1890-02-08 Birmingham Daily Post (page 8 ) THE BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP. -------- MACE V. MITCHELL FOR J1,000. At the Gaiety Theatre, Glasgow, last night, the much-talked-of meeting between Jem Mace, the retired champion of the world, and Charley Mitchell, English champion, took place for the boxing championship of England for points and stakes of J1,000, the conditions being four rounds of two minutes, with one minute interval. A large representation of the sporting fraternity were present, including a few from the Midlands and London. The men entered the ring at ten o'clock. The judges were Mr. Maxwell, London, and Captain Kaye, Edinburgh. Mr. R. Watson, London, officiated as referee, and Mr. Kidger as time-taker. Mitchell all through the first round forced the fighting, and the effects were disastrous to the ex-champion, who received a knockdown blow, the round finishing in favour of Mitchell. In the second round both men opened cautiously, Mace apparently reserving his force for the concluding round. Mitchell drove Mace against the ropes, and he again took the floor pretty much exhausted. The round, though again in Mitchell's favour, was more evenly contested, Mace landing neatly several times on Mitchell's face. In the third round Mitchell led off vigorously, and, evidently nettled at the applause accorded to Mace when he scored, showed some heavy fighting. Mace, however, seemed fresher, and met his man squarely, landing heavily on Mitchell's face, the latter sinking down for the first and only time. Here Mace showed to the greatest advantage, dealing a few very clean hits, for which he was loudly cheered. Mitchell replied on the body, putting in some telling work. Mace stepped out and hit freely, and was doing good work when time was called. In the fourth and last round Mitchell again led off vigorously, and got freely on the body and face, the ex-champion making some rather feeble efforts to counter. The round was little more than opened, it having gone so far in Mitchell's favour, when it was announced that the police had stopped the match. Amidst loud and excited calls for a decision, it was announced that so far as the match had gone it had been in Mitchell's favour, the verdict being accordingly awarded him. Throughout the match it was evident that Mace was not at all in condition to meet an opponent of Mitchell's agility and training. Mitchell was in excellent condition, and at the close seemed quite fresh, the ex-champion, on the other hand, showing distinct signs of exhaustion as early as at the close of the first round. 1890-02-08 Duluth Daily Tribune (page 1) MITCHELL, THE BOXER. ------ He Easily Vanquishes Mace in a Mill at Glasgow. Glasgow, Feb. 7.--The boxing match between Mitchell and Mace for $5,000 was short and decisive. It was fought in four rounds of two minutes each. Neither of the men had trained much. Two thousand persons witnessed it, and a large number of high-priced aristocrates gathered around the ring. The police at first objected, but yielded gracefully when it was explained that the match was purely to determine points of sparring, style and fistic skill. The contest began at 10 p.m. Mitchell forced the fighting from the first and gained the first knockdown blow. At the end of the first round it was evident that Mace had but little chance to win. In the second round Mace was again knocked down. He arose and was a little reluctant, but made, upon the whole, a better showing than that at the outset. In the third round he made a determined attempt to turn the tide. He landed on Mitchell's chest twice very heavily, and received in return one on his forehead, which staggered him. Nevertheless he faced up well. Mitchell slipped and fell. Both showed signs of distress and the veteran was clearly done up. Mitchell had him on the ropes and punished him severely. When time was called for the fourth round there were many doubts whether Mace could appear. But he came up, though in bad condition, and received a very heavy blow between the eyes. The police here ordered the match to cease, and both judges pronounced in favour of Mitchell. It was a very interesting contest. Mitchell showed himself very clever. Mace was capital, but he lacked the nimble readiness of other days. He broke the little finger of his left hand in the first round. Both hit very hard though no blood was drawn. The conclusion was that they sparred in a way to thoroughly satisfy a critical company.
Based on the showing of the older Mace you have to think that he could have taken Mitchel in his prime.
