Omaha daily bee., 1884-05-23
A PUGILIsT's
y Professional Prizc.Fighter COM
plains OF Hard Work, Hard
Knocks, and Poor
Pay.

80, yes, we have an easy time" sale
a prominent member of the ~sluggins
brigade, whose face bore the scars of man,
hard-fought battles in tho twenty fouI
foot ring and with the gloves, to a New
Yonk Tribune reporter. "We only hav,
to work from z in the evening until 3 OF
4 10 the morning for from Sl6 to S25 &
week. Yes, we make a regular bushes.
of it. We are hired just like longshore.
men or hod-oarriers. have our regular
hours, do certain work, and get paid for
it. You wouldn't think twas very hard
work to get up OF the stage and spar for
five or ten minutes time of an evening,
but that's because you never have tried
it. You think soft gloves don't hurt.
Well, perhaps they don't. See this carp
pointing to his left auricular organ, which
was knocked all out of shape, and was
swollen to twice its natural size. "Well,
that's one of the results of this hippo.
drome sparring. It's all fixed, and we
go in not to hurt each other, but in the
heat of debate we sometimes forget and
hit harder than we intend, and then a
black eye or n cut lip or a swollen ear are
the results. Then, you see unless we keep
our name up as fighters we are no good
and can't get an engagement, 30 we have
to get up occasional glove.tights and get
our names in the papers In q majority
of cases these fights are fixed, and while
there is great talk of $3.50 or $500 or some
other sum a side, the fellows who fight
get So or $40, and the men who get up
the fight scoop the remainder. The fight.
ers are generally careful not to hurt each
other, but sometimes there's a rivalry or
some hard feeling between the men, and
then you get. genuine milling with a
vengeance. You have no idea how hard
a blow can be hit with n hard glove.
They are little more than n protection to
hand, and / can give a good deal more
punishment with them than | can with
bare knuckles. This nose of mine was
broken in a hard -glove fight that was in
tended for a Joke but which turned out
to be a genuine fight before we finished
up" The aforesaid nose was entirely
minus a bridge, and was tip-tilted at an
angle of forty-ive degrees.
81 should say" continued the speaker,
that there were between forty and fifty
sparrers, feather-weight, light weight,
middle-weight and heavyweight men in
the business in New York. They are all
champions, and can all whip each other
if you let them tell it.. A good many of
them never faced a man with bare knuck.
les or even hard gloves, but they are all
tip.top fighters-on the bills-and they
help to catch suckers. A part of our du-
ties and not the easiest, is to sit around
the house and cap for drinks. There are
any number of fools who consider it an
honor to be permitted to drink with a
prize.fighter, or to have the privilege
when they bring some green friend in
the place to walk up to some sparer and
say Hello, Jimmy or Tommy, or what.
ever his name may be, won't you take q
drink" They think it makes them
tough and shine in the eyes of their
friends as a 'rounder.' If it wasn't for
the fools we would have to go into some
honest business. Why don't I leave it?
Because l was a fool and vent into it,
and now late hours and irregular habits
have untitled me for anything else. l
havn't brains or education enough for a
reporter and that's the only business that
requires the night hours that l am usedto.
A good sparrer is lucky if he gets So 80
a night, and they run from that down to
81. so. Some Of the boys have been
talking about getting up a trade-union
and striking for higher pay.