The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-28


Above Two Hundred-Interest in
the Big Fight Has Finally Been
Aroused, and There VIII BE a
Crowd to Witness It-Sports Are
Suspicious of Brady.
The prize ring Is a magnet that draws
today as 1t did In the time of Crib, of
Mendoza, of Sayers and Of more recent
champions Of the squared circle There
may be talk Of q slim attendance at
battle, but let the principals be noted
men-especially If one be a champion, and
there will be great crowd there when
the call Of time is heard. When the no.
bility of old England induced Gentle
man Jackson to wrest the CHAMPION
ship from Dan Mendoza, the Jew, there
was such a crowd that the fighters were
embarrassed by the cries Of their respec-
tive adherents. First a lord. duke or
marquis would shout to Jackson to
reach for the mark" then a White
chapel follower of Mendoza would lift
his voice in a defiant cry of 1.-TWO to yum
on DAM" On the day that Crib and
Molineux, the American negro. met for
lords and dukes scraped wheels with the
carts of the .peasantry, and there was a
gathering that was dignifed as a multi
tude. So 1t was at the famous battle be-
tween Heenan and Sayers, and so it has
been in the meetings between all the
great ring gladiators of the present day,
and so it will be when Fitzsimmons and
Jeffries meet at Coney Island on the
night of June next to fight for the
worlds championship and a fortune.
fortune greater than the men will con-
tend for will be taken at the door, And
1t would be the same were the contest
ants Fitzsimmons and almost anyone
else.
MEN HARD AT WORK.
Now that the date of the battle is fully
agreed upon, the principals are losing no
time in preparing for the mighty strug-
gle. Both men are reported to be fit,
and the papers in the vicinity of their
training quarters will from this date on
tell what they do and what they eat and
how they look, and how much they
weigh, and what they say as to the
probable outcome of the battle And
all this will tend to swell the receipts
at the box Office. Fitzsimmons needs lit
tie training to fit himself for battle
He is a man of excellent habits, and it is
announced that he is now down to 100
pounds and will enter the ring at about
158-the middleweight lmit-while JEFF
fries has removed his surplus avordupois
and tips the beam at about the weight
carried by John L. Sullivan the night he
met defeat at the hands of Jim Corbett-
IL pounds If weight cut as much figure
in the ring as it does on paper there
should be change in the betting But it
does not. F'itz is foxy. 1 do not credit
the story about his fighting Jeffries at
1853 pounds. He will not weigh in at the
ringside. If he did 1t would be discov-
cred that he tipped the beam at nearer
ITO than 1853. And any man who weighs
165 pounds is big enough to fight giant.
FITz AT ONE TO TWO.
Fftzsimmons Is hot favorite in the
betting. The odds at present are two
dollars to a dollar-two hundred to a hun
dred, or two thousand to one thousand
that the lanky Cornishman will be re-
turned the winner in the battle with JEFF
fries. The odds are not far out of line
Fitzsimmons Is a stake horse, while JEFF
fries is a-well, perhaps, not a selling
plater-but practically a novice at the
game when compared with Fitzsimmons
Two to one is not bad betting. And the
Fltzsimmons crowd have the better of it
at that ratio. Fitz Is quoted as saying
that he will win easily. If he said that,
he meant it. He Is not a braggart. When
Fitz first met Maher he told his friends
to go slow. He did not know what
Maher had UP his sleeve. He was going
out Of his class to meet the Irish cham
pion, and he warned the men who were
liable to grow enthusiastic and wager
their money recklessly to beware-that he
might against jOo 70 do
liver the goods. But when Fitz met
Creedon at New Orleans his talk was
different. He said Creedon was a good
man, but that he was outclassed 81 will
defeat Credon in couple of rounds-per-
haps in one." said Fitz And he did Just
as he promised. Dan lasted two rounds,
and at no stage was Fitz in trouble.
JEFFRIES MEN CONFIDENT.
On the other hand. however, there is
an air Of confidence at Jeffries' headquar-
tiers that might cause a pause in the rush
to Fitzsimmons but for the fact that the
trainers Of a fighter are paid to encour-
age him with talk of that sort. They
would be derelict in duty did they fail
to shout the praises of their principal,
and within his hearing. 1t sort Of gives
the man confidence in himself. For in
stance, there Is Tommy Ryan, who had
been boxing with Jeffries. Tommy shakes
his head and sagely hints at a surprise In
store for the Fitzsimmons following
Tommy may mean 1t, but the chances ars
that he is talking for pay. Jeffries has a
chance. There never was fight in which
one man had no chance to win. A blow
might settle the battle. When Charley
Gallagher and Tom Allen met and Gala
CHER won in two rounds, putting Allen
out with blow that landed square on
the jugular, the wise ones lost their
money. Then the men again, and Allen
demonstrated that the first fight was an
accident-that Gallagher was not in his
class. But Gallagher got the money in
the first battle. That is the chance JEFF
fries has in the approaching meeting with
Fitzsimmons. If he lands on the proper
spot he will be the champion. Can he
land? Aye, there Is the rub.
AFRAID OF BRADY.
There are ugly whispers adoat to the
effect that the fight will not be on the
level. The reason is that Billy Brady
is in it. Brady Is on the suspected list
at all stages. He and Jim Corbett finn
TANNED the American public so success
fully that Brady 9lust move with discre-
ton nowadays to inspire confidence In
anything with which his name is connect
ed. There is scarcely rom for such talk
Fftzsimmons could not afford to be par
ty to anything savoring of the Corbett-
esQue. And 1t takes two to make a fake
The fight will likely be on the dead level
There is nothing to indicate the contrary
There would be a fare-thee-well to FitZ-
simmons as well as to Jeffries, were 1t
discovered that there was any sort of
agreement between the men save to
fight to win. The battle should be a
good one while 1t lasts. Jeffries is a
big, strong fellow, and will not be beaten
by fright. He may make the Cornishman
hustle bit He may even win. but I
doubt that