1903-03-30 Philadelphia Jack O'Brien ND6 Joe Choynski [Washington Sporting Club, Philadelphia, PA, USA]

1903-03-31 The Boston Daily Globe (Boston, MA) (page 5)

O'BRIEN WINS ON POINTS.
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His Blows Lack Force, and He Fails to Knock Out Choynski in a Six-Round Bout.

PHILADELPHIA, March 30.--"Jack" O'Brien of this city tonight outpointed Joe Choynski in a six-round bout at the Washington sporting club. Choynski was not match for O'Brien, whose failure to score a knockout was due to the lack of force behind his blows.

Choynski started well, but appeared to lose heart under O'Brien's unceasing rain of left-hand jabs. From the second until the last round Choynski's only object seemed to be to stay the limit.

The third and fourth rounds were particularly tame and the referee warned the men. In the sixth O'Brien was more aggressive and subjected his opponent to a severe drubbing, but his jabs and punches lacked the power to put Choynski to sleep.


1903-03-31 The Evening World (New York, NY) (page 10)

JACK O'BRIEN'S JABS BEWILDERED CHOYNSKI
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Majority of Spectators at Bout in Philadelphia Thought Quaker Had Better of It.
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(Special to the Evening World.)

PHILADELPHIA, March 31.--Jack O'Brien added another leaf to his laurels last night when he defeated Joe Choynski in six rounds. The bout was far from satisfactory to the majority of the spectators because the men resorted to clever boxing. The referee warned the men in the fifth to box harder. The warning was not thrown away, as the men let out a few wraps and showed what was possible.

In the first two rounds there was little to be desired. The two men were on their best behavior. Choynski eased up in the third and took matters easily, either from self-inclination or inability to land on the elusive Philadelphian. O'Brien followed suit, but it was less noticeable than in his opponent. The fourth was a repetition of the third and the crowd began to hiss.

In the fifth round the men were cautioned and soon made the fur fly again. The sixth and last round was a hummer. Many of those present thought the men were faking because they were not covered with blood.

O'Brien and Choynski are boxers, part excellence, and not fighters of the stamp of Maher, Marvin Hart and "Kid" Carter. The Philadelphian is one of the quickest and cleverest two-handed fighters in the business, and ordinarily clever men appear slow beside him. Choynski is clever also, but the continual passage of O'Brien's gloved hands in front of his face somewhat nonplussed him.

Whether O'Brien's fast work made him appear slow, or whether despairing of reaching O'Brien's vital spot he eased up, is best known to himself, but it is a long time since Joe made such a poor exhibition. He seemed afraid to lead and his nimble opponent was on top of him all the time. Once or twice he made O'Brien wince with the effect of blows on the face and over the heart, but at no time did a knockout appear imminent. O'Brien from the start resorted to his mode of attack, jabbing with his left and trying to cross with his right. Time and again he got home on Choynski's brow and face, but the blows lacked steam. He did most of the leading and seldom failed to land.

Joe was some time sizing his man up, and just before the end of the first round caught O'Brien a vicious jolt under the eye which raised a "mouse." The second was a repetition of the first. O'Brien worked his left repeatedly in Choynski's face without a return. He varied this with an occasional swing. Choynski opened the third round with a stiff punch over the heart, but Jack got back on Joe's nose six times in succession. He had Choynski on the ropes at the end of the round.

There was no boxing in the last round. Choynski showed to better advantage than in any of the previous rounds. He caught Jack a stinging blow in the face which straightened up the Quaker. He then visited Jack's ribs two or three times. O'Brien got home several stiff heart blows when Joe set the blood flowing again from the cut over O'Brien's optic. O'Brien wound up the bout by several nasty jabs in Choynski's face. The bout was all O'Brien's.

Willie Mack, the clever light-weight boxer of Brooklyn, easily bested Otto Knapp, the Cleveland welter-weight, in the semi-wind up. The men engaged in a six-round bout, and, although Knapp had every advantage over Mack, the latter outpointed him throughout the contest. Mack used a straight left continually into Knapp's face and raised a lump over his eye. He also dazed the Clevelander several times.

Mack came near finishing Knapp with a few left hooks on the jaw, but the bell sounded in time to prevent such a proceeding. Mack's showing was so good that he has been promised a match with one of the best men in the Quaker City.


