Montgomery prayed that it might be so. Meanwhile, if his opponent were
the best man who ever jumped the ropes into a ring, his own duty was
clear. He must prepare himself carefully, throw away no chance, and do
the very best that he could. But he knew enough to appreciate the
difference which exists in boxing, as in every sport, between the
amateur and the professional. The coolness, the power of hitting, above
all the capability of taking punishment, count for so much. Those
specially developed, gutta-percha-like abdominal muscles of the hardened
pugilist will take without flinching a blow which would leave another
man writhing on the ground. Such things are not to be acquired in a
week, but all that could be done in a week should be done.
The medical assistant had a good basis to start from. He was 5ft. 11
ins.--tall enough for anything on two legs, as the old ring men used to
say--lithe and spare, with the activity of a panther, and a strength
which had hardly yet ever found its limitations. His muscular
development was finely hard, but his power came rather from that higher
nerve-energy which counts for nothing upon a measuring tape. He had the
well-curved nose and the widely opened eye which never yet were seen
upon the face of a craven, and behind everything he had the driving
force, which came from the knowledge that his whole career was at stake
upon the contest.
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