Show IN A liEW POSITIOlll Dempsey Drops the Gloves and Takes up the Pen IllS FIGHT WITH LA BLANCHE The Nonpareil Says It Was a Cowardly Blow That Caused His DefeatIlls Plans For tho Future NEW YonK Sept 1 1890 Special correspondence cor-respondence of Tun HEltALDI have been asked what I think of the action of the California authorities in shutting down on boxing exhibitions My candid opinion is that the prohibition can not continue There is too much interest taken in tho sportin San Francisco and the other towns and cities The movement is San Francisco 1 I I I JACK DEMrSET Is only wave from the agitation begun in tho east a few years ago and will not last Ions lonTh The opposition to glove contests comes from those who have never witnessed them and who judge of them merely by one or two facts or impressions Speaking as a man who has had some experience I wish to say most emphatically emphatic-ally that boxing contests are not rough sport In the first place the contestants if properly trained arc in such fine physical condition so strong of limb so hard of flesh that blows do not hurt or cause distress but only invigorate Every man who has faced a furious hailstorm and has felt the blood mounting higher and higher and his spirits I rising till at last ho has laughed as the hurricane hur-ricane whirled him about knows something of the exhilaration felt by those who face each other in the ring and stand up under I showers of blows The beauty of boxing is that it exercises and brings into action every muscle in the human body from the tip of the toe to the I end of the finger Tho muscles of the legs tho back the arms the neck all have full play and the natural combative strategy of I each man is as fully developed as though ho was engaged in a duel with swords boxing is also the ultimate and final test of physical power and endurance By its means men may reach as satisfactory a conclusion as to their physical merits as can bo reached in any manner short of deadly combat The practise of this mimic war imparts hardihood readiness of resource re-source cheerfulness in adversity and above all good temper I dont say that no badtempered man can ever become a first class pugilist but I do say that such cases are very rare Hard knocks make men good natured and proficiency as a pugilist gives a nervous man selfconfi dente that banishes irritation The best men do their fighting only in the ring Outside of it they are as peaceable and amiable as most other citizens and are deadly enemies of roughs and barroom terrors Our nineteenth century civilization cannot can-not afford to quarrel with any form of healthy wholesome athletics especially in America where so large a proportion of young men find their only exercise in swinging pens and lifting ledgers Half an hours work with the gloves each day would give to these young men the sure foot the strong arm the hard muscle tho clear eye and the steady brain of tho athlete ath-lete Physical exercise means mental rest Boxing will cure Dyspepsia Insomnia Consumption In its early stages Malaria Melancholia Incipient paresis The blues Colds coughs sore throat and fevers This may seem like an extravagant statement state-ment but do not mean to assert that it is a good thing for a man to rise from a sickbed sick-bed to box I mean to say that the ailments named and scores of others spring from a condition of the human system which conld not exist if proner care and exercise were had Tho Christian Scientists arc very nearly right in thair assertion that sickness IS sin It seems somewhat inconsistent for the I authorities to prohibit what aro called i clovefiqhts and yet allow wrestling and I football matches to proceed I have tried i my hand at both wrestling and boxingand I can say without fear of contradiction I from anyone who knows the facts that the latter is much the most merciful As to I N k I i S r DEMPSET IN THE IUXG football the newspaper record of injuries received by players on the two foremost college teams shows a larger number of casualties from one match than prize rings all over the country yield in a year Theres danger of overcivilization Through overcivilization nations relapse into barbarism While Egyptians were athletes they ruled the world whilo Persians Persi-ans were athletes their arms wero irresistible I irresisti-ble while Grecians were athletes the banded armies of the whole earth could not overcome them while the Romans were athletes they were invincible If I read I history agright these cases were all the same riches and luxury brought decay corruption sloth and then came the downfall down-fall We have riches and luxury now and I think I can see some evidences of sloth There aro scores of thousands of uien in New York who never give their muscles any harder exercise than they can get from pulling on their boots in tho morning Glovccontests seem much moro damaging than they really are People grow excited and condemn them as brutal because they sea the men striking each other Their eyes arc not quick enough to see how few of tho blows land in the face nor do they know how hard it is to hurt the face of a trained pugilist Of course at times men arc knocked out and I am now in a position po-sition to state that it does not