Show e ZANA 9 kice FRANCISCO the gray is ir SAN tom Shar keys hair at an age ol 01 of 68 but the barrel chest still remains the most famous of all the fighting fightlin 9 sailors still looks tougher than a bat tle ship sharkey fought them all jeffries twice corbett 1 fitz simmons the top ol of the list your toughest fight I 1 suggested must have been that 25 round battle at coney island it was in one grantland rice way y sharkey sal said d but in another way vay I 1 had an even tougher scrap I 1 know this was wa 3 the hardest fight I 1 ever lost it was against a fellow ellow known as Ble mexican rican pete a tough guy the referee was even tougher ile he was horse johnson around the middle of the first round I 1 got set and nailed mexican pete on the chin with a full left hand the back of his bis head hit the floor and mexican pete was colder than a mackerel on ice but horse johnson leaned down and lifted blex mexican ican petes right hand band heres the winner johnson said 1 I was ready to lull kill him I 1 rushed at the referee and said youre either crazy or crooked that was a clean knockout 1 11 I say mexican pete won horse johnson said and as he said it he pulled out a forty five and stuck it in the pit of my stomach I 1 even think twice for we were fighting in a tough town where everyone had backed Alex mexican ican pete youre right I 1 said mexican pete wins those were tough h days in the fight game sharkey recalled we fought in rain and sleet and snow and no champion ever aspired to be a gent we fought with a bunch of guns around the ring looking for trouble they were hard days very hard days the jeffries fight 1 I still think I 1 beat the greatest heavyweight of all time sharkey said when I 1 fought jim jeffries at coney island I 1 know jeff cracked three of my ribs but what are three cracked ribs for that fight I 1 weighed pounds and jeffries weighed 1 I had to spot big jim 39 pounds but the point im making is that I 1 was the aggressor through 25 rounds remember that line paul armstrong wrote about me round after round sharkey came on like the surf jeff stood and waited I 1 had to do all the rushing all the leading they gave me no credit for that and it was still close I 1 still believe the fellow who forces the fighting should get more credit than he gets today suppose I 1 had stood and waited for jeffries there would have been no fight the iron man alan and yet I 1 think he is the greatest or at least one ot of the greatest heavyweights heavy weights that ever lived jeff was vis big strong and fast he was dead game and a murderous puncher with that left hand ile he was hard to hurt I 1 dont believe there ever was another lighter fighter who could take the beating that jeffries could take As some said about him you might as well be punching a hydrant he even close to the real jeffries when he fought jack johnson he was the hollow shell they called him later A middle aged fellow who had been out of training 9 for five or six years I 1 know jack johnson never beat the fellow I 1 fought at coney island not by 10 miles give and take I 1 asked old tom the sailor what it took to make a good or great fighter many things he said and why there are so few good lighters fighters first of au all ther emust be heart and speed the fighting heart plus fast hands and fast footwork after that there must be the ability to take it A good fighter must be ble able to punch and also able to take a punch these are two of the important things the old give and take theres another thing sharkey added the good fighter must have good legs ive always been a great believer in road work most of these thes e modern modem fighters dont even know what real road work is I 1 mean 10 or 12 miles a day art ani through h many days or many weeks or even many months id say gene tunney was the last of the crop who knew what condition meant tunney Y worked hard tor for six years to be ready for dempsey and he really worked success and softness the boys today dont want to be 60 bothered about this road work stuff rather ride if you got good legs you got a chance I 1 dont know beat joe louis but the one who does will have trained a lot harder and will have better legs too much success is is bound to make you soft in time 1 I know that nobody trains today the way jeffries corbett and I 1 trained for a fight I 1 mean road wo work shadow boxing skipping the rope sparring partner workouts |