exactly one minute of which
was spent by the men resting in their corners,
and all but another was wasted in preliminary
sparring. Yet the remaining four minutes were
fully suficient to show that providing this was
q true-run race, Smith had met one who is i'm
measurably his superior. Except where acci-
dent has had its effect, it is not easy to remem-
Der so rapid rise on the one side, and so COM
mensurate fall on the other. Also short as
was the time it enabled Smith to offer three op-
portunities for his disqualification. OF the first
two. his hitting Jackson long way
the referee took no notice. Both acts might
have been unintentional though they did not
look like it; and, beside, In contest for points
summing up at the finish. The folk who were
present had paid to see a ten-round fight, and
1t was clearly the duty of the officials to help
give tnem an tnas was posslnie % Oh snas Wnlcn 1
not going to be robbed of his desire in this way.
His third otfense was too wanton and too
wicked to be passed over, and the referee, rising
in his place, and his righteous wrath as well,
disqualified the cheapest champion of En-
gland" that ever lived as soon as the uproar
aroused by Smiths third deliberate endeavor
to evade his contract allowed him to
make himself heard. The final foul, all read
ers who care to know by this time know. was
back-heel-a thing which no man would
think of attempting while he had the gloves on,
himself turned out of the combat. THIS piece
of bad work has not even the merit of original
ity. To foul a man who is too good and who
can hit hard-and especially to foul him by
wrestling-and thus avoid a pasting. has for
long been faVorite trick of the boxing pro-
ressional when he is in difficulty, and, like
hunted rat does not mind how unsaVory IS the
crevice into which he creeps to md shelter.
Smiths dearest friends cannot well deny that,
as things were going he saved himself from
great thrashing by hagrantly violating the
rules under which he was boxing"
The Great English Champion.
The same authority goes on: Before he re-
sorted to throwing, Smith had shown himself
utterly unable to cope with the nigger, al
though the latter is not by any means such
wonder as the crowd since his victory acclaims
of the entertainment Accident excepted, any
one having the least claim to be considered
champion ought to have held his own, say,
until the fourth round, no matter what then
happened Readers need not now be told that
never had any high opinion of Smith, or that
have constantly pointed out that he has no
one claim to be regarded as of real champion
caliber; but certainly do not believe the con-
temptible figure he cut last Sunday night was
the best return he could make for the Pelicans'
off in fc
His own seconds, and his closest
friends as well, admit that he was utterly una
BILE to cope with jackson as soon as the first
round was over. Directly they got together
street corner would have made as good show
with Jackson as was made by the champion of
England" Another feature of the affair is
that after few passes Smiths wind seemed to
go all to pieces; no man in fair state of health
could, after a month or more's preparation,
have been thus distressed by so paltry an effort
If a man gets knocked out, that's his bad luck
the best man in the world has been tumbled
over before now by a hit which happened to
land on the right spot-but such a pftitul dis
play as was given by Smith when he hung on
TO the rope as helpless and exhausted as
though he had been fighting for hours, has
never before been given in the entire history
of either boxing or prize fghting-that is
when the fight or the boxing match has really
been what il professed to be. The generous
patrons of Sunday sport VINO subscribed e.. 900
for the funniest show ever yet given by boxers
of pretention. must find themselves on the
horns of a dilemma. So must Mr.. Smith, the
now for long while avowed pet of the Peli-
cans. They, and he, are welcome to either
horn. No one who knows anything about pro-
fessional boxing need be told that If Jem
Smith, champion of England" is within a
mile of his previously published form, his show
on Sunday night is utterly incomprehensible.
If the show is correct. then the Pelicans must
be the greatest lot of asses, and Smith himself
must be the most colossal impostor, that even
an age that bristles with asses and impostors
has SO far been able to generate"