The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-10-05
Prize Ring
FIGHTS SCHEDULED FOR TO.
NIGHT.
j: Jimmy Potts VS.. Jimmy Gardner
: at Davenport. Iowa.
: doc Jeanette VS.. George Gun.
: Their. ut Lawrence. Mass.

In Atlantic City during the early
extended informal talks with two cele-
brated opponents of the fighting game
James ]. Corbett. an "ex," and Jack
O'Brien, still is" These CONVEX
sations related TO the fighting game in
general. and had naught to do with
prospective championships in any of
the classes, the politics of the puglis-
tic business, nor anything of that char
acter. The purely human side of the
game was what l perferred to hear
these two notable fisticuff masters
dwell upon, and willing to address
themselves to that phase of their pro
fession." Their views seemed to be
about as wide apart as the poles.
There was reason for this. Jim
Corbett has always been a man with
IL good deal of sentiment distributed
Throughout his system. He was never
of the conventional type of bruiser
Even during his fighting days he was
a chap with considerable regard for
the amenities of life. Since he quit
the punching business Corbett has
really improved immensely as man.
Nobody not familiar with his pictured
features would ever suspect, upon
meeting him nowadays, that he had
ever been a prize fighter. Nor does
his present-day manner. excellent as
it is, show any indication of affectation.
He converses like man of the world,
using English rather above that even
of the ordinary hurried and careless
business man, and anybody unfamiliar
with his identity might easily suppose
him to be successful lawyer or
practitioner in one of the other pro-
fessiOns. He dresses extremely we'll,
without being an exquisite, and looks
thoroughly groomed. There is moth
ing in the least flashy about him. His
habits are of the best. He hardly
drinks at all, smokes rarely, keeps
pretty moderate hours, fights shy of
gambling. and is in general a pretty
solid sort of a citizen.
Jack O'Brien is man Of an en-
tirely different type. This does not
call for his being described as any,
thing even remotely resembling a
tough or an individual corresponding
to the type of the oldfashioned bullet
headed prize fighter. He is nothing of
the sort. But, is cold, calculating,
rather porpoise-blooded chap, of lit
tie education, except what he has
picked up in the useful school of ex-
perience, but enough sense to sheer off
when subjects are brought up as to
which he knows nothing. He is blunt.
and, in general. taciturn, but when he
talks he has way of going straight to
the point. and his language is by no
means that which might naturally be
expected to flow from the lips of a
man engaged in the walloping bust
ness. He talks correctly. if some
what perkily. and his grammatical
breaks are few. made as rule only
when he falls into great earnestness,
and of small consequence. at that. He
too, is a man of the most exemplary
habits. Unlike Corbett. who flew
high for few years until he learned
the fOolishness of dissipation and cut
it out. O'Brien has always been a
man of the most model habits-for the
excellent reason, as he himself says,
he never had the slightest inclina-
tion to engage in dissipation of any
sort. He never drank drop of liquor
in his life, and he doesn't know what
tobacco tastes like. O'Brien impress
ed me as an exceedingly self-contained,
ii not frost-vined gentleman, man
wholly lacking in those things which
lead fellows of warmer natures into
excesses-a chap, in short who sets
out in his earliest manhood to make
the world his oyster, and who has,
after the manner he chose, succeeded
in doing that very thing, because. en-
dOwed with an abundant amount of
beneficent selfishness, SO as to speak,
he never permitted himself to lose
sight for an instant of his object in
life. Except as regards his own peo-
Pile, Jack is what is colloqually known
as tight wad," whereas Corbett
has always been, and still is. liberal
spender.
So that it was to have been expected
that these two men, so widely differ
ent in disposition and makeup should
have expressed such dissimilar views
when tackled as to the purely human
side of the fighting game.
asked Corbett how, as fighting
man, he had felt in victory and de-
feat. and especially ii he had ever
been able to experience any genuine
sympathy toward the man he had sent
weltering to the floor of the ring,
all in and counted out
ITO ask me IL l ever felt sorry for
the fellow | licked" said COrbett, lis
about equivalent to asking me II I
ever ate a piece of toast for breakfast.
l never hit fellow hard blow that,
as / could see, dazed him and sent