The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-02-08


Had Plenty OF Friends.
CoNEY ISLAND, Feb. Tn, the arena
Of the Coney Island Athletic CLUB last
night, whore battles have boon, Won and
lost and champions made and de-
throned, another fighter turned a leaf
In tho pugilistic book and fo0nd' deNeat
staring him in the face
brMsed and fallen, with his awn
blood mingling with the sod OF the r;no
he realized the full meaninrs OF ,ho
awful word and knew that a great dark
blot had cSept over his record as an eH-
ponent OF she tistic art. Tho much
talked-of battle between Johnny
Griffin, OF Braintree. Mass, and Bill
Murphy, OF Australia, for tho 81. OOes
stakes and the featherweight cham.
pionship of the world, is over. Griffin,
is the winner, and ably did he prove his,
right to the titie of king of the fe.ther-
weights in last nights contest. sbich
was OF seven rounds duration.
Over 5000 persons witnessed the spht.
1t Yves wet and stormy without, bet the
crowd wasin for a nights sport and
paid little attention to the elem eots.
AS early as G. o'clock they began, to
gather in front OF the club house, and
from that until nearly they came in
constant streams. In addition to the
thousands who attended from New
York Brooklyn and vicinity, many
were present from Philadelphia, Balti-.
more, Washington and the New Eng
land cities, all anxious to sec the two
great feather weights pummel ono an
other. Tho preliminary contest which
served rs "breather" TO the big event.
was between Dolly Lyons, of New York,
and Kid Hogan, of Brooklyn. 1t was +.
Just SOB when tho boys stepped into the
ring. Peter Donahue was the referee,
This contest was rather tame affair.
1t was just l0:lS o'clock when JOHNNY
Griffin and Billy Murphy appeared on
the stage for their finish fight. Griffin
tipped tho beam at III pounds, one,
pound under weight, and Murphy scaled
ut 1905. The Braintree lad was handled
by Jimmy Carroll, his trainer; Jack
Magee. OF Bos' on, and Billy Crowley, OF
Hartford. John McGrath, of SPRING
field, was his timekeeper. Murphy's
seconds were Martin Murphy, of Cali
fornia, and Charles Moran, of Boston.
snapper" Garrison was timekeeper for
the Australian.
Griffin was the favorite in the betting,
the prevailing odds being three to two
on the Braintree lad. Griffin had q
great following from Boston, Braintree
and surrounding towns, and they all
came prepared to back their favorite.
Plenty of takers, however, were found
among the Murphy men, for the Aus
traian had once defeated Griffin, and
his admirers appeared confident that he
could do it again. The coin was tossed
and Griffin secured the lucky corner.
The big gong sounded and the men
toed the mark Murphy started out as
If he expected to finish his man in one
round, and right here the Australian
made the mistake of his life In the
first two rounds Murphy was the ag-
gressor, and so fast and furious did he
fight that for time he seemed to daz.
zle tho lad from Massachusetts. Muir
ply continued his rushing tactics. blu lit
was soon evident that the pace was too
hot for him, and he appeared consider
ably winded at tho end Of the third
round.
Griffin began to cut loose in the fourth
round and from that to the finish the
lighting WAS furious. Griffin used his.
right with telling effect on the Austria
lian's jaw and wind, but Murphy was,
also clover and did some good uppercut-
ting,
When the lads toed the scratch for tho
sixth round botA were covered with
blood. Murphy tried several right
hand swings. but he was getting pretty
groggY, AMI Griffin eluded his heavy
blows.
In tho seventh round Griffin landed q
heavy right Cd the bridge of the nose
Murphy rushed in as il to clinch, and
the Braintree LAD gave him the left clear
and hard in the stomach. 1t doubled
Murphy completely up and he fell face
downward to the lloor.
Referee Eckhardt slowly and dis
tinctly counted ton, but the man from
the antiPodes was unable to gain his.
feet and Griffin was declared the winner,