The Detroit times., 1909-12-29
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10
HEART
Wnh The
Sporting
Editor.

An interesting sidelight on the i'm
pending relations between Jim JEFF
fries and James j. Corbett, soon TO be
--T entered into at the
WHEN formers trainine
CORBETr camp. was afford
LET CO. ed by an inciden,
. related the other
day by Trainer Harry Tuthill. of the
Tigers, onoof the inner circle of the
world of fistiana.
"Corbett told me this himself" said
Tuthill. "and | don't think he's ever
written II In any of the dope he has
turned out for the newspapers. IL
was after his lirst fight with Jen. In
which he stood the Californian OF for
20 rounds and a bit more.
"'As You know and as I've always
been free TO admit Corbett said. I've
almost always managed To have one
good punch for each OF my battles.
never claimed TO be a real slugger. but
I've always managed 10 do some dam
age with that punch when ! got ready
tn let Il 20. OF course, I've always
tried TO hold II for some time when II
would count.
lin my fight with Jeff | held that
punch for several rounds. until l had
made Jim miss with a left. stepped
back as he let Il fly and Il whistled
past my face. Then | stepped In and
let 90 the punch that Id saved up. Jeff
wa swide open. just at the right dis.
tance from neand the whole side oil
his jaw was turned TO my fist. | swung
what | have always believed 10 be the
heaviest blow | ever hit in my life.
Then | stepped back 10 watch him
drop.
"'Jcff straishtened up instead, and
faced around again. guess he saw
the establishment that my face must
have showed. tIe raised his guard
and took q step toward me. Then he
looked me squarely I'm the eye and
believe mc-he grinned just bit and
did this
"As Corbott got to this part OF the
story he locked at me and deliberately
closed his left eve. let II culver q
minute and then masked again with
his fighting face.
"Corbott admitted that. il some
| friend had opened a trap door right
underneath him he'd have been will
ing 10 sacrifice his share of the purse
To drop IT, lie had worked JEFF ex.
actly as ne had hoped. he had let &C
the punch that he'd been carrying for
the emergency. he'd seen IL land right
where the doctor ordered, and then
he'd seen JEFF tip him a roguish wing
and start forcing again.
"Corbett kept boxing after that, but
IL was OH the defensive throughout.
and the best he could do was 10 keen
JEFF from getting set and four-fiush
along in the hope Of lasting out the
limit OF the 25-round fight. which he
came mighty near doing at that"
When Ban Johnson aludes TO the
! l6S-game schedule AS cheapening base
ball he is only echoing the remarks
OF the pesslmists Of the last 90 years
who have made similar remark
every time the range of play was ex-
! tended from the 30 games IN 1871 to
the 154 since 1904. And the peculiar
! part Of IL ali is In the fact that this
progression has been a steady one and
without so much as single backward
step. Ban Is in bad and future events
will show II.
| Jim Jeffries remarks that Fitz was
fool to try to fight agar1 In his con-
dition Well. Fitz may have little
comment coming along in July.
II isn't all honey for those press
agents who delight in the sale of an
occasional car to a notable. For thu
notable gets into trouble occasionally
and this publicity thing works more
| than one way.
| The esteem In which Gotch Is held
! by his foreign rivals is indicated by|
! the remarkable glee which one oil
them manifests when able to stick on|
his face Oh the mat for period oil
Is minutes, with Mr. Gotch endeavor-
ing to turn him over
! III ever there has been an enterprise|
to which the sportdom OF Detroit
should lend hearty boost II Is the|
endeavOr Of the Detroit Athletic club
to run n skating competition. This
would be a lonesome town at this time|
Of the year but for the old ID. A. C.|
And the club doesn't pick many dead
ones. either