The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-10-28
The Coming Great Battle At
tracts Attention.
Some Facts About the Meeting
of Jeffries and Shsrkey.
ARE WELL MATCHED
There Is Plenty of Sharkey
Money In Sight.
With Odds of 3 to 5 Each Has a
Lively Following.

New York, Oct. 29.-The one great big
sporting event next month will be the
fight for the worlds championship be-
tween Jim Jeffries, the present cham
pion, and Tom Sharkey, the sailor boy.
1t is scheduled for Friday, November
3, and it will be an unlucl1y Friday for
one or the other of the great pugilistS.
One strange thing about this battle is
that no two experts appear to look at it
from the same angle. In most battles
of the kind one man generally has a
long call over the other.
Take for example the Corbett and
FftZSimmOnS, and then the FitzSim-
mons and JeffrieS fights.
IN the first named 80 per cent of the
people thought COrbett would win,
while in the other, 4 to 1 was offered
against JeffrieS.
In both those contests the long shots
won.
Among those who have suddenly ac-
quired the Sharkey heart are a large
number of citizens who dabble in race
speculation and who manage to come
away from the race track with green
paper bulg1ng from their pockets,
whether the favOrites win or lose. At
the odds of 3 to 5, certain of the book
makers will accommodate gentlemen
speculatiVely inclined to the tune of
$1,000 or more, if the other fellows
money is in sight.
Frank Dwyer. the well known horse
man, has $4,000 that he is willing to
ment. and the Boston men who make
their headquarters at the Delavan will
accommodate any JeffrieS collateral at
to 5, the short end being taken on
Sharkey by them. AS nearly as can be
learned, the strength of the Sharkey
representative is derived from the gen
eral impression that Jeffries is having
harder work to get into condition than
was expected.
THAT trip to Europe said a friend
of Tom O'Rourke's, was the most cost
ly experiment that Jeffries could have
made. It is all right enough to go
away and have your good time and be
the lion of the hour if you are only
willing to pay the price. JeffrieS is nat
urally too big man, and has too hard
work to keep his flesh down, ever to
have undertaken such a jaunt with a
worlds championship to defend, and
the fact staring him in the face that he
must defend it in so short time afte-
he had won it. Mind, I don't say that
Jeffries is not all right, but half the
rumors and talk floating around are
created because of the reasons I have
just stated
The fact that the champion had to
postpone the fight one week because of
a lame arm naturally aroused the Cos
sips, and they stand pat on two
planks in their platfOrm-that Jeffries,
having a lame arm, is likely to lnjI1re
it again in the fight, and that the lame
arm may not be perfectly cured when
the time limit of one week has expired,
and Jeffries will have to fight with a
handicap.
The first plank seems to be the more
important of the two, as it is not likely
that he would be allowed to enter the
ring with his arm in bad condition.
Sharkey, on the other hand, probably
never was in better condition for d
bruising battle. There will be no ex-
cuse this time that the sailor was out
of condition, unless. perforce, he should
acquire a jag of whOoping cough or an
attack of measles in the interval, elaps-
ing from now until the fight. He is I'M
der the care of man who knows what
it is to keep fighters in condition, and
when he walks into the ring his mus
cles will fit like a tailOr-made gown.
He is confident that he is a better
fighter than when he met Jeffries be-
fore. Jeffries believes that he knows
more about fighting than when he wal
Ioped the rib-xyphone that is anchored
on the windward side of Sharkey'S
chest. Both men, therefore, will I'M
doubtedly refrain from any early at
tempts to cultivate Immediately more
friendly relations.
Yesterday Sharkey pinned because
Tom O'ROurke had shut down on his
work. HE wants to keep me sittin' on
a chair with colored wafstcoat on and
suckin' a cane, like as though I was a
Sixth avenue dude. suppose" growl-
ed the sailor Here I am, strong
enough to pull stumps in California
brush, fairly dyin' to eat work, and
what do I get? What do I get?'' he
yelled to Armstrong, the burly negro,
who boxes with him. Don't ask me,
Tom. Don't ask me. I knows what
git when yous workin' an that's
enough for me-" was the reply
"IIl be smOkin' cigarettes,I suppose"
said Sharkey, IF this keeps on. What
dye think? A man wantin' to work
and can't! And they talk about the man
with the hoe. What's that to the man
with punchin' bag what amt dom
buS1neSS?