CHAMPIONS I HAVE KNOWN 255 



too, the Englishman was at a disadvantage, for he was 34 

 (within five weeks) — a time of life when prize-fighters have 

 usually been considered stale and past their prime. But 

 there was no sign of staleness about Tom Sayers as he 

 stood up that morning, confident and smiling, on the turf at 

 Farnborough. 



He was as brown as a gipsy, and looked all the darker 

 by contrast with Heenan's white skin. His arms, though 

 well shaped, had very little show of muscle, and his chest 

 was not remarkable ; but his neck was massive as a bull's, 

 and the exceptionally broad shoulders were very firmly 

 knit where they joined the collar-bone. It was in his lower 

 extremities, however, that Tom showed superiority over 

 his huge antagonist. His loins and legs were more com- 

 pact than those of the towering Yankee, and suggested far 

 greater spring and activity. 



But Sayers had one great advantage in the confidence 

 begotten of a long series of victories. He had fought and 

 beaten men almost as big and formidable as Heenan, 

 whilst the Benicia Boy was but a novice, who had fought 

 only one regular ring-fight, and had been beaten in that. 

 He was now called upon to fight the most celebrated 

 pugilist in the world before a crowd of strangers, three- 

 fourths of whom were prejudiced against him as a foreigner. 

 The combatants, therefore, were not so ill-matched as the 

 difference in their physique would indicate — indeed, I am 

 disposed to think that the advantage lay with Sayers. He 

 was the hero of fifteen public battles, all but one of which 

 he had won, and he was a far cleverer and more resourceful 

 fighter than Heenan ; he had every trick at his fingers' 

 ends ; and above all, he was the popular favourite, and 

 he knew it. 



Surely these points more than compensated for the 

 Benicia Boy's superior size and strength. With both 

 hands available, Sayers ought to have licked the Yankee 

 without much difficulty, and probably would have done so. 

 For my part, I should not have classed his victory under 

 such circumstances as by any means the most brilliant or 

 creditable in his career. But what no one can help 

 admiring was Tom's dogged pluck in fighting round after 



