The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-11
OId Jem Mace Says There
Are No Fighters These Days

but that was only In the ring. Out |
Of the ring always wanted a master
and since my wife died have had no
one to tell me what to do"
His wife deid about four years ago.
and his hard times date from her
death. She left q family. the eldest
OF whom 10 16 now and the youngest
4. These children are being looked
after bv relatives and friends.
More than q million American dol
lars took out of the prize ring" old
Jem continued. "and now It Is all gone.
Ten championship belts and ten cups
I won. and they have all gone. I
have got q bust of old Tom Sayers
left. but I won't let that go II I starve.
Where has 1t all gonef Ask them that
got most of 1t. I don't know where
II has gone. have nobody now to tell
me.
How have kept fit. they all ask
me. Well. / never drank too much. !
never smok ed too. much and / always
took plenty of exercise. am very fond
of the fresh air. and am always out
in 1t when can be. can walk four
miles an hour today. and when I was
young ! could run ten miles before
breakfast and think nothing of 1t. I
was always q wonderful good man on
my feet. and I'm pretty good yet.
There aren't any fighters now like
van was the last of the old-fashioned
sort that lift hard and weren't afraid
to be hit. He was q great boxer, was
sullivan, and / am proud to think that
taught him one or two OF my pet
punches. The men that are fighting
now spend their time lodging the other
man. They have neither the courage
nor the constitution to take their pun
ishnent like man and wear the other
man down by sheer hard punching.
That's the way we used to fight. and
the reason I never was beaten was be-
cause ] never met o man who had the
constitution ! had. Oh. had the sci
ence. too. and few of them could hit
lsue, but II they did hit could stand II
and did not have to lie down and wait
Sor the referee to count. always fed
well, too, and that IL great thing for
any man. Good, plain food, and plenty
Of 1t. 10 my motto. and can eat as
much as most men today"
1t Is true that the old fighter can
eatl A man who lives near him and
| looks after his comfort as far as the
old man win allow anyone to look af-
ter him. said that old Jem begins the
day by breakfasting on q pound of
beefsteak with potatoes and vegeta-
bles. An hour or so later he has two
| raw eggs beaten up In milk and about
an hour later he has some coffee and
cake. Breakfast 10 at a. m, for
old Jem rises at sharp every morn
ing. has his cold bath and shaves him.
self. After his beefsteak breakfast he
/ starts for O six or seven mile walk,
stopping on the way for his eggs and
| milk. At o'clock he eats q dinner
that few men half his age could dis
| pose of, and during the afternoon he
has snacks of fruit. bread and butter,
sandwiches. and anything elese that
takes a fancy. At 6 he has q sub
stantial supper.
"old Jem eats only one meal a day"
said his friend, but 1t lasts all day.
He has a wonderful appetite for an old
man, and can digest anything. There
Is never anything the matter with old
Jern. He doesn't know what q doctor
looks like"
| When the veteran was asked who was
the best man he ever met in the ring,
he answers without hesitation. Tom
Allen" Then, q moment later. he
! said, well there wasn't much to
| choose between him and Tom King.
They were the two best men in the
world next to Jem Mace. fought Tom
| Allen In New Orleans for $4,000. I
punched him for six hours before he
gave him. There was a real good man.
Roberts was q good man. too. 1t took
me two days to beat Roberts, but that
/ was because my nanob were Dau.
They told me I had no hands left to
fight with. but told them l had con-
stitution ana I kept on and punched
him till he stopped. What is my ad
vice to young men today who want to
be athletes? My advice Is to do as
did. Don't drink. don't smoke and
don't be a blackguard. Respect your
self and everybody else. and every
body will respect you Take lots Of
exercise and spar all you can. but
don't worry about special training
It's no use training for fight and
then spelling yourself with dissipa-
ton after the battle is over. You
must keep fit all the time II you want
to be a real man. But there's no use
trying to be a fighter unless you have
a constitution to start with and heart
and gizzard to take punishment And
when you do fight, don't spend your
time lodging. Let the other man do
the lodging. IL he can, but see that
he can't. That's what mean by fight
ing. Dancing around a ring inside a
rope amt fighting. It's show acting.
II hope I shall see another fighter