hurt to bo knocked out Nature has made express provision for such emergencies The blow that Inflicts the injury dulls tho sensibilities and the only really painful pain-ful thing about being knocked out is in tho struggle to retain consciousness conscious-ness and keep up the tight Hyams bruised and bleeding rose nine times from as many knockdown blows in the last two rounds of the fight with McAulhTe and was finally knocked senseless Yet the next day he stared in surprise nt a min who asked him if ho was much injured Ho contended that McAultffe had not hit him at all and I know a great many similar cases You ask mo how I came to lose the fight to La Blanche I should not have lost it I did notloso it fairly The match went against mo partly by reason of a deliberate foul committed by the Marino and partly through the fault of the referee who ought to have immediately given mo tho fight Up to the round before the lass I had the best of it In fact I was winning with plenty to spare When the bell rang for the N1 hONE t l ONE OF JACKS NIMBLE TUICKS end of tho round wo ceased sparring and I I turned my back to La Blanche and walked off toward my corner Ho started towards his corner but turned and ran after me Suddenly I got a blow on the neck that sent me staggering to the ropes It was the most cowardly blow ever delivered tho most deliberate foul ever perpetrated in a prire ring I was dazed and weak from that cowardly blow and my seconds immediately im-mediately claimed the fight for me on a lout But I never yet won fight on a foul and I would not win from the Marino in that fashion Besides the referees hesitation had put him in a bad position So I refused to win on a foul and evened matters up and took the referee out of a fix by continuing the round till we were I uled aoart I never fully recovered after La Blanche hit me that foul blow I have tried everything abort of striking him to bring him into a contest with me again but he has again and again refused Nothing Noth-ing but necessity would get him to face me nowOf course I lost no championship when I faced La Blanche I was giving him twelve and onehalf pounds and after ho I defeated mo I was still middleweight j champion of America which I suppose I means the world A great many otmy friends have written to ask mo whether or not I am going to England I dont know I am considering consider-ing the matter It all depends on what I find out to be the prospect What would be the use of my going to England at presents I pres-ents They have a number of good men there Toff Wall Bill Goodo and Ted Pritchard but nobody knows which one of these three is tho best and they all claim to be champion cham-pion middleweights of England I would like to see them settle the question among themselves and when they had finally found out who was tho real champion cham-pion would be willlnc to make a match with him for reasonable terms and tossup toss-up whether ho shall come to America to I fight me or I shall go to England to fight him I dont know how rood these English middleweight are They have not fought any of the Americans of note and we have therefore no means of comparing them but judging from the fate of other English wonders like Wallace and Jem Smith they are no more than n match for first class American fighters of their own wcignt I dont know anything about Fitzsim mons the latest importation from Australia Austra-lia except that he whipped McCarthy in much quicker time than I did That may mean that he is a better fighter than I am or it may mean that he is a rusher who does I all his fighting in three or lour rounds and 1 then goes to pieces McCarthy is an awkward awk-ward man to hit but they say ITItzsimmons I hit him hard and often I may say right here though that anybody who looks over my record will see tlat many of my fights have been long That docs not mean thas I the battle was hard but only that I Vat cautious and would not risk my advantages by trying to wind up matters in hurry In my last fight with McCarthy I had I him whipped in the scycntK round and did not know it Ho wits staggering all over the ring but I suspected a trap and would not go near him all tho remainder of the round Jack he said afterwards 1 was done for in that seventh round if you had followed me up 1 was blind and dizzy and almost out McCarthy the most goad natured man I over fought with We used to train together and hit spent half his timein chaffing mo and telling mo what ho was going to do with mo when we fought He would sit down and tell me exactly where he was going to hit me and how hard Even when wo were fighting we were talking pleasantly to each other and laughing over each blow until Mac got dizzy I begged him to give up but ho would not do it he was too plucky though he had not one chance in a thousand then So he had to go out All the same he Is as good a friend as I have in California to day + I have no plans at present or rather 1 have a great many plans and have not decided de-cided on any of thorn I have a great many offers from theatrical managers I have my own company to consider and I also haveinducements to go toEngland Australia < Austra-lia and home to Oregon where my family are I am undecidcdns yet as to what i will do JACK DEMPSET |