Jem Mace and Donovan

[robsnell]

The World

23 November 1896

 

Jem Mace and Donovan, Veterans

of the Ring,

Shake Hands,

MEET IN THE RING NEXT MONTH.

Meanwhile They Exchange Grandisonian

Courtesies and Size Each

Other Up,

 

BOTH OF THEM FIT AS A FIDDLE.

 

Jem Mace, of England, arrived Saturday on the Etruria. There was a time when this simple announcement would have blocked Broadway with a hurrying crowd, eager to look at the champion pugilist of the world; the shiftiest man who ever put up his hands in the

twenty-four-foot ring'.

 

But no crowd impeded his progress now, for Jem has not fought anybody for years. He has devoted himself to the gentle art of how to grow old and look young. He is as great a master at this as he was at his earlier art of putting men to sleep with his fists.

 

Al Smith, who has undertaken the arrangement of a six-round glove contest between Mace and Mike Donovan, who was for years the middle-weight champion of America, met the old-time champion at the pier and took him to the Gilsey House. In some mysterious way word soon went round that Mace was here. Fighting men and followers of the ring came in by dozens and shook his hand and told him how well he looked. He was delighted to see them

and chatted as blithely as a schoolboy.

 

But occasionally he asked Mr. Smith: "Where's Mike?"

 

Of course the really proper thing for a modern pugilist to do when he speaks of his next antagonist is to scowl and curse, but Mace acted as if he were asking for an old schoolboy chum. He sat patiently in the Gilsey cafe, where sandwiches abounded and where a white-jacketed youth often appeared with glasses on a tray Seated in an admiring circle around him were a score of fighters and ring followers. Dan Creedon and Kid Lavigne were leading the laughter that greeted every one of the veteran's jokes.

 

Suddenly there was a stir as a white haired, pink-checked man came striding briskly through the crowd. Mace smiled broadly as he caught sight of him approaching'."Well, Mike, old boy," exclaimed the Englishman rising and grasping his hand. “how in the world are you ? how’ve you been eh?”. Donavon’s face had about six smiles on it ."Jem, old boy," he said, "I'm glad to .see you. How are you?" They sat a opposite sides of the table. "I'm well," said Mace. "I'm very fit."And you're right," Donovan exclaimed."You want to be well, you

know." "We'll make some of the young uns open their eyes, eh?" said the Englishman.

"I've been training three months for this go."

 

The two leaned back in their chairs and smiled at each other. Their glances darted from point to point. Moved by some sudden impulse, each half rose and grasped the other's hand. Then they sat down again and studied each other keenly. Both men are a fine example of the healthy influence that hard fighting has upon a man. Both have eyes keen as a. lynx. Mace's dark skin shows a ruddy tinge on the cheeks that a society bud might envy. Donovan's fair complexion is like a baby's.

 

"A little thin up there, Mike," Mace remarked as he stretched out his gnarled brown hand and putted Donovan's gray thatch. "Excuse, me, Jim," retorted Donovan, reaching over and deftly whipping off the Englishman's shining top hat, There stood revealed a dark, glistening bald poll. There was a roar of laughter from the admiring circle. The two veterans chaffed each other like boys. Their conversation was a pleasant reminder of by-gone days when pugilists used to ratify their, matches in courteous phrases and then solemnly drink to the toast "May the best man win," each, of course, thinking of himself, but neither uttering a word to the other's disparagement.

 

They made a striking picture, Mace is sixty-six years old, but does not look a day more than forty. His keen. gypsy eyes twinkle mischievously, His shoulders are broad and his cunning arms are long and thick. He has biceps as big and hard us any blacksmith's. His waist is slender. His legs are of proper roundness and sturdiness for a fighting man. He looks as though he is good for twenty years more of giving and taking hard knocks He weighs 182 pounds net. There is a funny fat roll of muscle joining the back of his head and his neck, covered with gray bristles.

