Heenan - Sayers April 17th, 1860 London
Posted: 04 Jun 2017, 14:59
THE GREAT FIGHT.; FULL PARTICULARS. THIRTY-SEVEN ROUNDS FOUGHT. The Event Declared to be a Drawn Battle. DISGRACEFUL RIOT ON THE GROUNDS. Indignation Meeting of Americans in London. Heenan in Good Condition After the Fight. AN ODE TO THE VICTOR.
From Another Correspondent.
Published: April 30, 1860
LONDON, Monday, April 17, 1860.
From Our Special Correspondent.
[page3] . . . In a little less than an hour from the stopping of the trains, the two men entered the ring. It was the first time they had met, HEENAN having missed a rendezvous made for a meeting some time previous, as is the custom. They shook hands and chatted pleasantly while the preparations were going on, each scrutinizing, in the meantime, his man, and calculating the work he was going to have to do. Both men were in good condition, looked confident, SAYERS appearing naturally the most at home in the ring. As they stripped, each man was loudly cheered, but the American had but fifteen or twenty voices against two thousand. These few, however, made no mean noise, you may be sure. HEENAN threw up a penny, won the corner, and threw SAYERS with his eyes to the sun. They shook hands, and went to work warily, both men smiling, and in good hum.
I herewith send you the official report of the fight as published this afternoon in an extra of Bell's Life in London. It is fuller and more technical than my own notes. I stood next the ring. I saw the fight from beginning to end, and I have running remarks to make on this report. The end of the fight is not correctly reported in London, and perhaps will not be. I had been told by Englishmen before the fight that there was too much money bet at odds in favor of SAYERS for HEENAN to be permitted to gain the contest. English gamblers are just as desperate as any other gamblers, and in the condition of speculation in which HEENAN went to the field, a fair showing was hardly to be expected. The men appointed to take care of the ring and see a fair fight, were men who had bet largely on SAYERS, and the whole two thousand Englishmen present were yelling furiously for SAYERS, an old fighter, while chaffing HEENAN, a young and inexperienced one.
While nothing could be more admirable than the deportment and skill of TOM SAYERS from the beginning to the end of the fight, I pretend to say that from the end of the first round to the close, HEENAN showed himself to be the superior man, as well in endurance as in strength of blow and skill. He was never knocked down once, while he sent SAYERS to the grass fairly about twenty times. In all the clenched falls which took place, HEENAN fell under but once. HEENAN came to the scratch every time first, and he did all the attacking, preserving a contant smile, and showing not only good humor, but a . . . [distorted print] . . . of honest love of the game. The Englishmen all declared that they never saw "so grit a man" for his age, in all their lives.
The fight had lasted about two hours, and had been thus far conducted perfectly fairly on both sides. There was not the slightest show of a "foul" during all this time on either side, and both men were yet firm on their pegs and capable of fighting half as long again. HEENAN had the most marks, because he was young, his flesh was soft, and whenever SAYERS touched his noddle it swelled out like a puff ball. But of the two HEENAN had yet much the most fight in him. One of his eyes was shut, and all SAYERS' hope was to shut the other. Everybody saw that it was his only chance, and all his fire was directed at HEENAN's remaining eye. HEENAN being afraid of this game determined to throw all his force into a few concluding rounds which should finish SAYERS.
HEENAN now went at SAYERS most terribly and succeeded in getting his head into chancery. In this position be held him hard against, the stake, within three feet, of where I stood, and here the fight would have been ended if the English had not rushed in and broken up the ring. SAYERS was black in the face, and by the time HEENAN would have finished the round, if let alone, SAYERS could not have come to time. The English say that HEENAN was killing him in that position, and that they were right in interfering; but the fact is that HEENAN was only trying to throw him, and in doing this his grant arm was stopping the circulation in SAYERS' jugulars. He would have got him down before he was totally suffocated, and the fight would have terminated by SAYERS not coming to time.
[page 4] After this there were three rounds fought, in all of which HEENAN had the advantage, and in one of which he held SAYERS' head again a long time in chancery. Each time SAYERS was much too slow to the scratch, and it was evident to everybody that the rest of the fight was HEENAN's. Each time, too, the ring was broken up by the English, notwithstanding the efforts of the Americans to preserve it. The wildest confusion reigned, and it was evident to the most stupid looker-on that HEENAN was not to be allowed to gain the money he had honestly won.
At the end of these three rounds HEENAN again came to time, and stood in the middle of the ring waiting for his man, anxious to finish the fight, but SAYERS did not come to time. After waiting half a minute beyond the call, and SAYERS still remaining seated, the Americans yelled triumph, and took away their man. But when they looked for the Referee, Mr. DOWLING, to obtain his decision for their man, he was not be found! He had withdrawn at the round in which HEENAN had held SAYERS so long in chancery, and in which the ring had been broken in, declaring that he would not preside where he could not see what was taking place. The Police also, who had interfered, ordered him to desist acting as Referee, but this took place before the ring was broken in. Under any circumstances, however good Mr. DOWLING's excuse may have been for leaving the place, it must be recollected that it was SAYERS' friends, the English, who broke up the ring, and rendered the termination of the fight impossible. Moreover the Police were not obeyed, nor the ring broken down, till it was evident that Sayers was a whipped man.
HEENAN is blamed for showing his temper at the close toward SAYERS and his seconds. But after what precedes, the reader will know how to excuse his momentary forgetfulness. HEENAN ran to the railway station after the fight with as much activity as if nothing bad occurred, while SAYERS was supported away from the place by his seconds.
