Our own opinion of the fight may be gathered from the few brief notes we have bracketed in the report. The immense amount of assertion and rejoinder which filled the sporting papers for weeks was “flat, stale and unprofitable.” The stakeholder being served with legal notice to return the stakes, the referee (George Osbaldiston, Esq.) wrote thus to that gentleman:—
“To the Editor of ‘Bell’s Life in London.’
“Sir,—An appeal having been made to me, as referee, by Mr. Spring, to reverse my decision in the late fight between Bendigo and Caunt, on grounds unworthy of my consideration, I request you will confirm that decision by paying over the stakes to Bendigo, who, in my opinion, is justly entitled to them. It was with the greatest reluctance, and at the particular request of my friends and the unanimous solicitations of the backers of the men, that I accepted the office; but I shall always consider it one of the greatest acts of folly I ever was guilty of in my life. In discharging my duty I endeavoured to do justice to the contending parties to the best of my abilities and judgment; and, arriving at the conclusion I did, and now confirm, I was actuated only by a complete conviction of the justness of my decision, and not by the intimidation of the roughs, as stated by Mr. Spring in his letter.” After some further remarks in reply to Spring, the referee goes on to say:—“Had I been under the intimidation of the ‘roughs’ I had several opportunities of putting an end to the fight before the conclusion by foul acts on the part of Caunt. A noble lord, and several gentlemen who stood close by me during the whole fight, can corroborate this statement. I most positively deny that I stated to any one that a man going down without a blow, after he himself had treacherously delivered blows, was fair. In no one instance, in my judgment, did Bendigo break the laws of fair fighting. I must also deny, in the most positive manner, that I ever stated to any person that I did not see the last round. I saw every round distinctly and clearly, and when Caunt came up the last round he had evidently not recovered from the 92nd. After the men were in position Bendigo very soon commenced operations, and Caunt turned round directly and skulked away, with his back to Bendigo, and sat down on his nether end. He never knocked Bendigo down once in the fight, nor ever got him against the ropes in the last round. In my opinion Caunt got away as soon as he could from Bendigo, fell without a blow to avoid being hit out of time, and fairly lost the fight.
“I am, your obedient servant,
“THE OLD SQUIRE.
“Doncaster, Sept. 18th, 1845.”
In 1849 the Championship was certainly at a low ebb. Con Parker, a big brother of Tass, so it was publicly said, challenged the distinction, after beating Jem Bailey in a scrambling fight in February of that year, and received a forfeit from the Tipton Slasher in September. He was a great, hulking pretender, of 6ft. high, and about 13st., but his pretensions were quickly snuffed out by Tass Parker (weight 11st. 8lb.), who showed at Frimley Green, on November 26th, in 27 rounds, that Master Con had no points of a fighting man about him. Con went to America, and died soon after suddenly. As Tass declined to call himself Champion, there was literally no Champion at all. In this interregnum, at the beginning of 1850, the bold Bendigo called upon the editor of Bell’s Life, and declared that sooner than the title should be so knocked about he would once more do battle for the honour of the Ring. He then left £10 with the editor as an earnest that he was ready to meet any man in England, for £200 a side, half-way between home and home. At the same time it was stated that Bendy and Caunt had met, shaken hands, and buried the past in oblivion. Caunt had undertaken to stand a portion of Bendy’s battle-money, fight whom he might, and Bendy, to prove his sincerity, had presented Caunt with the belt with which he had been girded by Jem Ward after his defeat of the Deaf ’un. The Nottingham challenge was not long unanswered. Caunt and Bendigo, the new Orestes and Pylades, took, three weeks later—namely, February 4th, 1850—a joint benefit at the National Baths, Westminster Road.
Now, Johnny Broome had, ad interim, stated publicly that he had an unknown whom he was ready to back against Bendy for his own sum. Accordingly, after a friendly glove-bout with Harry Broome, Tom Paddock came forward, and announcing himself as Johnny’s “Unknown,” declared his readiness to post, and make a match with Bendy for £200 a side. Peter Crawley responded, and £30 was staked, the next meeting to take place at Peter’s house, the “Queen’s Head and French Horn,” Smithfield, on the next Tuesday. This merely produced a stormy meeting upon details, deposits, and a stakeholder, and a further adjournment to another night, to meet at Jem Burn’s. Here the matter was finally adjusted, and accordingly the men met on the 5th of June, 1850.
It was much to Bendigo’s credit that on this occasion he took unusual pains with his training, and came to the post in prime fettle, looking, as a friend said, “fresh as a four-year-old,” though verging on his fortieth year. When we saw him we felt some misgiving about the stability of his damaged knee; he walked unmistakably lame, and the whole left side was evidently lower than the right.
The articles provided that the fight should take place, as nearly as possible, half-way between London and Nottingham—the stakeholder to name the place. The recollection of former events in which Bendy had been concerned led to some difficulty in making a selection, and after much consideration it was determined that Mildenhall Road Station, in the county of Suffolk, should be the fixture, that place being, by road, rather nearer to Nottingham than to London; but, as it turned out, the travelling by rail gave the advantage to the London party—the Nottingham folks having to make three changes before they reached the ground, while the Londoners proceeded direct.