[Cap]

May-June 1898....Tickets go on sale for the Jack Johnson-Sandy Ferguson heavyweight championship fight...Marty Muldoon matchmaker for the Marathon A.C., and his cousin Mike "Bung" Malloy of the Cicero Malloys, persuade the management of the magnificent Coliseum to allow them to stage another boxing card...The promotion promises a purse of $30,000 to be divided between winner and loser but Johnson demands $20,000 for himself win or lose and a healthy cut of the gate receipts....Muldoon and Malloy negotiate Johnson down to his original portion of the purse plus a $5,000 guarantee and 5% of the gate or 10% of any film rights....Ferguson agrees to a share of the $30,000 purse but wants a cut of the gate receipts as well....veteran Chicago sportswriter George Siler agrees to act as referee for $500 and a number of front row seats for his friends....Both Johnson and Ferguson have been in training for several weeks and reports are both are in 'really first class' form as their sparring partners can attest...Numerous celebrities will be in attendance according to Muldoon's press agent including His Honor the Mayor John Patrick Hopkins; US Secretary of State John Sherman; Deputy Chairman of the IBU Ciaran O'Doyle; famed stage actors John Drew and Charles Grapewin; Jim Hart owner and president of the Chicago Baseball White Stockings; and a host of other political and sports luminaries....Film companies from Reuters and Pathe News are competing for the rights to record the championship contest....From his lair in California Jim Jeffries denounces the contest as a 'sham and a farce' claiming the fix is in but offers no evidence....Frank Childs and Hank Griffin tell curious reporters they believe Johnson intends to carry Ferguson for the 'kinetoscope cameras' and rumours spread....George Little, spokesman for the Ferguson camp, expresses disgust at the spurious claims of crooked dealings and offers his opinion "Big Sandy will knock that bum out inside five rounds!"....