Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-04

square accounts with Mitchell in the ring
and incidentally clean up about $4,000 on
the side.
Corbett Makes the Mistake.
Even Corbett made the mistake ~ re-
naming out OF the ring too longl what n
splendid fight he put up against Jeffries
A. Coney Island in 1900! He danced around
the boilermsker for twenty-three rounds,
jabbing him here and there almost al will.
Meanwhile jeff kept using a round arm
left swing sixty-seven times, according to
my account, until he caught Jim on the
jaw with the sixty-eighth blow of this kind
and scored q clean knockout. II Corbett
could have stayed those last two rounds.
Referee Siler would have had 10 hand over
the championship to Corbett. Or u the af-
fair had been a twenty-round go instead
OF one of twenty-five. Jeff would surely
have lost his title. After this clever per-
Torrance Corbet waited three years be-
fore he tackled Jeffries for the second
time in Frisco in 1893. By this time Jeff
had improved wonderfully. while Corbett
had been dropping back, with the result
that 1t took Jeff ten rounds to put the ex-
bank clerk away.
81 saw Joe Goss back in 1876 put up a
grand battle against Tom Allen in Ken
lucky under London rules. The next time
I saw Goss fight was with Paddy Ryan at
Collier Station, w. Va. in 1850. What q
change had come over Goss! He was old
and fat and slow. All his cleverness had
left him, although at that he gave Ryan a
good punching. Old Joe's wind finally gave
out after he had battled for one hour
and t~wenty-seven minutes and Arthur
Chambers threw up the sponge. Ryan was
really the biggest dub ! ever saw as "a
champion. He couldn't fight a little bit,
and beat Goss simply by youth and endur-
aace.
when Heenan whipped sayres in Eng
land in 1860 he was the ideal heavyweight
But like so many others. Heenan laid off
for three years without a fight until he
met Tom King, \ who beat him easily.
Heenan was Simply a has been and he knew
enought to quit.
Tom ShRrkey = joke.
tom Shsrkey fought Gus Rubin the
last time in 1902 at Coney Island. Two
years after that he met Jack Munroe, a
third rater, in Philadelphia. and Munroe
put it all over the sailor in a six-round
bout. sharkey had gone back so far in
those two short years that he was simply
a joke. He must have thought so himself.
for Sharkey has not been in the ring since.
In 1904 Bob F1tasimmor.s stood the clever
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien off for six
rounds. Three years later Fitz. who had
been out OF the ring. took q crack at Jack
Johnson and was stopped in two round
Bob was only a baby in the big coon's
hands, yet II they had met four years
earlier Johnson would have been slugged
down and out in jig time.
Look at Marvin Hart. There was a
fighter. according TO J%effries, who should
have been the ~iatter's successor. When
Hart got a decision over Jack Johnson at
Frisco in 1906 Jeff picked him cut as the
coming champion. But Hart took such
long rests between fights that he gradually
lost his form and finally fell before the
lemon, Mike Schreck. in twenty-one
rounds, at Tonopah In 1907.
III you want another terrible example,
take the once great Kid Mccoy. He laid
off for four years after winning a twenty
round battle from Jack CTwin) Sullivan at
Los Angeles until last fall. when with a
flourish Of trumpets he came back TO the
ring with O bout with one Stewart a fourth
rate dub. Mccoy quickly showed that he
was gone, that he couldn't fight at all, yet
Stewart was even worse. Those who saw
this miserable farce lost no time in realiz-
ing that Mccoy had been idle too Ions. /
an Example.
when Peter jackson knocked out Frank
'sIavIn and also broke his Jaw in ten rounds
before the National Sporting club OF Lon
don the Australian negro was then the
- In fhn world mt
barring Sullivan. After this victory, how
ever, Jackson came to America and played
in Uncle Toms Cabin all over the coun-
try. Peter didn't fight again for six years.
but in 1895 he tackled Jeffries on the coast
and lasted just two rounds. That was the
wear before Jeff became champion. jack
son was all in and the easiest kind OF a
mark for the boilermaker. 1t was another
illustration of the mistake of waiting too
long.
There's only one way. boys, II you want
to keep on top. and that is never stop
fighting. Keep limbered up. Don't lose
your speed by stopping for a year or So
Big Jeff knows all about this and that is
the reason he was tardy about declaring
himself one way or the other. While there
are many p~ugilists who lay Off too long
between battles there are many others VINO
fight themselves out in a few years. One
is lust as erratic as the other. The man
who does about six good turns a year in
the ring keeps himself warmed up and
can take a look at the bright lights now
and then without fear Of going back TO an
alarming degree. Among the pugtlists
who fought themselves out of 1t by too
constant milling were Dixon, Kid Carter.
Walcott. Lavlgne, McGovern, Stanton, Abb
bolt and Dempsey, There are many others
who have suffered from too much fighting
Too many mills can injure a man just as
much as too much inactivity"