Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-04-06
Fight BETWEEN jim CORBEH
AND JOE CHOYINSkl ON BARGE
WASoNEOF THEGRElTEsTEyER
sy ROBERT EDGREN,

va ~ VIM hNNI W. LA4Gh " a.
one OF the great fighters Australia
sent over here. in the good old days
when Australian boxers led the world
He was a contemporary of young Bob
IitzsimmCns. Peter Jackson, Paddy
Slavin. Jim Hall, Australian Bill Muir
Thy and Dan Creedon.
Today Paddy German is working
steadily at his trade. as healthy and
fit at 30 as he was ~ years ago
when fighting for the middleweight
championship. He is a carpenter in
enc of the city departments.
Paddy and were talking over some
of the old fights, I've been reading
your Untold Tales said Paddy. and
often wonder where you pick up the
little details"
What was the greatest fight you
ever saw" | asked Paddy.
1t might have been the fight on the
barge, between Choynski and Corbett."
he answered. Did you ever hear the
real inside story of that
Shoot" said |.
Well" began German. Il might as
we'll begin with Choynski was re-
sponsible for Joes becoming fighter
He was amateur champion Of the coast
when l met him first, and he used to
visit the camp and box with the pro-
fessionals Joe came out with me, and
after had seen him work a while
tried to persuade him to turn profes-
sional Why, joe | said, you can
beat all these pros around here right
now But he couldn't see 1t. He
had the amateur idea | was train
irg for a fight and one of the men
training with me was matched to fight
in the old Golden Gate Club, down
in that little street hack of the Palace
hotel in San Francisco - Stevenson
street. He hurt his arm and got blood
poisoning. and at the last moment l
got Choynski to go down and snbsti-
tute for him. He fought George Bush
the Boston fighter-and finished him
like champion. That was Joe's start
as professional.
Corbett Used Name Of Dillon.
when that great rivalry between
Choynski and Corbett grew up Choyn-
ski was amateur champion and Cor
bett was teaching boxing at the Olym-
pic Club. Corbett was supposed to
be an amateur in a way, and not mix
with professionals But did you ever
hear about the way he slipped out and
fought under an assumed name? No?
Well. he did. He fought under the
name of Jim Dillon He went up
to Butte. Mont, and beat Duncan Nc
Donald in 10-round bout. and fought
some others! They didn't know Jim
Corbett up there. He made quite a
as Jim Dillon g..
when Choyhski and Corbett de-
cided on fighting out their grudge the
match was made for some place over
in Marin county in which to fight.
with only a few people present, and
a side stake to fight for. Choynski and
CCrbett hated each other because they
both grew up in Hayes valley-a part
of San Franeisco-and they were riv-
ais for the championship of the dis
trict All the famous sporting men OF
San Francisco we're on hand when
COrbett and Choynski met out in the
hills. They came over across the bay
on the ferries and droved or tramped
along to the barnSwhere the fight was
to be held. up in the loft. AS the
crowd gathered thAre were so many
bullying hip pockets that the referee
decided to disarm everybody, SO ev-
cry man was frisked at the door, and
all the guns taken from them were
stuck muzzle down in some buckets.
| forget whether there were three or
four buckets full-it was either three
or four.
When we arrived with Choynski.
all dressed in his fighting clothes and
rubbed down and ready to fight, we
found that Corbett had put one over