The age-herald., 1899-07-09
ANNIVERSARY OF 4 GREAT FIGHT Ten Years Ago Yesterday SuIIi-
 van and Kilrain
BATTLED FOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Last Contest of Any Consequence Un- der the Old London Prize Ring Rules, When Round Lasted
 Until One Succumbed

Ten years ago yesterday, on July s, 1889, the great prize fight for the championship of the world between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain was fought at Richburg, Miss.
 That fight may be said to mark the turn ing point in the art of prizefghting. It was fought according to the London Prize Ring rules, which require that every round should continue until one of the men was knocked or thrown down, instead of put ting a time limit on the round as in the Marquis of Queensbury fighting. That was the last fight of any importance whatever, fought under the old London rules, and marked the closing days of the old time prizefghters.
 Whether the change was for the better or not, is matter for argument, the once mighty Sullivan himself asserting on the occasion of the Fitzsimmons- Jeffres fight, that the art was on the decline. He said that the old class of fighters who were able to endure almost any amount of pun ishment and who were able to hit like a sledge hammer, were fighters in the true sense of the word. The pugilsts of the past decade, he said had grown to be box CTS instead of fighters and he deplores the change, saying that 1t portends no good future for the sport. He has always term ed Corbett a boxer, and he says that 1t
 
 new methods over the old. that Corbett whipped him in 1892, but that it was owing to his own weakened condition, caused by years of dissipation and fast living
 There are many, however, who differ with the great John L., and think that the style of fighting which has been developed dur ing the past ten years is not only the most scientific, but the most effective the world has ever known. Jeffries friends think that he could whip any of the old bare listed fighters that ever lived; a boast, however, which can never be proved.
 There have been four champion heavy weights in these ten years, each of the first three holding the belt a little over three years, and the fourth-why he still has it. Notwithstanding the invectives and deuun- citations that have been hurled against the priZefighters as a class, "brutes" and thugs as they are called by many, the fact remains that the worlds greatest ath- letes during the closing years of the nine- teenth century, have been John l.. Sullivan, James J. Corbett. Robert Fitzsimmons and James Jeffries. There have been other stars in the world of professional athletes. such as Kilrain, Mitchell, Mccoy Sharkey and others. but the four champions named are at the top.
 During these ten years there have been but five fighters for the championship of the world, and one of them was not a championship fight in the true sense of the term.
 The first of these was, of course the Sul- 1ivan-Kirain fight above mentioned. For. seventy-six rounds Klrain lodged the( mighty Sullivan, and fell often to prevent punishment But at last Sullivan landed his victim, and knocked the pretender to championship honors into comparative ob- livion. The aftermath of this fight-which had been so cleverly arranged that none of the officers of the law knew where it was going to take pace-when the governor MT. fNt.I 1t-1 to 1Nrfr t1,n fighters to justice for violating the laws of the state is still fresh in the memory of the sporting world.
 Sullivan. who was at that time in the ze- nth of his power and popularity didn't fight again for several years; until he met the brilliant young Californian, at that time known as "Gentleman Jim" Corbett had earned his right to meet the champion by defeating I<ilrain, by fighting 61-round draw with Jackson and defeating other prominent fighters. He knocked Sullivan out in 21 rounds in New Orleans, on Sep tember ', 1892, for a stake of $i5,OOO, the largest amount of money ever put up for a prize fight. Both the new and the old champions about this time started new feature of the prizefighters' life, unknown to the old style fighters; that of starring in the drama distinct feature of the decade.
 Charlie Mitchell, of England went up against Corbett in 1893 at Jacksonville Fla. where Corbett whipped him in three or four rounds. It has never been considered as one of the real fights for the champion ship.
 Almost four years elapsed before the next big fight which occurred at Carson City, Nevada on March 1T, 1897, St. Patrick's Day, between Corbett and the "Lanky Bob" Fitzsimmons. "Fitz" won the cham pionship in fourteen rounds, it will be re- membered. This fight was characterized by the great amount of advertising given it by the newspapers and also for the origin of the expression. "a solar pleXus blow" It was a godsend into other expressions in the overworked dictionary of American slang, and is still in use.
 Fitzsimmons wore his laurels very grace fully for two years and over, waiting for his successor to come. The successor came just a month ago yesterday, and after hard plueky defense of eleven rounds the freckled, lanky and genial Australian champion, succumbed to the boilermaker blows of the young Jeffries.
 will there be a fifth champion before the end of the century? That remains to be seen when the bragging Sharkey tries bis luck with the new Californian star on Oeto-