28.—Parker, as usual, led off with his left, but caught it in return from Brassey’s right on the lug. In the close Parker caught Brassey round the waist, threw, and fell on him, thereby showing that he possessed strength enough if he had but courage to use it.
29.—Counter-hits, followed by a close, in which, after a slight struggle, Brassey threw Parker on his back and fell on him. Parker in going down caught at Brassey’s face open-handed, and drew blood from his mouth. (Cries of “He’s gouging him,” and exclamations of disgust.)
30.—Wild fighting, in which trifling exchanges took place, and Parker went down, Brassey falling on his knees beside him.
31.—Parker led off, but Brassey retreated, hitting out wildly. Parker rushed in to him, and Brassey fell as he stepped back. From this to the 38th round little mischief was done. Parker generally led off, and occasionally delivered heavy blows left and right, which began to tell on Brassey’s phisog; Brassey was far from idle, but Parker invariably pursued his dropping system when mischief was likely to ensue.
39.—In this round they looked at each other for some time with their arms down, Brassey laughing and shaking his flabby sides, but still fresh and vigorous. At last, on approaching nearer, Brassey let go his left, with little effect. In the short rally which followed Brassey received a heavy right-handed thump on the jaw, and Parker went down.
In a rally in the 44th round heavy blows were exchanged, Parker catching it on the nose, which again commenced bleeding, but he still pursued his getting down system. In the 46th round Brassey led off, hitting Parker on the ear with his right, and repeating the dose with his left on the mouth and nose; Parker down bleeding, and 3 to 1 offered on Brassey, although he had evidently received the worst of the punishment. Parker’s pusillanimous system of dropping excited general disapprobation, but he contrived so to time his tactics as to keep within the pale of the law. Brassey’s seconds, finding that Parker’s one two was invariably set aside when Brassey led off, urged him to let fly the moment Parker approached; from these assaults, Parker, stopping left and right, retreated, but in the 55th round went down so palpably without a blow, that cries of “Foul!” burst from all quarters. An appeal was instantly made to the referee, who, however, would not pronounce his judgment till properly applied to by the umpires, to whom no appeal was at all made, and Brassey, instead of retiring to his corner, as he ought to have done, to await a deliberate decision, rushed to take the handkerchiefs from the stake, an example which “King Dick” followed. At this moment Parker approached Brassey, struck him a heavy blow with his right, and a desperate rally ensued; heavy hits were exchanged left and right, and in the close both were down. On rising to their seconds’ knees both showed severe marks of punishment, Parker on his left ear, and Brassey on his mouth and left eye. This renewal of the combat with such mutual good will necessarily set aside the claim of “foul,” and thereby deprived Brassey of the verdict of “victory,” which would doubtless have been given in his favour.[28]
56.—Counter-hits with the left, when Brassey caught Parker another of his terrific round hits on the ear, and after a short scramble Parker got down.
57.—A rally, in which heavy hits were exchanged, Parker down, Brassey falling upon him with his knees. (“Foul” was claimed for Parker, but the intention was not sufficiently apparent to justify a decision in his favour, added to which, he provoked the act by his own tricks.)
From this to the 100th round the same style of fighting was pursued, with alternate changes, Parker receiving some heavy lunges from Brassey’s right on his ear, which was dreadfully swollen, and presented a most unseemly aspect, and Brassey catching it repeatedly on the mouth and face—the former of which was cut, and the latter exhibited marks of repeated visitations. Parker went down at the termination of almost every round, obviously to avoid punishment; but although this system was cowardly, and opposed to the character of a fair stand-up fight, he contrived so to time his prostrations, as to keep himself within the pale of the law; blows, however slight, having been exchanged. The unnecessary length of the spikes in his shoes might have had some influence in the falls, but it was too clear that he wanted a heart to stand up manfully to give and take in the old English fashion. From the 100th to the 117th round the same objectionable system was pursued; but although numerous hits were exchanged, and the marks of punishment on the side of Parker’s head and Brassey’s frontispiece increased in severity, there was still no decisive mischief done. Brassey’s left seemed to be of little use to him; and although with Caunt he used it with cutting effect, with Parker he did no execution, and the right side of Parker’s face was literally without a mark. Nevertheless, in the 118th round, Brassey was the favourite at 2 to 1. From the 118th to the 127th round, during which time the same style of tactics was adopted, little visible alteration took place in the spirits of the men, both coming to the scratch with confidence, but slowly. In the latter round, however, Parker succeeded in delivering a heavy blow with his right on Brassey’s nob, who fell in a state of apparent insensibility. All was now thought to be over, and a simultaneous rush took place from all quarters to the ring. “Time” was called, to which Brassey did not respond. Parker, for whose personal safety from the crowd apprehensions were evidently entertained, was almost immediately taken away, his seconds and friends claiming the battle. To the astonishment of all, however, Brassey rose, and declared his readiness to renew the combat, a claim which the referee, when appealed to, allowed; for although more than eight seconds had elapsed, by which time he ought to have been at the scratch, still, as he had not been duly summoned—the umpires having, in the confusion, neglected their duty—he was fairly entitled to the advantage. In like manner it was determined that Parker, who quitted the ring without first going to the scratch, to which he had not been called, was absolved from the penalty of the loss of the battle to which his absence might otherwise have exposed him.
[This, again, imposes on seconds and umpires the absolute necessity of obtaining a perfect knowledge of their duty, and strictly adhering to its dictates. From the great confusion which prevailed in this instance some excuse may be found, but it only confirms our repeated observations on the great disadvantage arising from permitting throngs of partisans to congregate close to the milling arena, who, by shouts and exclamations, tend to interfere with that cool and dispassionate judgment which the umpires and referee should be permitted to exercise, and which, in ancient times, was perfectly secured, none but the umpires and referee being then permitted to sit close to the ropes and stakes.]