The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-10
Hail The New Man!

Asst nights excellent bulletin SER
vice sent by the associated press,
gave a prompt and graphic pic
ture of the championship fight as 1t
progressed in the Athletic clubs ring
at Coney Island. The result hardly
passes as news this morning; every
body was out last night, eager for each
word of news from the ringside. Say
what you will as to the moral factor in
prize fights, there were, people, plenty
of them, in every community in this
land who We're warmly interested in
last nights go; since the wires were
watched for some of the recent wars
most significant tidings, there has been
no item of news SO eagerly awaited as
was last nights announcement in re-
gard to the championship in our pugil-
istic world sE,sGt.,
In every sense It was a game fight.
Assuredly, it was, in the parlance of
the ring, ION the square" There We're
strong points, respecting age, weight
and the like, which the public well
knew to be in Jeffries' favor. At the
same time, those who keep account of
the ups and downs~of the prize ring did
not lose sight of the qualities that gave
FitZsimmons the hampionship--the
query was whether these We're still eff
fective enough to carry him through.
Apparently, both men were at their
best. last night. They went at it in
earnest; they contested through eleven
hard-fought rounds. The progress of
the battle made it clear, when the clos
ing third of the fight was reached, that
the champion was doomed. Finally, he
was so fully and so fairly whipped that
there could be no possible ground for
protest or complaint or excuse on the
part of the vanquished man; and when
he recovered from the blow that fin
ished the fight, Fitzsimmons conducted
himself in a manner that makes his re-
tirement a pleasant contrast with the
brawlng and disgusting tactics with
which, at Carson, Corbett disfigured
his exit from the rank of champion.
Manifestly, in Montana communities,
the current of sentiment ran strongly
ence for him was rather pronounced in
the talk and the guesses that were pre-
liminary to last nights battle. At the
same time, Montana money was shy of
Jeffries; he was too new and too SUN
tried for most of those who usually
back their preferences with their peck
ct books For that matter, in thes.larger
public, the disposition, as a rule, is TO
hail the coming" What best suits
most people is a short-term, prize-ring
championship; the exception being, Of
course, the case of John L. Sullivan
who, knocked down, counted out and
confessedly full of the faults that made
him his own worst enemy, always had
more real friends than the man who
whipped him ever could presume to
claim. Barring Sullivan the rule is as
we have stated the large public is will
ing to see the scepter pass pretty often
and to have new champions don the
prize-ring belt.
During his days in the ring Fitzsim-
mons had about two dozen mills. There
had been only couple of losses marked
against him. One of these was early in
his career-the commonly accepted be-
lief is that he consented to throw his
fight with Hall in 1890, for small sum
of money. In his meeting with Maher,
in 1896, there was no decision; a little
later in that year, he had Sharkey prac-
tically knocked out but he lost the fight
on an alleged foul 20
Ten years in the ranks of profess
sional bruisers is long time; Fitzsim-
mons has that length of record to his
credit. He won the championship in
March, 1897. Till last night, Jeffries
had done nothing to warrant the belief
that he could win the ring leadership
but, as was remarked in the vernacu1ar
of the sporting professional world, IN
what the Standard recently has printed
relative to last nights fight, records
are well enough in. their way, but fire.
quently they don't weigh much
1t will be the same old story-Fitz-
simmons is the newest recruit for the
army of has-beens. He will pass rap
idly out of public view. We shall have
Jeffries at the fore. and presently the
prattle will concern itself with what
Jeffries will do to Sharkey when they
come together, as probably they will, in
the shaping of the prize-ring horoscope.