San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-04-04
HE SAYS HE IS SURE HE CAN
WHIP FITZ AND WILL
CHALLENGE HIN.
He Thinks COrbett Was Too Sure
Of The Fight And Didn't
Watch His Business
Mrs. Tingley On o.
cult TheOSOEhy.
Special Correspondence to the Light:

Special Correspondence to the Light:
st. Louis, No., April 2.-AmOng the
visitors to this city last week was
John l.. Sullivan, the great pugilistic
ex-champion. He came here with his
Vaudeville show and played to crowd
eu houses at the Standard theatre.
John l.. is in fact the main part of the
show and it is quite evident that he
has lost none of his old time pOpulari-
ty. At every performance the stage
door was crowded by people who were
anxious to get sight of the great
ex-champion as he appears in private
life.
John L. and | met in San Antonio
when he came first on sparring tour
and had his headquarters at 81 Nor
ris' and again when he appeared in
play at the Grand opera house
When l asked his opinion of the great
fight at Carson he said gaily: Frank,
(alluding to Frank Dunn, his manager
and | were at the ringside and saw
the whole fight. OF course l watched
it intently for / went there with an
idea of challenging the winner and
getting back the belt FitZ won the
fight fairly but l think that COrbett
lost it by bad generalship. In the
sixth round when Fitz was down, and
took all the time allowance he could,
Corbett was right over him just as
he stood over Charlie Mitchell at
Jacksonville. Fitz couldn't get away
so he clinched and made the round
Had COrbett given him a good soak
then the fight would have ended in a
different way. / don't care what Fitz
may say. He was going then and a
good, stiff punch would have finished
him. Corbett certainly lacked steam
and after that round commenced 60
ing back. Fitz saw this and recover
ned wonderfully.
Corbett hit FitZ enough in the first
five rounds to knock out two good
pug but his blows did not seem
to have any effect, beyond drawing
claret and that. though it sometimes
scares and weakenS a fellow, don't
do much harm. Fitz is a splendid
general and knows well how to size
up his man. He is cool and collect
ed, a hard hitter and can bear more
punishment than any man l know in
the ring. His powers of recovery are
great and his tactics won him the
fight Fits wife is well posted and
the advice she gave at the ringside
was o. X. That you can bet. That
talk of chance blow is all rot Fitz
evidently has made a study of the
knock out business and has got it
down to a fine point. Any one could
see that he was working for it and
-, nfestn lyh ha in hot
Knockout very cleverly. For all this
am anxious to meet Fitz, and 1 viii
do so if possible and win. Frank
goes to New York soon and will theI
issue a formal challenge and post {
thousand dollar forfeit. 1 am in goOC
health and fine condition. My weigh
now is 260 pounds, but l can traiI
down to 100 without losing strength
and gain activity.
Il haven't touched liquor in sever
months and don't mean to do so, an!
way until after / have been in tn,
ring. / think l can knock out Lark!
Bob and only want the chance to d,
So 1t won't be my fault if I don
wear the belt again. That you cal
tell my San Antonio friends and tina
l will go in to win"
Frank Dunn, who stood by us ant
who is regular sport, was of tn
same opinion and added: John l.
said the fight would last about fifteel
rounds and he was right but COrbet
could have finished it when he hat
Fitz down if he had followed up hi
success. but he didn't and lost hi
chance. There is. however. no mis-
take about one thing the COrbett tina
met Sullivan was by no means tn
man he was when he met FitZ H
was Out-generalled and his blows
though frequent and well delivered
lacked force. or Fitz could not hav
stood and recovered as he did. Cor
bett made n bad break when he want
ed to assault F'itz after the fight an,
became rowdy and he is only hurt
ing himself when he seeks to i'm
pugne Referee Siler's action and be
little Fits victory. He was whippe
fairly and that settles it anyhow TO
the present. Bill Brady. too. made
sucker play when. after the fight. II
flashed few thousand dollars in tn
face of the audience and wanted t
bet that COrbett could whip FitZ i
another fight. Billy was prompt
and effectually called down by fe
low who offered TO bet 100000 tina
Fitz could whip Corbett or any othe
man. That was StrattOn, the mimi
millionaire of Cripple Greek fame an
/ guess Billy amt got many thousand
to spare now as he was a big lose
on the fight. Billy, too, has sens
enough to know when he's got euoug
Dan Stuart cleared over $4,000
gate fees and made a little fortune G
the outside. He deserves it for he
the pluckiest Of sports and if it hadn
been for him the fight wouldn't hay
been pulled off, Sullivan stuck
Corbett all the way through and los
Gay Henry =. DiXey and myself wer
an Liz q nd We u-nn Er-nrl aftnr- III