Evening star., 1909-01-24
JACK GRACE TAUGHT
THE FIGHT GAME
Nelson's Trainer Has Travelled
and Fought in Every Part
of the World.

OF tne WUt1u.
AS a philosopher and traveller. Jack
Grace. trainer OF Battling Nelson. and
fighter of no mean ability in the days oil
the skin-tght glove game. stands alone
in the realms of pugilism
| Though Grace has not turned his for
tieth year, he has been around the world
several times. and what is more, he in
| tends to take a few hikes around the lit
tie old sphere again before he dies.
| This former fighter and present trainer
| has been In practically every great coun-
try In the world and in many quaint out
of-the-way spots. And he has fought in
most of them. too.
| Although the South American republics
are noted for mix-ups, 1t is very likely
| that the local fight fans never knew that
the Marquis of Queensberry sport is no
| stranger in many Of the Latin-American
| states. Grace introduced the game in
Chile, Ecuador. the Argentine Republic
| and Peru. and Jack says the sport is still
being followed in those countries. al
| though it is in no fourishing condition.
Talking of Buenos Aires. Grace de-
| clared that he pulled off one of the hot
that fair city. 1T was back in the nine
| ties" said Jack. Il was in Buenos Aires
| at the time, and l started physical cuI-
! ture school l had many OF the swells
taking boxing lessons. with me and got
| them greatly interested in the sport of
| the glove. Finally the swells at the club
got so worked up over boxing that they
| pleaded with me to put on a real prize
light
| Produces Bogus Fitz.
THAT was my meat continued Grace,
'and told them that / would fight some
one for them. / asked them to select an
| opponent for me. and who do you think
they named? Well. no one but Bob Fitz-
simmons. All right says 1 to myself;
III get you Bob all right, but he won't
| be here for some time. Now, there was
no one in Buenos Aires that ever saw
Fitzsimmons, and 1 watches the incoming
boats to land some big zob of d sailor
| who had some resemblance to him. Final
| iy lands big dock Walloper Of a sailor
from an English ship and lays open the
plan to him. He falls nicely for it and l
plant MIN SO that can dig him UP at the
proper time and introduce him as the real
| Ruby Bob.
In time I brings the zob into the club
and introduces him as Fitzsimmons. He
was a big, red-headed, knock-kneed lime
| juice sailor, and he passes as Bob all
| right, but l knew we must get the thing
over without too much noise being made
about the big fellow whom had pose as
titz. as l feared some cross-country
Americans might come through the town
and tip the guy off.
| THE night Of the fight rolled around
and there was quite a bunch on hand.
| Now. this big red-headed fellow was as
husky as bear, and knew that 1 had to
work one on him. He knew no more
about the fight game than a man who
never saw a fighter, and framed for him
| good. Before got in the ring I man
aged to get the gloves and Slipped nice
wad of sheet metal into each of them
Well. the result of this trick was that
every time l put one over on Mr.. Fob l
cut him as clean as though / hit him with
a meat cleaver. l beat him in four rounds
! and the papers made great ado about 1t.
L knew then that BuenOs Aires was no
place for me, as they made too much of a
hero of me, and l ducked for the United
! States on the first outbound steamer, leav-
| ing the good citizens of the fair city
| laboring under the impression that I had
| beaten the great Fitzsimmons. That was
my final appearance in BuenoS Aires.
Il think the best trick 1 ever pulled off
was on couple of boob promoters in
Richmond. Va. This happened about ten
had a heavy lightweight whom they
thought pretty well Of He was advertis-
ing himself about, and took him up. We
| fought fifteen rounds to draw, and
| maze a pretty SOOO impression on Inc
fight fans OF that town. They had an
other boy about 130 pounds whom they
wanted to match, and they asked me if
could dig up an opponent for him.
Becomes Brother to Himself.
"Ill fix that for you, says 1. I have
brother who makes that weight fine,
and I'll go up to New York and grab
| him."
Jack ducked back to Broadway and
| trained himself down to the required
weight and arrived back in Richmond the
day of the fight. He presented himself as
Tim Grace, and the sports were anxious
to know how his brother Jack was. The
| fight fans were struck by the close resem-
| blance of the Grace who had recently
| fought in their city and the new Grace
who was there to fight their 13O-pound
wonder. Grace fought the lad twenty
rounds and got decision. After the go
! Jack hoped on the first train back to
New York The gang was wise to what
Jack had done, but wondered how he got
away with it.
How did / get away with it?" asked
Jack of some persistent inquirer. "Why
that was the easiest thing in the world.
1 ran off a bit of weight, got me hair
trimmed short and did not get into
Richmond until the day of the fight, so
| that they had no time to make me. It
was the softest bit of work 1 ever did.
1t was like rolling off log. The Rich
mond fans got wise to the trick / played
on them later. but it did them little good.
as l had the coin and didn't care to see
| Richmond any more
| During the last seven years Grace
| has Travelled more than 100000 miles
and has visited nearly every important
| city In the world. Jack has been in
| Odessa, which shows he has been going
| some. He even went so far as to pull
| off a cross-country fight in that famous
| burg
| Grace declares that before the Boer war
South Africa was the greatest snap in
the world for fighters. why" declared
| Jack .it was no trouble for couple of
cross country fighters to pick up $4,000
or $4,000 for their bit in a ragtime fight"
Fights in Calcutta.
India is another place where Jack has
travelled and fought. He hooked up in
Calcutta with Tiger Smith. This hap
pened two years ago on the day of the
Viceroy cup race in Calcutta. While he
| was in India Jack fought exhibition bouts
before the English soldiers. india Is a
| great sporting country" declares Grace.
| The natives furnish the finest wrestlers
| in the world. but none of them will leave
his own country. They are all big
men, weighing between $50 and $50
pounds. They act as bodyguards to the
rajahs.'
| Craca heoan bis hoyipp career IN Nau,