The Washington herald., 1907-07-05

san Francisco, July 4-The forty-fve-
round fight for the heavyweight cham
pionship Of America, at Colma this after
noon. between Tommy Burns, of Canada,
and Bill Squires. of Australia, lasted only
minutes and seconds. Burns knocked
out the Australian with ease, and the
fight was over before the fans had fairly
settled back in their seats.
The night was the shortest heavy
weight battle that has been seen here
since Jeffries knocked out the big miner,
Monroe. from Butte IN the second round.
Squires. who had been touted as a terri
bic fighter, showed no form whatever,
and as a boxer he did not class with four
round amateurs. of whom Frisco has half
a dozen who could whip Squires badly.
Burns showed great Improvement I'M
boxing over his last appearance here,
but he did not have to exert himself, as
after the first wallop on the jaw, which
hoored the Australian he had Squires at
his mercy. There was a great crowd and
the gate money was estimated at $4,000.
It has been so long since Frisco had a
real fight that every one turned out for
this battle. The betting veered to 10 to s,
with Squires the favorite. and many
thousands at these odds were wagered.
The newspapers here had given the i'm
preston that Squires was "a terrific fight
cr. and on this the public wagered and
lost its money.
1H ton Ifrrrfr hrr
Murphy and frankie Edwards was a good
battle. II went the limit and the decision
was n draw as both boys were fighting
strong at the close.
Rough Diamond All Right.
The heavy-weights entered the ring AZ ,
o'clock. Squires was dressed IN green
trunks and brown sweater. He walked
around the ring with the loose-jointed
motion of a cowboy. Squires was intro
duced by Billy Jordan as the Rough
Diamond Of Australia" Burns looked
small beside Squires but he was in beau
tiful condition.
Referee Jenries then entered the ring.
He looked queer, IS he had a swollen
jaw. due TO an liberated tooth.
Burns won the toss and took the corner /
most protected from the sun. Jimmy |
Britt and Battling Nelson were intro /
duced. The crowd cheered Nelson, but /
gave Britt only scant recognition, largely |
because he accepted the recent proposal /
for spite fight
The fight was called at 2:22l2 The men /
spared for q moment. SqUires showed /
poor style as he cr9uched, thus losing his /
advantage Of height He rushed a Burns /
and landed a heavy right on Burns neck, /
hut when he backed away he exposed .
himself for a moment and Burns, with
lightning quick left hook on the jaw
dropped the big Australian 10 the carpet.
The audience was so surprised that an
audible gasp went up from al around the
ring. Instead of taking the count. as
be should have done. Sguires jumped to
his feet with blood In his eye. He rushed .
ike a bull toward Burns and tried a right
swing which came dangerously near to
Burns jaw. Burns ducked and clinched. /
and when they worked out Of this Squires
tried some very rough wrestling tactics,
and was cautioned 10y Referee Jeffries.
Burns side-stepped and dropped Squires /
for the second time with a swing 20 the
jaw Squres remained down six seconds.
and again rushed at Burns, swinging |
wildly.
Then IL Happened.
Sgures again rushed and landed his
right on Tommys shoulder Burns again
clinched. and when they were free Squires
tried another rush. Il proved disastrous,
as he came I'm with arms opened wide,
and Burns, evading his rush, caught him
with clean right and left swings fair on
the jaw, sending him to the carpet. and
Squlres fell squarely on his back, and
the burning sun beat down on his un-
protected face. His muscles twitched. but
he could not make a move toward rising
until the count of six. Then ne lifted his
head but ne was so completely dazed
that he had no command over himself (
and the fatal ten found him prone on his
back. His seconds carried him 10 his
corner. where it was five minutes before
NE was able 10 know how It happened
This defeat settles SqCires' chances for
any battles in this country. as it proves
he is simply % roUgh-ard-tUmble fighter
who would have no chance with q second
or third rate boxer.
a large amount of money was lost by
professional sports. who backed Squires
on the strength of his Australian record
Betting on the big fght was not heavy +
but C1r1etts p90lr0Jm did a business Of
-2oH and smaller po0lr09ms win proba-
bly, run the figure up u Sl01r13. wagcred
on the contest Most of it was AT odds
of la 90 N with Squres on the long end.
Practically all sports favored the Aus l
traian. as they believed he would win in
four rounds. Manager Reynolds and .
other Australians who were intimates Of
Squircs bet Sit 500 on him.