Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-25

my friend met him and they OF course, began
a conversation about Fitzsimmons. Ny friend
was extremely frank. because be had very
high admiration for Dempsey, and expressed
himself as follows: "Now. let me tell you Jack,
that Fitzsimmons is too big for you, and If you
were to train as clean as he does, you would be
below l40 pounds Let met tell you. further,
that the people who are persuading you to
meet 15+pound men are leading you astray,
because that is much above your weight"
Dempsey, dauntless as usual, replied that
he would certainly sign articles to fight
Fitzsimmons as soon as he arrived at his home
in Portland. Then" rejoined my friend, 'if
you persist in that take my advice and have a
look at your man before you put your name to
the articles" This was probably tho best adj
vice ever given to Dempsey and had he not neg-
lected it matte ters might have been quite differ
not fight again, but he will do well if he takes
care not to allow height, weight and reach to
be against him. -s-.--
A Week of. Challenges.
Any number of men are talking about fight
ing Fitzsimmons, and the latter. as far as i
know, has had nothing to say in return. If he
follows the example Of modern pugilists he will
meet nobody until he has squeezed the show
business for all that 1t is worth.
He has many examples to fol-
low on this point, indeed. the general opinion
already seems to be: "If he won't fight for a
year you cannot blame him. He is in the busi-
ness for money" The modern conception Of
pugilism takes this view OF the matter. no
doubt but il is a bad one and is another feat
ure of the glove contest era in which the pub
lie has been flched of thousands of dollars.
The time was when a champion was bound to
acknowledge a challenge if it was bona fide and
if there was money behind it. That is not the
rule now because il is not stake money that
managers and Others are after; it is the money
so-called pugilism. has become reduced to
show business and the great aim is to
get the public TO the show This reminds
me of the recent, challenge of Pat Farrell
to Fitzsimmons. Some of the most ridiculous
opinions lave been expressed regarding that
challenge. l certainly defend the challenge
because it is bona fide one. have right to
do that without even expressing an opinion as
to whether Farrell has or mas not any chance to
defeat FltZSimmons. Dozens of times have
been asked. "Why, what has Farrell doneT
Now want to point out that it is not what he
has done, but what he wants to do. He has
hackers who are prepared TO stake S.. 600 or S.
GOO on their opinion that he can defeat Fitz-
simmons or any other l5S-pound man in the
country. In sporting affairs have always been
led to believe that it was good policy to keep
dark horse" as long as possible, and use
him to the very best advantage. In all branches
of sport this has been a recognized
rule or custom. Let us take Sheffield handi-
cap, for instance. Why, it is the man with no
record there that Is invariably dangerous; it is
the dark horse" who has been kept on the
quiet without doing anything in public, and no.
body would think of ignoring these dark ones
simply because they had made no reputation"
as it is called. Very well, then; if the hackers
of Pat Farrell have been attending to him on
the quiet for two three years and are now
convinced that he is as good as anybody at l5S
pounds, and are prepared to stake about Sc, ,0N
on that conviction. surely their challenge de-
mands serious atteption We must assume,
nay, We must admit, that these hackers know
more about Pat FarrelJ's abilities than the pub
lie does, and most assuredly people are not now
adays investing S.. 600 or $500 without believ-
ing they have strong chance OF getting more
than their own money back.
A Business-Like Offer.
But Farrell does not confne himself to Fitz-
simmons. A day or two ago there appeared in
this paper a statement to the effect that he
would fight any l5S-pound man in the country
for the belt offered by r. K. Fox. Farrell par
ticularIy mentioned Reddy Gallagher, Kessler
and Carroll. of Brooklyn. because these men
are not engaged at present This does not
mean that he is not anxious to meet anybody
outside of these men. He is willing to fight
the winner of the Blanche contest
las have above stated, he will meet any mid
dle-weight. Now ask is this offer not fair
one and business one? Certainly it is not
necessary for Farrell to half kill a number of
mel before he can secure match; am not
now discussing the abilities of Farrell: that is
another matter and when he is matched I will
be prepared to deal with that phase OF the sub
ject. What claim at present is that nobody
cause. taking everything into consideration,
they are more bona fde than the majority of
offers and as much SO as any that have been
madeI --~
The Modern Big Purses.
The following opinions of Hen-y Sampson
relative to the big purses of to-day and the.
small stakes of years ago are sure to be of gen.
eral interest," because there is much truth in
them. He says: The more one knows of what
used to happen in the days when men had
really to fight for every farthing, and very
often got soundly thrashed for nothing, the
more Is he astounded at what hopeI am right
In calling our recent maniacal departure in the
way of purses; 95 or El0 most was considered
sufficient stake for anyone to fight for who had
not shown himself to be q real flyer; and real
flyers could he mentioned who never
fought for, or who at all event.
OF all ebnmpons Tom savers bim
SELF never fought for f200 side until close on
to the end of his career Two hundred pounds
a side was then supposed to be the summit of
the greatest mans ambition, and to the end
gallant Tom never dreamt of exceeding II.
Only fancy what was gone through between
him and Dan Collins before 1t was settled
which of them was to win ponyl When
Sayers and Jones fought one another to stand
still for Gl00 a side. and the battle stood ad-
journed for six weeks or so. it was thought
most wonderful thing that the. principals
an additional fl00 level. After Sayers won the
championship and had happened on the first of
his easy things with Bill Bainge Tor
Benjamin), Paddock. one of the best
men ever seen in the ring-the really
best man of his day bat for blind bad temper
challenged Sayers, but could not raise the
f20e Sayers generously enough waived his
right and fought for the stake Paddock was
able to raise, viz, fl5O. Talking about Bill
Benjamin-it is just on the cards that he was
h.,r,, a@r1x lrf
indeed with the gloves and should think it
quite likely that if gloves and not fists had had
to be used by them he might have bested
Savers, especially when they came together for
the second tussle. Just as Tom Sayers would
have been outsider if there had been 10
fighting but glove fighting in his day, we
may reckon that SO "e of our glove champions
would have been something other than
champions il they had mad to try their hands at
knuckle nghJing.
AFew Words About Heavy-weights.
During the week various rumors have been
current regarding Slavin, Sullivan, Corbett and
others. ! am inclined to believe that all the
talk concerning these big men has been for
''show" purposes because every one of them is
more or less in that line of business. Whether
or not the object of the talk has been what /
say there are some matters connected with it of
interest to those who are patrons of the ring.
We are told that John LIS friends waited upon
him and asked him If he would fight Slavin.
The former did not hesitate a moment and said
he would certainly be willing to fight Slavin
six rounds with big gloves for $500 or
5000 Sullivan then gave his reasons for de-
clining priZe-ring contest. A few DAYS later
Sullivan stated that he would not be at liberty
to fight anybody for two years. and this is the
latest from Sullivan. 1t is very problemarical
whether Sullivan and Slavin will ever meet,
and if they do it will be many months from
now, but it is clear to me that John L. Sullivan
is no fool. Were he in anything like good con-
dition am inclined to think he would defeat