1903-03-31 The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA) (page 10)

CHOYNSKI DID NOT TRY WITH O'BRIEN
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Failing to Take Advantage of Opportunities Offered, He Is Jeered by Crowd
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Referee Warns Him Towards End of Fifth Round and He Extends Himself in First Part of Sixth
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There is every reason to believe that another barney was foisted upon the public at the Washington Sporting Club last night, and there is not the slightest reason for believing that either the club or Jack O'Brien stood in the play. The plain, bald fact is that Joe Choynski did not try a yard except when it was really necessary to lend to the farce the glamor of realism.

An explanation from Mr. Choynski is in order.

There was some pretty work in the first two rounds--pretty work, but not convincing, although at that a large-sized mouse was started over O'Brien's eye.

In the second round O'Brien's jabbing was beautiful to look upon, but none of the jabs seemed to have the slightest effect upon Joseph. There was some clever ducking. Vicious swings wasted themselves upon the thin air, and many hard punches landed on the hard--the very hard--part of Jack's anatomy, but there was not a minute when he was in any serious danger.

At the start of the fifth round there was a series of mixes, jabs, ducking, feinting and holding. Then the house started up a chorus "Fake, fake, fake." Referee Rocap toward the close of the round put a temporary stop to the proceedings, and gave Choynski to understand that he must spiel, or there would be nothing doing at the box office after the bout. A lively exchange followed and the bell sounded.

In the third round Choynski started to rush things, and some of the more enthusiastic spectators began yelling "Save a piece for Fitzsimmons, Joe." This was entirely superfluous. Choynski himself was evidently willing to leave everything for Fitzsimmons. Opening after opening was permitted to escape, and finally in the middle of the fourth round, when it became so flagrantly apparent that there was nothing doing so far as Joseph was concerned, the spectators began yelling "Take them off." And yet in this round Joe landed the hardest punch in the bout--a right on the side of the face that seemed to jar O'Brien.

Choynski was evidently stirred up by the referee's admonition, for he started in like the really good fighter that he is in the sixth, and there was plenty of action for a while; but it was only for a while. He soon let down, and there was a repetition of the rounds that preceded the last.


1903-03-31 The Washington Times (Washington, DC) (page 5)

THE O'BRIEN-CHOYNSKI BOUT SAVORED OF A FAKE
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Audience Hissed the Forbearance Displayed.
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PHILADELPHIA, March 31.--From a spectator's point of view the bout last night between Jack O'Brien and Joe Choynski had a very bad look. The men were engaged to fight six rounds, at the Washington Sporting Club, and a big crowd turned out despite the storm. There's no question as to the sincerity of the principals until the beginning of the fourth round, when Choynski let slip by many chances that, had he tried, he could have done considerable damage to Jack. But on the contrary, he invariably drew his arm back when the blows was already on its way.

The crowd was quick to see that something was wrong, and hissed Choynski time and again for not following up his leads. The fifth round was worse than the preceding round. Choynski did not even try to land on Jack. On the other hand, O'Brien jabbed, uppercut, and hooked as he pleased, but his blows were rather weak. The referee at this stage of the proceedings stopped the men long enough to caution them. O'Brien said that he was doing his best. Evidently he was, as he hit Choynski three to one and clearly outpointed him at every stage, and he could have no reason to enter into an agreement with the Chicago man, having bested Choynski in Chicago some time ago.

After the referee cautioned the men Choynski let out a few links and went after O'Brien right and left, but Jack danced nimbly out of harm's way, and hooked his left to the face when the bell rang. They came out of their corners for the sixth and cut out a terrific pace. O'Brien, as in the previous rounds, was much the quicker and landed oftener than Choynski, but his blows lacked the necessary steam to do much damage. Again in this round Choynski, after his spurt, let up, and it looked as though he was not trying to fight. The crowd again started hissing and yelling to stop the bout, and kept up this sort of thing until the gong for the end of the sixth round sounded. Choynski paid no attention to the hissing, and only smiled. After the bout was over the spectators seemed to be glad of it, and gave vent to their feelings in very strong language.


1903-03-31 The World (New York, NY) (page 9)

O'BRIEN VICTORY TOO EASY FOR SPECTATORS.
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They "Roared" When He Tamely Defeated Choynski.

(Special to The World.)

PHILADELPHIA, March 30.--What was expected to be an interesting hard-fought ring battle at the Washington Sporting Club to-night between Jack O'Brien and Joe Choynski developed into a one-sided farce in which the former had all the better of the boxing.

O'Brien landed scores of times, but apparently was not anxious to put much steam behind his blows, while Choynski was contented to act as a punching-bag and seldom attempted a lead. From start to finish the bout had a very queer look, and at its conclusion a roar of disapproval went up from the big crowd present.