Omaha daily bee., 1897-02-21
GUST OF SPORTING GOSSIP
Musings Over the Meeting of the Hercules
and Achilles of the Ring.
VALUE OF PROFESSIONAL PREDICTION
Dallas Dams Dny-Thc Chjrp OF the
Blue BIrd-Unrvnrd and Yale
Dogs of High Degree aud
the suburban Chances.

the suburban
There are now two big events on the bill,
one at each end OF the country, the In
auguration OF Mckinley in the Orient and
the nstlc combat between Fitzsimmons and
Corbett at the Occident. The management
at each end of the line Is equally confident
OF scoring an overwhelming success, and
as a consequence everybody is happy. There
are no SIGNS Of a conflict Of interests, and
Washington and Carson are in sweet ac-
cord. From reports from all sections OF
the country 1t would seem that the betting
on the big fight has begun, but while. the
amount so far staked Is small, there is no
doubt but what every man with sporty
fluid in his veins is getting ready to back
his opinion. Professional opinion has made
Corbett, at this stage Of the game, the IA
vorite, but, my word for 1t, there Will be
a change before the men step into the
ring. John l.. Sullivan says Corbett will
win because he outclasses FitzSimmons, but
you must remember that 1t has been a say
ing OF long standing That there Is money
in coppering John LIS tips. Sharkey, the
man before the mast, picks Corbett, basing
his opinion probably on the fact that ne
virtually whipped Corbett in four rounds,
while Fitz all but killed him in eight.
Steve O'Donnell favors the Californian. al
though he Is honest enough TO assert that
the Cornishman has a look in. Peter
Maher thinks Corbett will get the coin,
simply because he hates Fit2simmons worse
than he does an A. p. A. Joe Choynski
says Corbett is the man, because ne mas
fought both men and knows. Corbett
whipped him in twenty-seven rounds, whlle
Fitz did the trick in five, all Of which is
the refinement OF logic. Charley Nc
Igzaanr nytpRu . thnt Robert can't
last longer than twelve rouhus,
and Charley knows just about as
much about 1t as a wooden Chinaman. Billy
Meyers says Corbett ought to win, because
he ought to. George Green Is cock sure thst
Jim will win in a walk. George also thought
one time that he could do the same with
Paddy smith. Tommy Ryan asserts that
Corbett will win if Fit2 does not, and there
you are. To Offset this we have Jack Nc
Aulifre's pronunciamientO. He says Corbett
will have his hands full in any event. From
what Sharkey told him Of his fights with
Jim and Bob, he cannot perceive now the
latter can lose. Jack Fogarty Is refresh
ingly candid. He asseverates that COrbett Is
the biggest fakir of the age. and is half scarf
to death already. He makes a present OF the
fight to FitZ in six or eight rounds. Horace
Leeds warns Corbctt to keep cool, while
Professor John Duffy declares that Fitz will
take a couple dozen of Jim's jabs for the
pleasure of iIsinuating a single punch. And
what do Corbett and Fitz say? Here is
Corbett's latest: 81 am as sure of winning
this fight as | ever was of anything in my
life" he said. Barring accidents, there is
no possible show on earth for
The way | feel now, strong and in splendid
condition, l am certain that | could defeat
two such men on the same night. And in
saying this | am fully aware that Fltzsim-
mons is a wonderfully clever man and a
very dangerous opponent. He would be
dangerous to any pugilist other than myself.
/ know his style of fighting thoroughly.
Frl-.N L." ,,~t - trtpl tn. a. ntHn that I
cannot Discount. My confidence in myself is
born of my perfect knowledge of Fltzsim-
mons. He is a splendid boxer, but he is a
novice beside me. SO certain as he steps in
hat ring on March II, so certain his star will
have set VIXEN they carry him out Now
what chance on earth does zsimmo
stand? How ever, he is going to fight, and
says that he may give Jim his lasting
sophori1cEi in the first round, but Will likely
let him go a ways to please the crowd. Now
gentlemen, how much do you want either
way? Not much l should judge just yet
awhile.
But what is there in all this professional
opinion anyway? They are the most
prejudlced lot of men on earth and generally
predict just what they wish would happen.
Gushy blather eXudeS from them in torrents.
They delight IN tipping off the verdant pub
lie, which is always taking the suckers end
of it. They are feuilletonlsts, expert in the
rot of representation, and on bunioned feet
imp through the same slough or gun before
every prominent contest that takes place
here or In any other country. Founding my
belief by actual experience with this I'M
poetic mob, l denounce the whole senti-
mentality of the ''perfesh' nothing more
nor less than bosh, If professional opinion
is to be taken seriously then the battle
booked for st. Patrick's Day in the Morning
is as good as fought, and Corbett is a
herculean wonder and FitZsimmons a COB OF
the commonest kind of mud. / have shown
many times in these columns how figuring
out n fighters form by comparative analysis
is a proiitless task and often leads to dis
appointment and discontinue. If Tom beats
Jim in four rounds and Bob beats Tom in
three 1t Is only natural to infer that Bob
will beat jim, all things being equal. But
the differences IS often erroneous. Remember
how 1t led you to drop your stuff on Sullivan,
on Maher, on Goddard, on Hall and a dozen
others. ! do not by these remarks mean to
indicate that | believe Fit2slmmons will
whip Corbett. for, as a matter of truth, / am
very much at sea as to the probable out
come of their meeting. but | do believe, and
believe 1t firmly, that the Installing Corbett
a ~favorite at the odds ] have seen
quoted is more due to sentiment than
deliberate judgment, ! know a whole lot
OF the big mOneyed sports In the east who
are betting. or Offering to bet, odds on
Corbett and / know that a majority of
them are offering to back him more be-
cause they are friends of his than because
OF any knowledge they have of his ability
to defeat as formidable a man as Bob Fit2-
On the line We have today of
the two men as fighters Fltzsimmons should
be an odds-on favorite and he would be. too,
If as much wac known of Corbett as there is
OF lin. That Is the trouble. Corbett Is a