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86 THE S.RTURD.llY EVENING POST J uly 6, 19JS

about it, finally. I told Brady that I can knock my block off, it'll save me
had to have Billy, and that he'd get his getting it done by ·Fitz!"
SPARK PLUGS NEED pay in a cut of the gross receipts. I There was no monkey business., For
CLEANING, TOO told Brady that if he tried to ease Billy those ten weeks I was up at six every
out, I'd have to go out with him. morning, working the pulley weights
Brady saw how it was. in the gym and taking a couple of
"All right, Jim." He gave me a sprints on the road before breakfast.
shrug and a grin. "Go to it!" My roadwork was ten to fifteen miles
The date with Fitz was June 9, 1899. a day- if a fighter nowadays does five
Early in March, I hired me a big house miles, he thinks he's abused. I did my
and grounds at Allenhurst, New Jersey, boxing in the afternoons; led up to it
near Asbury Park, and went to work. with several games of handball, fifteen
Brady had given me five months' hundred to twenty-five hundred turns
work in show business at the first big at rope skipping, fifteen minutes of
money I'd ever had-one thousand bag punching at top speed. I boxed
dollars a week and a percentage of the anywhere from eight to sixteen rounds
box office. I boxed on the stage with a day.
my brother Jack and Jack McCormick. Tommy Ryan was a corker in the
It was pretty sweet. But I wanted to ring. There wasn't a second h wasn't
do my training right, and I quit the trying to knock my ears down. When-
show in March- I wouldn't have ever he pulled something I didn't
waited any longer for ten thousand savvy, we'd have an extra s ssion,
dollars a week. I wanted to be right. after the regular work, and he'd take it
Somehow, I'd like to give a picture to pieces and I'd work it over until I
of young Jim Jeffries, as he was then, could do it automatically. Then the
going to work for his chance at the next day I'd try it out on my brother
IS YOUR CAR SLUGGISH ? championship. He was dead in ear- Jack.
Then your spark plugs need nest. He was not a bad guy. "Jim," Jack would complain, "it's
·
Ever since I was a kid, I'd been no fun being your brother!"
cleaning by the AC method toughening myself with long hikes and Jack was a big man, a crackajack
hunting trips in the hills around Los boxer, and plenty of people thought he
Angeles. I'd lived in the open. I'd was a better man than I was. But
You can't prevent the formation of
worked hard in the shops, earning a mother had kept him out of the ring
Oxide Coating on your spark plugs man's wages. I've told you how I game until fairly late; he wasn't him-
-and it robs your car of power and worked in the gym, nights and holi- self in the ring, but he was plenty tough
Before Cleaning snap. But you can get rid of tha t days, learning all I could about box- in a training-camp battle.
coating-at a ny Reg istere d AC ing. And in my pro career I'd worked
Spark Plug Cleaning ·station. Have out with Jim Corbett, and I'd been How the Old 1 Timers Trained
your plugs cleaned there - today under fire against Ruhlin, Joe Choyn-
- in the AC Cleaning Machine. ski, Tom Sharkey. I was twenty-four Jack handled the business end of the
After Cleaning
Replace worn plugs with new AC years old. I was hard as nails. I was as camp too. Most of the time I had four
Quality Spark Plugs - NOW 60c. powerful, I think, as any fighter that or five sparring partners-they got
ever went in the ring. And I'd studied one hundred dollars a week-and I
AC SPARK PLUG COMPANY fighting the way a doctor studies his kept my own chef, waiters, rubbers,
Flint, Michigan St. Catharlnes, Ontario profession. trainer's helpers, and so forth. I had a
Plugs for Canadian market- 75c-made at St. Catharines, Ontario I had a lot, but I had to ready it up, staff of a dozen to fifteen people, and
shape up the fine points and fit myself sometimes had almost as many guests
to go in the ring against Bob Fitzsim- staying over in the camp. It was quite
mons. Even today, I guess, people an establishment.
have some notion of what Bob Fitz- I lived that way for ten weeks, prep-
simmons was in those days. You know ping for the champion. Delaney and I
BOYS!! what his build was-heavyweight laid out the work every day, and I
arms and shoulders, middleweight from went through it to the last drop of
the waist down. He was the trickiest sweat. I wish I had space here to write
man that ever fought in the heavy- down the training menus I lived on-I
weight division, and he could hit like didn't live high. I went ten weeks, for
hell. A guy could make just one mis- instance, on no liquid except one glass
Going Places This Summer? take against old Fitz. of water, sipped slowly, at bedtime
If I tangled my feet up just once in each night. Each day after a workout,
the course of twenty-five rounds in the I went over my face anr. neck-pickling
Earn What You Need ring with him- blooey ! And my six my hands, too, incidentally-with
years of plugging would go up the beef brine and borax. I'd massage the
spout, tp.en and there. brine into my skin, let the sun dry it,
for Your Trip! and then wash it off with warm water
Battle Practice and borax; it left the skin soft and pli-
able, but tough, with the flesh under-
I had my brother and Jack McCor- neath it partly pickled.
HOW? . .. EASY! mick-I'd been boxing on the stage No matter how much trouble it
with them -and I got Jim Daly for was, I did everything I knew about to
another sparring partner. They were make sure I'd be in shape when I
Find Regular Customers all three plenty tough, and hard hitters. crawled inside those ropes against Bob
Then I sent for Tommy Ryan, the Fitzsimmons.
Right in Your Own middleweight; I think Ryan was the That was the way a fighter trained,
greatest boxer and fighter that ever back in those days, for a big-time
Neighborhood. for fought in his division. Ryan had start. Maybe it explains why some of
worked with me in San Francisco us old-timers, when we watch the boys
The Saturday Evening Post
when I was training for Peter Jack- fight in the ring today, have a hunch
and Ladies' Home journal. son-that's how seriously I'd taken that we had more guts, endurance,
Jackson. Ryan had· terrific speed, power, spBed-more of what it takes-
science, and a smart head. He knew than a carload of the boys that are up
all there was to know about ring fight- there now.
CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 287 Independence Square, P hila., Penna. ing, and he knew how to make the Or maybe old-timers just always feel
other fellow see it. I sent for Tommy- that way.
You bet I want to get prizes! Send my first copies and full insttuctions right away.
he was looking for a place to train, The Sunday before the fight, I
anyway, for a battle with Mysterious planned only a hard workout on the
Your Name ....................................... ... Age ......... .
(Please Print Name and Address) Billy Smith- and I laid one thousand road to test my condition-no boxing.
dollars on the line to get him. I did fourteen miles that day in two
Street . ..................... . . ... ... ... ............. City .. . ..State . ..................... . Ten weeks before the date with minutes under an hour and a half. If
(Have one of your Parents sign the following statement) Fitz, I lev led off for hard training. I you know anything about distance
I am glad to have my boy take advantage of your bu iness training. called the boys together and told them running, you know what a pace that is
to go to work on me. for a two-hundred-and-twenty pounder
(Signed) ................................ . ..................................... "From now on," I told them, "no on the road. I came in sweating nice.
(Signature of Parent)
sparring-! Come· in fighting. If you · I saw that the clock was under an hour