The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-21
CLIFFORD COT
WORST OF DEAL
Should Have Had a Draw With
Toby Irwin.
Chief OF POLICE KICKED
SAYS he WILL STAND FOR NO
MORE SUCH DECISIONS.
CHIEF OF POLICE KICKED

From all that can be gathered from
the press reports of the fight between
Jack Clifford and Toby irwin on the
coast the past week, the ex-Salt Lake
fighter got a little the worst Of it from
the hands of the referee. The press
contends that the contest should have
been a draw at least, and that great
amount of credit belonged to Clifford
for his aggressiveness. Those in this
city who have seen Clifford in the ring
are well aware of the fact that Jack
does not show up we'll as a boxer, and
that himself and science are nearly
strangers.
However, ne has the power to stand
the gaff and viii mix with the best of
them TO get in his punch which gem
orally brings home the money. These
are the tactics adopted by Clifford
against Irwin, and while it did not win
the fight. it evidently brought the
opinion from the crowd that he was
entitled to a draw. The following is
the version of the fight as seen by the
sporting editor of the Chronicle:
"On a shade that was almost imper-
ceptible to the naked eye, Referee Phil
Wand gave. Toby Irwin the decision
over Jack Clifford last night at the
Acme club. II was more than TOby's
most ardent admirers hoped for, and
called forth a decided demonstration
from the crowd. 1t even made itself
felt in high quarters. and Chief of Po-
lice HOdgkins is quoted as saying that
a recurrence would put the Acme club
under the ban when the question of
handing out future permits came to
him for recommendation. Wand's de-
cision was tenable only to this extent:
No one could see that Clifford had the
better of the ARRAY, and if any one
=. - -
but draw would have covered the
case to a nicely and was the fairest
thing to both boys.
Clifford came here with a reputation
for aggressiveneSs and he more than
bore out the reputation He was also
said to be a green fighter, and against
the clever Toby his work appeared
very crude. but he always carried the
fight to his opponent and was entitled
to consideration on that point. The
mere fact that he was always boring
in made the affair a contest from start
to finish. Had he waited for Irwin to
lead there would have been no battle
worth mentioning. Toby waited for
him to come in, because at short range
the local boxer had all the best of it,
ripping his left to the stomach in a
damaging way. Jack showed that he
was a bad judge of distance. and many
of his vicious swings went wild. His
best punch lies in his right hand. and
irwin almost invariably managed to
get inside of these leads by quick
ducking and fast foot work. Still Cliff
ford did the rushing and there lay the
point that the spectators could not di-
gest in the final judgment.
Clifford started out with great speed
and Irwin was worried for couple of
rounds. Then Toby assumed the lead
in the third with hard jOlts to the body
l.
ters up in the next four rounds. but
Toby did fine execution in the eighth
and might have landed the Montana
fighter if he had forced the fighting a
bit more. From that to the end neither
was in any great danger. Irwin seemed
content with what he had done and al
lowed Jack to do most of the work.
Clifford leading and landing twice to
his opponents once up to the last two
rounds. which were give and take