Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-10-17
FUREY WOULDN'T FIGHT
And Was Hlssedf for Refusing Claims He
Was Unfit.

OHe vi tHe DtSJ HOUSES ever COngre-
gated in this city to witness a prize
fight was congregated last night at the
Auditorium to witness the prelimin-
airy. hout between Chas. Wheatley, of
his city, and Andy Bezenah, of Gin
cin1au 1t is estimated that nearly
600 people were in the audience to
greet the fighters.
Colonel Ike English acted as referee
for both the contests of the evening.
Fred Josephy officiated as timekeeper.
PRELIMINARY BOUT.
In Bezenah's corner Edgar Hannold
and Teddy Glenn cared for their man,
while in Wheatley's corner Harry
Wheatley and Sid Aslett looked after
the affairs for their principal
The men went on at catch weights,
but Wheatley had the advantage over
Bezenah in weight heighth and reach.
Beth were in good condition and gave
one of the best preliminaries ever put
on the stage here
Bezenah assumed a low crouching
position and most of his offensive
work consisted in upper cuts, which al
most invariably failed to land. Wheat
ley's work on defense was especially
good and won for him the applause of
the audiance Scarcely one of the
large number of upper cuts which
Bezenah swung did execution on the
face, which seemed to be the point he
wished to reach. Charley gos in good
stiff punches on the ribs and these
made Andy cry out. Bezenah, accord
ing to the referee, made most of the
leads. and taking this into considera-
tlon, he awarded the fight to Bezen"'
The decision did not meet with the "a
vor of the crowd, as Wheatley un-
doubtedly had the best OF the fight all
the way through. English's decision
was very unpopular with the audience
and a storm of Kisses went up after he
announced the decision,
DEFENSIVE WORK.
Wheatley's defensive work was eX-
ccllent. Time and time again he
blocked vicious swings by Bezenah
ard followed them up with counter
blows on the body. The men fought
wi h clean breakaways and only once
or twice were fouls made by either
boxer While the interchange Of
blows was spirited friendly feeling
existed between the two men and
neither one took advantage of the
mary openings which were offered.
The bout was very pretty and Wheat
ley put himself on record as a good,
scientific fighter. Bezenah is a hrrd
hitter and would probably have pu, Up
a better fight had straight Marquis of
Cueensberry rules been agreed upon.
MAIN EVENT.
The main event of the evening was
to have been the meeting between
Barney Furey and Eddie Gardner, Of
Gardner, surrounded by
his seconds, climbed into the ring and
waited for Furey to appear. The
crowd grew impatient as Furey did
not show up and a long conference,
lasting almost an hour, was held. Fur
ey injured his hand and arm in the
fight at Anderson, Ind, several days
ago and absolutely refused to fight un-
less clean breakaways in clinches were
agreed to. Gardner refused to fight un-
der these conditions, as he had signed
articles which called for straight Mar
quis of Queensbery rules. Furey, it is
said, was given to understand by the
that if he would fight he
would be allowed clean breakaways.
Gardner held strictly to the articles,
as he had a perfect right to do.
CROWD KISSED.
The crowd became wild at the delay
and hissed both Furey and the man
aEenent of the club.
Balm SUBSTITUTED.
Eddie Gardner came out of his cor
nsr and agreed TO fight any man of his
weight who wuold be put up. Finally
jack Balm, Of Cincinnati was put on
W. h Gardner. Balm has not been in
t.e.ning for over two months and had
no idea of standing up against Gard
ned for any considerable length of
time, but only consented to give the
crowd run for their money His ac-
tion struck popular chord and he
was cheered to the echo. Before the
E5ht Jack Arthur, manager for Frank
Collier of Brooklyn, issued a chal-
lerge for Collier to meet any one
weighing from 1873 to 14O pounds.
After some experience with Balm in
which the former landed hot. blows in
face and neck, Gardner became more
sh.fty. In the first round Balm gave
good account of himself and was
greatly applauded by the enthusiastic
crowd.
MIXED 1T UP.
In the second round both men mix
ed it up with hot rights and lefts.
Gardner landed terrific right hand