Waterbury Democrat., 1900-12-10
FIGHTS AND FIGHTERS.
Jim Jeffries Has Signed For a
 Big Carnival.

There Will Be $50,OOO In It For The
 Winner-He Will Drop All Theatri-
 cal Engagements to Take Up The
 Cincinnati Offer-Any of The Big
 Fellows Can Take The First Chance
 Talk of the Coming Battle In Wa
 terbury.
 James J. Jeffries has signed articles to fight Bob FitZsimmons, Gus Ruhl1n or Tom Sharkey in Convention hall in Cincinnati. any time between Febru- ary l and February IA. FitZsimmons is to have first call. If Fitz declines to fight Ruhlin will have the prefer ence. always provided that Ruhlln de feats Maher in their six-round bout in Philadelphia. Should Fitz decline the issue and Ruhlin be defeated by Maher then Sharkey once again will have an opportunity to settle the question or supremacy, as between him and Jeff ries. Corbett is barred on the ground to use the words of one of Jefrles s admirers-that he is a dead one. The champion is doing well on the road with his show. but when il was point ed out to him that there was an op- portunity of winning SoO,OOO by q single fight. he did not give q thought to the theatrical enga gements. ''l suppose it will cost S5.00O or S1O,OOO. he said, ito square the theaters for which we are booked. because 1 will have to take month to train for the mill but 5000 or S100UO is q long way shy of S5OOOO. and I'm out for all the money 1 can win fairly l think 1 am the best fighter in the world. l think I've proven that already. but l am ready and anxious to do it all over again. and first of all 1 want to meet Fitz, who seems to be the next best man after myself. If F'itz won't fight then I'll have Ruhlin. if he defeats Maher. and if Ruhlin doesn't beat Maher then Sharkey can have q chance. There's a' tidy sum of money in sight. and 1 think 1 can use it in my business" Herman J. Witte. q Cincinnati attorney. arrived in New York on Saturday. and yesterday he hunted up Brady and Jeffries. Ml Witte came as the representative Of the Convention Power company. which controls Convention hall. and when he outlined his proposition to Brady and Jeffres they jumped at it. He pro duced the articles. and ill less time than it takes to tell it .Ieffries had affixed his signature and done all that he possibly could do to bring about another fight for the worlds cham piOnship, .JeffrieS is the only world s champion of recent years who has sought for an opportunity to make good his right to the title. As q rule champions are busy doing one of two things-trying to avoid mill with a worthy rival or picking out an easy mark. T didn't think 1 would have much trouble with Jeffries.'' Mir W itte said last night, and the result of my interview with him shows that l was right. The inducements are unusually good Mayor Fleischmann has grant ed a special permit for a worlds cham pionship fight. In doing so he has been influenced by motives that I might say are foreign to boxing. The mayor was one of the leading promoters of the Saengerfest fund. There was a de ficiency of S4O,000 in that fund. The citizens of Cincinnati who will be responsible for this fight agreed tc devote their share of the proceeds towards wiping out the deficiency This was the consideration which in f1uenced the mayor in granting the permit. and unless I am much mis taken he will have no cause to regret his action. Convention hall will seal 15,O00 persons. After some carefu figuring We have come to the con clusion that the gate receipts would amount to $100,OO0. Fifty per cent ot this we will give for the fight. so tha the fighters share should amount t( $5O,OOO. At first Jeffres did not seen to like the 90 per cent idea. but whe1 I showed how much money there would be in the house he withdrew hi: objections and signed the articles. .Jin Corbett will have no connection witt this contest. The promoters of tn, mill are residents of Cincinnati. onl, hope that Fitz will sign articles with out delay and then we can look for ward to a worlds championship con test that will be second to none in tn, history of the ring" It seems to b, up to Fitz.