Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-15

L.
| all talking in this strain to encourage Farrell.
He may be winder; don't know what :. ne is,
bad policy, indeed, to send him into ring To
face big man like McAuliffe, when a bona
fide middle-weight like Hall can be had. Ger
taInly it is possible for Farrell to win his con,
test with McAuliffe, but were interested IN II
| would run no risks. True, If Farrell is beaten
by McAuliffe will still be unable
abilities when pitted against man Of his own
class. But if he is beaten it will be dlfncult TO
| secure good chance for him to meet middle
weight. The public seldom takes the trouble
to look any further than defeat A defeated
man loses his glory in the public estimation, no
matter how brought about. No better proof OF
| this is needed than the defeat of Dempsey by
Fitzsimmons. The latter was real heavy
| weight compared to DEMPSEY, but that TACT ls
| scarcely noticed by the public Dempsey was
defeated, and defeated very badly. That is al
| the public notices about it. So it will be with
Pat Farrell il he is beaten. Certainly we all
| would like to see the Pittsburger win, but SO
very few people ever consider what 1t is to con-
cede SO much weight and height.
A Talk About the Lightweights.
There has been remarkable silence among
| the lightweight pugilists for some time. One
| or two of them have somewhat appeared on the
surface during the week, but nothing of inl-
portance has taken place. Meyer and No
Auliffe are still fishing for a big purse, and il
any club is foolish enough to offer one they will
go and box for 1t. don't hesitate for one mo-
ment In saying that have no faith at all in
Meyer and McAulitfe. I cannot forget their
affair IN Indiana; l mean their famous draw.
According to records Meyer is mot in it" with
McAuliffe, and think the leading clubs are of
this opinion. Each of these worthless has de-
posted $1,000 as guarantee that they mean
business, bnt they had more than that up when
they accomplished their draw business. There
are two other llghtweights who are coming be-
fore the public, in fact, one Of them is already
before the world. I refer TO Austin Gibbons
phrase, has been spelling for fight for long
time, and 1 don't think he is cham
pion. He is of the big kind, and his friends
think him wonder. Hawkins is Westerner.
He has not become a cyclone vet. but am in
formed by a very good judge who has seen him
that he is rattling good fighter Well, am
instructed to say that Hawkins will fight Glib
bons at l3Spounds before any club in the country
that will offer suitable purse. Hawkins, more
over, will fight Gibbons in any style or under any
rules. Now, this is certainly a chance for Glib
bons. If he refuses il he certainly cannot com
plain about not getting any engagements and,
besides, he should hold his tongue about claim
ing championship honors. Hawkins has quite
q record, but as it has most been made in the
West the Eastern wtseacres may not think
much of it. 1t will be interesting to wait and
see how Gibbons will act in the matter, be-
bona fide one.
Burke's Very Strange Defeat.
Like great many other people I was ex-
tremely surprised to learn of the very misera.
BILE show made by Jack Burke against Pritchard
in their battle Thursday night in London. Had
the battle been a good one and of reasonable
length certainly would not have been very
much surprised at Burke's defeat simply be-
cause of his long career as pugllist. l had ex-
pected that Burke would come off victorious
providing he was ID anything like his old form;
mean in anything hk~ the form he displayed
when he fought draw with Slavin and draw
with Charley Mitchell, the latter contest being
under prize ring rules, and also a draw with Aft
Greenfield When the form displayed by Burke
in these encounters, and also when he met Sui
livan is considered We cannot avoid the
conviction that there was something
wrong in his contest with Pritchard.
Burke must have gone lamentably
back or the affair, to speak plainly, must have
been swindle. l grant that Pritchard is a
very good man, but if We assume that Burk, |
was i'll anything like his best form, and that the
battle was an honest one, we are forced to the |
conclusion that PrItchard is by far the superior
of Mitchell. better than Greenfield ever was; |
as good as Slavin and the equal of Sullivan. |
Now cannot believe that; in fact l won't. |
The battle in question was one OF the most sus- |
picious have ever read about Burke started |
out much the better of his man. and his friends |
backed him heavily. Suddenly the scene |
changed and Burke was knocked all over the |
ring and settled in less than five minutes Now |
/ claim that there never lived niddleweight |
who could do that with Burke, that is batter
him completely out in round and /
half if he wanted to prevent it, have seen |
Burke perform ard neither Pritchard or any |
other midGleweight know of reach Burke suf-
ficiently to completely down him in two or three
rounds. But there was every ind cement to
have the contest finisA as it did. That wealthy
victim OF professional sports, squire" AbIpg-
reailg real gut wanted ed The s0uire" to double the
stakes on Monday but the Squire" scented
fire" and declared he didn't like the look O.;
things. Burke is psnniless and SO is Pritchard:
and $500 with the money won from Slavin and
others, would make quite q nice little account.
Defeat to Burke now means nothing. 1t can
not do him any harm in the way Of business.
Money is what ne IS in need of and Slavin evil
IDENTIFY was of opinion that the Irish Lad' was
making it certain judging from the way in
which the Australian tore Burke's colors up.
We may have Pritchard among US soon. He is
real good man, one of the best, but still am
1ery suspicious OF the easy victory he has just
.ained.
Kilrain and Godfrey.
Well, we made no mistake in the KIIrain and
Godfrey con test, as the colored man was never
n it." This may sound strange in view of the
act that the men were in the ring ~ ROUNDS.
,ut that was because Godfrey hadn't the pluck
Ny readers will remember that from the day
he two pQgilists were matched l have argues
n favor 0f Kilrain, simply because he is a class
naintained that Godfrey is only a third
class man and it is stranger than ever
haI Ed Smith did not defeat
lin. In the contest of Friday evening
Godfrey was beaten from the start and it was
,nly by kind of cowardice that he prolonged
he battle until the forty-second round. OF
course he was battered and thumped around
luite merrily and be stood it in a fashion. But
mat does not entirely constitute gameness; 1t
S more of brutal stubbornness. Had he been
thoroughly game he would have fought back at
lis man, but he only endeavOred to keep out of
he way. KIIrain ought to have finished God
rey before 26 rounds were fought, and if the
ormer had weighed $50 pounds instead of 1872
le would have done SO. But when one re-
members that the "great" Muldoon trained
Kilrain, u pounds overweight is very little.
Had Kilrain weighed 200 pounds ! would
lot have been surprised. The contest
vas not glorious victory for Kilrain
because he ought to have been able to finished
Godfrey long before AZ rounds. l have never
claimed that Kilrain was anything better than
moderate second-class man, and this contest
s another proof of the truth of my contention.
The battle strongly convinces me that if Ed
snigh had only weighed l65 pounds. or even loo,
instead of 1888 when he fought Godfrey the lat
er would have been beaten in a comparatively
hort time. The pair may come together again,
,ut 1t may be that clubs will not be too eager
o offer a purse for Godfrey for some time to
ome. Kirain will now aspire to higher game,
nd 1t is likely that he will want to fight the
winner of the Jackson-Corbett fight ,
PprNorv