River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-05-10

WHY PUGILIsTs RETIRE,

of the pugilistS who drop out of
sight, and what they do when they
retire." and I've, tried to get som
kind of an idea about this very thing.
You've got to understand first of all
that / haven't retired, and that I'm
not going to retire. and that I'm not
SO well up on the points that make a
man realize that he's dead one.
It's a kind of a tough thing.
guess, for a man to sit down and
think he's no more use in the game.
but it hasn't come to me yet, and it
| have anything to do with it, it won't.
I've made a pretty fair record as it
is for a man Of my age, and don't
think many men can point to record
Of 1862 fights and two defeats. But
that's outside the. question, and what
we're after now is what becomes of
the men who drop out, either through
defeat or age. I don't know just how
many men over 40 stick to the game.
but there must be mighty few of them.
AS far as I've doped it out, the aver
age age at which fighter drops out is
about 35.
| OF course the real reason behind il
all, and know what I'm talking
about in this case at least, is the
drink. Don't think this is going to
he temperance lecture, for it isn't,
IT'S just plain common horse sense.
DON'T believe any man of fair intelli-
gence would willingly go out to sprain
his arm, or strain tendon in his leg
| Just before he was going to fight. BY
| this | mean that if a chap was told.
and had learned from experience of
! himself or others, that if he lifted 4
| heavy box or barrel he would stand .
mighty good chance of getting knocked
cut in his next encounter, he would be
kind of likely to fight shy of it. Fol-
lowing this out, then, il stands to rea-
son that if man goes right ahead
and fills his hide up with whisky,
keeps late hours, and generally dis
| sipates, he stands a mighty good
within short order.
AS I say, that's not any temperance
lecture, as any man with bit of
brain in his head can see, but it's
mighty close to furnishing a reason
for the boys that drop out long be-
fore they've got any physical right to.
I'm AZ years old, and I've been
through pretty tough battering in
the ring myself, but Pm still here,
and mighty shifty on my feet, at that
It's an open bet that, barring Jim JEFF
fries, I'm willing to make good heavy
side bet that I'll drop any man in the
ring to-day inside of Is rounds.
couldn't say that if had lived free
for-all life, and blown in every cent
{ made on wine, women and song.
There's many good man who has
made some thousands in the ring,
hunting for a place to sleep at this
minute, and he can go back in his own
heart and figure out just where he
dropped his money. I'm not that
kind myself, and without blowing my
own horn too freely, / can be ex-
cused if / say right here that there's
not a man in the fighting business to-
day that's reached my age and is still
a champion, with a look in for an
other championship.
The trouble with the lads OF the
ring is that they've come up the lad
der fast, and they find themselves with
more money than they ever believed
was in the country, and having had
no experience of this kind of life
they think it's necessary to blow it in
as fast as they can get it, on the be-
lief that there's plenty more where
that came from. In way they're right
enough, but only as long as they keep
straight and look out for themselves.
If there's anything tougher than to
be time-expired idol of the public,
I'd like to find out what it is. Why,
right this minute can call to mind
one case that will do for an exam
pie. There's little fellow that's
made a million or so with his hands.
who for IA years was the real goods
as far as his class in the ring went.
He met and put away every man that
came to him, and he had diamonds
and clothes and manager who was
I6dUy W SIdhS nAA4 any ekAAAAS h(
wanted Then some one put him
down and out. 1t took just two months
for him to find out how much of a
public idol he was. At the end of that
time he was trying to borrow car fare,
and finding it hard job. His man
ager wouldn't cross the street to LOOK
at him, and had no 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 in the
world that he shouldn't have had a
hundred thousand in the bank, but ne
hadn't He'd been too busy to think
of that He blew in his coin so fast
that he stood a good chance to take
pneumonia, 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 present of odds when you so
into ring, but you are doing that
very thing when you let yourself get
roped into sitting up 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 a
mighty poor show in this world if he