Fighters Seek to Settle Grudge Over Woman in Ring

1896

Britt and Lawler Indulge in a Fist Fight All on Account of a Woman

San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 18. — It took twenty-eight rounds of desperate bare knuckle slugging to settle the grudge that has existed for a long time between Jimmy Britt, once the champion bantamweight of the coast, and Frank Lawler, another well known athlete whose doings in the fistic arena have made him quite prominent.

Britt and Lawler were formerly friends but had a falling out over a member of the fair sex and decided to settle the controversy in a bare knuckle finish fight. Both being members of a well known athletic club that has turned out a great many good boxers, it was decided to hold the match there. The location of the ring was kept a secret until the last minute and while the fighters were in training, no one except a favored few knew where the mill was to take place.

These few selected a well known sporting man as referee and the combatants stripped and went to work. The first three rounds consisted of hot give and take work with the result that both showed signs of distress when the fourth round was called. From the fifth to the twelfth, however, the fighting was fast with honors about even. They took things easy until the twentieth when another fierce rally, nearly resulted in Britt going out from a right hand swing that landed on his neck. He recovered in the next round and from that to the twenty-eighth round had a shade the best of the argument, Lawler being tired. As there seemed to be little chance of a finish and both men were terribly punished the referee called the match a draw.