The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-03-17
C0RBETT PICKED TO WIN
THE LATTER DAY HEROES MEET IN
 THE ARENA TO-DAY.

That the Fight VIII be of Brief Duration
 Opinions Gathered from the Sporting
 Men in Carson City-Both Men Retired
 Early in Good Spirits.
 Carson, New, March 16.-The last day before that on which the greatest strug- gle in the history of pugilism takes place was ushered in with lowering skies and a threatening atmosphere The sun, however, soon appeared, and it's rays dispelled all gloom. The out look had the effect of making both Cor bett and Fitzsimmons do a little more work than they had intended to on the day before the battle. Fearing to take any chances under the existing atmos- pheric conditions both men exercised with a view of keeping their wind up Nothing short of 8 rain or snow storm will bring about such a postponement however, and all indications show fair weather will be vouchsafed tomorrow.
 The long looked-for specials from the east and west arrived to-day, and dis charged additions to the crowds which already had severely taxed the re sources of the town. But the attend ance at the ring side will not be as large as was anticipated. Between 4,000 and 5000 persons is perhaps correct es- innate of the number who will see the meeting of the men which took nearly two years and the expenditure of thou sands of dollars to bring about.
 Visitors kept arriving and departing from ShaW's Springs and Cooks ranch all day and the roads between Carson and the training quarters presented a busy scene. P. J. Corbett, Jim's father arrived by one of the western specials shortly afternoon. William A. Brady met him and drove him out to the Springs, where they found Jim enter- taining a number of friends from all over the states. For every one the big fellow had a pleasant greeting and a cheerful, confident word In fact Cor bett never seemed In better spirits since he began training than he did on this, the eve of the contest.
 Fitzsimmons'~visito had to wait some time before Bob appeared at the ranch, and he was making hay while the sun shone and taking advantage of the bright spell was doing some jogging along the road When he returned and had had rub down he was in evidence and his conversation showed just as much faith in his winning star as his rival displayed. This overwhelming confidence on both sides has a bit of a +O oil l,n jc tt,In edly genuine in the two men and tends to still further shake the ideas of any one who is inclined to waver about picking the winner, If the victory had to be decided by the amount of confi- dence entertained by the rivals the referee would have a much harder task than that which will be undertaken by Referee Siler tomorrow morning.
 The prevailing opinion seems to be that the duration of the fight will be limited to fifteen rounds. Judging by the betting this number is the favorite, while under ten rounds comes in as second choice. No one is inclined to think that the battle will be long one The interpretation of the rules which allows hitting in c1inches and break " measure for the popular idea of a short fight.
 Dan Stuart has put on the two small CT fights to follow the big event
 The betting remained about the same all day. There is plenty of Corbett money in sight, but Fitzsimmons cash is not forthcoming in sufficient quanti- ties to make the pencillers change the odd of 6h to 10 on the Californian
 Paris mutuals with Corbett, Green and Hawkins as the pick were very slow and there were scarcely any buy CTS for Fitzsmmons, Smith and F'lah- erty.
 Both pugilists turned in early to get a good long rest before the eventful hour. According to to-night's arrange ments Corbett will perhaps take short walk in the morning and then drive to the arena. Of course the weather will have a great deal to do with the plans of both men.
 If expert opinion counts for anything the battle will be a short one A few guesses as to the number of rounds fol- low: .
 w. A. Brady-"Not less than four, and not more than eight rounds"
 Martin n-"Fitzsimmons will knock Corbett's head off before the fifth round is over''
 Billy Delaney-"T look for a fast fight Corbett will get Fitzs measure in two or three rounds There is too much at stake for either man to run any risk by rushing. Ten rounds ought to decide matters"
 Ernest Roeber-"Tf the morning is cold they will fight fast Fitz will get in his work about the fifth I think Corbett will get rattled and run into a knockout about that time"
 Charley White-"It will be the fastest fight between heavyweights in the his tory of pugilism. Corbett will fool them on his punching power. Six or eight rounds will sec the last of Fitzsim- mons"
 Dan Hickey-"The man who gets the first punch in will likely win. Fitz will he cooler than Corbett. and if Jim forces matters Bob will get to his jaw before seven rounds are Over''
 Billy Woods "Fitzsimmons will never put a glove on Corbett If he can stand before Jim for three rounds he is a better man than he was when I spared with him."
 Jack Stenzler-"Corbett will lose his head when he finds that Bob can hit him and Bob will knock him out inside of fO11r rounds sure"