The Washington times., 1908-12-24
BURNS-JOHNSON GO
IS NOT IMPRESSIVE
Division of Purse and Certainty of Return Match Create
Doubt-Nether Mans Record Shows
Enough to Justify Excitement
By THOMAS S. RICE.

1t ali depends upon whether the hgnt
is on tbs square and both men are
game.
Burns has been an acknowledged
faker. and Johnson has been accused
Of having a yellow streak. Such be
ing the case. what are we 20 expect
from a battle in Australia where Burns
is guaranteed $50, coo out of purse Of
$4,000. win, lose, OF draw. 4 man who
would bet on such a proposition need
never fear death by legal hanging, for
ne would only have to prove the bet
TO establish a perfect insanity defense.
The fact that the fight is 90 be twenty
rounds instead of 10 a finish. and it is
claimed both contestants are unusually
clever and scientific boxers, is the worst
feature and the one which must give
most pause
Also, don't forget the battle is to
take place in an English colony, and
therefore. very probably under English
ring rules. Twenty rounds TO a draw
would leave great chance for another
purse of S3O.C0o or some such a matter
in san Francisco. would it not2 II
would
Remember the Rules.
or, II that seemed somewhat coarse
to the earnest workers. would not "A foul
like the one IN San Francisco between
Cans and Britt be a pretty dish to SET
before the king Yea. verify. Under
English rules they do not allow more
than one or two careless low blows
without bouncing the offender from the
arena. Also, if you get so het up IN
your wild enthusiasm that if you do
the ordinary amount of clinch lighting
despite warnings, which is a common
practice on this side. the gentlemanly
referee on the outside the ring Will lean
languidIy over TO the time keeper
announcer who sitteth upon his right
hand. and request him TO tell those
assembled that the roughhouse kid is g.
loser and had better go home before the
boobies inquire into his past life.
Yes. kind reader. with "a purse split
on guaranteed iines-always one OF IIs
most suspicious OF slgns-the DEAD moral
certainty that, however 1areS the Dat
tie, the twain will fOTeEatHer i'm the
squared circle in this country and the
fact that the police OF EnSIaE5 and her
colonies have such gooo control over
the public that there Is little danger Of
lynChinE. indeed, we cannot see where
anybody who is not breaking mis- parole
from St Elizabeth's has any license
70 bet on any pTCpoSlIlCn except now
they viii end II, not how il viii be won.
Fine Regulations, Eli?
one innocent and very evidently youta-
ful writer i'm New York advances the
proposition that both men Will try as
hard as they can to really win, because
if they don't. they will lose their stand
ing with the sporting public. Mercy
sales alive. where in blazes did Tommy
Burns or Johnson. either. for that mat
ter. have a standing TO IoSe2 Remember
Tommy Burns first frame-up with
O'Brien. when the pubic was stung
ana the second when O'Brien and the
sure-thing gamblers, along with the
public, were stung again in the same
place. That gave him a standing Of
about m nus ninety with everybody cx-
cept seCOnd-story men
Then. lest we forget. how about that
delicate contention OF twenty rounds in
San Francisco, when Johnson refraincd
from knocking out a secOnd-rate rough
and tumble sCrapper, Marvin Hart and
lost the decision thereby. although most
Of our very best critics were agreed
that Johnson could have stopped nua
half a dozen times I'm the route He
fused around the whole distance, and