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PUGILISTS ARE SUPERSTITIOUSTHEY FEAR DREAMS AND OMENS —SULLIVAN'S GREEN TIGHTS WERE LUCKY—CHARLEY MIT-CHELL FEARED A CROSS-EYhu WOMANIt is often said tlmt pugilist*, like gamblers and sailors, are suporsli-t.ous. The colored fighters are par-Hcularly so, for some of «bcm have been known to back out of a contest at the last moment because they ran up against some lnd omen. Big Jack Johnson never enters the ring before hiding a rabbit's fool in the colors lie wears around b* waist. Joe Oa:is alwavs put a lucky pocket silver piece, which he won hi his first mill, in his belt just us he climbs rhrough the ropes. Joe Walcott, once a giant killer, never Tailed to have a mium-ture horseshoe tucked awaj in hisC,John L. Sullivan fn all his battles wore a pair of green trunks, in the belt of which was a talisman which his mother gave him when he first entered the professional arena, (lame Jack Dempsey, the Nonpareil, would not agree to tackle the easiest kind of a mark unless he had his famous black tights in which he won some sixty battles. But the tights lost their magic charm the uight that Fitsslmmons knocked Dempsey out and also broke his heart.Charley Mitchell, the former bng-lish champion, had a mortal fear of meeting a cross-eyed woman on the day or night of * fistic encounter in which h«* engaged. He »!»» in* slated that such a woman meant *ure defeat. The night be was to meet Sullivan for the K. c°nd Ume ifl Modi* son Square Garden Mitchell »iet ” cross-eyed red-haired woman in 3•lt; i avenue and almost »dashed back around the c^rn®r . top speed, crossing his fingers severalU™She nailed me with her bad eye. h walled, ' and I'm under a bloomiuS|Suillv'ii “aTit tuniPd om.^aa Ju no condition ... ?o to the Garten am.'T ™ Th.“ghW,woman that lt;|ueer«j »*« *£;lcIe‘ft the exi laimed Mitch* 11. i»,»M#*ved be Garden tn disgust ^ ' d l°\Vhen Jackfire at », las, he decidedrrc-.r,r.=3“ss;aS£55S*T,snlouahlp from Corbett at Carprotected him fr0“ ‘nj^'JJ the tip of » kangaroo s ear at.« Comishman wore ,lt beneath in all his ring MttM*.who refuse to sign articles of ag ment or to fight on a Friday. ..nng-mnn's day* they call it. Among them arc Tommy Burns. Jimmy Britt, Abe Aitoll, Bflly .Mellody. Dick Hyland. Kid Goodman, Sailor Burke. Paekey iucFarla.id, Owen Morgan. Bill Papke, Hugo Kelly, and Battling Nelson.Some fighters are superstitious in -regard to Jonah seconds. They dodge the handlers who have been behind losers. Some seconds seem t have a streak of bad luck, and as result they find It a difficult matte to get a job behind a good man. In some cases Inexperienced seconds are preferred to Jonahs” John U Sul llvan seldom acted as an adviser or a second that his man did not lose. He was buolud Dempsey when Fit* beat him; witli Joel Skelly when he lost to George Dixon: with Joe Dan-non when he was defeated by George Godfrey; with the late Spider Weir when ho was knocked out by Aus Dalian Billy Murphy, and beh nd Pout Maher when Fit* put him away the first time at New Orleans. Sullivan like many other flghtent, Is a poor picket of winners.Tommy Burns likes nothing better titan to find a horseshoe when trailing for a battle. The horseshoe has made a hit with other pugs, too, who usually nail one over the door of their training quarters.Meeting ft funeral is always regard-*h! as a direful thing by pugilists. Sullivan mol a funeral the day he was beaten by Corbett at New Orleans and h then and there that he would meet his Waterloo. Other box-srs are superstitious about lucky and unlucky corners In the ring. Some of them always try to enter the ring first so that they can secure what they believe is the lucky chair. It lias often been the rase that in a di inite over the favorite corner the mat ter lias been settled by the turn of coin.
Newspaper Details
Brandon Weekly Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Nov 05, 1908
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
John H.
IL, USA 28 Nov 2017
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