Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-23
EVEN MONEY SHOULD Be
BETTING ON BIG FIGHT
John L. Sullivan Says Odds of 10 to
6 Are Not Justified by
Conditions.
FRISCO LOSES REPUTATION
AS SPORTING CENTER
Former Champion Anxious to See
Jeffries in Action-Has Heard
of Change in Him.
BY John L. Sullivan.

Reno is, of course not the only sad
thing we have to think of in connection
with Frisco. but the contemplation of
seeing the old town stricken off the map
one of the best sporting cities in
America. as far as climatic conditions
and the temperament of her people are
concerned, is no pleasant part of fare
we'll.
In view of the executive happenings
here In Connection with this contest there
is very little hope held out by San Fran
ciscans and those from the east who are
still here, waiting to move to Reno. that
this city will ever see a return to the
good old days. because it is a matter o.
tradition that when movements of this
sort have been organized and carried
through with the determination that this
one has there is very little hope of a
recurrence Of old conditions.
A Step Backward.
Naturally, the element that is response
tle for this change regard the situation
In the sense Of a reformation, but the
rank and file Of San Francisco regard it
In totally different light. To them it
has been a step backward. and their only
hope Is that in the change of political
conditions something of the old flavor and
atmosphere will come back; but never
will a sporting event of the magnitude of
the Jeffries-JOhnsOn affair be attempted
unless absolute assurance from the gov
ernor of the state down is given that
there will be no interference. AS a mat
ter of fact, l am of the opinion that after
the Fourth of July 1t will be a long time
before the sporting world will see a real
worlds pugiiistic championship battle.
Events have been trending 10 this con-
dition for the last ten years. Surprising
Jeffries did win. In the face of his oft
repeated assertion that he would never
Gtybt czoir1 hO iC har fnr n
Then. take Johnson's side Of 1t; in case he
wins, who is there for him to fight? This
probably explains why SO much interest
has been shown In this match. Old sport
ing men agree almost invariably that
never before has the same situation been
presented as has shown itself in the be-
fore and after aspect Of the Jeffries-John-
son contest, and the fight Itself will prob
ably go down in the history of sport as
the one great event in pugilism.
To show you what enect the taking
away of this contest from San Francisco
to Reno has had on the business interests
alone, | talked with several prominent
men here, and l was surprised to learn
from their conversation that the losses to
the different hotels and other lines OF
J business will exceed $2.OO0.OOO. l have this
from reliable authority, and l am assured
that it Is no fancy dream. After our re-
turn from Johnson's quarters yesterday
we stopped at the office of an old friend
of mine, and in conversation with him he
loss Of $4,000.
Thinks Odds False.
! Another remarkable phase of the mat
| ter is the change In sentiment which de-
veloped this morning. All along Jeffries
| has been regarded by the experts. that
| is, those who back their opinions with
| money, as a 1O-to-7 favorite. This morn
| ing the price has been pushed notch
| lower, and the odds are ~ to t. There is
no intelligent argument given for TINS
change, when considering the RECORDS anu
/ methods of training since the match was
| made and the actual condition OF the
principals today, for making Jeffrfes
| lO-to-6 favorite To my way OF thinking
and to that Of those with betting pro-
pensities with whom l have come In con-
| tact it ought to be even money betting
The reason that was given out for this
| 1O-to-7 betting was to force the johnson
people to produce their money. Hearing
little from the 1O-to-7 odds, those who
| started these odds came out this morning
and offered ~ to 6 on Jeffries to find out.
| If possible, where the Johnson money Is;
in TACT. this part of the betting has only
! developed in the newspapers occasionally.
J No doubt there have been some Wagers
| made but the odds of 10 to Z first oriGi-
| mated with Clarence Berry. millionaire
| oil man Of Los Angeles
| Mr.. Berry, it seems. left 500, 600 around
at the different sporting headquarters or
the city at odds OF Ia to :, and after ne
could not get that the odds dropped to lO
| to l. have been told that fifteen john
/ son men with $1,000 apiece have taken
| some of this money. No doubt before
| ten days have passed there will be many
more who will take the short end, and 1t
| seems to be the general opinion nowadays
that short-end Dettors are always the
| winners.
Anxious to See Jeffries.
| 1 had my theatrical manager, Mr.. Hall.
| who is at Reno, on the long distance
! phone this morning, and he holds out
/ very favorable hope for Reno in so far
as accommodations and preparations for
handling a big affair of this sort are con-
cerned. AS a matter Of fact, he is ex-
ceptionally optimistic over the whole
| thing He expects big crowd at
| Reno as there would have been at San
Francisco. Naturally l don't hold out
any such hope. l only wish 1T would
prove to be true. for certainly Richard
and Gleason deserve all the compensa-
| ton that it is possible to get after their
| many troubles. and in view of the enter
| prise they have shown in handling such
a vast undertaking.
think these two fellows will be thor
| ouehly satisfied with 1000 spectators.
| and that is about four times as many as
saw the Fitzsimmons-Corbett fight in
| Carson City. OF course, there are no
such drawbacks confronting the promot-
| ers which stumped poor old Dan Stuart
when that old sport lost his bank roll
| but went through with the game to his
limit.
| I hope to see Jeffries go through his
daily routine before another twenty-four
hours pass, and / am prepared to see
| one OF the most remarkable physical
| reformations that ever came under my
| notice i have heard SO much about the
| wonders that jeff has accomplished with
himself from mutual friends | have talk
| ed to since l arrived here. Probably no
tighter that ever lived had the logged
determination that jeff has You know
II takes a vast amount of will power
for a fellow to strike out from five years
of easy living and get down to the hard,
monotonous grind of training for fight.
To me there is nothing so unpleasant as
this daily work. plug, plug. from MORN
ing till night. with hardly any diversion.
JefYries' temperament helps him a
| whole lot here. He Is such a quiet I'M
assuming sort Of a fellow, with none of
the harum scarum ideas that had and
that most all other pugilists have, and
that alone will do more to bring him
through to perfect physical condition