Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1918 — CREDIT PETER MAHER AS HARDEST HITTER [ARTICLE]

CREDIT PETER MAHER AS HARDEST HITTER

Presence of Mind of Joe Choynski Saved Australian From 1 Knockout. Joe Choynski’s presence of mind and his sheer nerve in a pinch Saved Bob Fitzsimmons a knockout when he met Peter Maher at New Orleans some years ago. If you doubt this statement, have the boy page John (“Tex”) Dunn, matchmaker of the Broadway Sporting club of Brooklyn, who was the master of ceremonies at New Orleans on the night of the Fitz-Maher battle. Jawn is authority for the statement, Sez he: “You all seem to think that Fitzsimmons was the greatest hitter among the heavies. Not so! “Peter Maher was the man! “There is probably little doubt that Fitz was the greatest hitter at pounds, but Maher, ah, my boy, there was the lad who could hit. There never was a man who breathed at 175 or 177 pounds who could hit like Maher. Fitz didn’t compare' with him as a hitter, for Maher knocked ’em flown stone dead and one solid punch was enough. “Do you know that Maher had Fitz out in the first round of their battle in New Orleans? Well, he did, and I know, because I was the master of ceremonies that night. “Maher went after Bob with all the gentleness of a wild man in the first round, and Bob was on the floor, ready for the shutter, when Joe Choynski, his chief second, jumped into the ring, kicking the bell with his foot as he went, to end the round. “It was a nervy, quick-witted trick on Choynski’s part, but no one was any the wiser. Bob was washed up and told to jab in the second round, and jab he did. When Maher saw him come back so strong he had the fear of the devil in his heart, and he told his seconds that Fitz was a devil in a man's frame. “Bob kept jabbing Maher during the next ten rounds. He jabbed Peter’s nose into a tomato and Peter went out in the eleventh. “Any time anyone tells you that Peter Maher wasn’t the hardest-hitting human who ever pulled on a glove send him around to me and I’ll convince him.”