I wonder if drug use was around during the old-timers era? I've only heard of one, Johnny Saxton, but not many others. Was it around or common then? That means any illegal drug use.
I'm sure a lot of them used anything they thought would help them in the ring. As an example, Amphetamines have been around for a long time. So have poisons, some of which can be used in small doses to enhance Athletic performance.
Like @djanders mentioned, I heard and read stories that some took everything they thought would give them an advantage. When testing started to become somewhat serious many of the big names in history have been busted using.
If we count alcohol which we should I think in the old days it wasn't uncommon for guys to have a few before (and during) the fight for courage or to raise pain tolerance.
Spot on. Jeffries was given an “energising” glass of champagne before the 25th and final round vs Sharkey. See the paragraph immediately following the image of the fight poster for the reference. https://thebioscope.net/2009/01/07/the-jeffries-sharkey-fight/amp/
Sullivan’s workout routine to prepare for his fights started with him basically drying out from drinking binges for the first week or so while picking up exercise. Mostly it was ‘stop drinking and sweat it all about’ — and by ‘stop drinking’ he meant limit himself to no more than, say, 5 pints per day. As is pointed out in this post, there was a reason for that which we should consider when looking at boxers in this era — water was dangerous in those days. Chlorination had not come into being not other methods of purification and unless boiled it was apt to contain all sorts of harmful bacteria. Beer/ale was safer to consume than water. John L even showered in salt water. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/john-l-sullivan-training-camp.538639/
Dempsey apparently lent his name to "nuxated iron" supplements (includes strychnine), but I don't know whether he was actually using it, or just appeared in the advertisements. https://peterboriana.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/nuxated-iron/ https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/bi...cle_07d95404-face-11e7-a96b-734456358c45.html (Or whether they were using his name without his permission, for that matter.)
That's awful to consider how dangerous the water could be back then... We take clean water for granted. I just got ultra sick from kayaking in the river close to here, lost 19lbs in less than 2 weeks, lost 2 weeks of work and had a fever the whole time, just for jumping in after a friend who got in trouble in the rapids. And alcohol dehydrates you so bad anyway... Not that I haven't sparred about 1000 rounds while drinking myself hahhaaa it can help!
I was talking about actual drug usage and not drinking. I'm well aware of fighters in the past that were into drinking, like Lew Jenkins was well known for that. Never heard much about pep pills or other substances. Did it exist?
