The New York herald., 1921-12-05
SAVERS TOO SMALL
TO BOX WITH HEENAN
BritOn Weighed 149 Pounds in
His Contests With Giants
of the Prize Ring.
by CHARLES f. MAru1soN.

The recent description of the Heenan-
the NEW YORK HERA'D attracted wide at
tention. and many communications
have been received. William Handley.
/ ST.. of Oswego, n. Y, writes as follows :
/ Referring to your recent article on
tho Heenan-Sayers battle, I attach here
with copy OF letter written by john
ME Gideon. q bacl<er of Tom Sayers.
Rond Point. Champs Elysees.
! Paris. France. March %, 1891.
TO The Editor New York Clipper
My first real days of friendship with
Sayers began in a rather curious way.
He was matched to fight Harry Poulson
OF Nottingham for ESQ a side. who
| had previously beaten Tom Paddock
| twice. ! knew from good authority that
Poulson was well and fit to fight for his
| life. | also knew that Sayers was in
nr condition to fight and was unfit TO
meet Poulson in "a foot ring for he
never entered one in worse condition.
Sayers beat Poulson on January IS.
1856 at Appledore. They fought 109
rounds. occupying three hours and eight
| minutes. Sayers weighed l49 pounds
and Poulson l75 pounds.
| When .Sayers went into the ring to
| fight John G.. Heenan, he weighed 149
pounds-not an ounce more. l weighed
him on the Saturday before at
o'clock at the racing scales OF Sam
| Rogers, the celebrated trainer at his
stables. Tom then weighed in nudity,
! LAT pounds. The weight and height of
| Sayers antagonists were enormous when
pitted man TO man; for instance. the
! Upton Slasher weighed los pounds and
stood feet ? inches. Sayers received
the belt for the championship of Eng
land on June %, 1857, after his vic
tory over the Upton Slasher and it
would have become his had he held it
against all corners for three years, but
be resigned It after his battle with John
c. Heenan on April II. 1860. having
held it two years and 10 months. a
Sayers' first great salary for spar
ring was twenty pounds per week. That
was in the zenith of his popularity,
after he had fought Heenan.
Yours truly,
JOHNNIE GIDEON.
p. S. You will note that the weight of
Sayers as shown in the above letter.
which is certainly correct. does not
agree with the weight as shown in
| your recent articles.
Beat Many Big Men.
| Gideons communication to Mr. Hand
| ley clears UP the question of Sayers s
weight and is a valuable addition to pu-
gilistic history. Nearly all reports of
| the Heenan-S Savers fight put the Eng
| lishman's weight at 165 to 10 pounds.
and the fact that he scaled less than
| $50 pounds is evidence that he possessed
unusual courage to face giant like
| Heenan, who stood six feet tall and
weighed 100 pounds in good condition.
However. 1t seems that he was un-
aware of the real ability OF the Benicia
| boy. and was probably misled by the
| fact that he had defeated English box
! ers much heavier and larger. than Hee-
nan. Sayers was about the same
weight as Fitzsimmons when the Cor
nishman landed in America. Fitz was
required to weigh 154 pounds for his
match with Nonpariel Dempsey and
surprised all concerned by scaling 1909
pounds.
The mddleweight limit IN the days of
Sayers was 154 pounds, therefore the
British heavyweight champion was in
reality a light middleweight.
It was a great mistake for Sayers and
his hackers 20 make a match with
Heenan. but as the heavyweight cham
pion of England the Briton would have
lost prestige had he refused to sign ar
ticles. AS It was the beating received
hy Sayers ended his career in the ring.