El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-09-21
Tricks In Every
Trade But Ours
Willie Meehan at His Best When He Fails to Train;
Jim Jeffriess Favorite Method of Training; Why
Modern Training Is Vastly Superior to
0ldfime Methods
Oldtime Methods.
By ROY ElIIK

ITTHEN some second rater OF never
w heard or swats the champion a
few, the public eye is Immediately
turned on the swatter- Willie Nee
han is undergoing somewhat the same
public inspection after besting Jack
Dempsey that Jack 8Iunroe did after
he knocked jim Jeffries down a few
times one night up in Montana OF
course, there IS not so much Of fur
~ because while Dempsey is the act
i've champion, less Willard still keeps
talking about his title. Secondly,
Meehan didn't hand Dempsey any
thing like the lambasting 1Iunroe
handed TO Jeffries
But it Is enough, nevertheless,
TO turn the public eye on Willie.
He Is not n newcomer. He is not
dark horse. Willis has been
boxing with varying success for
several years, engaging in battle
many Of the second raters who
have held the stage since the days
Of COrbetts EitEsimmOns. Jeffrfes
and Jack johnson. Sometimes
Willie has won sometimes he has
lost Winning or losing he has
never been first rater and IL not
now.
Al AAaiEalA alAEE LA4ELE is EOLAE
about Meehan that reminds one OF
Fatty Arbuckle. He likes to train,
too. about like Arbuckle-not at all.
In the history OF the ring there have
been a Few battlers who have mauled
about in the ring fairly successfully
with but little training for their con-
tests Meehan is one OF them. Mike
Schreck, Joe Grimm and Marvin Hart
were others. Young Corbett. who de-
49,
same way II his manager was not az
ter him all the time. Tom Sharkey
never spent any more time training
than was sufficient to advertise his
bouts well. Tom never overlooked a
business phase when he was closely
connected with the gate receipts.
Better without Training.
Leehan's trainers all declare that
he battles better when he has but lit
stale when put to too much gymna-
stun work before bouts. It viii be
remembered that Dempsey is not the
/ first battler whom Meehan has hand
/ ed a surprise. There was Billy AIiske
According TO reports Aliske believed
he had easy picking in Meehan. This
/ idea was further increased by the re-
port that 1Ieehan had not trained for
[ the bout. And he didn't Yet he went
i in and gave Niske about the same
kind Of a battle handed to Dempsey
/ When Meehan weighed only 15l
] pounds he met Kid Grande, weighing
l1S2. in a 20 round bout without train
I ing at all and 10 the surprise OF ev-
/ cry one stayed the limit and gave
| Grande a lively race on the home
l stretch.
On the contrary, when he has
trained faithfully for several bouts
: lTeehnn has been at his worst.
/ His trainers claim that his hardest
training was done when he met
Bob SIcAllisfer and that in that
{ bout he showed his poorest FORM
/ The secret Of this may be IN the
! fact that what IS training for one man
D is intemperance in another II Is
| barely possible that Meehan's nervous
system is so finely balanced that the
I tension of hard training units hin
I for a contest. There are many sucn
cases on record. but Meehan is hard
I IL the fat boy who would be suspected
/ Of such a foundation
To Neehan's credit Il must be said
that he has always been a willing
fighter. ready 70 mix with the best
I Of them. Moreover he is not afrald
D OF fighting for his country he is IN
the United States navy dlsplayins lle
same willingness 10 do his Dit thaL ne
/ always displayed in the ring, training
.
the bone was proved by his comeback
after the hard blows Dempsey landed
: in the sec0d round Dempsey's Adam
/ old stall about having a bad hand
should decree no one and detracL
nothing from his victory over Jack.
{ Nor is this the first time Meehan has
beaten Dempsey. each having a decis-
I ion over the other prior to the last
meeting
Jim Jeffries's favorite method OF
] training was TO climb mountains and
traverse long stretches Of wooded
tracts in search Of game. At times
Inc trained almost wholly in this man.
ner. Always he conditioned himself
( in the early stages OF training by
/ strenuous hunting and fishing trips
l He generally ended with boxing and
iroad work. And Jeff certainly had the
I steam. although he trained far diff
: ferently for Fitzsimmons than when
/ learning the game under Corbett.