1908-02-21 The Evening Telegram (Salt Lake City, UT) (page 9) AUTHORITIES SAY JEFF WAS THE BEST -------- The San Francisco Bulletin has started a most interesting controversy as to whether Sullivan or Jeffries was the better man, and to that end has sent out queries to all the prominent sporting writers in the country who have seen both men fight. In their issue of February 13 they publish the opinions of what they consider the best eastern expert dope. It is as follows: 'The Bulletin prints today the 'opinions' of five great eastern experts, which are evenly divided. Otto Floto, Joe Nolan, sporting editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the greatest sporting paper in the middle west; Bat Masterson, one of the recognized boxing authorities; Billy Madden, former manager of John L. Sullivan, and George Considine, who backed Jim Corbett in some of his great fights, make their selections. It will be noted that both factions are most decided in their views. "Consider Jeffries much better than Sullivan ever was."--Otto Floto, sporting editor Post. "Sullivan never in Jeffries' class. Greatest fighter ever lived."--George F. Considine. "Sullivan could beat Jeffries the best day he ever saw."--Billy Madden. "Jim Jeffries the best by forty miles."--Bat Masterson. "I consider Sullivan better man, though Jeffries beat some great men."--Joe Nolan, sporting editor Enquirer.
A time when McVey vs Mendoza was tame lulz Interesting reads I too think Jeffries would lick Sullivan, although Sullivan is such a wild card it's hard to say with any sort of assurance
I think the idea of Jeffries in fighting trim at 240 lb is wrong, but I can accept that at 240 he may have beeen inshape by regular folk standards. If Jeffreis had been born into our day, I wouldn't be at all suprised if he'd be fighting around 240 lb. Edgren's dig at Johnson was misinformative and uncalled for.
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i think perhaps the fight of the milenium - the greatest fight of all time - would be a fight to the finish, winner take all with gloves and three minute rounds between these two warriors - imagine
Thanks Senya. The funny thing about these old threads being bumped is your initial reaction to them, then scrolling down to see if you responded and what you wrote years ago. The testimonials given are very good, but I think you have to throw Billys Maddens out as he was Sullivans manager. When you take Madden out of the equation, its 3-1 for Jeffries with the one giving a hedged vote for Sullivan. If you want Madden in, and add Jeffries old manager in Brady, it would be 4-2 for Jeffries. Sometimes its human nature to give an edge to the guy you like. Here Sullivan towers of Jeffries as seemed to like the attention of large crowds, and talking to the sports reporters. Jeffries was a private type of person, and did not trust the press. So the advantage is Sullivans, yet the votes were mostly for Jeffries. Regarding Sullivan, I really think hes tough to rate for numerous reasons. 1 ) Lack of quality competition beaten who would rank say in the top 3 each decade after he retired. 2) A relatively short prime. 3 ) Too many matches where he didnt blow out smaller men. I am sold John L was an explosive puncher. I am sold he had quick hands, but I also think like many punchers he wasnt well rounded. Outside of the right hand, Jeffries has an edge over Sullivan in all areas of boxing and was far more tested in the ring For whats its worth, there was talk of Sullivan meeting Jeffries for a title fight, I think in the year 1900. It would have been very one sided, but I also think it would almost have to be filmed. There is not film on Sullivan in the ring. There are only photos. There is film of Sullivan hitting a speed bag for the 1910 Reno fight, but he was very poor in doing so, missing badly at times.
You are a very hard marker. He pretty much obliterated everyone he faced, knocked down every single one of them except corbett and it was only when Johnny Barley caught up with him that anyone was in the same class. No more than a handful of men managed to go the distance with him, and most of those matches were only 4 rounds.
Former heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan took offense at the attempts of some writers who never saw him fight to say that he was not a scientific fighter and would not be in it with Jeffries. “I could produce sports who will tell you that I could strike more blows in ten seconds than any man living could strike in a minute, and these blows counted some. … I’ve ducked plenty of them [punches]. There are a lot of good fellows writing for newspapers who never saw me fight.” [FONT="]Police Gazette[/FONT][FONT="], March 31, 1906.[/FONT]
That's true, I don't think either Edgren or Nolan had seen John L. fights. Edgren was born in 1874 and got a start in journalism in 1895 at San Francisco Examiner. Nolan was born circa 1877 and started either during late 1890s or very early 1900s at Cincinnati Enquirer. I suppose, both based their opinions of Sullivan on what they heard from Bill Naughton (Edgren; Naughton first saw John L's fight in 1887) and Harry Weldon and John McCormick (Nolan; now these two I would like to hear what they had to say on this matchup). Floto was managing boxers in 1885 already, so must have seen some Sullivan's fights. Considine was born circa 1872, so also unlikely that he had seen John L.'s bouts. Madden, quite obviously, had seen plenty of John L.'s bouts, including facing Sullivan in the ring himself.
