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Show SHARKEY WAS ONCEJN NAVY Old-time Heavyweight Boxer Quit the Sea in 1896 and Started Boxing Career. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3. Tom Sharkey, Shar-key, old time heavyweight boxer and now partner of Jim Jeffries In business busi-ness here, is mighty proud of Uncle Sam's navy boyH those days. Every time tho Jack tars down at San Pedro start a benefit to bolster up the oth-lotlc oth-lotlc fund Sharkey is with them with his aid and funds. Sharkey saw eleven years of service in the navy from 1885 to 1896, and not only popularized boxing aboard ship, but developed into the undisputed champion scrapper of the navy and camo mighty near developing into tho champion of tho world. "I was tho guy that introduced boxing box-ing in the navy," said Sharkoy here. "When I first joined tho navy I was on tho old Vermont, which was at that time in Brooklyn. I had a set of boxing box-ing gloves and some gymnasium apparatus ap-paratus with me when I went on board ship and I know tho sailors looked on mo as some sort of a 'nuL' "I managed to dig up a few sparring partners and some of the boys started to take a bit of Intorest in the sporL "Thon I was transferred to the Philadelphia Phil-adelphia and we wore stationed at Honolulu for a long time, and I continued con-tinued my boxing. It wasn't long before be-fore I was the real champion of the ship and then other ships took up tho sport. "Ono time in Honolulu they picked a big fellow named Nig Burley to fight me and wo battled on deck. I beat Burley in eight rounds and the officers who watched the scrap liked it, and from that time on boxing was encouraged. "It wasn't long before other ships look up boxing and beforo long every ship had its champion in tho different divisions and the game was on hand to stay. " I fought a number of regular scraps while I was in tho navy, my biggest being with Jim Corbett and Joe Choyniski. Then, when I got my , discharge in 189G, I went into the gamo as a businoss and fought Fitz-slmmons, Fitz-slmmons, Jeff and all tho pther good ones. "My boxing days In the navy were a big help to me as a fighter. I had many a tough battle on shipboard, but In all my ring career I never met belter bel-ter sportsmen or gamer fighters than the sailors I had to tackle to keep my title as champion of the navy. "I've had my ups and downs and never found the world a particularly easy fellow to battle, but of my whole life, I look back on my years In the navy as the happiest, j "Boxing has done a lot for tho boys in tho navy, and I hope the sport keeps up. There's no gamer, better bunch of boys in the world than Uncle Sam's sailors, and I'm proud to think that I can look back on eleven years of service serv-ice and I'm prouder of the fact that I was tho first real heavyweight boxing box-ing champion of the navy than if I'd boen champion of the world." |