The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-17
TOM COCHRAN THE CHAMPION.
Put SAM M'GOwAN OUT OF THE
FIGHT IN TEN ROUNDS.

in Savannah in Nears-McGOyynn
the Heavier weight, But No Match
for Cochran in skiII-The Fight
Conducted with Fairness and
Good Order Mnintained-YOung
Mamie Proved Himself to Be
Neat sparrer in Preliminary
Bout.
The sparring al the theater last night
was the liveliest Of its kind that has been
seen in Savannah in years The exhibition
wound UP with some brutal work, due to
the unwnlingness of the losing man TO give
in. Otherwise there was nothing for the
lovers of that sort of sport to object to.
Tom Cochran is now entitled to be called
the Savannah middle-welght champion. He
had the fighting all his own way The fight
was announced as a 2s-round scientific
contest for points" Il was the most gen
ulne fight that the lovers of fighting have
been treated to in Savannah in long time.
Cochran had his antagonist clearly
whipped in the ninth round, but the fight
was allowed to go on for another round.
The crowd was not large, only about half
the seats down stairs being taken. The
balcony and gallery were well flied, how
ever The preliminaries were a six-round
bout between Charles Re.tz and August
Johns, two soldiers of the Second Infan-
try, and a three-Iound bout between
Young Mamie and a red-headed boy from
the Second Infantry, whose name nobody
seemed to know. The soldiers put up
decent exhibition. which did not arouse
particular interest They were fine pair
of men physically, but showed fatigue
plainly before they were half through their
bout.
Mamie surprised the crowd by proving
himself an artist in the ring His oppon-
ent was plucky, but Mamie simply played
with him, and the soldier boy had the
good sense to see that he was unmatched.
When Mamie tossed him a good right
handler in the face in the third round ne
dropped to the floor and lay there until
counted out Mamie showed such capa-
bilites that the sports will hardly rest
satisfied until they have him pitted against
some good man. Billy Veronee, who was
TO have gone up against Mamie, declined
the go yesterday on the ground that he
had a good job offered which he could not
afford to jeopardize by fighting.
1t was after 10 o'clock when the main
event was announced. j. A. Counihan
was announced as referee, and Charles
Lesesne was secured as timekeeper after
several parties had declined the honor,
The fighters were received with applause
when they came on. 1t was seen at once
that MCGOWAN had a decided advantage
in weight, and the general opinion of the
crowd was that he had sure thing. He
was feshy, however, and Cochran's
friends noticed that he was spare and
tightly muscled without an extra ounce of
flesh. The sympathy of the crowd was
| with Cochran throughout the fight because
he was the smaller man, and also because
| he was announced as the Savannah man.
The ease with which he handled his OPP
ponent. however, surprised his friends,
who expected no such signal victory. In
cidentally the sports" had nearly all
their money on MCGOWAN, believing him
| to be the better man.
The first six rounds were without par
tioular incident, both men fighting pluck
lily, but Cochran doing most of the hit
| ting. Cochran showed himself to be very
spry on his feet, and an adept at keeping
| his antagonist from closing with him. He
| hit continually at McGowan's face, maxi
| ing the right eye his special point of at
tack and occasionally getting in a body
/ blow McCiowan got in a few Hicks on
| Cochran's neck and body, and In the third
| round, gave Cochran a stiff punch under
/ the ieIE eve. cochran showed no III ell
| fects from this, however, and many of
the spectators did not know that he had
been marked. The fighting was vicious
| in the fourth and fifth rounds but the
| honors We're all Cochran's. Both men
| showed up well in the sixth, but Coch-
rams supporters were now sure that things
| were coming his way.
The first diversion occurred in the
| seventh round. Both men were fighting
| al, g,,I.r
| the worst Of it, when his second jumped
| into the ring and claimed foul on the
| ground that Cochran had hit blow as
| the men were breaking from a clinch
1 The violation of this agreement was 50
| slight, if any, that the crowd promptly
manifested it's dsapproval. Referee Count
| han announced that he did not consider
that he had the right to declare a foul
where only one of the parties claimed it,
! when the claim was not approved of by
the crowd. Cochran's hacker could have
claimed foul because of the other man
second invading the ring, but did not
| choose to do so.
Cochran began the eighth round by scor-
| ing knockdown From this time on he
had things entirely his own way. Dur
ing the ninth and tenth rounds he simp.y
| battered MCGOWAN around the ring THE
latter's seconds made cries of foul al every
|
no attention to them, much to the salts
faction of the crowd which wished TO see
| Cochran given the honor that was due
! him. AS the tenth round was nearing It's
close McGowau's second threw up the
sponge. and the crowd cheered wildly foI
Cochran. MCGOWAN was plainly out OF
the fight at the end of the ninth round
and should not have been permitted to &c
| on again.
The crowd generally declared itself well
| pleased with the pluck shown by the fight
ers and the fairness with which the con-
test was conducted. The fairness of Ref.
cree Counihan throughout was generally
| indorsed. There were times when a strict
| Interpretation of the prize ring rules would
have called for a foul, but il had been
agreed between the fighters and the ref.
cree beforehand that no foul should be de.
clared unless there should be a fragrant
violation of the rules, which did not oc
cur.
Authorized to Sell Large Tract
On the Superior Court yesterday Georg,
| W DUANE nuyo1,o md 49,