The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-08
ADVANTAGE OF SPARR|NG
In All It's Varied Phases Set Forth
by Frank White, Light
weight.
It Is Much Better Than Medicine
and a Heap More Pleas
ant.
Liquor the Fighters Worst Enemy-How
They Gain In Flesh John LIS
First Hottie.

II any one wants to hear a man talk en-
tertainingly about the manifold advantages
of sparring, let him talk with Frank White,
the lightweight pugilist.
draining prolongs life,'' he said TO a
New York News reporter. 1--WE have all u
certain amount of vitality. It's like the
firing Of a cannon ball. 1t will go just SO
far II propelled by n certain amount of
powder. If it has to pass through several
thick stone walls, the encounter ~dimipjshes
the force, and it doesn't 60 so far. If a
man trains thoroughly it will add five years
to his life. But it is because he is success
ful-becauss he wins his f%ght-that the
average puQilist's constitution becomes
undermined. Then his friends gather
about him. It's one orowd one night with
their slaps on the back, and they're
YOU'RE a tully fellow Come have
something! and another crowd the
next with similar greetings. This second
crowd is an entirely different one from the
first. The first can be sleeping of their po-
tations while the second is at the fighter.
and the second are at rest while tho third
delegation is at him.. IL it any wonder the
fighters health is occasionally ruined?
"The old Roman emperors, if / have
heard Alright, had men behind their thron es.
When the rlaudits of the crowd had a ten
dency to carry 81 Caesar away to the en-
pyrean, it was his duty to whisper to his
ruler: Remember you are only a man.
and this knowledge had a tendency to keep
the emperor's feet ON this mundane sphere.
But our successful fighter has no one to
say to him: Here, stop drinking. tn
unfit you for future work, or kill you if you
keep it up at this rate No, he meets n
different set the next night, and goes at it
again. That's why some fighters die of
consumption. 10 show you in what SPLEEN
did physical condition training gets men
into. let me just point to the fact that the
fighter, no matter how hard an encounter
it has been, throws off his bruises like a
duck does water, the next day almost. Two
years ago | thought | was dying of malaria,
and / was pretty near it. l was on my way
here from Duluth, and wrote my name and
address On II card. SO they would know
whore to send my body to-. But l pulled
through. mainly because of the constitution
that frequent trainings had given me, and
to-day | am AZ healthy as a man could
wish to DO.
''Dr. Griswold told me l had to spar. IT'S
the only thing will cure your malaria he
said. l started in at it again and took
pupils, and among them now are DIR. Girls
void and several other physicians. l be-
licve that this exercise will cure bronchitis,
and even consumption in it's early stages.
As for too much adipose tissue nothing can
beat it. DIR. Walton, the oxygen gas manu-
faCturer, when he came to me some time
ago, couldn't tie his shoes. He can do it
now quite easy.
'It's a curious anomaly that, while the
exercise of spnrring will reduce flesh, the
fighters who train often invariably gain
flesh. There is little fun in training. I
presume you've heard that before, though.
What is terribly hard in it il the dieting
not the work. You eat solid food, but you
stop drinking almost altogether. There is
one cup of tea at breakfast, and, if on are
a drinking man. a bottle of Bass ale for
dinner. At supper another cup of tea, and
between meals nothing, no matter whether
you're dying Of thirst or not, and You can
imagine how parched you become from all
the hard work. One glass of water would
spoil all the work. You had one that day.
Drink spoils the wind and makes fat, in
that way destroying the very effects you are
aiming at.
II have seen men in training for a fight
30 parched that they couldn't talk-so that
their lips were almost glued together. In
these cases, to keep the mouth moist, the
fighter is allowed to suck a pebble. This
excites the saliva and gradually lessons the
thirst. Bob Turnbull told me once that he
liked to train under a certain man better
than anyone else because he allowed him n
claret killed every bit Of work he did.
Claret is dry and excitss the thirst. and il
dries the blood as we'll.
"When a pugilist has been trained right
he comes into this ring in what may t:nly
be called the pink of condition, for his flesh
is all white and pink, and he is in the very
flush of health. Some fighters gain from
three to six pounds on the very day they
are going to fight. All their organs are in
such splendid condition that everything
they eat and drink forms blood and flesh at
once. 1t is like the machinery of any other
mechanism. When it is in good condition
it may be depended upon to do splendid
work.
That is how fighters generally bseomo
fat. Each time after they train they gain
enough they are bound to become very
heavy in time. The most notable example
in this line was old Izzy Lazarus, tho Eng
lish ~pugilist. His time was about 1850. At
one time he was a fe~atherweight and fought
at liz pounds, but for several years before
he died he weighed 336 pounds, being about
three times tho man he was before.
Then there Is Jack Dempsey. He used
to be a lightweight; now he's a middle
weight. Joe Goss always fought as a mid.
before he died. Charley Mitchell used to
be a mlddleweight, now he's a heavy weight.
! used to be a featherweight and fought at
ITO pounds, but nov In a lightweight and
fight at $50. John l.. Sullivan was pounds
and pounds lighter when he began his
career.
by the way, l don't know whether it has
ever been published that he never drank a
drop of liquor before he fought Paddy
Ryan: ! trained him for his fight with
John flood on the barge. George Law, the
millionaire. wanted him to drink a bottle
of wine, but he steadfastly refused. At
last, however, he said: III ] lick Paddy
Ryan I'll drink Il bottle with you And he
did il.
killed in the prize ring is because thew
either fight when not in condition or else
continue when all their vitality is e1-
hausted. If | were to fight a msn who was
In condition now the chances arc that |
wnull unS I;IJ,I