"Dear Tommy. Could you make the loser's end of the purse a little larger?"

This is a beauty and i've never heard it before. I'll rattle out some of the details to see if anyone can confirm or deny having heard it before. It comes from The Salt Lake Herald dated August 1909 so it's some 13 years after the Tommy Ryan-Kid Mcoy fight, with which it is concerned. The article is titled "Kid McCoy slips over a fine double cross when they first met in the ring."



It begins by detailing McCoy's training with Fitzsimmons "the master", "down in Louisiana".

With his active mind he was storing up pointers taken from Fitz's work with the gloves. On the quiet he practiced the way Bob hit, until he could snap over his hook in true Fitzsimmons style...but Fitz never handled his trainers very gently...after a while the Kid became tired of being punched. He knew quiet a little more tbout the game than when he started and was satified that Fitz had shown him everything. So off he went to tackle a new game...

...the Kid attatched himself to Tommy Ryan's training quarters and began sparring. Being of the conservative sort, McKoy did not show what he knew about the game and took a lot of pounding without murmuring. Ryan always liked to hammer his sparring partner and the Kid was a good mark. The Kid felt and resented it. Another thing he held against Tommy was the fact that while Ryan lived at a good hotel, he placed McCoy at a third rate boarding house.

But the Kid dissembled his soreness and always ha a pleased and willing smile hen Ryan landed on his nose with a particularly vicious smash. In the same unruffled fashion heresigned hsi job when he felt sure he could learn nothing more.

McCoy then arranged backing and challenged Tommy.

Ryan smiled softly to hiself as he remembered the easy tie he'd had with his former sparring partner and counted up the easy money at 75% of the fight. Nevertheless, a prudent man, he began to train And here is where McCoy's trickery developed. He knew all about Ryan and Ryan knew all about him,but the Kid wanted to sinch matters absoltley. He sat down and 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. I'd like to ask you a couple of favours. There's no need of you making a wreck of me in this fight. I want you to promise not to cut me to pieces. Then you know i'm pretty hard up. Couldn't you do me a favour of making the loser's end of the purse a little larger? On the level,I need the money. Yours truley, KID MCCOY."

Ryan read the letter with a wrinkled brow and laughed. He generously agreed to make the losers end 35% and promptly dropped his hard training.

On the night of the fight Tommy appeared in the ring a little fat and out of shape. He looked across the way rather dubiously as McCoy jumped into the ring in magnificent trim.

The fight began. At once McCoy cut out the pace, using ring tactics that made Ryan's eyes pop...Ryan realised the trick n all its bare details. In his fury he went after McCoy and fought his level best...McCoy knew every move of Ryan's and besdes that had the trickery of Fitzsimmons at his command...at last, even Ryan's rage was beaten out of him...Ryan sank to defeat.



This reeks of bull**** in it's narrative, but what about the detail? Could it be true? How much could be true? And how long was the Kid connected with Fitz, anyone know?

Beautiful story, I sure hope it's true.

 

This fight was at the then middleweight limit of 154 rather than WW, BM.