The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-01
Corbett's s Daily Letter
 On Great Sport Topics
By JAMES J. CORBETT

'
 tThis is the seventh of series of articles by MT, Corbett, which will appear In this column from time to time concerning pugilists of the earliest days of the sport in America.
 An American newspaper, published April 29 1880, and carrying direct re- prints from English publications, es- tablishes clearly this vital fact con icerning the memorable John C. Heenan- Tom Savers fight for the heavyweight championship of the world on April 17, 1860.
 After scoring 40 knockdowns over
 Savers, Heehan had his English rival on the verge of a complete Knockout when toughs, who had
 wagered on Savers, broke into the
 ring and stopped the contest in the
 forty-second round to save Savers
 from defeat-and to; save their bets,
 The battle was fought in thedaysSbe- Iefor the transatlantic cable and so sport ing America, wildly interested in the big
 light, had to wait until the arrival of la steamer, bringing English newspap- |ers, although friendly and loyal to their own champion, frankly admitted that Heehan had Savers whipped when the fight was ended by interference. They carried complete round-by-round description of the contest, which was copied by the American newspapers. but space in this, column does not per- init republication of the recital of
 the action in all the rounds. So I quote only from the thirty-third
 round on:
 Round 3S-Sayers was slow to come
 to scratch. The game little fellow had already made the most superhuman ex- ertions, but he found he was ever- matched. It was like fighting against powerful American adversary. It was plain that the fight was nearly out of savers, and his friends saw clearly that
 his chance was gone Therefore, a the two men commenced to square away. they thought to make diversion in favor of the English champion by an outcry of Police! Police's~- Their hope was
 that Heehan,s stranger, might be struck with alarm and either be in duced in natural panic to jump over the ropes, and thus forfeit the fight, or to turn his head so that Savers might batter his injured left eye But the artifice failed. Heenan had been fore warned of the intended oodge More-. over he had noticed that several po- |licemen were quietly watching the bat tie ever since the seventh round with out making any effort to halt it. He, therefore, only fought on the flercer. and passage of real ding dong give
 and Ike fighting in the ancient style
 resulted. The blood flowed freely from
 them both. Heenan got sharply on the nose of Savers, and the latter in re-
 turn caught Heenan sharply in the
 mouth, drawing quantity of blood. Savers seemed to be encouraged and to
 freshen up at this and went after Heenan, but the Boy caught and |floored him with another square knock down blow (The betting now was 100 to 20 on Heenan to win.)
 Round 34-Sayers came up very weak, and his partisans seeing his chance was hopeless kept up the clamor
 about the police, while the police
 looked on in perfect wonder at the senseless panics. Heenan paid no heed to the idle trick, but went up to the fading Savers and hit at him with effect, and then closed upon him for
 fall As they struggled for the fall, Savers right hand played on Heenans left eye. Savers was thrown and Heenan fell on~him.
 Round So-Sayers rushed in and with l his apparently improved condition, the clamor of his friends about the police subsided. Sharp exchange of blows en- sued. The round ended by Heenan seiz- ing savers Tn ms arms and throwing
 hil-~ to the earth as if he were a frog. Round 36-Heenan went after Savers
 like tiger Right and left he gave it
 to him in the most commanding style first on the mouth then on the right cheek. then hit him aga inst the ropes Savers at last went down to avoid fur 1 their punishment
 | Round 3I-The cries of police uttered l by the Savers partisans now became | perfectly deafening but Heenan still 1 looked neither right or left, but only at i his man. He hit him once on the back as he was running to his corner, and as Savers swung and missed, Heenan seized 1 Savers with his arm around his neck and held him for a minute in the air. Savers, however, got up his hand and seized Heenan by the cheek and pulled | at it's sore and flabby folds most pain l fully This forced Heenan to lose his
 hold, and Savers slipped down. After a slight separation and a process of sponging off, Heenan went at him again. but caught it on the mouth, and shed considerable blood in consequence. Again Keenan pressed upon him. but Savers was too quick and went down to avoid. Round 3S--It was plain from the noise around Savers corner that it was the determination of his party to bring the l fight to such close would save Say CTS the belt and his packers their bets. But Heenan kept to his work. deter mined to fight and to do nothing else so I long as he could get Savers to fight with 1 him. Though the ring was now on the point of being broken in by Savers