The Saint Paul globe., 1904-01-30
JACK O'BR|EN CAMPS
ON 7. RYAN'S TRAIL
Philadelphia Man Anxious to
Arrange Another Fight With
ChicagOan.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Jan. 29.-Jack
y Brien. the local middleweight fighter, Is
hot on the trail of Tommy Ryan, holder
of the title. Late this afternoon Jack is
sued challenge, supported with a good
sized forfeit, to fight Tommy Ryan at
any time or any place. any number OF
rounds and with any referee. the purse to
be agreeable to both men, and all other
conditions to be agreed upon.
O'Brien said today:
Il had all the better OF the first four
rounds and then scored a clean knock
down. Anything Ryan did after that did
not offset my good work in the earlier
round and Ryan was getting weaker all
the time and could not do anything. l
think 1t would have been called good
draw as far as we went. Now | would
like to get a longer fight with Ryan.
Twenty rounds would suit me nicely, for
l feel assured after what we did that
can beat him and beat him sure. They
say he Is not as good as he used to be.
That is a matter that is open to question.
AT any rate. it is a matter of record
that Ryan is still in the fighting game and
claims the title that L want to secure
above all others. If he is fighting. he
should give me another chance to down
him or give up the title. l am prepared
to do battle at any time or any place or
under almost any conditions that will in
sure a fair decision of the contest. | do
not ask anything unreasonable of Ryan.
l will give him all the time he wants in
which to train and will not tie him up
with unreasonable forfeits or anything OF
the kind. l would just like to have him
place himself on record as being agree
able to another meeting
Opinion here was about equally di-
vided as to the merits of the men. 1t was
voted one of the hottest and most sensa-
tional fights ever decided in this city,
and the unexpected climax to the fifth
round. in which Ryan floored O'Brien
after himself being very much to the
bad side, was the talk of the town. Ryan's
knockdown in the fifth round was one Of
the unexpected things that could have
happened. Nobody was more surprised
than Ryan himself since he did not think
O'Brien could hit hard enough to get him
off his feet let alone put him down for
almost the full count.
The knockdown was a hard one and
all but put Ryan out of the running. He
got up very weary and but for his eX-
treme generalship and cool -headedness he
never would have been able to survive the
round. As 1t was he put all of his life
into the one punch to O'Brien's short
ribs that sent the local man sprawling on
the mat. almost helpless.
That Ryan does not seek another meet
ing with O'Brien is shown by the Chi
! cago mans attitude today. He was told
| of O'Brien's intended challenge and. after
| thinking il over for time. he said:
Il would like to give over the cham
| pionship to Hugo Kelly, of Chicago. who
L consider is the most worthy or the
| younger men Of the mddleweight division
! to hold it against all challenges. know
that a good many people scoff at such
| action, but l would like to see OBrien
tackle Kelly for the title in 9, fight of
say twenty rounds. No. | will not say
that 1 will not fight O'Brien again for the
| title. But l am not going to rush into
! any meeting with him. / am going to
! take time to think 1t over. feel that
| can whip him and would nave done SO
had the contest been of a little greater
| LENGTH