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CALIFORNIA FIGHTING AND RACING RACINGIn Racing In a personal letter to a Chicago friend that high class gentleman Joe Murphy who is asso assoc ¬ ciated cited with Joseph J Burke in the judges stand at Oakland writes Everybody that is anybody was at the SharkeyFitzsitnmons fight and each one whether he is anybody or not has his individual opinion of the decision of Referee Wjatt Watt Earp based on what he saw Each too whether he is anybody or not will tell you that he was within ten feet of the stage and that he knows beyond dispute just what happened and that Referee Earp was a donkey or worse or that he was a pugulistic pugilistic Solomon according to the leaning the speaker might have towards either of the stars of the evening I think at least that a thousand people have told me that they were within ten feet of the ring and saw it all Perhaps they did That is what they paid their money for As for me I was within ten feet of the platform and I think I saw it all but my philosophy has reach ¬ ed that stage during which I have learned to hold my peace unless my advice is asked for It was not on this occasion If I declared that Fitzsimmons was robbed it would not change the result a particle If I swore by all that was noble that the decision was correct I would probably be accused of either betting on the result or leaning towards Sharkey Shake for inter ¬ ested bested motives So as I said above I will imi Simi ¬ tate the Irishman who had not a word to say but kept his thinking apparatus in silent action However I can without fear of offending any ¬ one say something of the merits of the two men as they appeared to me and the chances either would have in a fight to a finish with the Cor Cora bett betty that I saw lower Charlie Mitchells Mitchell colors at Jacksonville Fla Flab That is the Corbett Corvette we must compare with the two stars of the local fight The Jacksonville form is the last we have to draw from barring Corbetts Cornets last with Sharkey Shake in which he claimed he was not at his best We must give him the benefit of the doubt The fighting routine supports Corbett Corvette CorbettSharkey Sharkey Shake was born twenty years too late I believe that he would have been a champion under London prize ring rules The ExBritish Hebraists sailor lacks range and size and while a perfect Apollo in form and strong as an ox ho cannot get to a good shifty man who possesses a good left to prop him as ho rushes A man like Peter Jackson would cut him to ribbons with his left hand jabs He belongs to the short armed class represented by Tom Allen Tom Sayers Sawyers Jim Smith and their kind A rangy man like Coi CIO bett betty or Fitzsimmons would have chopped him all to pieces under the present system of club contests which reduce fights simply to long range sparring with but scant mixing at close quarters and no punching in a clinch even if one arm be free freeUnder greener Under the elderly London rules where wrest ¬ ling is allowed I firmly believe that Sharkey Shake could rough a man into submission without ever landing his fist on him but I do not believe that under the present rules the championship will ever fall to his lot His straight leads at the lanky Australians wind were woefully short His swings never even reached the big exblacksmiths guard Then too Sharkey Shake when hurried gets rattled and unsteady There was an agreement that both fighters should break away fairly without any attempt to punch I firmly believe that Sharkey Shake meant to fight fairly and did s o until Fitz Fritz began to crowd him Tuen Ten he grabbed the Australian by the knees or any old place he could get hold of True he did Fitz Fritz no harm but he just seemed to forget the first principles of ring ethics Time may soften or obliterate this tendency on Sbarkeys Barleys part to go up in the air at the first chance offered but I doubt it itMysterious Mysterious Billy Smith and men of his kind will promise all kinds of things when they go in the ring The first punch they get they are like a bull in a china shop Joe Choynski Coonskin had Fitz Fritz whipped at Boston from all accounts But he rushed in received a terrific punch and the police saved him Did that teach him any ¬ thing Nol He journyod journeyed back and did the same thing with Peter Maher MaherThe Machete The same fault which has kept Mysterious Billy Smith Boston Johnny Griffin all will re ¬ member how he threw a fight away with Solly Solely Smith at Roby Robby and Joe Choynski Coonskin in the sec ¬ ond bond rank of fighters will retard Sharkeys Shakes ad ¬ vance towards the top of the ladder His lack of size is less a flaw to my mind than his lack of balance balanceFitzsimmons Fitzsimmons tactics in the tight were novel and inexplicable to me I have always seen him work so fast that his lack of speed in action was surprising In the first round he showed a flash of his old speed when he caught the sailor coming with his right hand and dropped him then followed him and dropped him with a left hook There were stages of the fight however when Fitzsimmons fought like an old woman although his finish was fast and effective Sharkey Shake would swing wide and leave himself wide open Yet Fitz Fritz was either unwilling to take a chance or the old speed was not there He certainly lost many a chance that I do not believe Corbott Orbit would leave over ¬ looked lookedYou looked You remember Ed Williamson He told me once that when an athlete passed the thirty year goal he grew slower every hour Ed knew too from bitter experience I have often thought of Eds Beds idea since and I thought of it the fightFitzsimmons night of the SharkeyFitzsimmons fight Fitzsimmons was J8 years old when he fought Jack Dempsey I believe he has grown no younger since When faharkey ashcake fell in the eighth round he was not out When he went down he sat upright for an instant and then fell back on his head Men do not fall that way when they are genuinely out outJoe outgoes Joe Choynski Coonskin always had the credit of knock ¬ ing King out Chocolate Godfrey Geoffrey at Coney Island When the negro was on the floor he reached up to caress his damaged eye Anyone who has seen much fighting will realize that neither Godfrey Geoffrey nor Sharkey Shake were out Still it must be admitted that Sharkey Shake was whipped whether out or not Everyone who saw Corbett Corvette fight Sharkey Shake admits that the Champion put it all over1 the sailor as long es his steam lasted Fitzsimmons on the other hand never at any stage seems sure of getting his man when he went after him himI him I think that Fitz Fritz would be bothered a deal in infatting inflating fatting to Corbett Corvette with the latter good and fit xperts experts have always claimed that Fitz Fritz would outpunch outgun the American When Sullivan was matched to fight Corbett Corvette I had a talk with the big fellow in his dressing room at the old Peoples Theatre in Chicago where he and Dun ¬ can Harrison were playing Honest Hearts and Willing Hands I remember John Ls words well They are Corbett Corvette is a shifty young fellow but he can ¬ not butterThose butter punch a hole in a pound of butter Those words recurred to me a few months afte after wards when I saw the big fellow fall like an ox in the river sand that made up the ring in the Olympia Club at New Orleans Those who were at Jacksonville when Corbett Corvette whipped Mitchell will remember that famous mix up in one of the corners in the first round They will not forget thatuppercut taupe that Corbett Corvette gave Mitchell over the heart which in my opin opine ¬ ion ended the fight When the Englishman reached his corner he looked up in Jim Halls face I thought you told me that fellow could not punch was all he said but the remark expressed a whole lot lotSome loathsome Some oue moue had made Mitchell believe that he was simply going up against a finished sparrer spare He was quick to realize that he was up against a hurricane fighter I think Corbett Corvette faster than Fitzsimmons and there is not much difference in their punching ability Therefore I would look to Corbett Corvette for the winner if they over meet meetThe mettle The racing here this winter has been superb The greatest drawback has been the scarcity of good riders That has now been remedied and I predict the most successful year the slope has ever had The Oakland track is one of the very handsomest I have ever seen the Berkley Beckley hills in the distance forming a back ground at once beautiful and picturesque The footing is good in all kinds of weather the service first class and the stabling and water excellent
