Octavus Roy Cohen

“ When they got back from their honeymoon two weeks later I knew that it had done a darned sight more than started. That skirt had already influenced the Kid against me. Not that he realized it—he was too bloomin’ innocent—but first thing he did was to come at me about the guardeenship and holding his money. Sheepish he was—like he didn’t have the right to ask me.
“An’ y’ see,” he winds up, getting courage by the route he’d gone, “it seems silly that a married man has to go to another guy for a hand-out when he’s earned the money. ”

“ At that time I didn’t think the Kid was a world-beater, but I imagined that he got at least two hundred and fifty for a ten-round bout, and I called him aside and asked him about it.
That boob explains that he’d made his start at the Southside, and that even after he got into the finals class the manager had explained to him that he owed a debt of gratitude to the club, and so he oughtn’t to ask more than fifty. Besides, said that bully, the Kid oughtn’t to fight nowhere else. Honest, it didn’t seem possible that a guy could be as ignorant as him.
“You need a manager,” I says, “the worst way. ”

“ When you was in your prime you was a better man any day in the week than this cheesy Eddie Lonegan.” His eyes glinted at mention of the name of Rose’s husband.
“They do say, Kid, that there ain’t no such thing as a comeback. I agree with ’em on general principles. But, Kid, rules is only proved by exceptions. I’m here to tell you, Kid, that if a fighter has the stuff, and if he has a motive that’s strong enough—one of these here motives that just lift a guy by his suspenders and keep him everlastingly at it—well, Kid, when a guy has that incentive, then he can do anything and then some. ”

“ No, the Kid didn’t fight it. It went through flying, and the Kid was soaked for heavy alimony. And as though that wasn’t enough—less’n a month after the divorce Rose La Belle marries Eddie Lonegan, lightweight champion of the world.
That’s where the Kid hit the road to hell!
There wasn’t no use trying to do a thing with him. It’s just that way with a man when a woman’s pulled the Delilah stuff on him. He starts for the bottom, and he gets there in record time. ”

“ I didn’t have the slightest objection to the Kid getting married—I was glad of it, in fact. The right girl sort of acts as an anchor to a man who has more money than he knows what to do with, especially if the bright lights ever get his nanny. So I come across with his two-fifty, but I allows that I’d like to give Rose La Belle the once-over. ”

“ What I’m suggesting, Kid, is that you come back with me, let me finance a little training at Westchester: buck the apparatus for about six months straight, and then sling a challenge at Eddie. He’ll snap you up if any promoter will offer a decent purse, because he thinks you’re pie for him—him and Rose has probably laughed at you a dozen times—and I can tip off one or two promoters that you’ve got the stuff, the real stuff. They’ll match you! ”

“ Closer questioning wised me up that she had been a chorus lady, first on the road then in the Follies. She had the looks all right. Born with most of them and the rest cultivated—like the blond hair and the nice-looking eyebrows and the color in her cheeks. ”

“ But I will say that, while I ain’t hankering on comin’ between a man an’ his wife, that it ain’t no go, Kid. You’ll get soft in three months; you’ll lose your eye and your judgment of distance; your stamina and wind will be broken. A fighter, Kid, works at his business all the time. Trainin’ has to be done, and done regular. Lemme know, Kid, when you’re comin’ back out to Westchester. ”

“ A man takes on a heap of weight when he lays off, but at the end of seven months I had the Kid down to one hundred and thirty-four, and I knew that if he was matched up for a weigh-in six hours before the battle, I could steam out at least two pounds. ”

“ What I’d advise, Kid, is that you can this sassiety stuff. Let the wife do it if she wants; but you cut the smoke and the fizz-water, tie yourself down to the hay from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Do ten or fifteen miles on the road, and get back into trim. There’s many a guy gunnin’ for your scalp. ”

“ He still had the stuff, but it looked as though it was gonna be a year or so before he’d be in trim for a hard fight with a man of Lonegan’s character.
Managers all over the country started bidding for the fight. The Kid was offered six thousand for his share of a ten-round battle. I was for taking it, but the Kid refused.
“Carey, out on the coast, offers twelve thousand for a twenty-round bout,” he says. “I need the money.”
“He’ll wear you out, Kid,” I pleaded. “He’ll stay away from you for eight or ten rounds, and then he’ll start in. You’ll be a gonner—”
“Aw, say, Mr. ”