Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-04

r fairness the claim Of the o. OF P.'s to play
Yale next Thanksgiving Day is q valid one.
| and if it Is not allowed it may be Just as
well for the U. of p. to withdraw from the
''big" people and try and make announcer
, league.
The Greggains and Costello Battle.
In pugilistic circles the week has been
made remarkable by the soround glove con-
test between Alexander Greggains and
Martin Costello. Last week named Greg
gains as the winner, and for the lifc of me
can hardly satisfy myself yet how he did
not win. None OF us had any idea that the
contest would be such an unsatisfactory ana
strange one as it was. There are many
things about it that are very hard to un'
derstand, asd that at first sight appear TO
be very surprising. have waded through
columns ofaccounts of the battle, and the
diversity of opinion regarding 1t Is exceed
ingly great can tell you.
Down East, where the contest took place,
strong opinion prevailed that IL was
"fake." No definite argument or apsoiute
fact is advanced in support OF this. To say
that this is or that is a "iake"sis quite an
easy matter, but to prove 1t is often some
thing that cannot be done. Moreover tnere
have been columns and columns written
about this battle by young men VINO evil
IDENTIFY do not know anything at All ABOUT
boxing, fighting, or in fact anything per.
tanning to ring affairs More than one young
man, in very prominent papers at thar, told
us that the referee "called the contest draw
and declared all bets off," Declaring the
bets of on draw in where the laugh comes
in.
There is another feature about the affair
that places the referee in a funny light. He
declared the battle draw aud added that ~
was mo contest" This is simply an ao-
surdity. II it was draw it was contest; II
it was mo contest it could not be q draw.
That is clear enoug. The Cal1iornm Ciuo
declared the Corbett and jackson anair mo
contest" and gave the principals only q
small part of the purse offered. The Coney
Island authorities 4ave GreEgains and Cos
further shows the absurdity OF the mo con-
test" verdict
Features OF the Contest
There are two ways OF looking at the Greg
gains-Costello affair. One is that they
deliberately arranged to make q draw OF It,
and the other is that they became so much
afraid of each other that each fought for q
draw. Now 1 am inclined to believe in the\
latter. 1t is quite easy to see how two men
may be so evenly matched as to make each
stand on and wait for chances to such an
extent that both become so wearied and
exhausted that neither can produce force
enough to settle the other. This has often
taken place. The details of the contest In
question lead me to believe that such was
the case with Greggains and Costello. There
were stages OF the battle where both men
fought desperately. Costello started out in
vicious style, and there was not the least
indication of "fake." His pace tired him,
and then Greggains took an inning and he
became tired. Each man was thoroughly
copversant with the others style and tactics
and knew Thoroughly what was coming. This
caused the punishment to be comparatively
light. There were any number of chances
for Greggains TO settle Costello but two
things prevented him. He was tired and
was afraid; lie was afraid that Costello had
m M n
rush for fear OF getting settled himself. On
the other hand Costello was completely
gone as Tar a. effective fighting was con-
cerned and ho made his mind up to do moth
ing but move around in hope of a draw.
These facts show how easy it is to see why
the contest lasted so long. Both men were
afraid OF de eat and that's all there is about
it. The good old plan OF fighting for q stake
instead uf purse would not have encour-
aged this draw business. Two men fighting
Tor their own and their hackers money
would have gone for chances. When out
siders offer apurse it is different because o
draw makes both men winners.
The contest ought to end all talk about
either Greggains or Costello fighting Hall
or Fitzsimmons. Either of the latter would
probably beat both OF them during the even
ing One thing Is almost certain, viz, that
the Coney Island Athletic Club will not
readily give purse for GreggaIns and
Costello again. The contest, although a
cheap one, has done the club much harm,
although fail to see any just reason why it
should.
The Goddard and Maher Contest
If all goes well there will in all likelihood
be a desperate battle next Thursday evening
between Goddard and Maher The interest
centereG in it is remarkable and the betting
has been great and will be greater during
the next day or two. As my readers know
/ pin my faith to the Australian in this
instance for reasons which explained two
weeks ago. have as much confidence in
Goddard as ever, although Maher's chances
are not to be looked upon lightly by any
means.
One of my greatest objections to Maher is
that he is a gutter" He showed this in
his battle with Fitzsimmons. / never have
faith in u gutter either in man or the lower
animals True,a gutter sometimes surprises,
he now and again performs with q determin-
alton and an effectiveness that's remarkable
but you cannot depend on him, and an un-
reliable performer is dangerous one to
speculate on Maher may have pluck enough
this time to fight; he Is a tolerably clever
and powerful young fellow; indeed, he may
be good opponent for anybody. But even
though Maher fights in game style l don't
think he'll last long enough to knock God
dard out The latter is more of the very OLD
school of fighters than anything else. He
does not so much try to avoid a blow as no
tries to give one for one. If he can keep up
this rate of exchange he thinks he can de-
feat anybody simply beca use he claims that
he can stand more OF an opponents blows
is quite simple to understand, and belisve
there is much truth in il.
Both men are reported to be in excellent
trim. There have been various rumors
about n fake" III turns out to be "fake"
/ will believe it, but there is no proof OF it
at present. The story that Madden and
Goddard had quarreled turns out TO be false
entirely. The contest promises to be COM
paratively short and desperate one. Both
men will likely know that they have had a
fight.
PugiIistic Affairs in General.
There is prevailing opinion that George
Dixon is "going back' in form. There are
many reasons to think this. or late he has
been barely holding his own against almost
unknown lads The latter cannot all be
wonders and the probability is that Dixon
is really "going back" little. The en-
phatio way in which Dixon's hacker de-
clines to make match with Griffen is also
another reason which leads me to think that
the champion is not as good as he was.
Ii Dixon really wants to fight again he
cannot we'll refuse the offer made by little
Baxter. of England. Baxter wants to fight
Dixon and the latter ought not co ignore the
challenge.
1t is extremely amusing TO note how many
OF our gushing young writers refer to
Charles M!tchelIs offer to fight Corbett
We are told by these erudite youngsters and
even by some old bigots that all that
Mitchell says is a bluff The very same
things were said about Mitchell when he
proposed to fight Sullivan on the turf and
the same things were said about Corbett
when he proposed to fight Sullivan with
gloves. The trouble Is that these Young
men look upon all champions as invincible;
they forget that it is possible for champion
to be ouly poor fighter, or II he is a good
one that somebody else may ut least have