The “Dope” Alibi

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1081, 19 September 1930, Page 7

The “Dope” Alibi

FAMILIAR IN BOXING

THE archives of boxing contain numerous instances of allegations on the part of professional fighting men that unscrupulous enemies had poisoned or “doped” them before important fights, causing their downfall. Such charges however, have generally been laughed at, as in practically every instance it has been impossible to substantiate them. *

Only recently a story from Chicago appeared in the newspapers to the effect that Sammy Mandell, former light-weight champion, believed he was “doped” before the bout with A 1 Singer, of the Bronx, in which he was knocked out in the very first round and lost his world’s championship, says Ringsider in the “Police Gazette.” The inference drawn from Sammy’s plaint was that somebody financially or otherwise interested in a Singer victory had slipped the Rockford Sheik a close of slumber powders, or whatever it is that the boys use for dope.

and that as a consequence he was jobbed out of his title. Whether it was true or not, Mandell’s charge was given some colour by the fact that Sammy appeared to be in a daze when he weighed in before the fight, and was seemingly in the same condition when he entered the ring. A number of the New York sports writers noted the fact that Sammy acted as he were in *a stupor on both of these occasions. llis extraordinai y lassitude, however, was

ascribed to the rigours of the drying out process he was obliged to undergo in order to scale under the 1351 b limit of the light-weight division. It was inferred that his efforts To make weight had so sapped Mandell's vitality that he was in a bad condition, mentally as well as physically, when he opposed the youthful vigorous Singer, trained to the minute for the fight of his life. Few informed observers of fisticuffs, however, gave any weight to the allegation, it being regarded as a belated attempt to alibi Mandell’s poor showing. Yet it is not altogether impossible that something was slipped into Sammy’s tea, as the boys so naively phrase it. Few champions are knocked off their feet by the first punch landed, especially a left hook. Yet that’s what happened to Sammy Mandell. Whether he was doped or not will ever remain a mystery as profound as the age of Ann. Charges that he had been drugged were brought by camp followers of Jack Dempsey after he had lost his world’s championship to Gene Tunney in the Sesqyjicentennial Stadium, Philadelphia, on September 23, 1926. Jack, too, was in a highly nervous state as he weighed in for Tunney; but that was probably because of the mental strain to which he had been subjected by Jack Kearns, his former manager, with whom he had quarrelled. Kearns, by way of retaliation, made life miserable for the “Manassa Mauler” all through his training period by having him served with various lawsuits, by seizing his wife’s automobile and by resorting to other harassments. Dempsey himself never stood for these stories. He steadily refused to offer any excuses for his defeat, giving full credit to Tunney's superior ability. The same was not the case with Jim Jeffries, however, after he war knocked out in the fifteenth rounc by Jack Johnson, the huge coloured man, at Reno on July 4, 1910. The California boilermaker came right out with a direct charge that he had been doped. A few weeks after the scrap that the late Tex Rixkard promoted, Jeffries said: “I am positive that 1 was the victim of trickery. Something was done to me. It would have been impossible for me to break down in the condition 1 was in so suddenly, unless some one got me in an underhand way. Eight days before the fight I went on a fishing trip. We had breakfast while out, and when l returned that afternoon I went to bed and to sleep. “From that day I was never myself. 1 wanted to sleep all the time. At first I thought I had been working too much and that a couple of days* rest would fix me up. But the laziness never left me. 1 was also attacked with dysentery. To show how strong it was handed to me, I did not recover from either the- dope or the dysentery until l had been at Catalina (Catalina Island, off the Southern California Coast) two weeks. “I have my suspicions as to the guilty parties, and what hurts most is that I suspect men who pretended to be most friendly toward me.” It was at this time Jeffries declared he was definitely through with the roped square. Asked if he was con- ! sidering .another shot at Johnson, the boilermaker replied: ! “No amount of money can ever tempt me. No promoter can ever j induce me to take another fling at j the ring game. Rickard and I have talked the matter over long and earn- ■ estly. and this is my decision. I have all the money I need to keep myself and wife in comfort and I don't want a cent more.”

Slightly at variance with Jeffries's doping story was the following, appearing at the same time: “Jeffries, by the way. has consented to make a long statement in explanation of his defeat. Starting off with a positive declaration that lie would never fight again, the boilermaker says his poor showing was due to the rarefied atmosphere in Nevada and the alkali water He says the blow he received in the eye in the second round partially blinded him and virtu* ally beat him then and there.