Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21

notion thst Kilrain's gsmeness was of the
very best quality. He will stand punish
ment of course, that is he won't run away.
But while he won't run away he lacks the
spirit of retaliation that characterizes an
absolutely game man. We have all seen
men and boys who will stubbornly stand
q smack on the cheek or blow on the
mouth and they won't retreat, but they
lack the grit to fight back. Well it seems
to me that Kilrain's gameness has always
been of this quality.
How the Two Men Rank.
Now that the contest is over, and that
Kilrain was fairly knocked out, which I
will presently show, we may have few
words about how the contestants rank as
pugilists. Twill soon dispense with Kill
rain. I have always held that Kilrain is
not by any means frst-class man, and my
contention has time and time again been
assailed by certain people who write about
sporting matters All that 1 need say now
is that it will indeed be difficult to find a
person who will rate Kilrain above second
class now. I rate him as a moderate Sec
ond-class man, and have always done so.
But all the glory that he may have had has
vanished now, because it certainly is q
the championship of the world to be knocked
out, and in a limited number of rounds.
He is gone, and let US deal gently
with him. But Slavin's rank is
more problematicsL There are various
opinions as to his standing; but unhesitat-
ingly come to the conclusion that he is the
best pugilist in the world to-day. The
manner in which he polished off Kilrain
convinces me that there is not man in
America who can defeat him. Of course
we have heard much since the contest in
question regarding how John L. Sullivan
would do up Slavin; in fact, some of the
wiseacres in New York during the last few
days have told us that Slavin would not
last two rounds in front of Sullivan; others,
who have little higher estimate of Slavin,
think Sullivan would settle him in six
rounds. Now all this is the merest nonsense.
Nobody is reader than I am to admit
ali the good points of Sullivan, but
good gracious, he is only human being
and was one of the greatest disappointments
in q prize ring of modern times. Nobody
can deny this. And what is more, Slavin
accomplished in about 40 minutes what Sui
Gvan could only do in three hours or more.
Facts of this kind ought certainly to prevent
our making eXtravagant statements about
how Sullivan would kill this man and how
he would paralyZe that man in very few
minutes. Why, even in a glove contest, un-
der Queensbury rules, he did not knock q
man like Dominick McCafrey out in six
rounds "But McCaffrey wouldn't stand
up and fight" scores will reply; but great
scott, didn't Kilrain try the same dodge
with Slavin? and didn't Slavin move about
in way that left no hole of escape for
Kilrain? In talking about Sullivan,
1a4, II
time the name Of Sullivan has been held up to
frighten people Just as the bug-a-boo is
talked about to frighten children. Just as
sure as we live, that if ever Slavin and
Sullivan were to meet in prize ring under
London prize ring rules, Sullivan would be
defeated, and don't think Sullivan ever
saw the day that he could defeat Slavin in
prize ring. A glove contest is another
matter. In his prime, Sullivan was with
out doubt terror in a four-round glove
contest, but it is remarkable that he really
never knocked any first-class man senseless.
He had nothing else to do but hit Tug
Wilson, and yet that little man, in spite of
the tremendous power of Sullivan, was in
the ring four rounds. And, again, in a
glove contest he was fairly knocked down
by comparatively little man like Mitchell.
/ mention these facts to show that there
were limits to Sullivan's power even as
glove fighter. But, still, am ready to ad-
nit that as glove fighter he was terror
compared to anybody we have had in this
country, and taking him at his best, it
would be hard question to decide as to who
would win between Slavin and him if
they were to fight. L think that my
preference would be for Sullivan. There Is
not space enough to compare Corbett and
jackson with Slavin. But, in my judg-
ment, CorbeN would share the fate of Kill
rain were he to meet Slavin. Certainly
don't believe he would stand the punish
ment Kilrain received. jackson has seen
his best day, and ought to steer clear of
Slavin.
Dunn's Remarkable Decision.
In dealing with the great glove contest, 1
reserve for the last point the most extra
ordinary decision Of that sporting man
known as Jere Dunn. I have heard and
read of many decisions in contests, but
Dunn's outdoes them all He really out
Brewsters Brewster, the man who gave the
decision in the Myer-Bowen affair. In
word, don't hesitate to say that the deci-
sion of Referee Dunn conclusively proves
one or two things. 1t shows that Dunn is
thoroughly incompetent, or that the de-
cision was one of the grossest frauds ever
committed in the ring. This is strong. Ger
tainly it is, because the circumstances war
rant it. Just for moment, gentle reader,
think of it. Two men meet to fight ten
rounds, and one undertook to knock the other
out in that time. But at the end of eight
rounds and a half one man was knocked
down and the contest was stopped by the
order of the timekeeper aud the permission
of the referee. Yet that same referee SUBJ
sequently decides that one man won the
fight but that the other was not knocked
out. Did you ever hear of such thing?
Why, in the name Of everything on the
earth, above the earth and beneath the
earth, why didn't Dunn order the contest to
continue if Kilrain was not knocked out?
If Dunn was convinced on the stage that
Kilrain was knocked out what caused him
to change his mind when the contestants
had left the ring? But he had no right to
change his mind after he had ordered the
contest ended, and when he ordered the
contest ended before the ten rounds had
been fought his order beyond a doubt i'm
piled that Slavin had accomplished his task.
No other conclusion than this can be
arrived at. If he stopped the contest in
the middle Of the eighth round without being
aware as to whether or not Kilrain
was knocked out, he was robbing Slavin.
There is no denying this. But the most as
founding part of the entire business was the
resolve of Referee Dunn, after he had re-
solved to change his decision, to decline to
make another until he had consulted with
friends whom he declared were honest and
knew whether or not Kilrain had been out
ten seconds. This was simply outrageous.
But probably Dunn was not aware that there
was an official time-keeper. whose statement
on the matter was just as binding and as i'm
portant as the statement of Referee Dunn
fha Wo n