The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1918-04-20
Corbett's Daily Letter
On Great Sport Topics
BY JAMES ). coRBErr


pfesent-day boxers is their failure to
train faithfully for their contests. In
stead of spending many weeks in condi
ticning themselves, most of them go
through spasmodc training for a few
days before the fight is to take place.
AS result, they go into the ring lack
ing in real stamina, unequipped to travel
a rapid pace and slow, listless bouts are
the result
poorly trained fighter tires quickly.
He usually goes out in an effort to fin
ish his foe in the first two or three
rounds. IL he fails to do so, all of his
real strength is gone To save himself
from being beaten down before the fight
Genes to an end, he must resort to
clinching. If his foe is in the same I'M
trained plight both are leg and arm
weary. So they resort to Ctallng and
clinching through the remaining rounds.
That is why most battles of the present
day have come to be nothing more nor
less than hugging affairs.
A man who goes into the ring to box,
no matter if 1t is for rouns, 10 rounds,
20 rounds, or to finish, should never
make the error of not training properly.
The history OF the ring shows that most
of the champions went down to defeat
simply because they didn't train to the
utmost of their ability. Many held their
foes TOO cheaply and entered the ring
with MUSCLES softened by easy living.
lacking in wind and in endurance. They
were caught flatfooted by superbly
trained foe-and the championship
changed hands.
Back in the days when I was a pugilis-
tic performer, it was always my thought
that training of the most vigorous kind
was vitality necessary for each and every
bout in which / figured. There were
times in those days when / took on foes
OF the dub variety. But l never held
any of them cheaply. Whenever | fought,
no matter who was the opponent, I was
in top-notch condition. And that is
good rule for every fighter - follow.
Boxers of the present day who lack
perfection in one or another of the divis
ions of the sport, don't do lSe the old
timers-they don't devote hours and days
and week in an effort to overcome it.
If the boys of my time had a fault they
spent weeks, months and even years III
trying to correct it. They aimed fot
perfection.
When entered the professional branch
of boxing, my wrists and forearm were
extremely slender Some experts felt
that never would get anywhere. They
felt that my wrist was too frail to en-
able me to hit knockout punch without
fracturing it. Realizing that what those
fellows said was largely true and that
my slender wrists menaced my pugilstic
future, l set about correcting that con-
dition.
For one solid year afterward I devoted
one hour every day to working on the
;rct oh n tho nerfOrmAnce
of work and exercises intended to de-
velop the wrists Any man who has ever
worked on the wrist machine for 10 min
utes Knows what a tiresome and monot
onous task it is. 1t appealed to me the
same way it does to the others But
kept at it for 60 minutes each day--Oo
consecutive minutes and not 40 minutes
now, 10 minutes then and so on. NV
pusilistic success depended largely upon
the strengthening, of my withstand
never ceased in my efforts to uild them
up until the end had been achieved.
I made 1t practice to punch the bag
for one solid hour each day during my
training periods, and never varied from
that routine. Earlier when ] tried it.
I would become arm weary after ~ or
Is minutes. OF violent, punching. But
never would quit. / kept on. know'n&'
49,
would come and that the new-found
strength would enable me to go on and
finish the hour of bag punching without
feeling further fatigued, To constan. bag
punching and knowledge of the value OF
muscle relaxations attribute thu fact
that | never grew arm weary in any OF
my battles.
hresent-day boxers. after abous 10 mli'-
utcs of bag punching. quit as sooh as
Al fao1 triad n .
That is a foolish practice. They shou'd
keep on fighting the bag even 4 their
arms are tired. That's what thsy II have
to do with a foe and they should train
their muscles to meet such an emergency
In the ring it is endurance and staying
powers that count vitality. Unless u
boxer has developed them to the high
est possible point through training. he
cannot expect to show real championship
ability.
Fighters nowadays aren't very keen
about road work. Yet it is the best pos
,ible means Of bringing about a general
Old-time warriors in train
ing rarely ever stopped at less Il an a
a-inile jaunt every morning. Many Of
rs took II or 20-mile runs in the morn
ing and sometimes followed up with a
o-rnile run late in the afternoon. There
IS rothing that goes SO far toward de-
lie wind as road work. We used to
,!ck out tho hiliiest sections possible and
she never we struck any inclines we
would go up at top speed. 4 was tire
,ame and hard at first. but eventually
We were able to do the trick withon.
much trouble.
The old-time boxers-the boys OF ny
lay--didn't stop with three or six rounds !
II boxing in training, as do the men Of
.oday We would box from 70 to 80
POUNDS each day or II We didn't do
hat. We would put "A 70 or ls-round /,