The day book. [volume], March 13, 1914, LAST EDITION, Image 29

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
CRITICISM FOR EASY VICTORY CAUSED JIM
CORBETT TO NEARLY RENOUNCE RING
BY EDDIE GRANEY.
- -Easy victory, it would be imagined,
ought to be the last thing in the world
. to induce a fighter to leave the prize
ring. And yet it was for just that rea
son that Jim Corbett came within an
ace of renouncing the gloves.
It was after his fight with Jack
Burke in San- Francisco, in 1887,
when )is amazing superiority over
the older ring favorite resulted in
Eddie Graney, Famous Tuxedo
Referee.
such a whipping for the latter that
the word "frame-up" got qirculated.
Corbett was so incensed over this
turn of affairs and so furiously angry
at the. slur upon his professional hon
or that he swore he'd never don an
other glove. ,
I was boxing at the time and knew
Corbett intimately. I knew that he
was in deadly earnest ready to quit.
It was easy for Corbett. He was at
high pitch that night. Never since
has any man in the ring been the
iequal.6f Jim as he was during that
fight with Burke. I am convinced
that he could have whipped John L.
Sullivan or any of the other great
heavies with ease.
Remember, that was before his
health had become impaired. He
weighed 190 pound's, instead of the
178 when he fought Sullivan-.
Had he retained the health he had
then he would have been champion
until his whiskers were as long as
Rip Van Winkle's. The Jack Johnsons
and these latter day ringsters
wouldnt have had a chance.
But he couldn't quit. Fighting had
gotten into his blood. He moped for a
month, then came back.
But it was by a mighty narrow
margin, however, tnat the ring be
tained one oT the great ones.
In the ring, as in other spheres,
wony is a man's most dangerous ad
versary. Like .a vampire, it saps his
strength.
I,have watched anxiety whip some
of our biggest fighters. It was that
rather than Fitzsimmons' ability
which robbed Corbett of his title at
Carson.
It represents the difference in
mental attitude between a man
climbing to reach the top, and, once
on top, defending himself from other
climbers. The change is remarkable,
and is one of the big things to be
taken into consideration in a cham
pionship match. s
It is a bit of ringside . psychology
which fight fans generally do not
understand.
Look at Corbett while preparing
for hisfamous go with John L. Sulli
van. The acme of exuberance and con
fidence. He'd wltz into a restaurant ,
and ask for everything on the bill of
fare from soup to nuts with a kiss
from the- waitress thrown in. All
smiles and buoyancy. Playing ball
with little boy& in the street, wallop
ing the stuffing "out of the punching
bag, impatient for the fight.
"Just think of it," he'd say to De
laney, his trainer, "whenj whip Sulli
van the world will be ours. We'll