The times., 1899-01-11
JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE.
How Mccoy Expected to Surprise the
sailor Witt, Science.

| Admission tickets were placed on sale at
$50 O'Clock and there was a big crowd
lined up ready to buy when the box Office
/ opened. Ticket spectators did heavy
| business, although large orders for tick
! cts were refused.
One speculator planked down $500 in
cash in the afternoon and asked for 500
| tickets. He was turned down. The spec
J ulators sold their tickets at the neighbor-
| ing resorts. Many of the ticket holders;
| occupied their seats as early as o'clock.
and some tboughtfully brought luncheOns
! with them. and small bottles OF whisky
| were quite numerous among those who
were in for the long wait before the battle
BEGAN.
! There were 200 police in and around the
building to preserve order A big crowd
! gathered in front of the house across the
street from the club house in which Shar-
I key had been living since he began his
ira 'niTg, all anxious TO get glimpse of
the tighter. They stood for hours watch
I ing The entrance. despite the fact that this
was one of the coolest nights of the Win
teT. Nothing but fight was discussed by
1 the crowd.
McCoy's hitting power, it was granted,
would be up to the average, but Sharkey' S
friends laughed at the statement that the
Kid would prove strong enough to score Ii
| Knockout. Sharkey's own statement
! that Maher and Fitzsimmons could not
| put him to sleep by hitting him on the
| jaw was good enough for those who pre-
/ dicted that Mccoy could not do the trick
! either.
| In his appearance at his quarters near
! by. the sailor looked as II there were moth
| ing on his mind. When asked what he
| thought Of his chances TO win he said:
Twelve rounds and I'll have this duck
ready TO go TO bed"
1t was explained that Mccoy was pre-
pairing surprise for the sailor man
who SAID that he was on the inside ex-
planned matters in this way:
McCoy will not use his legs as much as peo-
/! pie have been led To expect. Much Of his de-
fensiyc work will he done with his body from
his waist up. He has peculiar crouciiing style
with his left stuck straight out his stomach
pulled in and his head well forward His plan
with Sharkey will be To fcint constantly with his
lett then draw himself up quickly to u straight
position and Sharkcy comes in and misses
after his feint the Kid will come back quickly
and smash him the jaw with either left or
right. Mccoy has 4 trick Of measuring his dis
tance so well that the ends Of his fingers iustne
the glove just tap the face in such a way that
opponent is convinced that hc cannot hit with
any degree of force. In this way Mccoy will fool
Slarkey into rushing him and coming close, So
that when the time arrives the Kid will cut
loose and show him Just how hard he can = it.
When it comes TO sidestepping, blocking, duck
Ing. and other methods Of defense, Mccoy will
make Sharkcy look like a monkey.
McCOys representative said the Kid"
would under circumstances discuss the
rules in any manner, shape or form with
the referee or any representative OF Shar-
key, and that when he got into the ring he
would simply call upon the referee to en-
force the articles of agreement as they are
written.
By 730 o'clock all OF the reserved seats
| had been sold and the managers said that
they would take in more money than on
the night of the Corbett- -Sharkey fiasco. II
was possible TO accommodate 200 persons
with chairs, while 1t was stated that $500
more could crowd themselves into the bal
comics and aisles In all, there are more
than 1,500 box seats, which we're sold at
$50, and 1,500 reserved chairs were dis
posed of at s15, so and 81. and $500 admis-
sions emitting holders 10 seats on hard
boards at s. each. This makes a total OF
| $500 seats. but the managers said the ex-
| ira chairs which could be placed In the
boxes and aisles would raise the number
| to I 200.