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Fighting Blood
by H. C. Witwer
Grosset & Dunlap
New York, 1923
with illustrations from the Photoplay

Another of Witwer's outstanding boxing novels, that followed his success with the Leather Pushers

Among the Characters are:

Gale Galen aka Six Second Smith "The Drew City Cannon"
WW through LHW Home Drew City (38 miles from New York). 17 yr old Soda jerk who KO's Knockout Kelly in a drugstore. Initially as a fighter he is game, has a punch, game, but tends to lead with right and telegraph. Debut Red Johns KO 1 in 16 seconds. Fred Nixon KO 1. Young Fisher W 3. KO 1 KId George. Dropped 4 times in first RSF. First 4 bouts as a ww. Grew to 158. W1 Shifty McTague scheduled 10 in Irontown PA. KO 8 Battling Lee in Irontown. Likes to read. Smart. Gale nets $500 from 1st 6 bouts, made $12,00. Gale gets $600 for McTague fight. Adopts a fighting crouch a la his idol Jack Dempsey. Shifty. Turns 19. Motto "Dieu et Mon Droit" God and my right. Gale takes punishment, and is dropped in 2nd. Overexcited Lee can't finish. Gale floored 3 times. Lee has best of next 4 rounds with Gale only landing about 5 solid punches. Lee figths dirty. Uses rabbit punches and butts. Early in 7th Lee is tiring. He has punched himself out. In 7th Gale's right eyecut and shut but a 1-2 drops Lee for 9 count- saved by a short bell. Stopped in 8th by 1-2. Gale works corners for Jackson's opponents trying to get a challenge answered. Jackson aggrees at catchweights. Gale 158 & Jackson over. $25,000 for jackson and $3,500 for Gale. D vs. Frankie Jackson, a double KO. In round 7 Jackson figures he's worn Gale down & is dropped by a rigth to jaw. In 9th Gale shuts Jackson's eye but is floored by a punch that fractured Gale's jaw. At Shapiro's instructions Gale drops from 1st body shot next round to get Jackson to work his body and ignore the jaw. 12th the double ko. Can take punishment well. Gale in 24 bouts has 20 KO wins and 1 draw. At 20 he is 5' 10 3/4 and closer to 164. Out for 90 days with jaw. Goes to business school. Bout vs. Wild Bill Killoran. Gale 162 1/2. Killoran Aggressive til hit by a body shot, then cautious. Gale jabs him silly and beats him to the punch consistantly. 2nd gale wobbles him with a right.
Killoran clinches and butts Gale opening a cut over right eye. Angered, Gale drops him but he beats the count. In 3rd Gale gets a bloody mouth but closes killoran's left eye. killoran warned for a low blow. To escape a
KO loss He deliberately fouls Gale for a DQ. Gale KO's Killoran in the dressing room. Gale now a LHW. KO Kid Michaels. KO 5 Larry Forbes. Gale has $2086.14 in bank. Offered $35,000 for 3 fights in England. Hanley
vs. Gale for American title. Hanley dropped for 8 count in 1st and is finished by a right cross following a feint. Slade asks for $100,000 guarantee. Gale lost a fortune on horses but bet to Ko Hanley and recoups some money. Gale wants to promote his own fights. Offers Kid Christopher $15,000 for bout. Roma Romaine actress and publicity hound gets Gale drunk before bout. In cahoots with "Rags" Dempster and his hood pals.
1st Kid works body. In 2nd Gale punished & dropped for 8 by uppercut. Round 3 Gale has a cut eye, he begins to open up but but he's punished and heads for wrong corner. 4th The Kid blocks a left hook and stings Gale. Clinches after a right from Gale. Gale feints a left and nails him with a right to the middle. Gale then beats him to the punch and drops him to his haunches. Up at 9 Gale counters a left lead and Ko's him. Gale pays off his investors 2 to 1. With Nate and Kayo buys Theatre in Drew City.
Offers Slade $100,00 for bout. Prior to bout Gale's hand were burned in a fire at the theatre. 1st 2 rounds Gale fights defensively. IN 3rd Gale dropped for 7 count Shapiro has Slade's gloves inspected to get more time. In 4th Shapiro tells him he's going to inject coccaine into his hand for the pain. It's water but Gale unleashes.Right to the heart hurts Slade, another to body is followed with one hook to the chin and a combo to the chin dropping Slade. Offerd $75,000 to face Jack Martin. Round 1 Martin outboxes Gale. 2nd Martin swarms and scores heavily breaks Gales nose. 3rd Gale takes 4 shot intentionally to draw Martin in and nails him with a left to body and right to the chin. Martin falls into the ropes, rebounds off them into another right that knocks him out of the ring. Crowd helps him get back in at count of 8. Gale doesn't want to hit Martin who's out on his feet. Martin knocks Gale down at bell while Gale had his hands down. 4th Gale staggers Martin, goes to body twice and Martin clinches. Martin hits on break, but without steam. Martin's left eye shut, and he takes punishment. Dropped by shot to stomach, his corner claims was foul.
5th Martin stopped at 1.20. Hard right has him reeling. Hook to haeart drops him. Groggy and up at 4. Measured right to jaw finishes bout.
Gale want a shot at Hurrican Ryan HW champ. Gale invent a nationally marketed beverage, Judy Punch. Buys the Demster mansion at auction. Has fought as a pro for 6 years. 30 KOs in 34 fights. John T. Brock puts up the money for a private fight between Gale and Ryan with a secret result.
Round 1 both go for quick KO. Ryan uses weight to bull. Ryan's ear bloodied. Dale down for 7 flash knockdown. Round 2 slower Gale works straight left and hooks to body. Makes Ryan chase. Ryan touched gloves wtih Gale after Gale passed up a cheap shot chance when Ryan slipped and was off balance. 3rd Ryan starts fast and has Gale on queer street from a terrific right and floors him with a left hook. Gale beats count and is dropped by a right that bloodied his mouth. Gale clinches. RYan, out of shape, is beginning to tire. Gale get second wind and scores a body shot. Follows with an overhandright that draws blood. Ryan floored for 9 by right to chin. Gale tries to finish it and breaks right thumb on ringpost. Gale pasted in 4th and 5th. Gale floored by uppercut to throat and again for 8 by two to the body before the bell. Ryan has 1, 4, and 5 on cards.
6th Gale goes southpaw lading with right to get shot for left hook. Gale take a shot to head and retaliates with 2 shot to the wind. The second dropped Ryan. Left to heart followed by left to jaw put Ryan out for 4 minutes. Signed to fight Battling Long for title in Jersey City 15 rounds. Gale doesn't train for bout. Battling Long LHW challenger. Ko'd Kid Christopher in 2 in Philly. Signed to fight Gale for title in Jersey City 15 rounds. Long outboxes Gale through 10 rounds fighting at long range and chopping Gale to pieces with his left. Gale refuses to throw in sponge in 11th. Gale dropped 9 times in bout: twice in both 4th and 5th, once in both 7th and 13th, and three times in 11th. In 14th Long gets upset about not finishing and got careless dropped for a 6 count but he wins an easy decision. Gale retires to wed Judy Wilcox.

