The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-08-10

NEW YORK. Aug. 10.-Interest in the
battle of the heavy weights. Bob Fitzsim-
mons and Gus Rubin. which takes place
tonight in Madison Square Garden, is We. y
great and notwithstanding the hot wealth
er. a large crowd is expected TO be in at
tendance when the gong sounds for the Ee-
| ginning of hostiIities.
All the arrangements have been com
! pleted by the Twentieth Century Club for
the handling of the throng, which will in
clude all the leading sports within r5aca-
/ ing distance of this city.
| Wagers have not been very numerous.
In the little betting that has been done
| odds Of 10 to were laid that Fitzsimmons
would Win. Those who pin their faith TO
! Fftzsimmons believe that his experience,
| original tactics. and great generalship, 10
| gether with his great hitting Wit mo
than Offset Ruhlin's advantage ia weight
and youth Final exercise was taken by
FitZslmmons and Rubin at their r S ec;ige
training quarters yesterday. Each man
finished his days train ng in good shape
and both said they were in condition TO
fight.
Fitzsimmons' exercises. consisted of a spin
on the road in the morning and feinting
and sparring with Armstrong il the after
noon. Ruhlins work was pretty much OF
the same character. Fitzsimmons weighs
16S pounds, Rubin tipped the beam at 1870
pounds.
Several good urges VINO watched Fitz-
simmons critically while at his work yes
terday expressed the opinion that the for
mer heavyweight champion had trained
down too fine.
When FitZsimmoEs' attention was called
TO the comments on his condition he sad
that he was the best judge of his OWN cen
dition, and that he never teIt better in hla
life.
Ruhlin's friends can find no flaw in the
physical condition of the Akron Giant
They say he is physically fit, and are conf
dnet that he will take ''Lanky Bob's''
measure when they meet tonight. Rubin
expresses himself as thoroughly satisfied
with his condition. and told a party of
friends that he will defeat FitZsimmons as
handiIy as he did Sharkey
Don't worry about me being nervous, -
Rubin added, because there will be no &C
casion for it. My timidty, which was so
apparent in my contest with Sharkey was
due to the fact that l had been beaten by
Sharkey on q chance blow and desire on
my part to prevent the sailor from repeat
ing the trick. Sharkey had very danger
Gus right hand. and as he swings il very
wildly when in action. an opponent is kept
guessing as TO where it is going TO land
After had discovered how to stop that
blow my nervousness Wore away, and ev-
erybody knows how easily l beat him.
My victory over Sharkey has given me the
confidence I lacked prior to my meeting
with him. Fighting with Fitzsimmons is
an entirely different proposition. 'Fitz is |
a more or less clever fellow and you can |
watch yourself better against clever man |
than with 4 rough and ready fighter Of the |
Sharkey type"
FitZsimmons friends assert that "Lanky |
Bob" has several new trick blows to fall /
back upon in case he fails to land with his /
old stand-bys. 1t was Fitzsimmons who /
introduced the solar plexus blow which /
proved so effective in his fight with Cor /
bett- 1t is also pointed out by the for I
mer heavyweight champions admirers that !
their favOrite can strike a much harder /
blow than Rubin That Rubin is not 4
very hard hitter they insist was proven in
his fight with Sharkey. The Akron Gil
ant hit the sailor repeatedly on the
head, and, although he eventually knocked
him into a state of helplessness, il took
him very long time to accomplish the
task. On the other hand Fitzsimmons
has always knocked his man out with a
single blow on the head or body
RuhIin's supporters say that their conf
dence il the Akron Giant" is due to the
latter's wonderful Improvement within the
last six months. In their opinion TIE Ohio
man is just as clever as any big pugilist
in the ring today. That he is clever with
his hands as well with his feet was |
clearly demonstrated III his fight with
Sharkey. In that contest he showed abil-
lily 10 fight battle on lines marked out
for him weeks before the event took place
They admit he was a bit nervous in the
first round, but his timidity quickly wore
away and after that period Rubin had
things all his own way. They also be-
Iieve that youth and strength will tell in
the Ohio mans favor and eventually give
him victory.
Expert opinion is about evenly divided
between the two. Following are the views
Of some of the prominent promoters and
of the fistic art:
Terry McCoVern- "FitZsfmmons is my
choice. lie is harder hitter than Rubin,
and too cunning for Gus He has so many
trick blows that you never know when
Or where he is going TO hit"
James J. Corbett: I think Rubin will
win He has everything in his favor
height, reach. strength, and youth. Fitz-
simmons is very clever fellow, but /
think that Rubin knows all his tricks. and
I'll be very much surprised is Gus don't