The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-04


AS the sporting man puts it, Re
cords are well enough in their way,
but frequently they don't weigh much
That pretty fairly states the case
with reference to Bob Fitzsimmons and
Jim Jeffries, who will battle for the
championship of the world in the build
ing of the Coney Island Athletic club
on Friday, June 9. Besides the purse
of $4,000 which has been hung up by
the organization, and the side bet, the
amount of which is not given, it is
said that the men will also receive a
percentage from the exhibition of the
moving pictures which will be taken
during the progress of the argument"
1t almost goes without saying that
a champion has a better record, on
paper at least, than the man who is
anxious to usurp his title. And thus it
is in the present case. JeffrieS has
really done nothing so far to warrant
the assumption that he is able to whip
Fitzsimmons. The possibility of his
winnings predicated upon the fact that
he has youth, strength and size on his
side, and that Fitzsimmons having
been out of the ring for more than
two years, may have taken a long slide
in the direction of the ''sere and yell
low all unknown to himself.
While efforts to gauge the relative
merits of two prospective fistic
disputants through the medium of men
whom they have both met are seldom
of value, it is the only course possible
in the present instance. Sharkey is
the one man to whom line may be
drawn from both directions. Jeffries
fought Sharkey 20 rounds and won the
decision on points, although it is gener-
h,at he
hurt in the slightest degree and was in
a condition to go on indefinitely when
the bout expired by limitation. Again,
Jeffries met Gus Rubin, the Akron
Giant in 20-round go. which re
suited in a draw, the honors being
easy, according to the testimony of the
best judges present. But Sharkey put
Rubin out with a single smash in the
first round when he encountered Mad
denis Would-be champion. Sharkey, en-
the other hand, was obliged to quit
when he ran up against Fitzsimmons
fists, although Wyatt carp the referee,
decided that Fitz had committed a foul.
little later, when FitZ had put Cor
bett to sleep with a strikingly similar
blow, the rankness of the decision was
made more glaring.
To sum it up on the relative basis,
Jeffries was unable to whip in 20
rounds the man who was put out in
one round by the man whom F'itZSn-
mons whipped in eight rounds, Still all
this really means nothing, and it is only
given as an aid to intelligent compari-
son of the most striking things in the
records of the prospective antagonists
If F'itz has gone back and Jeffries has
come forward, as is alleged by the
partisans of the Les Angeles boiler
maker, there will be a new champion
after June 8, and not otherwise. JEFF
fries is yeritable giant, who when
at his fighting best" weighs not much
& less than go pounds. His trade as a
hoiler-maker has tended to develop the
muscles which are most used in the
ring. There is no fiabbiness in his get
up. He is simply an enormous man.
Jeffries' greatest handcaps in the pugi-
listic sense are the abnormal slowness
of his leg work and the comparative
T slowness of his arm exercise. The man
who can send a blow with great force
to an antagonist from any point and
with SO little manifest preparatory
movement that it's coming is not ex-
pected, has the battle more than half
won. This JeffrieS is not. or at any
rate on his last public appearance. was
not, able to do. Still he is husky in the
extreme and his friends declare that
he is perfect glutton for punishment
although it is difficult to learn upon
what they base this statement, mas
much as Jeffries has never been in a
grueling fight.
t1tzslmmons is, despite his detract-
ors, one of the most remarkable puei
lists the world has ever seen. 1t is
probable that had he lived in Tom Say.
ers' time the doughty British scrappel
would have been in the ''also ran
class. Fitz can still easily make the
middleweight limit. and yet he has
whipped all the heavyweights of any
account now before the public Barrins
the lay down" TO lin Hall in Aus
tralia, when FitZ was a novice, the ex-
blacksmith has never lowered his cot
ors in the ring. From the waist up Fit
Is set up in 4 manner to be expected
in a man of 225 pounds. From the waist
down he looks like Il rather light mid
dleweight. There is not superfuous
ounce of flesh on his body, and his pc.
culiar stOopshouidered appearance is
brought about by the marvellous de.
Nelopment Of the muscles which are
most useful in delivering swings OF
wicked ShOrt-arm, Notwithstanding
iolts. Fitz is a fairly good sparrer and
an awful puncher, His legs though
rather finely drawn in appearance, are
very strong. and he has reduced the
trick of swinging on his foot to n sci
ence. His enormous chest affords ths
best protection from the very sort OF
blow with which he finished Corhett.
In the matter Of punishment there
is no man in the Iing to-day who is