The Anaconda Standard
8 August 1909
TRICKY KID McCOY
FOXIER THAN RYAN
In Another Great Story of a Famous Knockout;
Edgren Tells How Fighters Fought With Wits
and Then With Gloves, McCoy Winning
Both Ways.
By Robert Edgren
The trick that kid McCoy played on foxy Tommy Ryan was one of the funniest things that ever happened in the ring. McCoy and Ryan were two of the trickiest fighting men on record. When they met it was a battle of wits. Ryan didn't know it the first time he ran up against McCoy. And in that the scheming Kid had an advantage, for he knew Ryan to a hair and laid his plans accordingly.
Tommy Ryan was already a top-notcher when it happened, he was separated from the middle-weight title only by the existence of one Bob Fitzsimmons, who was quite an obstacle. But he had whipped most of the other good ones. As for McCoy, he was an almost unknown novice. He had run away from home a couple of years before to take up fighting, and had put up a few fairly good scraps around the country.
HOW TOMMY RYAN WAS BEATEN BY "KID" M'COY
McCoy was a bright man. Being bright he didn't think he knew it all. He knew that Fitzsimmons was a master. So while Fitz was training down in Louisiana "Kid" McCoy appeared at his camp one day and was employed as a cook's assistant and general utility man. Soon he managed to get the gloves on and proved handy enough to help Fitzsimmons in his training.
It was a tough school for McCoy. Fitzsimmons never handled his trainers very gently, and he found McCoy strong and very wiry and willing. McCoy was well punished every day. With his active mind he was storing up pointers taken from Fitzsimmons work with the gloves. On the quiet he practiced Bob's way of hitting until he could snap a hook over in true Fitzsimmons style.
But after a while the "Kid" became tired of being punched. He knew quite a little more about the game than when he started, and he was satisfied that Fitzsimmons had shown him everything.
So off he went to tackle some new game.
After wandering around for a while, the "Kid" attached himself to Tommy Ryan's training quarters and began sparring daily with Tommy. Being a conservative sort of fellow, McCoy didn't show what he knew about the game himself. He kept the new Fitzsimmons wrinkles under his belt. He just boxed in a fairly clever fashion and took a lot of pounding without a murmur.
Tommy Ryan always liked to hammer his sparring partners, and McCoy was a good mark. The kid felt this and resented it. Another thing that he held against Ryan was the fact that while Tommy lived at a good hotel he placed McCoy at a poor third-rate boarding house.
But the Kid dissembled his soreness and always had a pleased and willing smile when Ryan landed on his nose with a particularly vicious smash. In the same unruffled fashion he resigned his job when he was satisfied that he could learn nothing more about Ryan's style. He knew everything that Ryan could use now. Off he went, saying that he thought he'd pick up a few
preliminary fights.
But that wasn't McCoy's real object. He posted to another state and gathered some old acquaintances with money. He showed them just how much he had improved and told them he could whip Tommy Ryan. They were incredulous, but at last consented to furnish backing for a match. At once Kid McCoy challenged Tommy Ryan, and Ryan smiled softly to himself as he remembered the easy time he'd had .
And here is where McCoy's trickery developed. He knew all about Ryan and .Ryan knew all about him, but the Kid wanted to cinch matters absolutely, Sitting down with his pen he wrote the following letter:
Dear Tommy: I worked up this match with you so we could both pick up a little easy coin. Of course you know how we box together, and what you can do to me if you want to. Now I'd like to ask you a couple of favors. There's no need of making a wreck of me in this fight. I want you to promise not to cut me all to pieces. Then you know I'm pretty hard up. Couldn't you do me
the favor of making the loser's end of the purse a little larger? On the level, I need the money.
Yours truly
Kid M’Coy
Ryan received the letter, read it with wrinkled brows and sat down and laughed. It was too easy. He generously agreed to make the losers end 35 per cent, instead of 25, and promptly dropped his hard training.
On the night of the fight Tommy Ryan appeared in the ring a little fat and out of shape. He looked across the way rather dubiously when McCoy jumped through the ropes in magnificent trim that showed plainly the result of long, hard training.
The fight began. At once McCoy cut the pace, using ring tactics that made Ryan’s eyes pop out with surprise. It went hard with Tommy and he whispered to McCoy to remember the agreement.
McCoy only grinned and smashed him vigorously on the mouth. Suddenly Ryan realized the trick in all of its bare details. In a fury he went after McCoy and fought his level best. But it was no use. He couldn't make an impression on his former victim. McCoy knew every move of Ryan, and besides that had the trickery of Fitzsimmons at his command. Ryan snarled and fought in desperation, while McCoy, with evident enjoyment, slowly and deliberately beat him to a pulp.
At last even his rage was beaten out of him, and sick and sore and dazed and helpless Tommy Ryan sank to defeat. I know this story is true, for McCoy told it to me in all its details, and a little later, when I asked Tommy Ryan for his side of the tale, he corroborated McCoy's story word for word. Ryan was still much disgruntled, although years had passed, but as McCoy beat him again later on fairly and squarely, and also beat Dan Creedon, Peter Maher, Gus Ruhlin and other great heavyweights. Ryan has little to be ashamed of. At that, I don't think the beating worried him half so much as the idea that he had met a man more tricky than himself.
