The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-11-07
GARDNER vs.. FITz
Is the Old Man Still Strong Enough
to Stop the Young Cham
pion?
Expert Says the Fight Should
Prove the Fercest Of the.
Year.
The fight between Fitzsimnlons and.

II
him inferior to Gardner. There is no
one. who thinks that Gardner is ash
good as, Fitz was in his prime. There /
are few who think that the lowell
scrapper is equal to Fitz as the latter,
fought Jefferies something more than
a year ago. And those who think
Gardner can beat Fitz now are in the
minority. Robert Edgren, the we'll
known sporting writer, thus discusses
the two men:
This should be the fercest fight Of
the year. 1t will show whether or not
and being only 40 he is not so old as
some people thinks as good as ever
or has started on the downward grade
in his profession. ii
Gardner is young and strong, and
unless Fitzsimmons himself should
er of his weight in the world. He has
a fierce, forceful style Of fighting, bear
ing his rival down with a furious,
ceaseless battering, always plunging.
| in, never giving the other man a
chance to set or rest.
| This is the way that Gardner beat
Kid Carter. In his several fights with
the blonde scrapper from Brooklyn.
Gardner has always pi1rused the same
tactics and always with the same sue
cess. 1t is said that Gardner always
beat his man in the second meeting,
\ e,
hard fight the first one was
Ihls shows Gardner to be a stu
dent. In the first battle he learns all
that his rival knows and finds a block
and counter for each and every blow.
he. has never fought Fitz, and even
FlI ne shad, there is a doubt that he.
would fathom the depths of the most
cunning fighter. the ring has ever, seen.
IN his fights with Carter Gardner
mas Iorced MS way in so steadily that
4 Carter never had a chancesto set him
self TOR that terrible. knockout punch
l for which, he is famous. -
I When he fought Root in Buffalo
last spring Gardner did the same
thing, continually forcing Root to give
ground, piling UP against him, driving
in blow after blow without. a second s
rest from gong to gong. He may. do
IN that case Fitz may not have the
strain. =
ON the other hand. Fitz always
mas said that he likes a man who viii
come to him, and that he can knock
, tinually carries the battle I'D Iiii,,s
When Gardner attempts to smother
F1tzslmmons in a shower of blows. as
:. ne surely will, He may run into some
q the blows that have been sampled
! by .Corbett Shafkey. Rubin and some
% me other rushing fighters of, the
Will not consent to inject joe
irlm under any circumstances
81 rms is Chamnion Jim Jeffries,
answer to the challenge of JoeaGrim.
the philadelphia gladiat tor, IS who
claims ne .can't be knocked out by
se1lN@nan In the ring siffTa six-round
bout. II
Jeff insists that he is not dodging
Grlm, but that he has the good of the
, game at heart s.when he refuses Ia
take issue with Joe q
This is what4the champion has to
say In reference to the affair: 3.
SIS 1.fetuse to meet Grim because /
!, mel am apt. to kill him and tiIereby
! set myselfin1trouble with the author
game L. <. r.. ~ 8
! Don't think 1 am afraid ofsEthfs
+ little fellow, am not. All the blows
F that fellow could land on me swould
T be like tickling me with a feather. +
! fear that if I would get Grim mint Into !
! ring with me I would injure him for
|, life. if not kill him.
Then, again, if I punished him SO
I badly thatztlle. contest would deve1on
$ into a brutal affair, the. ministers
) would have chance to preach from
: their pulpits about the brutality OF
pugilism, and as result the good
sport would in all probability be
4 stopped forever ia that city,
Il am sure that if I ever did meet
t. Grim that would stop him. I would
g not joke with him like Fitzsimmons
y did. Il. would sail right in at the
Is sound of the bell and put him out
~ and.I am confident he would go out
before the contest had gone far.
e e will not fight him, however, and the
l. naatchmakers might just as well give
IS up all thoughts of ever inducing me
e to agree to such a one-sided match
:. Jack Johnson. the colored heavy.
lie weight is most anxious to meet jeff
A. ries Johnson now has a good strins
!, Of victories to his credit He has
N scored over George Gardner and has
IS demonstrated his ability to beat THE
: colored men in his class. He is still
$ suggested as the strongest opponen
1, for Jeffries now on the boards. There
Z. is not a chance for the colored heavy
v fight him, and if Johnson gathers an,
i more glory it will have to be over me1
re other than the champion.
johnson is said to be a crude fight
4 er with a great amount of strength
! George Gardner explained his faiIur,
. to beat Johnson by saying that tn,
colored man had too much weight fol
depends upon his size and strength t,
rusll,in and land a blow by main fore,
90 and then clinch. He repeats thes
tactics time after time, not giving al
opponent a chance to .slo anything
al That such tactics would prevail
ID against Jeffries is not believed for. al
tx instant. 8. I.
ass 49,. ~ ..-.--..
Mt s. ~. 50. ]. ~. $50.
y Since his defeat by Champion Jeff
lie ries James j.. Corbett has completed,
Mt remodeled his stage monologue act
Instead of telling the usual old cro]
A. of stories about his early career il
as the prize ring, Corbett now has r1ey
oy act, which is devoted principally to
Sc description of 10 recent endeavor t
4 Z regain the lost title of champion
y heavy weight of the world. In tellin,
Is Is the story Corbett illustrates all tn
~ important parts of the fight wit
3, Yank Kenny. The latter takes tn
o. part of Jeffries and, as far as posi-
= BILE, punches Corbett just as Jeffrie
Il, did in the ring at San Francisco. Ii
!, telling of the fight Corbett plays up t
ia his audience, on every occasion boost
ing Jeffries as the greatest f1ghte
.. who ever lived. why, he coul
nd whip half a dozen men like me- say
u.s. / Corbett in one part of his descriptio,
" i Of the battle. Corbett gives himsel
IN the worst of it. all the way thru +
er telling the tale and as a, result. make
q a great hit everywhere he performs.