The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-02-14

in training for his fight with Jackson
April 1.
The coming fight is the sole topic of in
terest among the sporting votaries al
over the country. If the contest comes
off, it will settle for the first time the
championship of the world.
| A local authority sums the situation ur
as follows:
Jackson is in peculiarly fortunate
| position just now. COrbett has cleaned
| away all the uuderbrush and left clean
! title to the winner of the coming mill. 1t
| only shows how times can change, even in
| the life OF a fighter, and how the unex
pected can happen in pugilistic circles.
When Peter jackson landed in this
country he was known as a great fighter,
| but he had a seemingly impossible road to
travel to the championship. Even his
| position OF premier puglist OF the anti.
podes was disputed by two dangerous
claimants in the persons of Frank Slavin
| ana Joe Goddard.
The championship of his own country
had yet to be sustained and the champion
ship of America and England were far be-
yond even his fondest dreams.
There were reasons for this. John l..
Sullivan was the American champion.
Even in those days he had begun to lose
his awful power, but the American public
would not believe it. Neither would the
man himself for that matter. Sullivan
was not compelled to fight. He was an
autocrat and all he had to do was to refuse
to fight man and the public would laugh
at what it considered the impudence of
the luckless pug that was really willing to
meet the big fellow.
Sullivan had an aversion to fighting a
negro and stated the fact in plain Ian
guage. The big fellow never minced his
words Mitchell was the foremost pugilist
in England and was as secure in his posi-
tion as was Sullivan in his. Mitchell was
not the technical champion Of the queen g
domain, but the public looked to him for
representation in the roped arena, aud
after all that is what makes champion.
1t did not look as though Mitchell would
ever be foolish enough to fight again.
Thus two apparently insurmouutable bar
riers stood between the big black and the
worlds championship. But time, with
its steady grind, makes many changes
1t has wrought some wonderous ones in the
pugilistic world of late. Peter Jackson
went back to Australia and still further
jeopardized his position by engaging in ah
eight-round go with Joe Goddard. He
secured only draw, and seemed doomed
to retire with even his title OF champion
of Australia clouded. But now all is
changed.
Frank Slavin went to England and
Peter Jackson went after him, found him,
aud beat him clearly on his merits. Then
came rapid changes. Sullivan decided to
make a fight, chose Corbett for the victim,
and caught tartar. Mitchell caught the
fever and came after Corbett found him,
and now his friends are compelled to tell
him what happened. ice Goddard went
to New Orleans out of condition to pick
up some easy money by whipping Ed
Smith, and is now in Australia busily en-
gagged in making an honest living with oc-
casional bits of recreation, during which
he improves the time by kicking himself.
The mill let Joe Goddard out of the
charmed circle. without letting Ed Smith
in. Joe Goddard's virtues were purely
negative. 1t was not what he bad done
rs fighter that made him look fornida-
BILE, but what he might do, as he had ac-
Smith had been tried and found wanting
After the mill with Goddard he had more
money than he thong hit there was in the
world and Joe Goddard's scalp. That
was ALL A defeat by George Godfrey is
indelibly inscribed in his record and any
one that George Godfrey can whip is not
championship form.
Thus with Sullivan gone, Mitchell
gone. and the other heavyweights hope
lessly out-classed by Corbett and Jackson
the field is left perfectly clear for the illus
trious pair.
The man who wins will be the worlds
champion and no amount of cheap boast
ing by the small fry can assail his posi-
tiOn.