Hurrican Ryan
HW champ. 6'2 3/4" 215. KO'd Jim Lang in 3. A bruiser. Wants $200,000 to face Gale. John T. Brock puts up the money for a private fight with a secret result. Only 3 others sneak in to watch. Round 1 both go for quick KO. Ryan uses weight to bull. Ryan's ear bloodied. Dale down for 7 flash knockdown. Round 2 slower Gale works straight left and hooks to body. Makes Ryan chase. Ryan touched gloves wtih Gale after Gale passed up a cheap shot chance when Ryan slipped and was off balance. 3rd Ryan starts fast and has Gale on queer street from a terrific right and floors him with a left hook. Gale beats count and is dropped by a right that bloodied his mouth. Gale clinches. RYan, out of shape, is beginning to tire. Gale get second wind and scores a body shot. Follows with an overhandright that draws blood. Ryan floored for 9 by right to chin. Gale tries to finish it and breaks right thumb on ringpost. Gale pasted in 4th and 5th. Gale floored by uppercut to throat and again for 8 by two to the body before the bell. Ryan has 1, 4, and 5 on cards. 6th Galen goes southpaw lading with right to get shot for left hook. Gale take a shot to head and retaliates with 2 shot to the wind. The second dropped Ryan. Left to heart followed by left to jaw put Ryan out for 4 minutes.

Knockout "Kayo" Kelly (Mendal Nussbaum)
WW KO'd in drugstore by Gale Galen while training in Drew City for a bout vs. Jackie Frayne. Bout D 10. $5,000 purse. Eventual stablemate of Galen.
In work out with Galen drops him often, but is also floored. Top contender. KO One Round Michaels, Kayo's right eye shut. KO Georgie Neill. KO 2 Indian Brown. Drops scheduled bout vs. Battlin' Murphy to wed Mary Ballinger.

Gives us:
Gale Galen LHW 10 Slugger
Six Second Smith (Galen at lowerweight) WW 11 Slugger
Hurrican Ryan HW 8 Slugger
Knockout "Kayo" Kelly (Mendal Nussbaum) WW 6 Slugger

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