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Show SULLIVAN, WORLD'S GREATEST BOXER American Who Discovered Knockout Punch Gave Every One a Chance to Win Title and Held the Championship Until Drink Defeated Him; Willard Says Jeffries Lost to Johnson Because Five Weeks of Training Could Not Offset Five Years of Careless Living; Also Declares That Marvin Hart Was a Dub. By JESS WILLARD. (Copyright, 1filf. by A. Merritt. All rlKhtjt reserved.) NOT only did Sullivan learn that, a puuch on tbo point of the jaw would produce temporary iu- nennibility, hut he had the punch. Ho could land the sleep producer pro-ducer wilh his left, but a savage jolt with the right was hiu favorite. They can talk all they please about Belcher, Jackson, Pcarce, Cully, Spring, Cribb and Suyers, but there never was a iiglttur in the world like John L. Sullivan. Sul-livan. What other champion in history ever went about the country meeting a man every niuht and offering a purse to anyone who could stand before him for four rounds. John L. Sullivan did just that, whipping more than a hundred hard customers on those terms. Tug Wilson, a tough Englishman, waB imported to take Sullivan 's measure. John L, failed to knock him out in the four rounds, but Tug buBtled back to Kngland rather than meet the Boston boy a second time. Police Stop Fight. Hubert Slade, the Maori, lasted three rounds, Alf Greenfield, another English importation, two rounds, and so on down the line. The one exception excep-tion was Charlie Mitchell, the English Eng-lish champion. The police stopped the first battle Hullivan-Mitchcll in the second round, and when they came together auain 8tillivan was too druDk to enter tfie rin7. It was the .beL'imiinff of the end, for not even Sullivan's iron frame could stand up against constant dissipation. dissi-pation. In 1SS7 Jake Kilrain of 'New York had reached a point where he felt that he could whip the mighty Sullivan. Tn his four vears of fighting he had never lost a battlo. for, like Sullivan, he knew the secret of the knock-out blow. Kilrain was one of the best all round athletes who ever entered the ring. He stood five feet, eleven inches and weighed 230 pounds. He could run like a deer and had been a champion oarsman. The men behind Kilrain 's challenge were Sullivan 's bitter enemies, and he paid no attention to it. Thereupon the Police Gazette announced that Kilrain was champion, and presented him with a diamond belt. In 1SS7, directly after the gift, Kilrain Kil-rain went to England and took on Jem Smith, the "near" champion. It was the third international fight, and took place on Isle St. Pierre, France. The men fought with bare knuckles and London prize ring rules, and after 106 rounds of fighting a draw was called on account of darkness. Sullivan Gets Draw. Xobodv. cither' in England or the United States, took Kilrain 's championship cham-pionship seriously. A year later Sullivan Sulli-van went over to meet Charlie Mitchell, the real English champion. The battle bat-tle was fought in Chantilly, France. The ring was pitched on the turf and a cold rain chilled the fighters and made the ring a regular boghole. For thirty-nine rounds Sullivan chased Mitchell over the twenty-four-foot ring. Mitchell's lighter weight, instead of proving a handicap, really proved his salvation. After three hours and eleven minutes of racing the referee called the battle a draw. Keturning to the United States. Sullivan Sul-livan was again hounded by Kilrain and the Police Gazette people. He waited until the Kilrain crowd offered to put up SKi.OOO, and tnen Be accepted ac-cepted the challenge. The battle was pulled off at Eich-burg, Eich-burg, Miss., on July 8, 1SS9, and Sullivan Sulli-van gave Kilrain the beating of his life. With Sullivan firmly intrenched as heavyweight champion and no challenger chal-lenger in sight, things began to boom in the other classes. With the passing of the barbarous old rules that called for bare knuckles and wrestling the ring took on new life. States and cities began to realize that there might be sonic good in the manly art, and I began to permit boxing again. More Saw Bouts. A better class of men began to fight- and a better class of people started going to see the fightB. In IS89 George Dixon. a marvelous little negro, won the featherweight championship cham-pionship of the world, and held it. against all comers. Jack McAuliffe, one of the cleverest men that ever put