The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-01-13

Johnny Shih mas Tapped towels acrOss
the belligerent countenance of many a
distinguished fighter. He has been a
second almost as often as
Abdul, the Turk.
What follows are Johnny's obscrva-
tons Of the way that well-known fight
ers act just before the time for them
10 90 into the ring.
~ have been with some fighters, I"
said johnny, ''who were as nervous as
boarding school girls Others wait for
the fight with calm indifference.
'The coolest fighter / ever saw, both
in the ring and while waiting for the
time to come to step into the ring, was
Ad Wolgast.
,...a Ad Was Sleepy.
4" Adj always sleeps the last few hours
before the fight.
@"I remember the night that he
fought Antoine La Grave in San Fran.
cisco we had hard time waking him
up for the scrap. Tom Jones had been
out at the fingside watching the last
and rushed into Ad Is dress
ing.room, shouting. Come on Ad. But
Ad was asleep: IL seemed as though
nothing would wake him. We shook
him and punched, but he only muttered
and growled, Go way and lemme alone,
and Sent back to sleep. We had a
deuce of a time getting him up.
Just before the Joe Rivers fight,
which meant so much to Ad, saw him
at his quarters at Jack Doyle s. AID
was in bed. When | came in, he opened
his eyes and asked, How much money
is there in the galleriesl' .s
al told him the galleries were nearly
full and a long line of ticket-buyers
stretched down the street.
"'That's all want TO know. The
rest to come is an old story said AID,
and turned over to sleep again.
o. 49,. Dundee Sat in Bed. ..
"Johnnv Dundee is always put to
red by his manager just before each
fight, but neveS1is able to go TO, sleep.
Johnny loves to fight and is so eager
for the scrap to begin that he can
hardly wait. After he goes to bed, Dun.
dee always invites all his trainers into
his room and sits up in bed and tells
stories, 's.c..5 .'..
Richie Nervous. d.
"The most nervous man j ever saw
before a fight is Willie Richie. He Is
one of the gamest men ever saw in a
ring, but he can Z control his nervous
ness. While weighing, ] have seen
Willie shaking like leaf. He can Z
sit still in his dressing-room, but walks
around, pulling at his clothes and gem
orally behaves like nervous race
horse. 49, ...
Also Joe Rivers g..
".Joe Rivers is almost as nervous.
Before a fight, Joe is fidgity and cross.
He has the whole training camp tearing
excitedly around the dressing-rOom try.
ing to find his gloves and his shoes. II
you speak to him suddenly, he snaps
your head off. Like Richie. il is hard
for him to keep still. The last half.
hour before fight is very miserable
one for everybody around the Rivers
camp. o. .y-.g're.. "a
Silent Burns. Z.
Conc of the most,. peculiar boxers
! ever saw in the last minutes before
u fight is Frankie Burns, the light
weight. just before the fight he re.
lapses into dead silence You can't
get single word out of him. lie will
e"cn answer questions by simply nod.
ding his head. He ism 7 cross and he
docsn t act as tough he were particu.
larry worried, but the Sphinx is a regu'
lar .ehatterbox compared with frankie
just before "A fight. .,'|. a8
.. Packy Is Merry. a...
Zone of the most charming com,
panioDs | know Of is Paeky Mcfarland
Just before fight. The prospect OF
the coming battle seems to fill Paeky
with good nature. He laughs and jokes
with everyone around the training
camp While they are weighing in before
a fight, fighters usually pour sarcasm
aud taunts upon each other. But
Iacky's jokery is always polite AND
pleasant, You ought 10 see Packy and
Tommy Murphy weighing in. Paeky
always joshes him on his good looks
Tommy, he will say, you are getting