The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-05
WHY PUGILISTS RETIRE.
xchampn Says Pusist Worst

BY ROBERT FlTzslMMoNs.

use for him. He'd gone the pace too
fast, and when the finish came with
him among the also rams. he was down
and out, and hadn't a dollar OF all he
made
There wasn't any reason i'm the world
that he shouldn't have had a hundred
thousand in tho bank, but he hadn't.
He'd been too busy to think of that.
He blew in his coin SO fast that he
stood good chance 10 take pneumo-
MIA, and that let him out. His is just
one case.
There was poor Johnny Gardner, who
was another. Why boys, you wouldn't
deliberately make the other fellow a
present Of odds when you go into
ring, but you are doing that very thing
when you let yourself get roped into
sitting by buying booze for a crowd
that wouldn't give YOU a nickel if you
begged on the street. I'm telling you
that "a man stands d mighty poor show
in this world if he sets out 10 chase the
devil around the bush. The old gen
tleman has a whole lot the best OF you,
and he'll make it interesting for you all
right.
What I started out To say. though.
was that men retire pretty early in these
days of the ring, and the reason is.
of course that when they get licked
once they go down the road pretty
swift Then we 60 back 10 the reason
they get licked. It's not always because
they meet a better man; it's just as
often because they meet a man who
is just as good as they were once, and
that they're not as good as they used
10 be. That gives the other fellow an
edge on them that counts for a whole
lot. Then comes the time when they
know right inside themselves that
they've done their best. and that they
are sliding down the wrong side. They
find they're getting slow. and that their
eyes aren't as good or as quick. and
their muscles don't work the same. and
then they retire.
That's the tough part of 1t. Some
of them make provision for what they
see coming but they're mighty few
and far between. 4 few of them an
nOunCe that they've decided that the
lighting game is too rough and coarse
for them, and that they think they'll
go on the stage and wind up as actors
That pans out mighty seldom. for while
a fellow is at the top. or near the
top. he's valuable as a drawing card.
but when his popular drawing value Is
gone, he's not enough of an actor TO
finish comes when the show goes on the
rocks, or he gets a gentle hint that he's
n dead one, and the show can get along
without him. It's the wise man that
knows enough to retire when he feels
II coming on. or that has another good
job up his sleeve where he can hike and
so right on earning money.
As | think I said, many men retire,
and We never hear Of them again. while
others manage 10 get along doing odd
jobs or touching their friends Go back
over the list of fighters you used to
know ten OF fifteen years ago. Where
are they? What are they doing? How
many of them can YOU put YOUR finger
on and say: That old boy is doing
pretty we'll i'm his old age" How many
of them have just dropped out of sight
and have never been heard of again?
I'd hate to have to make up a list. Go
back eight years. and find the old
timers who were headed up the ladder
Where are they? Gone and not a lot
does the general public care where.
You've got to go back to first prin-
ciples in the fighting game, as in every
thing else. II you burn the candle at
both ends. you're going TO have light
but little while. Maybe it'll be bright
and fancy while il lasts, but it won't
last long. The fighter gets IL worse
than any other elias of men. Principal
~ because he's been depending on his
physical powers to keep him 10 the
front and the minute he hurts those
he sinks his value to himself. It's lust
like having 1000 in the bank. and then
putting on steam. and seeing how fast
II will 20. The man Of the ring who
dissipates is drawing down on his prin-
cipal all the time. and when the physi-
cal bankruptcy comes. he's not a cent
to meet it. and goes broke. Maybe
that's iong-winded, but it's matter
that ] can't stop talking about when I
get started. 8s
Downright. 1905 BIZ Insenh y Rn,rles \