 

Donavon weighs 159 pounds.there is no fat on the back of his neck or elsewhere. Any cannibal king would reject him from the stew-pot because he is so tough and stringy. His chest sticks out. His arms are long and they move quickly. In Donovan one finds a striking example of the whalebone type of fighting man. His springy gait excites attention. It would be remarkable in a man of thirty. In a veteran of his years it is phenomenal. As for his age— well! He has said that he is forty nine so often in the last half-dozen years that now he believes it himself.

 

At all events he was old enough to fight all through the civil war in a regiment from his native State of Ohio. yet if his hair were to turn black he would easily pass for thirty. Donovan and Mace sat together chatting of old times until late in the afternoon. Then they said good-by to each other and shook hands three or four times.They will not meet again until the night of Dec. 14, when they will put up their skilful hands and bang away at each other for six rounds

[LondonRingRules]

Re: Jem Mace and Donovan

 

The World

23 November 1896

 

Jem Mace and Donovan, Veterans

of the Ring,

Shake Hands,

MEET IN THE RING NEXT MONTH.

Meanwhile They Exchange Grandisonian

Courtesies and Size Each

Other Up,

 

BOTH OF THEM FIT AS A FIDDLE.

 

 

--------- Jem Mace is probably the most underrated fighter in history, really one of the fathers of modern pugilism.

 

Will happily attempt to find out more about Donovan, but a question arises?

 

Are the authors of most of these articles unknown? I seldom see a name or publication attributed,

[robsnell]

names

 

On occasion i forget to include but mostly, as in this case, no name is listed in the original. Some info on Donavon is:

 

Name: Mike Donovan

Alias: Professor

Born: 1847-09-27

Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Died: 1918-03-24 (Age:70)

Nationality: US American

Boxing Record: click

Height: 5′ 8″ / 173cm

 

 

• After his active boxing career ended, he became a boxing instructor at the New York Athletic Club.

• He taught United States President Teddy Roosevelt and his sons how to box.

• Also said to have been 73-years-old when he died.

• His will indicated that his last name was actually O'Donovan.

• His silver championship belt was bequeathed to his son, Arthur Donovan, who was in the 105th Field Artillery at Spartanburg, North Carolina, at the time.

• His also had a daughter, Katherine, and another son, Henry.

THE ROOSEVELT

THAT I KNOW

 

TEN YEARS OF BOXING WITH THE

PRESIDENT AND OTHER MEMO-

RIES OF FAMOUS FIGHTING MEN

 

BY MIKE DONOVAN

 

EX-CHAMPION MIDDLEWEIGHT OF AMERICA AND

BOXING-HASTES OF THE NEW YOKE ATHLETIC CLUB

 

[EDITED BY F. H. N.]

 

ILLUSTRATED

 

 

NEW YORK

B. W. DODGE & COMPANY

 

1909

 

PREFACE

 

Mike Donovan's ring record is one that

any champion, including the greatest of modern

times, might be proud of, for it includes bruising

battles with men of the foremost ring positions.

His encounters with John L. Sullivan,

Walter Watson, McClellan, George Rooke and

Jack Dempsey were of the most astonishing

character, and his match with Jack Dempsey,

then the phenomenal champion, caused quite a

commotion among the swell set in the East, for

the "old man," as Mike Donovan was called,

simply astonished them by besting the crack

champion, who was quite a young man in comparison

with his rival.

 

This engagement with

Dempsey was the crowning feather in the professor's

scientific fighting cap, and the members

of the New York Athletic Club, who, almost to

a man, witnessed the great battle, were amazed

at the wonderful stamina and science that their

teacher displayed against the Nonpareil of the

American prize ring. New York Herald

 

http://www.archive.org/details/rooseveltthatikn00donoiala

 

 

image with article

[iamasadlittleboy]

Heres something you may not know, the Arthur Donovan you've just mentioned is better known for another reaosn...he was one of the more remembered referees. Matches he did included Louis v Mauriello, Pep v Wright, Louis v Nova, SRR v Zivic and his referee record is here:

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=401342&cat=referee

[robsnell]

I was not aware of that thanks for the info