on a glove, took charge of the lightweight championship in 1SS5, and -mowed challengers down as fast as they came up. Jack Dempsev, the great Nonpanel, was middleweight champion, winning the title in 1SS4, and keeping it without with-out a defeat until his fluke knock-out bv La Blanche in 18S9. "Sullivan, Dixon, McAuliffe and Dempsev never was there a day when four such champions held their titles at the same time. In 1890 it didn't seem that anv change could possibly take place; the four were considered invincible. Dempsy was the first to go. Fitz-simmons, Fitz-simmons, tbo heavvweight on the leg of a lightweight, 'beat the Nonpariel in 1891 in thirteen rounds, and poor Dempsey drank himself to death. Corbett Beats John L. Eighteen hundred and ninety-two was a great year. On September 7 Sullivan Sul-livan entered tho ring again to defend his title, thiH time against .lames J. Corbett, tho San Francisco phenomenon. The same week in New Orleans, but; on different nights, Dixon and McAuliffe met challengers also. Sullivan had not fought for three years, and had been drinking steadily. Corbott was eight years younger, three inches taller and almost as heavy. Also his skill had been proved by desperate victories over men like Choynski and Kilrain, and a sixty-one-round draw with Peter Jackson. But Sullivan was regarded as unbeatable. un-beatable. Dixon and McAuliffe defended de-fended their titles successfully, and this was looked on as a sure sign of Sullivan's victory. Whisky beat Sullivan. He entered tho ring'fat and slow. The old furious attack was gone. The blows that used to speed home like bullets were now heavy, painful swings. All that he had left was his courage. Lost to Whisky. For twenty rounds he lumbered after the elusive Corbett, lunging and plunging plung-ing and getting a thousand stinging lefts square in the face. HiB heart ' weakened, his lungs gave out and the twenty-second round saw whisky's greatest victory. There is no telling how many thou sands Sullivan squandered on drink. Yet I know it to be a fact that he was broke in 1900, a regular down and outer. It was when his feet were right on the edge of the gutter that he managed to cut out whisky and take the brace that has given him a decent old age. - Jack McAuliffe lasted until 1894, when Kid Lavigne took possession of the lightweight title. George Dixon held on until 1900, when whisky made him a victim for the rushes of young Terry McGovern. For five years Corbett held the heavyweight championship, and held it cleanly and well. Like Gentleman Jackson Jack-son of the old English ring, he did much to elevate the game by his science and general decency. Mitchell, the boaster, came over in 1S94, and was soundly thrashed in three rounds. Then came that fatal St. Patrick 's day at Carson City when Bob Fitzsimmons uncovered the solar plexus punch and won the championship champion-ship in fourteen rounds. An amazing man, that Bob Fitzsimmons. Fitzsim-mons. I don't think the ring will ever see his like again. He claimed he was only 35 years of age when he fought Jeffries, but 40 would have been nearer the truth. Add to that the fact that he weighed 170 pounds and you have a world wonder. I have talked with manv experts, and all of them agree that Fitz would have whipped Jeffries but for his hands. Years of fighting had turned them into mush bags, so that his powerful power-ful smashes went for nothing. With the retirement of Jeffries in 1905 the ring again fell into bad shape. Marvin Hart, named as his successor, proved a dub. Tommy Burns was too small to stand up against a good big man. And so in 1910 we find Jeffries Jef-fries coming back into the ring to fight Johnson, the negro. Five years out of the ring. Five years of' careless living. Wby, it was a cinch for Johnson. And Jeffries Knew 11. lb was uecause lie mu. jvuu.v it because he learned that five weeks of training could not undo five years of loafing that he made such a poor fight. Since the day of Corbett 's victory over Mitchell it was the championship of the world that was being fought for. Poor old England basn t had a look-in at the title since 1S94. As a matter of fact. Jem Mace was the last English champion that amounted to a hill of beans. Bombardier Wells is certainly an awful come-down for the country that discovered prize fighting and owned it for a hundred years. (Tomorrow Willard will tell why be entered the ring a favorite over Johnson.) |