By the tenth round even Johnson was a little tired, but Burns was nearly done. His valiant but futile efforts to land a damaging blow drew forth the laughter of his adversary, who stepped away from him and banged him on the back or sent his right whizzing up from underneath to smash his wind, or pound him on the nose and mouth. Burns’s mouth indeed had been badly cut some time ago, and round after round Johnson hit it again and yet again, never missing, always with the fiendish desire to injure and to give pain. In the thirteenth round it was seen that the police were getting restive, they were closing in upon the ring, having in mind, no doubt, the likelihood of a serious attack being made upon Johnson. And Burns, reeling against the ropes, gasped out an appeal to the referee to let the fight go on and not to let the police interfere--which, naturally, was beyond the power of the referee. The fourteenth round was the last. Burns tried to hit, then retreated, and Johnson following quickly sent a hard right-hander to his jaw, which dropped him. Very slowly, with obvious pain and difficulty, Burns rose as the eighth second was counted. And Johnson went for him again with all his might. Then the police stopped the fight, and the referee pointed to the new black champion. Burns was a brave man, and he did the utmost in his power to put up a good fight against a much heavier, stronger, and more skilful boxer than himself. But it should certainly be recorded that he received for his considerable pains and trouble the sum of £6000--which he had bargained for beforehand, “win, lose, or draw,” and without the promise of which he would not have undertaken the contest. CHAPTER VI TOMMY BURNS AND JOE BECKETT In order to dispose of Tommy Burns so far as this book is concerned, it is necessary to break the chronological order of contests and jump twelve years. Between his defeat by Johnson and the encounter to be described now, the records tell us that he engaged in five matches, none of the first importance. Then, in July of 1920, an affair was arranged with Joe Beckett, the Heavy-weight Champion of England. This took place at the Albert Hall, and should be regarded rather as an event than as an athletic contest.