Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-19
Money i'm Prize Fighting
Bv Frederic j. HaSkin

1 money. Wnen James j. COfDetI knocked
out John L. Sullivan in twenty-one
rounds at New Orleans September I,
| 1892, he won $4,000, of which the purse
was $25, 900 and the other $4,000 a side
| bet. They fought on the basis of win
ner take all.
| But it was not always thus. Johnson
| has fought for $5 or SO and been glad
| to get the money. Jeffries did not have
! such a humble beginning in the ring
as the average fighter. He was a star
| performer almost from the first, but
when his ring career began with knock
! ing out Dan Long in San Francisco in
1896 he was lucky to get a few hun
dred dollars for his work.
The average professional begins as
/ preliminary" boxer. That is, he
! takes part in the bouts preliminary to
the clashing of two stars-a sort of
appetizer for the big pugilistic feast
to follow. For this he may receive as
much as IS all at once If he wins, but
more likely he will have to divide So
or less with his opponent. Often he is
! lucky to get dollar for four rounds.
! After making a reputation in "prelim-
! inaries' he may appear in a semi
windup, which Immediately precedes
the main bout. Here he may contend
for from SIS to $100, according to the
! Importance Of the occasion and his
own popularity.
Even star fighters have peculiar ex-
| periences in the matter of purses, and
more than one has INDUCED in a des-
perate struggle for a small recompense.
A case in point was the action of
/ Tommy t'eltz, the former bantam
/ champion. Shortly after he lost his
title, but was still able to demand a
/ high price for his services, Feltz was
| scheduled to meet a comparatively un-
-
a barn just outside of Washington,
d, c. 1t was a cold night, but a sur
prisingly large number of fistic fans
| had gathered for the encounter, and
| the receipts were most gratifying. Sud
denly a rural sheriff bobbed up and de-
clared the meeting adjourned sine die,
as far as his county was concerned.
| The spectators got their money back
| at the box office, all except $2850,
which represented the donation of ner-
vous citizens who had taken to the
! surrounding bush when the limb of the
| law announced himself.
Confident that he had dispersed the
! gathering, the sheriff went his way.
The promoter was in a bad fix. He
! had arranged several other passages
at arms that had ben similarly raided
and was getting "in bad" with the
sporting element. He besoughr Feltz
to take advantage of the sheriff's pre-
mature departure to fight, anyway.
Lewis had already assented, as he
wanted the reputation of going against
such a notable opponent. After think
| ing for a moment, Feltz calmly agreed
to fight for the sum left in the cash
box He went fifteen rounds to draw
with Lewis, and had to work himself
out to the limit not to be defeated,
yet he accepted $14.25 with great cheer
/ fulness, promptly spending it for
wine.
On the other hand, boxers in the
early days of the ring recei yei more
for their endeavors than has generally
been supposed, and their methods were
quite modern. Jim Fig, who died in
1884 is counted the father of the ring,
| but he was really a sword and single
stick expert who seldom used his
fists George Taylor, who succeeded
| to Figs amphitheater in London,
offered it as a battle-ground, on the
terms of one-third to himself and two
thirds to the fighters Frequently as
much as ESQ, or about 1880, was
taken at the gate for these battles
around the year 1740, which with the
value of money at that time, was by
no means a puny purse. Betting on
the side was always feature of the
early days and remained so until after
the defeat of Sullivan by Corbett,
which bout also marked the general
acceptation of the Marquis of Queens
berry rules in this country. This fea-
ture Of boxers backing their opinion
of their own prowess is still far more
PREVALENT in England than in this
country. Innumerable challenges, with
offers of side bets, are published in the
English sporting papers every year.
The first black eye received by pro-
fessioual pugilism was caused by a
side bet. Jack Broughton, champion
of England and framer of the first
prize ring rules, fought Jack Slack for
| the championship. Broughton was so
confident that he trained carelessly,
| but Slack was right on the job April
| 10, 1850, and cleanly whipped his an
| tagonist. The duke of Cumberland
had been Broughton's great friend and
patron, and is said to have bet 10000
on him. The noble duke was not 2
cheerful loser. He claimed Broughton
! had sold him out and made such a
| disturbance that a law against prize
! fighting was passed. Broughton's am
phitheater was closed and professional
boxing started on that furtive, pre-
! carious existence it has led ever since.
away with. But it looks to me that