Mr. DOWLING declares the battle a drawn one, the bets are to be cancelled, and if the fight is renewed it cannot take place for a month or more.
But the Benicia Boy is the Champion of the World
From Another Correspondent.
Published: April 30, 1860
LONDON, Monday, April 17, 1860.
From Our Special Correspondent.
[page3] . . . In a little less than an hour from the stopping of the trains, the two men entered the ring. It was the first time they had met, HEENAN having missed a rendezvous made for a meeting some time previous, as is the custom. They shook hands and chatted pleasantly while the preparations were going on, each scrutinizing, in the meantime, his man, and calculating the work he was going to have to do. Both men were in good condition, looked confident, SAYERS appearing naturally the most at home in the ring. As they stripped, each man was loudly cheered, but the American had but fifteen or twenty voices against two thousand. These few, however, made no mean noise, you may be sure. HEENAN threw up a penny, won the corner, and threw SAYERS with his eyes to the sun. They shook hands, and went to work warily, both men smiling, and in good hum.
I herewith send you the official report of the fight as published this afternoon in an extra of Bell's Life in London. It is fuller and more technical than my own notes. I stood next the ring. I saw the fight from beginning to end, and I have running remarks to make on this report. The end of the fight is not correctly reported in London, and perhaps will not be. I had been told by Englishmen before the fight that there was too much money bet at odds in favor of SAYERS for HEENAN to be permitted to gain the contest. English gamblers are just as desperate as any other gamblers, and in the condition of speculation in which HEENAN went to the field, a fair showing was hardly to be expected. The men appointed to take care of the ring and see a fair fight, were men who had bet largely on SAYERS, and the whole two thousand Englishmen present were yelling furiously for SAYERS, an old fighter, while chaffing HEENAN, a young and inexperienced one.
While nothing could be more admirable than the deportment and skill of TOM SAYERS from the beginning to the end of the fight, I pretend to say that from the end of the first round to the close, HEENAN showed himself to be the superior man, as well in endurance as in strength of blow and skill. He was never knocked down once, while he sent SAYERS to the grass fairly about twenty times. In all the clenched falls which took place, HEENAN fell under but once. HEENAN came to the scratch every time first, and he did all the attacking, preserving a contant smile, and showing not only good humor, but a . . . [distorted print] . . . of honest love of the game. The Englishmen all declared that they never saw "so grit a man" for his age, in all their lives.
The fight had lasted about two hours, and had been thus far conducted perfectly fairly on both sides. There was not the slightest show of a "foul" during all this time on either side, and both men were yet firm on their pegs and capable of fighting half as long again. HEENAN had the most marks, because he was young, his flesh was soft, and whenever SAYERS touched his noddle it swelled out like a puff ball. But of the two HEENAN had yet much the most fight in him. One of his eyes was shut, and all SAYERS' hope was to shut the other. Everybody saw that it was his only chance, and all his fire was directed at HEENAN's remaining eye. HEENAN being afraid of this game determined to throw all his force into a few concluding rounds which should finish SAYERS.
HEENAN now went at SAYERS most terribly and succeeded in getting his head into chancery. In this position be held him hard against, the stake, within three feet, of where I stood, and here the fight would have been ended if the English had not rushed in and broken up the ring. SAYERS was black in the face, and by the time HEENAN would have finished the round, if let alone, SAYERS could not have come to time. The English say that HEENAN was killing him in that position, and that they were right in interfering; but the fact is that HEENAN was only trying to throw him, and in doing this his grant arm was stopping the circulation in SAYERS' jugulars. He would have got him down before he was totally suffocated, and the fight would have terminated by SAYERS not coming to time.
[page 4] After this there were three rounds fought, in all of which HEENAN had the advantage, and in one of which he held SAYERS' head again a long time in chancery. Each time SAYERS was much too slow to the scratch, and it was evident to everybody that the rest of the fight was HEENAN's. Each time, too, the ring was broken up by the English, notwithstanding the efforts of the Americans to preserve it. The wildest confusion reigned, and it was evident to the most stupid looker-on that HEENAN was not to be allowed to gain the money he had honestly won.
At the end of these three rounds HEENAN again came to time, and stood in the middle of the ring waiting for his man, anxious to finish the fight, but SAYERS did not come to time. After waiting half a minute beyond the call, and SAYERS still remaining seated, the Americans yelled triumph, and took away their man. But when they looked for the Referee, Mr. DOWLING, to obtain his decision for their man, he was not be found! He had withdrawn at the round in which HEENAN had held SAYERS so long in chancery, and in which the ring had been broken in, declaring that he would not preside where he could not see what was taking place. The Police also, who had interfered, ordered him to desist acting as Referee, but this took place before the ring was broken in. Under any circumstances, however good Mr. DOWLING's excuse may have been for leaving the place, it must be recollected that it was SAYERS' friends, the English, who broke up the ring, and rendered the termination of the fight impossible. Moreover the Police were not obeyed, nor the ring broken down, till it was evident that Sayers was a whipped man.
HEENAN is blamed for showing his temper at the close toward SAYERS and his seconds. But after what precedes, the reader will know how to excuse his momentary forgetfulness. HEENAN ran to the railway station after the fight with as much activity as if nothing bad occurred, while SAYERS was supported away from the place by his seconds.
Mr. DOWLING declares the battle a drawn one, the bets are to be cancelled, and if the fight is renewed it cannot take place for a month or more.
But the Benicia Boy is the Champion of the World