8 August 1909
TRICKY KID McCOY
FOXIER THAN RYAN
In Another Great Story of a Famous Knockout;
Edgren Tells How Fighters Fought With Wits
and Then With Gloves, McCoy Winning
Both Ways.
By Robert Edgren
The trick that kid McCoy played on foxy Tommy Ryan was one of the funniest things that ever happened in the ring. McCoy and Ryan were two of the trickiest fighting men on record. When they met it was a battle of wits. Ryan didn't know it the first time he ran up against McCoy. And in that the scheming Kid had an advantage, for he knew Ryan to a hair and laid his plans accordingly.
Tommy Ryan was already a top-notcher when it happened, he was separated from the middle-weight title only by the existence of one Bob Fitzsimmons, who was quite an obstacle. But he had whipped most of the other good ones. As for McCoy, he was an almost unknown novice. He had run away from home a couple of years before to take up fighting, and had put up a few fairly good scraps around the country.
HOW TOMMY RYAN WAS BEATEN BY "KID" M'COY
McCoy was a bright man. Being bright he didn't think he knew it all. He knew that Fitzsimmons was a master. So while Fitz was training down in Louisiana "Kid" McCoy appeared at his camp one day and was employed as a cook's assistant and general utility man. Soon he managed to get the gloves on and proved handy enough to help Fitzsimmons in his training.
It was a tough school for McCoy. Fitzsimmons never handled his trainers very gently, and he found McCoy strong and very wiry and willing. McCoy was well punished every day. With his active mind he was storing up pointers taken from Fitzsimmons work with the gloves. On the quiet he practiced Bob's way of hitting until he could snap a hook over in true Fitzsimmons style.
But after a while the "Kid" became tired of being punched. He knew quite a little more about the game than when he started, and he was satisfied that Fitzsimmons had shown him everything.
So off he went to tackle some new game.
After wandering around for a while, the "Kid" attached himself to Tommy Ryan's training quarters and began sparring daily with Tommy. Being a conservative sort of fellow, McCoy didn't show what he knew about the game himself. He kept the new Fitzsimmons wrinkles under his belt. He just boxed in a fairly clever fashion and took a lot of pounding without a murmur.
Tommy Ryan always liked to hammer his sparring partners, and McCoy was a good mark. The kid felt this and resented it. Another thing that he held against Ryan was the fact that while Tommy lived at a good hotel he placed McCoy at a poor third-rate boarding house.
But the Kid dissembled his soreness and always had a pleased and willing smile when Ryan landed on his nose with a particularly vicious smash. In the same unruffled fashion he resigned his job when he was satisfied that he could learn nothing more about Ryan's style. He knew everything that Ryan could use now. Off he went, saying that he thought he'd pick up a few
preliminary fights.
But that wasn't McCoy's real object. He posted to another state and gathered some old acquaintances with money. He showed them just how much he had improved and told them he could whip Tommy Ryan. They were incredulous, but at last consented to furnish backing for a match. At once Kid McCoy challenged Tommy Ryan, and Ryan smiled softly to himself as he remembered the easy time he'd had .
And here is where McCoy's trickery developed. He knew all about Ryan and .Ryan knew all about him, but the Kid wanted to cinch matters absolutely, Sitting down with his pen he wrote the following letter:
Dear Tommy: I worked up this match with you so we could both pick up a little easy coin. Of course you know how we box together, and what you can do to me if you want to. Now I'd like to ask you a couple of favors. There's no need of making a wreck of me in this fight. I want you to promise not to cut me all to pieces. Then you know I'm pretty hard up. Couldn't you do me
the favor of making the loser's end of the purse a little larger? On the level, I need the money.
Yours truly
Kid M’Coy
Ryan received the letter, read it with wrinkled brows and sat down and laughed. It was too easy. He generously agreed to make the losers end 35 per cent, instead of 25, and promptly dropped his hard training.
On the night of the fight Tommy Ryan appeared in the ring a little fat and out of shape. He looked across the way rather dubiously when McCoy jumped through the ropes in magnificent trim that showed plainly the result of long, hard training.
The fight began. At once McCoy cut the pace, using ring tactics that made Ryan’s eyes pop out with surprise. It went hard with Tommy and he whispered to McCoy to remember the agreement.
McCoy only grinned and smashed him vigorously on the mouth. Suddenly Ryan realized the trick in all of its bare details. In a fury he went after McCoy and fought his level best. But it was no use. He couldn't make an impression on his former victim. McCoy knew every move of Ryan, and besides that had the trickery of Fitzsimmons at his command. Ryan snarled and fought in desperation, while McCoy, with evident enjoyment, slowly and deliberately beat him to a pulp.
At last even his rage was beaten out of him, and sick and sore and dazed and helpless Tommy Ryan sank to defeat. I know this story is true, for McCoy told it to me in all its details, and a little later, when I asked Tommy Ryan for his side of the tale, he corroborated McCoy's story word for word. Ryan was still much disgruntled, although years had passed, but as McCoy beat him again later on fairly and squarely, and also beat Dan Creedon, Peter Maher, Gus Ruhlin and other great heavyweights. Ryan has little to be ashamed of. At that, I don't think the beating worried him half so much as the idea that he had met a man more tricky than himself.
Comment