The San Francisco call., 1897-11-23
PRIZE-F FIGHTERS
ARE IN CLOVER
Hippodromes Will Be the
Order Of the Day in the
Year Of 1898.
Promoters Who Are Figuring
on Cleaning Up a Big
Harvest.
As Sporting Town San Francisco
Is Sized Up as Being Very
Jay.

The erstwhile Tom O'Rourke has taken
his departure for the East, but he will re.
turn.
The diplomatic manager of prize fight
ers is very much infatuated with this city,
because there are mum berless sports here
who always patronize fstic entertain
ments-!t matters not what kind they are.
O'Rourke is very shrewd fellow and
understands thoroughly what kind of a
tistic dish is best suited to the tastes Of the
local fraternity of sport-lovers.
Yes, Mr.. O'Rourke will return to the
Golden West by all means.
He is firm believer in the adage,
Make hay while the sun Shines" and it
can be safely said that artful Thomas will
| not leave good thing slip through his
fingers if he can possibly help it.
During the racing sea on here there are
| thousands of "soft" dollars waiting to be
invested on any game that is known to
| sportdom.
Next to horseracing prize-fghting is the
sport that is most fancied by the fast set,
and a contest between two frst-class
scrappers is certain to draw big crowd Of
cash customers.
But the promoters of the game Of fisti-
cuffs are, seemingly, not satisfied with the
| easy money that IS made from boxing
| enter ainments. They want more than
IAN honest" return from a fight on the
Square" apd as a result joboing is re-
sorted to as a means OF assuring the plot
| tiers big returns for the money invested.
| Within the past year there have been a
| number of so-calied fights held in this
city that were, in the lexicon OF the sport,
| liked" affairs.
| The promoters of the exhibitions were
| the jobbers, End the people who paid good
money to see the pugs plug were the gull
| libes, or, to use a common expression,
| 'the suckers.
| The booksellers raked in large harvests
| of coin from some of the boxing enter
| tainments, and so great has been the
crush at the gaming-houses on fight
nights that new places for gambling were
| opened in the last few months, thus prov
| ing beyond dispute that San Francisco, in
some respects. is really Jay town.
Mr.. O'Rourke has an idea that Green
and Walcott would attract q swell crowd
should the fighters meet again, notwlth-
standing the unmerciful drubb bing that
the coored weller gave Green recently.
The Californian knows only too well
that he cannot even hurt his old oppo-
nent, much less whip him. Why is it
then that he favors return mate?
Possibly lie has an idea that Walcott
may catch cramps and sponge thrown
in he air would proclaim him the winner.
Cramps under some conditions are not
very dangerous.
Then the idea of return match be-
tween Lavigne and Walcott. to be fought
before a veriscope, is, 10 say the least,
amusing.
O'Rourke must assuredly have taken
the mea ure Of the sporting people of this
city. They VIII stand for anything,
thinks the astute manager; and he is
about right.
Two thousand people who had money
10 burn paid an admission fee to see
clumsy and unexciting slogging match
between Goddard and Sharkey, and they
looked sheepish as they left the Pavilion
when Goddard was counted out by light
ning timers, who had parposely "ium ped
the seconds.
Now then according to the schedule ar
ranged Solly Smith and George Dixon
will have another brush as, according to
O'Rourke. Dixon was not feeling Just well
when he last fought and the referee was
not just what he should have been, etc.
Smith said after the fight with Dixon
that he would not meet the colored lad
again, but he has changed his mind. La
Yigne said that he would not fight Wal
cott again, but he changed his mind also.
What changeab BILE minds those fighters
have! Strange!
Green wants try at Tommy Ryan, a
fighter who can whip Walcott, according
to the opinions of the best critic. on
pugiism. Ryan stood before the clever
kid" Mccoy for fifteen rounds. He
boxed Kid Lavigne a six-round draw
and he also met and outclassed Austria
lian Jim Hall, a heavy weig htin Chicago.
According 10 latest intelligence from
the East Owen Ziegler is cutting quite
dash with the money 'he won' in this
city, the result of his fight with Green.
Possibly after the death of the old year
the sporting fraternity of this city will re-
alize that the only way they can hope to
witness square" fights at home is to stay
away from contests that smack of hippo
drome, and thereby freeze the fake fight
promoters out. THE CALL will tip ''lhe
straight" fights.