Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-01
MULDOON ON SULLIVAN.
The Great Wrestler Talks Of the Man He
Once Trained.


Once Trained.
TIE BIO YELLOW WAS Hor IN CONDITION
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BETWEEN THE TWO MEN PHYSICALLY AND
NHSrALLY-THE nx-cHAMPIoS's yuruaE.
William Muldoon. the retired champion Of
vrestlers, ID not only famous athlete, but be is
hardly less famous trainer Of athletes. He it
was who trained John L. Sullivan for his fight
with Jake Kilrain near New Orleans three years
ago, and he it was who first brought Corbett.
Sullivan's conqueror, east and prepared him for
his fight with Kilrain before the Olympic Club
Of New Orleans after the latters defeat by Sui
Ivan. knowing that Mr.. Muldoon's intimate
relations with the ex-champion and the present
one enabled him to speak perhaps more know
ingly Of the two men than any one else and be-
ing informed that Muldoon had stated that had
he trained Sullivan Corbett would have been
defeated, a reporter Of The STAR took advan-
tage Of Muldoon's presence in the city last week
to question him upon the subject.
SULLIVAN NOT PROPERLY TRAINED.
"what said, explained Mr.. Muldoon, twas
this: Sullivan was not correctly trained for his
fight with Corbett But as to whether he could,
under my training, have defeated the young
Californian is altogether different question
/ will say this, however, had trained John the
fight would have been much longer one, and
am not SO sure but that the result would have
been quite different. '
'sNo other two fighters ever met" remarked
Muldoon, after a moments reflection, who
were SO utterly unlike. both as to their style Of
fighting and as to their mental powers. Sulli-
van Ii not an intelligent man; Corbett is. Sui
Ivan ia stronger and hits harder that Corbett,
while the latter hits more Often but has what
We call less ginger in his blows. Sullivan is
quick tempered, Corbett is slow to anger, as
the good book has IL, but that is about the only
thing he is slow In. Sullivan is not a good
puncher and depends upon his swinging blows,
while Corbett is a hard puncher and seldom
uses q swing. John Is comparatively slug
gish, while Jim is quick as lightning
Why, Peter Jackson told me after his fight with
ever came across. Sullivan, on the other hand,
was never hard to hit. In fact, he would often
put himself in reach simply to better land his
famous right.
HIS MIGHTY RroHr.
"And that right of Johns was mighty one,"
continued Mr.. Muldoon "The mans equal az
q fighter never lived and I don't believe ever
will live. Why, sir, there was time when he
could lick the best Of them, in or out Of condi-
ton. Even now, when age and dissipation
have done so much to undo him, will agree to
find half Of his backing for eli, 900 and put him
In condition to fight any one save Corbett.
"Why do l bar Corbett? Because he is Just
such a fighter as would worry the life out of
Sullivan and then come in and lick him. Slavin
is the man above all others that would like to
put John against, and l feel confident Sullivan
could best him. You see, Slavin doesn't hold
of. He PUSHES right at man, and that style Of
fighting would suit Sullivan exactly. For then
he could get in his right, thing shifty fighter
like Corbett would never permit. Had John
ever been able to land q good one on Corbett
the Inter would not now be the champion.
But don't understand me wishing to take
away from Corbett any Of the glory Of his
victory, for no man ever fought fairer than he
did, and he is entitled to all the glory and
money he won.
MULDooNs ADVICE TO JOHN.
"When Sullivan had whipped Kilrain ad-
vised him to never fight again. 1 told him that
while he was becoming stale lot of young
good men were coming up and he could not al
ways remain the Sullivan Of old. But he
thought he knew better and you see the result
Then too, his match with Corbett was badly
managed from the first to last and his training
was about as bad as it could possibly have been,
down in a low, hot country and pulling the
flesh of of him the way they did. Why it was
enough to kill an even better
man than he was. Everything was
lost sight Of in their efforts to reduce his flesh.
II.
other words, they sacrificed his strength and
made him weak and lifeless. His work during
the fight showed that to be true. Then. again,
/ am told Sullivan had bad sores on his feet
when he entered the ring. That shows that his
blood was in an impoverished condition, about
as sure an indication Of weakness as could be.
Another great neglect in his training was the
failure to force him to spar and wrestle at least
once IL not twice day. Hitting the bag is
good exercise, but it can never fill the place Of
an active sparring partner. y. h..
CoRBErr WAS FINELY TRAINED.
Snow, Corbett's training was aboutas fine
piece of work as ! ever knew, and showed Cor
belts superior intelligence. DAILY his sparring
partner, large, heavy man, initiated SuRivan's
style Of fighting, and in that way made plain to
Oorbett just what to expect in the fight. Then
Corbett would wrestle and tug with DAILY twice
day, in that way preparing himself for the
great strain upon the muscles which is caused
by clinches That is something which Is sell
dom understood, even by experienced fighters.
For instance, watch two men in rough-and-
tumble fight, and although they may not be at
it more than three or four minutes, both will
be completely exhausted in that short length Of
time. Now, Corbett was, while training, daily
preparing himself for all such work, while Sui
Ivan neglected it entirely. So you see Corbett
had the best Of the training Is well as OF the
fight itself.
sULLIvANs POSSIBLE FUTURE.
"What is Sullivan's future2 All that is hard
to tell yet believe that the licking he got will
do him much more good than q victory over
Corbett would have done. 1t has sobered him
up as nothing else could have done. The man,
despite his defeat. has a wonderful hold on the
people Of this country, and that hold is not, by
any means, confined to any one particular class.
&c. IL John conducts himself as he should and
drops the crowd which has lived on him for so
many years he will get along all right. He is
really good sort Of fellow when sober and
has heart as big as his great body. 1t is only
when he is drinking that he is ugly. John and
/ are at outs now, and have been since his fight
with Kilrain, but have no ill feeling for him
and wish him all success"
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TWEEN SNOW AND FIRE Rr RRprp Az Mr.