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Show Tommy Ryan Tells How He Became Best Middleweight "Gue It Was in My Blood," Ha Tells Bob Ed-gren; Ed-gren; Says He Never Looked at an Opponent's Oppo-nent's Face, but Could Tell Every Move by Watching His Left Knee. By Robert EJgren Copyright, 1111, by Tha Prasa Publishing Company. NEW YORK, Got. 14. It was 10 o'clock at nlghx when I located Tonim. Ryan at hla home In Byracus. after a house to houss search, ably conductad by Mr. Hopkins of that burg. Tommy. It appears, had Just moved In from tha country to ha near hla boxing eluo. Tha Hyan house waa dark, and repeated rings on tha ball at laat brought tha former champion of all welterwetghla and mlddlaweighta to tha door. Tommy waa clad In a long, old fashioned night ahlrt that draped around hta anklea In artistic folda. Ha Waa yawnlna and rubbing hla eyea. ' "You knew," aald Tommy, apviugeiical-ly, apviugeiical-ly, "1 always go lo had at t o'clock, except ex-cept on fliht nights." Perhana It la thla excellent habit that makea Ryan look : about M when ha Is really 41. Hla ruddy lace, crowned with a thick mop of dark brown hair, his heavy fists and thick wrlsta, and tha anea awtfteat anklaa In tha world peered from tha all enveloping night ahlrt. Aa he moved tha bulging muscles of hla cheat and arms showed plainly. Ryan looked j fit to fight for a title. I tnvltln us to taka possession of a roupla of chairs. Ryan sat down, un-etnbarraaaed, un-etnbarraaaed, and prepared to bo In-, tervlewed. "Tommy," aald I. "t want to know how you became lha bat middleweight of ypur time. How did you become a fighter?" "I guesa It wa In my blood." said Ryan. "It was tha French and tha Irish in me. A lot of people used to tlnk 1 was a Jew. My father was a French Canadian from up In th woods, and my mother was clear-stain Irish. I wss born near here, and 1 hava a lot of relatives around Mvracuse. "When I waa 'IS f waa strongly built and welshed about 1)1 pounds. I picked up a natural fin-Ming style and never changed It. -4 alwayo had very faat footwork. foot-work. I always hit with the palm of my hand turned down. I never struck a blow with the palm up and I never used tha umvercut the ftkhtera use now. You can hit herder snd fnster with the palm down, because you shoot them In straight thati n- if .vnu hnnk It'a a ahorter knocked him out In tha thirty-third round. "On of my early flghta waa with George Dawson, of Australia, Dawson , waa clover snd strong, but ha waa i slow. Ha had a wicked kidney blow. I didn't know anything about tl, but ! tha first tlm ha used A I happened to catrh It on my left arm while 1 was, driving at-Ms- body, oo-1 stopped that blow with my arm after that, and drove straight rights to his .law. "One of my hardest fights wss with Danny Needham 'or tha welterweight championship. Need ham was a better boxer than I wit, but I waa younger and I on I Ian ted htm and knocked hhn out In the severfly-slxth round. We put on boxing gloves for a photograph and then took them off and fought It out with skin-tight kid x loves We both firkled our feces and bodies with a rina for a month to toughen them for that fight. There war some great fighters fight-ers In those days. "I think Rob Fttsslmmons was the great rat of them all. Mcf'oy was good, hut I welRhed only 14A pounds when I fought him. snd he was 10. McCoy used lo work for me si a rulr. 1 taught him a' lot about fighting, and he wa a clever fellow and a great hitter. The first lima we fought I thought he'd be easy, snd 1 didn't train and went In hog fat. He gsve me a had heating snd I learned something. I never went Into a fifht untrained strain. No, he didn't write a Utter lo fool me. 1 Just didn't train. THOSa WENI THS STRENUOUS OAVS. I book. I "I naturally developed a trick of watch Ins: my opponent's left knee. 1 never looked st a man s face In a fight In my life. Watching his kite I knew every move he wss about to make, and could beat him lo It. A A I FISTS AND TO A FINISH. "When I had fmight a few fetmwo ; j to my camp and laat thm lhy le- 1 l sen sending me ato'iml from camp to camp ( ftM the l-t men of other 'outfits. There w-re no weight in thoe ftuhie I !..( them all, !ia and little. I I used lo knock Hie big fellows out and ! thev didn't know how I could do it. but It was bacauaa they alt swung at m and I beat them to It with a straight punch. Home teogh birds, too. Wa didn't I fiirht routvde Juet stood up and fought as long as wa cduld. hra fisia. Jt wss ; fatr fighting, stand Up face to face ami no kicking allowed. ftometlmea a fight I would Ur: half an hour or an hour !wlth no rests until the knockout. I "When 1 began fighting aa a pro fee -j alonal one of the first men I met was 1'lok K? (gland. Ha fooled ma complete-I complete-I ly every time ha sidestepped, at first. I used a sidestep myself, but I didn't know It and nobody else had aver side-I side-I stepped In front of me. 1 learned his trfi Kb m the f'aht went along nnd "The teuvhent fight I ever hid wss with Tommy West. 1 had beaten Went and $ thought I had his numher. Hut everything went wrong the night we met in louiivllle. West Knocked me down about four times In tlie (tret round, and kept knocking me down right slong up to the ninth. I csme nesr he'ng whipped Thai mrht. I had four fain tth and ftrgot to take them out. Weal pnihed l them with a punch and one went down i tm throat snd stuck there ana nearly J st ranged me. 1 fought rtlong a few . round', and wss so near choked to death that I wss Just aahout to give In when Weat hit me an awful belt on the jaw t i snd knocked the tooth loose o Vh It ! flew out of my mouth. That saved I ine I "In the hard fighting I was hutted, , snd I protested lo Referee Tim Hur-t. 1 Tlm was a bird of a referee. He just jauld to me: 'You've got a head, haven't 1 low?' I took that for advice, and butted eat and broke hla noa. Then we were both In Itad shape, covered with blood and splattered from head to foot. West's ; eyes swelled shut. For a few rounds he held an eye open with one hand and fought with the other. In the seventeenth I hs said to me; 'I can't see you any I more. Tommy,.' So the fight wss slopped I and I won. West wss a hard fighter, 'as game ss thv make 'em, and he had mon lirsiny than most of the men I ' fought." |