The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-09
GOOD HANDS ARE MOST ESSENTIAL
 IN BOXING GAME
Corbett Advises All s@,ing Ringmen to Protect Hands
 by All Means
By JAMES J. CORBETT Copyright, 1922, by King Feature
 Syndicate, Incl

Syndicate, Incl
 Nothing is so valuable to a fighter as his hands.
 A ring gladiator whose hands are constantly being knocked out of shape certainly is up against the toughest sort of odds he can find in the whole world.
 In my connection with the prize ring. thousands of youngsters have come to me. asked me to look them over and let them know whether I thought they had a boxing career be- fore them. It was my advice to about 95 per cent of that group to forget all about being battlers.
 And my remarks to them were prompted by one look at their hands, Many of them had powerful arms, splendid bodies, looked and acted as if they could take all sorts of punish ment and had fighting 4hearts. But their hands were bad. very bad in- deed, as far as their worth in a prize ring was concerned
 Boxers Hands Valuable
 A fighter should treasure and pro- tect his hands as he does nothing else. If the hands are not in perfect condition at all times. that fighter will come to grief sooner or later.
 
 hands before important battles and be forced to cancel. thus losing money. or he will trap those hands in fight and probably lose the battle itself.
 No man ever achieved any great heights In a ring whose hands were not good. The most remarkable, of the many remarkable things about Jack Dempsey. is his hands. They are perfect. When he doubles his fist no knuckle bones show. The muscle, the flesh and the hone seem to be as one. It was much the same with ,Tm Jeffries, John l.. Sullivan, Bob Fitz- simmons and all the others who were truly greats.
 I have seen a score or more of youths flash into brilliance in the prize ring during the last 20 years who looked like world beaters.. Sud denly they passed from view The answer wasn't that they lacked abil- ity. nor that they were inferior to any of the men they tackled Their hands simply went wrong. They had a habit of knocking the fingers out of shape or breaking them. And whenever that happends, a fighter always after ward humors his hands and never punches with them in the same fas- hion as of old. II must AlWdES De Temem Dereu that the hand itself is like the point of chisel It must stand up under the most terrific impact. It should be as strong as the weight of the mans body behind 1t. If it isn't then 1t sim ply means that when the hand crashes against the chin with a mans body behind 1t. something must crash And it's usually the fighters hand. Gene Tunney, the American light heavyweight champion, is wonder ful natural fighter. Earlier in his career, he established an amazing knockout record. Then he hurt his hands because of their brittleness He went away to the woods and worked for months at wood chopping so as to develop and strengthen them. He accomplished the purpose very well, but it is noticed since then that Tun- Iney has habit of humoring his hands when he hits. He always remembers that smash which results from cr4st- ing them against a human jaw and there is with him all the time now the fear that if he puts his 172 pounds into drive. the action will be re- peated,
 Benny Leonard stood to gather in anywhere from S50.000 to $75,00J last summer. fighting Lew Tend Ter. One of his hands went bad in training and he had to cancel the fight. In March he was dated up to meet Charley White. another affair which would have added between $s5,0oo and $50.0o0 to his bankroll But just prior to that occasion the had hand went wrong again, and once more he was forced to forego the opportunity to enrich himself. The records of the prize ring are replete with incidents of this sort. There are hundreds of fighters in the game today and there have been hundreds in the past who have always been handicapped; by poor hands. Some of them have been handicapped by nature itself others have never taken the proper care of their hands.
 It is my advice to every youngster who dons boxing glove to :.rotect his hands every minute of every day that he clings to a ring career. Ha must be as careful of his hands. AS Paderewski. the pianist, used to be of his fingers and as Pavlowa is of her twinkling feet. For his hands are his stock in trade With good hands he can go on to triumph: with had hands he might just as well hang up his gloves and pursue some other occupatin in life, For the man whose hands arc bad or brittle never. can hold the heishts fersa very lonx time after his "maulies" go vrong,