Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1892-09-07
THE GREAT SLuGGERS.

| HE tREaI SLuHtERS.
In the ring Of the Olympic club to night
the acknowledged champion of the prglI.
istic " old will do battle for his professional
honor. Either John l.. Sullivan or James
j. Corhett IS destined before many hours
to meet bis first defeat, and the outcome
OF the contest is the subject of speculation
the worlds over. 1t is likely to be the
greatest fight of the champions life 1t
VIII be The last also, or at least that is
! what he says, unless per chance he should
get into snrh All embarrassed pecuniary
condition as to compel him to meet the
man who, above oil others, he hates and
despisea, his dusky professional brother,
Peter jackson. Corbett has everything
to gain, and nothing to lose in the event
OF his defeat; while Sullivan, on the other
hand, has everything to lose, and little to
gain beyond an additional demonstration
OF the fact that he is invencib!e, the one
great and only pugillst Of the age. 1t will
be fight that will live as long as the his
tory of the ring itself. To-night's event
marks the elimination Of the most re-
markable series Of pngiistic affairs that
has ever taken place. series involving
three worlds championships, and the i'm
mense total of $S2 900; this sum, of
course, being exclusive Of outside bets. A
political convention never caused more
intense excitement than has prevailed
here during the past three days, and the
crowds that have thronged the hotels dur
Ing that period have been almost rs large
as those that turn out at the quadrennial
round'ups of the two great parties Bull |
letins of the fight will be watched with |
eager interest in every large city OF the
United States, and within few hours
rom the close of the mill the result will |
be known in every country in the world
from England to Australia.
The amount of money that has been
staked on the result OF the fight will never
be known, but it is safe to say that it is
far in excess of any amount ever before
wagered on a single event, and will Prob
ably mount well up into the hundreds of
thousands. Those who have seen Corbet
say that Sullivan has the fight of his life
on his hands, and that the California boy
is the strongest man in everything that
makes a good fighter that he has ever
met from the time he knocked out Prof.
at Cincinnati in 1880, to his
victory over kilran, at RiChburg. De-
spite the Corbett talk, however, the odds
are strongly in favor OF the champion, and
his defeat would be matter of surprise to
OF the people who take any
Interest in sporting affairs. Sullivan is a
little over month short of 81 years of
age, at which age an athlete OF good con-
,titution should be just in his prime. Ever
since 1880 he has been prominently be-
nra tho pnhip mud tha lick of
hat have gone down bsfors his sledge
hammer blows since that time includes
almost every heavy weight that has at
aimed more than local celebrity during
hat period. Corbett is but 2G years OF
lge, and it was only little over three
'ears ago that he made his bow as a pro-
essional fighter on the occasion of his
ontest with Jack Burke, "The Irish
Iad," in San Francisco. From that time :
o this he has never suffered defeat, and
o-night he will enter the ring with an
nspotted record. The rules governing ,
he contest will be the same that have q,
lways prevailed in the Olympic arena,
nd which provide that every contest
must be a stand-up fight to a finish, and :
ontain no provision for draw. AS long
8 one man is willing to fight the contest :
must proceed, and the authority of the
eferee ends with his adjudication of the
ules. He has no discretionary power in ,
he matter of draws. Both the Boston q,
nan and the Californian have burned !
heir bridges behind them. They have
ach declared that they are in perfect con-
ition, and that whichever way the battle Z
oes the result will be accepted without 8
xcuse or explanation. 9