The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-06-08
BAT NELSON SAYS
He IS A COWARD
Ex-LighiW9ight Champion De-
MES He Loved to Fight.
HATED TO ENTER RING.

Famous Batter, Who Took More Pun
ishment Than Any Other Pugilist,
States He Dreaded Black Eyes and
Tin Ears-Money Was His Only At
traction.
Bat Nelson is a coward. This viii
be news to fight followers who know !
the many hard battles the Dane has |
been through; but, as Bat himself says
he wasn't game, the statement will |
have to be given credit. In a talk with |
Ed Smith in Chicago Nelson acknowl- |
edged that on many occasions he only |
managed to keep from going to the !
mat for a nice little rest by buIling |
himself and his opponent. In part !
Bat raves this way:
"They used to say l loved to fight. |
They said I gloried in being punched
and that l was impervious to pain.
They often wrote big stories of how
eager l was for the battle.
Now, for the first time I'm going to
tell you the truth. I hated to fight.
/ So does every fighter. l never got into
the ring without a feeling of dread. 1
knew that l was going to get punched.
l was going to get hurt. l was going
to get black eyes and banged up ears
and bloody noses galore. I knew that
for a few days after the fight I was
going to be sore in every muscle and
cracking in every joint
Il knew some fellow cleverer than
I was going to stick his left jabs into
my right eye and then smash his right
hand against my jaw. And they tell
you that's a pleasant prospect and that
a man 'glories' in it. It's rot on the
face Of it; that's what l say, and no
body that ever got into a ring can
deny it.
Il have come out of battles all bat
tered up. Folks have been waiting for
me to take lunch with them after
fight 4 gay throng usually waited in
the hotel cafe. Sometimes 1 joined
them, but not often. DO you know
what I had to do? Well, I had to 20 to
my room and have a rubber pound the
soreness out of my flesh and a boy
hold ice cloths to my face. This would
last several hours, while downstairs
the throng would eulogiZe Nelson for
his gameness and spend the money he
had won for them.
Now, here's the real inside: Remem-
Der my fight with Hanlon? Also the
one with Candle? I received my most
severe punishment in these fights. In
both battles I was tired at times
fearfuIly tired. Time and again I felt
like sinking to the floor. That canvas
looked so nice and soft and inviting
And by standing up l got more punches
in the jaw and on the body. Gee, but
wanted the fight to end-at times
didn't care how. just as long as il
ended. Candle hit me in the liver il
the fourth round, and I actually
howled with pain for five minutes
Poor Martin thought I was cursing
him. Had he known how badly 1 was
hurt he might have finished me.
throughout both fights I was KEEP
on my feet by just one thing-th,
knowledge that no matter how tired
was, the other fellow was just as tireC
and in all probability just a little bi
more tired. Every round l figured tina
if I could stand on my feet for tw
Z libie IDuILbS l1lt CltlCl lEALON i1A-Ll
quit in one That's all that saved me.
"And back of all that so called game
ness there stands out the fact that, Xix
Leach Cross, I was a business man
knew that a reputation for gamenes
, and durability were the two capitals @
! Battling Nelson.
IT'S purely a business proposition
Gameness is the ability to stand u
and take the gaff-nOt because you Xix
the gaff. because nobody does, but b'
cause you know you'll be a dead one i
a business sense unless you do,
Il never loved to fight. But l love
the money it brought me. With tbs
money I could enjoy life and make lii
enjoyable for my family.
IL never knew a man who loved
fight. Neither did you nor anybod
else l never knew a man who love
punishment. No such man ever eXis
c ed. I never knew man who loved I
punish his opponent unless the reput
g ton of his loving to so treat the 9th,
man comprised in part his ring capit
ID and made him a card"
Always original, the Durable Dane
seems to have put a new idea into Il
annals of the ring. There is no que
tioning the fact that Nelson was Il
gamest and most courageous of g
u fighters. 1t is ring history that
10 more than $50 fights he has new
backed one inch away from an opp
nent
When man of this caliber says tn
- there is no such thing as a man lovil
. to fight no such possession as VIII
zu.z is known as physical gamenesS, /