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gThe Great Fight.ieli119ve ofll-IS.a-We can venture to speak of the great event fixed for the 16th of April without itnv danger ot not being understood. It is beginning to le known, even in circles where sporting newspapers are never seen, that the tight between Sayers anti Heenan,called the Benicia Boy, is to take place on the day ujamed, and it is evident to every one who observes what is passing in society, that loth in ttreat Britain and the United States this battle is regarded with an unusually deep and extensive interest. The explanation of this change of sentiment towards prize fighting, is to be found, we think, in various circumstances. In the first place flum-* - — - — ^ «« V- • * * * » »ternational character which has been .ascribed tothe approaching contest gives to it an importancelatch between two Englishmen,ofru-d-?r-n-ierw hich ati ordinary niarranged perhaps for the benefit of a tew spottingpublicans, could not claita§|?i5jWe are by no means sure *hat this match has not attained its world-wide fame contrary to the intention of the parties principally concerned. It is of course the business of Tom Sayers, as ( Hampton of England, to answer all worthy challenges; butwe believe that his opponent rather declines thehonor which has been thrjist upon him ot representing the pugilism of America, lie is reported to have said that he has come to England to tight Toni Sayers, because he wishes to fight him, and for no other reason. Nevertheless the public appears to be determined to look upon the Benic ia Bov as the Champion of the IJnited States, and tonSedereeofia-adordsir-idhee-ic-heus*o-3t-LOtritsmertha);ndndnala-ndthealyalyer-ici-ioniseorjovkentAgtreat the issue of this fight as a matter ot nationalimportance. But it seems to us that there is another and a deeper reason why prize-fighting is likely to regain some of the considerations which it enjoyed fifty years ago. The truth is that the minds of men are being carried more and more every day toward the subjects which chiefly interested them when the Ring-was supported by the wealthy and noble, just as openly and as generally as the race course now is. Amid the din of prolonged war, prize-fighting reached its highest, as in the slumber of profound peace it sunk to the lowest point. There is much in the modern proceedings of the Ring which nobody can defend, and much more which many dislike; but as soon as it is felt that fighting in sober earnest may possibly^become every man s highest duty, any imitation of actual battle which calls forth courage, skill and perse-v trance* i# cert a i n to acquire popularity in spite of adjuncts which are coarse and brutal, and such as a sensitive nature shrinks from with intense disgust. In a country where it is known that honor and property are only safe as long as the citizens are ready to fight in its defence, tne nature which loves fighting for its own sake will always command respect. A man like Tom Sayers, who left his business as a bricklayer from mere devotion to boxing, possesses, we may say, a character which, in proportion as it prevails among Englishmen, will make this country feared abroad and safe at home. We hope and believe that thcrearemany thousands like him in strength and spirit, but sticking to their business, whatever it may be, steadily, and yet ready for a fight with any one who may think fit to challenge them, and looking upon the use of arms, not as a disagreeable duty, but as a pleasant interlude in the daily routine of life. It may surprise some persons, but it is, nevertheless, true, that Tom Sayers and the Benicia Boy furnish at the present moment an example which deserves to be generally imitated. For what, let us ask. is the course of training which these champions must undergo at their country quarters during the weeks which precede the fight ? The first principle to be observed is “to keep the body in temperance, soberness and chastity.' The boxer knows he is nothing without training, and accordingly he trains diligently. But, as the Oracle of the King puts it, “the mass of mankind who indulge in excesses of every kind—in too much eating, drinking, sloth, smoking, c.,—would go through the task of life, would discharge their respective duties much better, far quicker, and with vastly greater ease to themselves did they submit to training. We believe this is true of every one of life's duties; but it is in an eminent degree true of a duty which many men have lately undertaken to perform—we mean the duty of volunteer riflemen. A great.!IOWind 6 re•h.”ia.on. st ofld, r airs,*lis-ion(tikehisoftheor-ild,uchnotthethe* *WB.SWeiysrt~pyofse-tni-to k am-tso,cy.hisforaedtherryhisnotentilekc.,hepart of the doubt which veteran officers entertain as to the utility of volunteers would be dissipated if the precepts laid clown in the general training in Fistiana were diligently acted upon iu the next three months. We should then see bodies of active, patient, volunteer soldiers, ready to bear at least as much fatigue as any regiment of the line, and, also, to bear it with a great deal more cheerfulness.“It is not demanded of professional men that they should train rigidly like the boxer. Their occupations would not permit it; but to imitate his mode of training as far as circumstances will allow.” The training which is here recommended depends only upon diet and exercise. A man w ho had habitually practiced it, lately showed mmself able at more than 70 years of age, to walk from London to Canterbury. 44 Depend upon it, says the author of Fistiana, 44 that man had been a temperate, sober, nay, a chaste man. He bids his readers look for their examples to the savages of North America, 44 whose lives from childhood to old age were a long hard course of rigid training. Those savages he says, were ever watchful, ever exercising themselves. They commanded their passions. They became as tough as the ash of their mountains. They consumed what nature required, and no more. And this is the model which the boxer must set before himself in training, and which should also be studied by every Englishman who desires to serve his country with the full capacity which Heaven has given him. The boxer s mode of life ought to be so simple and natural that it is to be feared that in London only a distant imitation of it would be possible. He to rise with the sun, and in summer time he is to go to bed with it. His food is to be beef and mutton, plainly cooked, country-made bread, and a very moderate allowance of home-brewed beer. If possible, let him avoid tea or coffee altogether, but if the habit of taking them cannot wholly be laid aside, he must be content to drink them cold. But he will do far better to give them up entirely, and to take at his breakfast water-gruel. “ At any hour of the day or night, let no man who seeks health deny himself all-potent water-gruel. Perhaps we cannot better convey a notion of the strictness of the precepts set forth in Fistiana, than by saying that water-gruel is the only luxury with regard to which the author insists upon his golden rule of 44 moderation, moderation, moderation.” Such, then, are the limits of sensual enjoyment prescribed to the combatants An the interval before the fight. Of the active duties of a boxer in training—of his walking, running, sparring with his preceptor, pummeling away at the stuffed sacks, and wielding clubs and dumb bells—it is enough to say, that w hen the day of battle comes, it is often felt as a relief from the more severe punishment of the preparation. Many a pugilist has exulted in his escape from his trainer s hands into his adversary’s, just as, in armies where a severe discipline prevails, the actual duties of a campaign seem to be looked upon as a sort of holiday. And we believe from the character of the men, tbat the 16th of April will be awaited by Sayers and Heenan in the same cheerful spirit. It is to be hoped that the American’s demand for a fair field and no favor will be conceded.—London Sat-mrdajf Review. /l-k--.' 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Newspaper Details
The World We Live In
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Sat, Apr 07, 1860
Page 3
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TX, USA 18 Sep 2022
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