The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-01-23
TRAINING TELLS
ON ABE AT7ELL
Former Champ Gives Rea.
son Why He Quit Ring
Game For Good.

New York. Jan. 23.-Abe Attell has
been telling me all about how 1t feels
to become a has-been. says Robert
Edgren. Abe has given up the ring.
He says hell never fight again. He'll
not go along, like Battling Nelson and
some others who were once among
the champions. taking hard beatings
and giving back their best.
There's a note Of regret in Abie's
voice. He talks like a man who used
to have a million dollars. and now has
only the memory. There's some con-
ISOLATION even in the memory. Able
dwells fondly on the way the crowd
out in st. Louis cheered for Abe At
tell when Abe tossed UP his hands a
few weeks ago and resigned in the
fought his last fight. From this time
IN Abe will let somebody else do the
fighting. He had a stable" of one
already. A few nights ago he saw
Special Delivery" Hirsch box in a
preliminary at the Garden.
II liked the way the boy handled
himself" Abe explained. so l VENT to
the dressing room afterward and saw
Haven't any manager said he.
Would You like to have me manage
YOU" He would. ure. He weighs
125 pounds and he's been fighting
lightsweights and welters. So / took
the boy on and I'm going to teach him
a lot and make him a top.notcher.
But to return to the story. Abe has
cline Of his fighting powers.
You see." said he. I've been in
the game for fourteen years. and I'm
only 90 now. You wouldn't expect a
boxer to slip back at 90. especially a
fellow like myself. with cleverness
enough to keep the others missing and
save his jaw.
The whole trouble is in the train
ing. Making IL: ringside has always
low as lis. But years of hard train
ing, boxing all the time and running
on the road. uses up your energy. !
guess a mar has about so much &C.
ton in him. and when he burns that
up he begins to o slow.
That was my trouble. For three
or four ear I've felt my speed and
acknowledge 1t even to myself. but
down in my heart I knew that I was
going back. When I felt it first I be-
gan to think Of the thousands Of dol
lars I'D tossed away over the green
cloth. and started saving up and fig
uring on doing something else when
the ring wasn't for ME any more.
Thought Attell Had Stalled. !
The first time I really fell back SO
far that the public couldn't help see
ing 1t was when I fought X. o. Brown.
The boxing commission suspended me !
for six months for that. but it was a !
mistake. / really couldn't do any bet /,
ter. and people who had seen me fight
for years gave me credit for being :
Il better ma that I was. They said
and they believed 1t. too-that 1 was
stalling, and that l could have knock .
ed Brown out II l wanted to. Why.
that night l couldn't have knocked
anybody out. My arms were dead.
away back. and l knew it. l looked
just as good as ever. was just as
muscular. / trained a long time out
in the sun and looked the picture of
health. But there was something
lacking. / could feel ii. Someway 1
felt tired when ! ought not to have felt
tired. l tried my best. and Kilbane
championship for a long time. sup
pose / ought to be satisfied. But
help thinking tina if l had only
boxed kilbane a year or two earlier
there would nave been u different
story.
"Kilbane was lucky. When l fought
him I had been sliding back for a
SOuplc VI Seo1S dIlN u SSH dedIISS |
it. They say it's foolish for a cham
pion who feels himself slipping to go
on lighting. But with me it wasn't
the money. There was the Joy Of
l don't know n greater
joy on earth than that which comes to
man when he stands In front Of an
fellow in the ring. and when he
knows that he q step in and out and
move his head a few inches and make
the other fellow miss and founder and
look foolish. That's the fascination
Of boxing. There's nothing else like
1t. matching both brain and body. and
h result.
AFTER kilhane came that first MUIR
ply fight In San Francisco. They say
was the hardest twenty rounds
fought in the Golden State. How
l do 1t, when l was already on
the decline" Why. that's a curious
story.
I'm the first place. my match with
Murphy was fixed. l fixed 1t with
Murphy's manager. Buckley. myself.
to make an impression that
force Kilbanc t meet me again.
Murphy was to lie down to me--take
Knockout in the sixth round.
When tho sixth passed ] found that I
had heen double-crossed.
Abe Gets Double.C Crossed.
when l went to my corner that
I was in a rage. Somehow all
the Hameness l eve had. and all the
and determination. gathered
up In a small. hard lump inside OF me.
[ could feel it choking me, back in
my throat. And I came out for the