The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-18
PRIZE FIGHT WAS A FIzZLE.
PEARCE LAID OUT BY CORCORAN
IN THE FIFTH ROUND.


Spectators Generally Declared
They had Been sold" and Many
Asserted the Fight was "A Fake.
The worst farce in the nature of a prize
fight. probably, ever perpetrated in Sa-
vannah, took place at the Theater last
night.
The worst of it was that
the farce was put upon one Of the best
audiences shat ever gathered 10 witness
an event. Of the kind in Savannah. II
was an audience composed largely of the
better element, which had been led to be
lieve that a really first-class exhibition in
the fstic line would be given a really
scientific contest between two good men,
in which the public would see the fine
points of the art properly displayed by
men up in the business. There were
many professional and business men in
the audience who were disposed to lend
encouragement to the sport, if properly
conducted but the exhibition to which
they were treated was sufficient 90 dis
gust them for all time with anything fur
Their.
Many declared freely that the fight was
fake; that it was simply another one
of many games of the kind upon a long
suffering public, and that the result would
be to kill all interest in pugilsm in sa-
vannah among the better element.
The audience had reason to expect
frst-class fistic contest and il was woe
fully disappointed. Tom Corcoran won
the poorest fight of his life. There is no
dscredt attaching to him for that. His
fighting was hard and honest from the
beginning and the determination to do his
man was evident from the start. 1t was
the other fellows palpable willingness to
be done that disguised the crowd When
he lay down in The middle of the fifth
round and stretched himself on the floor
the only thing lacking was a feather pill
low and this might have been an over
sight on the part of the management.
The crowd which gathered at the The
alter was a large one. There is consd-
cradle element of sporting blood among
all classes in Savannah and this was evil
denced by the fact that business and pro-
fessional men were present in large num-
bers. the so-called sporting element being
in decided minority The high price
for tickets caused the parquet to be only
about half fun, but the balcony was al
most filled and the gallery was crowded.
Ii was eminenuy a shirtwaist crowd, the
character of the event and the oppressive
ness of the night justifying even the
most respectable in doffing their coats.
While the people who paid for the fun,
which they expected but did not get,
were filing in at the front, there was
busy scene back on the stage. The fight
ers and their numerous hackers aud as
sistants were busy getting ready for the
fray and apparently preparing for fhe
battle of their lives. IL had been an>
nounced that there would be no prellmi-
naries, and with the expectation of a 20
round contest between two crack fight
ers. the crowd did not clamor for any.
Many regretted afterwards that they mad
been so considerate.
1t was a few minutes after 10 O'Clock
when the bali was put in motion. Pearce
won the toss for corners and took the
northeast corner. Referee shorty Jen-
kins announced the conditions of the fight
and informed the crowd that, under the
terms Of the agreement. inhghtng would
be permitted This meant that the men
were to be permitted to strike in clinches
with one hand free and 10 strike in break
ing away. Under such conditions ii is
almost impossible to foul and considerable
nasty fighting can be done at close quar-
tiers, though the work is hardly as pleas
ing to the spectators.
The two men were greeted with slight
applause as they entered the ring. After
being introduced by the referee they took
their corners. The report that Pearce was
not in the best of condition was borne out
by his appearance. He had the appear
ance of having trained down too much,
and his skin was sallow in contrast with
the rudy and robust appearance of his
antagonist. When the two men weighed
in at noon, however. he was one pound
heavier, his weight being 14S to Corcorans
147.
In Pearces corner were Pete Mamie,
Raymond Pedro, Sam MCGOWAN and w.
b. Goodenough With Corcoran were
George Dyer. Jack Frew. Charles Harri-
son, Charlie Neve and John Tobin Both
fighters were stripped down, only wearing
abbreviated trunks. It was announced
that the rounds would be three minutes
with one minutes rest between, the fight
ing to be by Marquis of QueensberTy
rules.
Corcoran went for his man promptly at
the sound of the bell and proceeded to get
in some good body blows He went for
Pearce so flercely that it looked as il he
would finish the fight in the first round.
Pearce dropped during the latter part of
the round, apparently to avoid punish
ment. The honors were clearly Corco-
rams. During the second round there
was a clinch, and some lively nfighting,
in which Corcoran appeared TO be perfect
ly at home He knocked Pearce down
again or the man got down. In fact, the
readiness with which Pearce went TO the
floor on every preteXt soon excited the
dispieesure of the crowd.
Pearce must have forgotten himself in
the third round as he turned loose and did
some very neat fighting for while. He
sent TWO good body blows into Corcoran,
and ducked neatly each time avoiding
Corcorans vicious left swings Then he
promptly dropped back to his slouchy
style of fighting and did nothing really
serious thereafter.
In the fourth round Corcoran began
rushing his man hard getting him up
againsl the ropes and smuggling him in
the face and ribs Pearce was knocked
down but got up again after the referee
had counted three or four seconds. Never
theless when the round ended both men
appe AIRED to be fresh ond in good condi-
ton, and there seemed TO be no reason to
anticipate a speedy ending of the fight.
In fact the crowd. while it did not I'M
derstand Pearce's style. gave him credit
for being a smooth article and took IL for
granted that he was merely saving him
self with the view of firing Corcoran and
getting in his work in the later rounds.
The crowd was soon relieved of this i'm
pr sson. however.
In the nth round Corcoran went for
his opponent Ike a man fighting fire and