River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-03-01
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles.l
HOW I WON MY RING BATTLES

HOW WON MY RING BATTLES
In this, the preliminary bout l am
taking on with the pen, want to say
at once that | am not out to butter a
nice hot slice of good advice, and then
pry open the teeth of youth and shove
it down the juvenile throat. I'm not
going to take UP physical culture and
hold it up as the thing of all things,
either, for what don't know about it
would fill book too big to carry
around in the waistcoat pocket. Ply
steal culture is all right in its place,
and good advice is, also, but don't
think I'm strong enough on either sub
ject to make it read true. | have
written about the care of the body, and
meant it, but then my idea of 1t is
quite lot different from the so-called
professors, and there are enough of
them in the business to take care of it.
I've been asked a good many times
about my feelings when step in the
ring, and perhaps I'd better clean up
that first of all. Looking back over the
years I've been using the gloves, !
think I may say that the most impor-
tant fight I've had was the one with
Jim Corbett in Carson City. Anyway
you look at it, it means about as much
to me as anything could mean. If l
jump in and tell the real tale of that
little business, it ought to give pref
ty fair notion of what "the old man"
feels like when he climbs through the
ropes and looks the outfit over.
I'll start off right here by saying
never had a nerve in my life. l don't
know anything about such things and
don't want to. When I was putting
in good hard ticks on the anvil back
in New Zealand the only thing / knew
about nerves was when | collided with
bit of hot iron, and that didn't last
long. I didn't know what it meant
much, except that 1t was a good thing
to keep away from. I've walked into
the ring something over 800 times in
my life, and I can't remember that I
ever had a tremor or shake, except
what got from the other fellow when
got careless. Nerves may be all
right for some folks, but I've managed
to get along without them, and I'd like
to bet that some of the doctor boys
would lose bunch of good hard money
If the rest of humanity was like me-.
No healthy man ought to know
whether he has nerves or not, any
way, and If he has them he isn't
healthy, and you can't go back of that.
But what I wanted to talk about was
that fight at Carson City.
When that match was made I think
was about as we'll satisfied as if I'd
been left a million, for I'd been wait
ing for a chance at CorDett a good
long while, if you remember. Jim
didn't think much of me those days,
for some reason or other, and he never
took any particular pains to hide it..
either; but then he was a young fellow
and he's learned a lot of things since
then I've trained for many fight,
but never as I trained for that one.
and it was good hard work all the time.
Because / didn't fettle myself up the
way the others had been doing lot of
foolish stuff found its way into the
papers, and then the report got out
that I was only blufing, and had it
fixed up with a gang back east to lay
down. That made me sore, for I'll say
honestly that I'd have gone into the
ring with Corbett if there hadn't been
q dollar in it for me anywhere in sight,
and | think he knew it just as well as
l did. However, just kept on work
ing and saying nothing much, and I
went through a pretty stiff grind all
around before the day came along. 1t
was pretty hard work waiting, too but
/ put the time in, for I knew that II I
was going to whip Jim I'd have to be
there when the last gong tapped
It's not swelling things little bit to
say that over thousand men have
asked me low l felt just then when
climbed through the ropes. I've never
really talked much about it, because
it never seemed worth while, INT I'm
going to tell the facts now. didn't
feel much of anything except that I'd
made up my mind that was going to
whip my man If had to stick there for
"a hours. l walked around that ring
in my bathrobe and looked the
crowd over pretty well. l remember
, there was one man in a soft gray felt
hat who sat in my corner, and when 1
looked over at him he leaned over to a
chap next to him and said:
"Corbett IL knock his blanked head
off. Look at what he calls legs"
That made me sore for minute, and
/ leaned over the ropes and said to
him:
"You billy-soakcd kangaroo, I'll give
you a hundred if you'll say that again
at my camp after the fight" And then
| felt foolish and went over to the
other side of the ring. was thinking
most of the time about Corbett's feet
They'd always said he won most Of his
f1hts with them, and / was figuring
out a way to put it on him with mine.
If you ever saw the pictures they took
of that fight you'll remember was
walking about with my head down
most of the time before Corbett showed
up in the ring, and was just figuring
out how was going to work to make
Jim forget his feet. don't think was
sore at him just then, for it would
have been the same if it had been any
other man, for wanted to win that
fight if l dropped dead the next min
ute. Well, | kept working on it and I