Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-08
have drawn once too often upon their seem.
1ngly inexhaustible powers

angly 1nexhausnble powers
The First Defeat of His Life.
It may be said that when Sullivan stepped
into the ring tonight he appeared betort
5000 spectators as q pugilist who, with {
Tremendously long list of victories to hil
credit, had not suffered q single defeat
His career had been altogether unique anS
practically unparalleled in the history o
the prize ring. Tom Sayers was a pugilisti,
wonder in his day, and retired with but
q single defeat scored against him
Nat Langham, when Sayers was no
nearly in condition., bat Sayers used to
fight at from $50 pounds to 154 pounds, ane
he was accustomed to being knocked off hit
legs again and again by the big men with
whom he used to be matched, while there II
only one man in the ring who ever knocked
Sullivan down and that man is Charley
Mitchell. Sullivan had always won his
battles in such powerful and masterful
manner that it was difficult for those who
had witnessed his triumphs to recognize fol
him the possibility of defeat
And on the other hand, 1t was easy to un-
derstand why Corbett's friends should be
full of confidence Like Sullivan, the
young Californian has splendid record,
unmarried by single defeat His list Of
victories was much shorter than Sullivan's s,
but he was still young in the business, and
the men whom he had met were all reckoned
good ones. His battle with Jackson, though
a draw, had gone tar enough to give his
friends confidence in him. Sullivan had
defeated Kilrain in 75 rounds.
Corbetr's Record Pretty on Paper.
Slavin had disposed of Kilrain in nine
rounds Jackson had easily disposed OF
Slavin, and Corbett had made draw with
jackson at the end of a very long fight, the
first 80 rounds of which had been very
hotlv contested. By that trial, Corbett
looked to be better man than Sullivan,
and to emphasize this line of argument 1t
was pointed out that Corbett had not many
months after the Richburg battle virtually
disposed of kilraiE, before the Southern
Athletic Club, in New Orleans, In SIX
rounds.
This, of course, all looked very well on
paper but many shrewd judges firmly be-
heved that the Kilrain who made such q
stubborn and plucky fight st Richburg was
q very different man from the Kilrain who
a,terward met Van Quelen, Corbett, God
frey and Slavin. 1t was also claimed that
JACK son was suffering intensely from a
spra.ned ankle when he fought his draw
with Corbett, while he was in the best con-
dItion when he met and defeated Slavin.
Again, it was urged by the friends of Cor
bett that though he had been a somewhat
free liver, fond of fun and larking, he had
never indulged in excesses of any kind that
were at all calculated to impair his physical
yigor He was also much younger than Sui
livan, and the surgeon who had measured
him had pronounced him bigger man than
his burIy antagonist
Sullivan at the End of His String.
There were also many who backed Cor
bett for this fight who had won thousands
of dollars on Sullivan in his former battles,
but who believed that prize fighter who
had taken even the best of care of himself
must begin to go down hill before reaching
Sullivan's age. They thought he had made
the mistake of staying too long In the ring,
as SO many had done before HIM
1t may well be questioned if two such
giants ever faced each other in prize ring.
Certainly neither of these had ever faced
such a formidable looking antagonist Both
were splendid specimens of physical de-
velopment, but they were as unlike as
Apollo and Hercules. Beautiful in every
outline from neck to heels, Corbett
looked the ideal athlete cut out
of the whitest marble in heroic
proportions The searching blue-white
rays of the great electric light had seemed
naturally white skin. 1t had not even the
warmth of ivory white, but rather the pale
tint Of the purest Parian marble. But in
spite of this rare delicacv of hue there was
no delicacy of form. A large, we'll formed
head and pleasing face, suggestive rather
of the tragedian than the pugilist, but with
the firmly set Jaw and the bold, fearless eve,
such as would have served the gladiator of
1000 years ago, the knight or chieftain of
the middle ages, or the dashing dragon of
later times.
Corbett an Apollo of Marble Whiteness.
A neck that was q model of grace and
strength, though possibly a trife longer
than would fit the typical pugilist. From
the broad base of the lower-shaped neck
the wide shoulders dropped gracefully
away. rounding out to great thickness over
the blades and a corresponding fullness
across the whole width of the
chest, giving an enormous trunk,
gracefully, though but slightly
tapering to the hips, and SO nearly cylin-
extent from the apparent breadth of the
shoulders and chest With grand width
and weight of muscular loin, Corbett's
large but shapely trunk was strapped to
strong, massive and muscular hips and
thighs, well laid together and as graceful in
outline as the greatest of sculptors could
have nodded their Apollo from head to
foot of heroic size and in Parian marble.
That was James Corbett as he stood in
the ring ready for the battle that was to
make or ''snuff him OUT as a pugilist, and
which, if won, put in his hands fortune,
and with all these to him great issues
trembling in the balance, he looked as gay
and iaunty as though he had been putting
ha ,,1a 0h1 Fr,a
benefit.
Sullivan a Picture of Strength.
In the opposite corner of the ring sat an
other figure which, though massive, power
full and muscular, presented strange con-
trast with the form just described. This
was a grandly imposing shape, but no time
had been wasted by nature in ornamenting
it Compared with the snow-white statue
that Corbett looked nnder the cleo
trio light, Sullivan looked like one
OF the heroic works of the old masters
compared with those of the latter-day
reslists. He was grand and imposing in
effect. though faulty in minute detail. He
was symmetrical, but rough in execution,
rs though the grand con nception of the de-
signer had scorned to be hampered and
fettered by petty rules and small details
His was figure to enforce the admiration
of the artist and contemptuously disregard
the small carping of the petty critic A
head of fair proportions, face which,
while not handsome, had still a look
that was far from unpleasant, big,
bright blue eyes, q short, massive And
powerful neck sustained lower jaw that
betokened the stubborn courage of bull
dog. and then came the feature of Sullivan's
physical makeup that must always be re-
garded as the most striking. Here are to
be found the chest and shoulders of giant
attached to the remaining portions of a