29.—Pearce was now every round gaining advantage.
30.—Gully put in a good hit, and fell. This irritated Pearce, and he stood over him apparently much exasperated.
31.—Long sparring. Pearce struck, but fell short; Gully struck over his guard, and it was thought almost blinded his right eye.
33.—Pearce very shy. Gully followed him round the ring, but Pearce knocked him down with a blow in his throat.
36.—Gully appeared very weak. He made a hit at the Chicken’s head, which he caught, and Pearce made a slight return. Gully made a good hit, which Pearce parried with his left hand, and with his right knocked down his opponent.
37 to 43.—In all these rounds the Chicken had the advantage; both were bleeding freely, particularly Gully, whose ear flowed copiously. Gully appeared shy of advancing; his head was dreadfully swollen, and his eyes appeared nearly closed.
44.—Pearce dexterously put in his favourite hit in the throat, and his antagonist fell. Gully had now received so many severe blows, that he could not face his man; he, however, continued to protract the fight by making a feint hit, and falling, until the
64th round, when, by great persuasion, he yielded the palm, after a contest of one hour and seventeen minutes.
Remarks.—Both combatants were dreadfully beaten, neither being hardly able to see out of either eye. A subscription was immediately made for the unfortunate champion. Soon after Gully had given in, Pearce came up to him, shook hands with him, and said, “You’re a d——d good fellow; I’m hard put to it to stand. You are the only man that ever stood up to me.”
This was, as Pearce afterwards said in private conversation, the severest battle he ever fought, and that he was never so near being deprived of his hard-earned position. As to Gully’s being “a novice,” as he was termed, Pearce laughed at the notion. He had all the tactics of a good general, backed by weight, strength, youth, and resolution. “He has ‘a head’ for fighting,” said the Chicken, in his own rough but figurative language; “he must be a sharp chap, and get up early, as beats John Gully, I can tell you.”