The Washington herald., 1908-02-09
FIGHT FANS FOOLED
Ring Followers Are Often
BunkOed by Bouts.
CHAMPIONS PARTIES TO FAKES
When Joe Cans. Jack O'BTien, and
Bob FitssimmOns Turned on the
Light the Public Got Wise to ways
OfSthe Tricksters Who Have Done
SO Much "a Hurt PugiIiSm.

Thanks to the confessions OF Joseph |
Cans. Jack O'Brien. and Robert Fitz- |
simmons. ana - valuable information !
Of Tommy Burns and others. the public |
has positive proof that large number
OF bouts which were supposed 10 be on
their merits were pTeaTranged fakes, and
that the persons who paid their money
to see genuine boxing contests got moth
ing more for their cash than exhibitions.
In the way of spectacular fakes Jack
OBrien has certainly furnished some In
teresting ones. Perhaps the most enter
tanning was that which he brought of
with Marvin Hart In Philadelphia In 1902.
They had been matched for a six-rOund
bout and O'Brien had insisted that Hart.
who was at his best then, and a bolster
Gus person with tendency to treat an
opponent with extreme rudeness, should
cut his claws and not injUre the Confes-
sor. Hart. being financially depressed,
consented, but I'm his mind ne determined
to hit O'Brien with all the force at his
command. On the night of the fight
o Brien became suspicious and sent word
TO Hart that he would have TO put up
cash forfeit not to do anything rude 20
the Confessor. Hart replied that he could
not put up cash for ham sandwich.
Then O'Brien said Hart would have to
give him an order for his Hartsl share
of the purse to guarantee that he would
not forget to treat O'Brien with gentle
ness. Hart said he would not do any such
thing, whereuron OBrien had the an
nounCer tell the crowd waiting in the
clubhouse that, owing 10 Hart being con-
siderably overweight he (O'Brien) could
not see his way clear TO conceding so
great an advantage TO so vigorous
/ youth as Hart, and he would have to call
/ the bout of.
Hart Needed the Money.
Then Hart began TO think it over. ana
he relented. as he needed the money. So
he signed an order on his share Of the
purse, in which he agreed 10 forfeit all
interest IN it if he should. through acci-
dent or design. knock out O'Brien.
/ Once mere O'Brien sent word to the
waiting throng;
/ "Mr OBrien says that rather than dis
appoint his many friends, who have come
! here tonight he will concede several
/ pounds Of weight TO Mr. Hart and go on
| with the fight.'
! Thereupon the crowd cheered vocifer-
ousIy, and the fake went on TO an end
/ Both men were on their feet at the finish
/ of the last round; Hart got his share Of
/ the purse, and O'Brien got the reputation
/ Of being able TO fight six rounds with
/ formidable fellow who outweigled him by
many pounds
/ O'Brien tried the same game with Tom
/ my Burns in the recent bout between
/ them out on the Coast. But in this case
/ Burns. while Conseuting not to hurt
/ o. Brien, declined to put up a cent as for
/ felt and was inclined TO throw up the
/ bout. Finally O'Brien decided to accept
Burns word for it, and went into the
ring. Thereupon the willy Burns smiled
/ a cold cruel smile and Waded into
/ O'Brien as IL determined TO annihilata
/ him. 1t was only by the constant use Of
/ his speed that O'Brien managed to escape
La Knockout on that occasion. and he was
so indignant over the treachery of the
| champion that he at once wrote a series
of articles on the Tottenness of the prize
ring, and made open confession as 10 the
part he had played in many fakes. He
also was actuated by a spirit OF revenge.
for he made charges against many other
! boxers.
When Mccoy Met COrbett.
Doubtless the most artistic fake in the
history of the game was that in which
jim Corbett and Kid Mccoy were the
principals.
The affair came off IN Madison Square
Garden in August, 1900. and was the last
fake perpetrated under the Horton law
IN order to make it appear that the box
ers had a grudge to settle, Mccoy and
Corbett had a personal encounter fl a
hotel previous to the signing of articles,
and thereafter they indulged in constant
verbal abuse of each other. But they had
several meetings in private just before the
bout took place and rehearsed the fake
1t had been decided that Mccoy was to
lose in the fifth round and Corbett, at a
given signal, was to nit the Kid a solar
plexus punch and settle the affair then
and there. The men were such clever
/ spaTTers that for four rounds they gave
brilliant exhibition Of the art OF self-de-
Tense. 1t aroused the greatest enthusiasm
| among the onlOOkers. who settled back
in their seats for a genuine Queensberry
treat
But in the fifth round COrbett landed a
body blow on Mccoy. who slipped to the
floor and was counted out The knock
out blow was not well DONE and was in
sharp contrast to the excellent work of
the preceding rounds. However. the men
had boxed so cleveTly at the start that
those who saw it declared that Corbett
had learned the FitzsimmOns punch for
| the stomach. and il is a fact that there
were no direct charges of fake following
| the bout. Doubtless there never would
have been any strong suspicious as to the
bout had il not been that tie fighters
shortly afterward became entangled in
disputes with their better halves The
wives, out of revenge, published state
ments in which they declared that the
bout was fake, and that they heard the
boxers discussing the plans for fooling
the public.
There was the greatest interest in the
bout, as Mccoy and Corbett at that time
/ were conceded to be the cleverist heavy
men in the game, and the admirers of
Queensberry skill were anxious TO see
them in action. The house yielded some
thing like $4,000, and as many believed
that Mccoy had a chance 20 win, those
who had been tipped of did well laying
10 to on Corbett.
Second in the Ring.
Much ingenuity was displayed in the ar
Tangement of the Sharkeye Corbett fake
that took place at the Lenox A. c., Of
which Tom O'Rourke was the manager
Corbett was hot favorite over the sailor,
but many thought Sharkeys strength
would win for him. But COrbett and the
clique who engineered the scheme knew
that Sharkey would get the decision, and
that Con McVey. Corbett's sparring part