The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-08
CORCORAN LAID LOW
KNOCKED OUT IN THE TWELFTH
ROUND BY JIM BURKE.
THE BOUT A SLUGGING MATCH.
ENDURANCE AND HARD PUNCHES,
NOT SCIENCE, THAT SETTLED 1T.

the First ROund-Saved by the
Gong and Recovered Enough
Strength TO Give Good Account
of Himself Afterward-His Won
derfuI Endurance the Only Feat
ure of the Bout-Made Splendid
Rallies and Rushed His Opponent
Repeatedly, but Was Unable to
Hurt Him Seriously-Burke Calls
CorcOran the Toughest PROPOSE
ton He Ever Met.
In the fercest boxing bout that prob
ably ever took place in Savannah Jim
Burke of New York defeated Tommy
Corcoran last night in the twelfth
round.
The entire bout was characterized
by a total lack of the science OF
boxing; not even the rudiments of the
art were discernible; it was simply a
case Of smuggling and the men pounded
each other until Corcoran. under the
fierce rain of blows, went down and
out in the twelfth round after one
minute and twenty-five seconds of the
round had passed.
FTOIl lIlt SOOllu VI NiAE IA o. suns AhN
men went for each other eand began
TO rain a hail of blows on each other,
neither attempting to parry or ward,
each content TO take what was com.
ing to him if he was able to land in
return. b
In the first clinch in this round each
man landed hard body punches and in
the break, hard jolts to the head and
face, under fierce onslaught of Burke
Corcoran went to the floor from hard
left punch on the jaw. and lay there
unable to rise until the referee had
counted eight seconds. He staggered
to his feet then but was up but a few
seconds when floored by a right swing
to the jaw. This time he took nine
seconds TO get up. Though very grog
gy he managed to save himself until
the gong sounded.
No one who saw the first round had
the slightest idea that Corcoran would
be able to go another. but Tommy
wonderful recuperative powers en-
allied him to pull himself together, and
when the gong sounded for the second
ruJnd ne came up smiling and ready to
take his medicine. This round was a
repetition Of the first, so far as the
style of boxing was concerned, though
because Corcoran was a little more
weary and Burke a little less fresh
than in the first round, the knock
downs We're not repeated.
The third and fourth rounds were
alike; the men simply pounded each
other. Most of the time they were in
clinches. pounding each others faces
with the free hand, or wrestling across
the ring in the effort to break, each
unwilling to be the first to let go and
thus give the other an opportunity to
land.
The crowd that witnessed the bout
was by no means pleased with such
tactics and throughout the entire
mill there were constant cries from
gallery and pit. telling the referee to
make them break. This was no easy
task; the men at times had literally
to be torn apart by main strength,
and then, across the referee, they at
tempted to land on each other, not a
few blows landing on the referee in
stead
Though each man was being terri
bly, punished and plainly showed it,
Corcoran showed the effects worse than
Burke did At times he was painfully
groggy and appeared, in the clinches.
to cling to Burke almost for support.
He was so weak in the fifth round that
he fell to the floor in break, but was
quickly up and on the defensive. Burke,
too, was showing not only the eff t
of the pace that had been cut out, bat
also the awful amount of punching
that he had sustained. and though he
was still aggressive, he was unable to
put into his blows the force that was
needed for knockout.
the 6ffh Tnronran a
his old-style of boxing, and made the
best showing for himself that he made
during the bout. He stepped away,
weakly, but safely from the punches
of Burke, and then began the old time
rushes and straight punches that had
so often won victory for him in other
bouts. In these rushes usually he
landed good and strong. but was repaid
with short-arm jolts to mis- head and
neck.
In the clinches. after the fifth round
Burke, too, reverted to his old style OF
boxing, hammerangs with resounding
blows Corcoran's ribs and kidneys.
Neither was Corcorap slow to adopt a
similar style OF smuggling and he used
it so effectively that. more tnan once
Burke was none too steady on his feet
The bout continued with but little
change, except the increasing weak
ness of both men, until the eighth
round when Burke got Corcoran in his
own corner and pounded him so often
and so fiercely that Corcoran would
have gone down had he not been sup
ported by the ropes.
IT was not all one-sided. however, for
Corcoran every once in a while with
flashes of his old spirit and determin-
nation. would rally and repay with in
terest the blows that Burke got in
In fact Corcoran's gameness, even
though he must have felt that he was
a beaten man, has never shown to
better advantage than it did last
night, and it won for him the sym
pathy and good wishes Of the whole
house. Some of his friends tried ia
get on the stage to tell him where to
''hit him." and had to be hustled back
by the police. while others contented
themselves with bawling to the referee
to break en-
However slim his chance of winning
may be Corcoran has never been known
as a gutter, and his work last night
will keep for him this much of his
reputation as a boxer. Though weak
until he staggered at every blow, he
kept on his feet and returned with
what strength he had Burke's vicious
efforts for a knock out. Finally Il
came. a left hand straight punch tc
the breast that floored him, and left
hum without sufficient strength ever
TO attempt to get up.
He was carried from he ring. while
Burke, though badly punished also
was able to walk to his dressing room
upstairs. Discussing the bout after
II was over, he said that Corcoran was
the toughest proposition that he had