I'm trying to find more information on Gus Ruhlin, beyond the fuzzy film vs Jeffries and mentions in other fighter biographies. I feel like he is a key part of that golden heavyweight era of the turn of the century, my favorite before the 70s. He's always struck me a bit like Ken Norton, in that he was physically imposing and at the large end of the scale for the time, and could either be in great fights against others from the era, or sometimes get KO'd early or give a poor performance. I'm also looking for the long version of the Jeffries-Ruhlin film that has him training in it, I believe sparring Denver Ed Martin. Any suggestions on where to look would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Denver Ed Martin was indeed his sparring partner,as he was for Fitzsimmons for a time. Ruhlin ,on his best night was a head- ache for anyone,unfortunately he was a very inconsistent performer. He looks the faster man in the grainy film of him against Jeffries,but he folded after taking big shots to the body,a point duly noted by Fitzsimmons who wrecked him later.At 6' 2" and around 200lbs Gus was an imposing specimen he could box and hit ,but he never produced three or four winning performances in a row.
Thanks mcvey. Yes, I see things the way you do for sure. When I was young reading Alexander Johnston's Ten And Out, the parts of that running history, while certainly written through a particularly dated p.o.v., that intrigued me were Ruhlin's role in that Hvy round-robin of the time and his ups and downs, wanting to know more about him. Seems like those limited facts just get repeated over and over in all the books. Maybe that is all there is to him. So you have seen the training video with Martin? How is it, and where might I find it? Thanks.
I have the long version complete with Jeffries full training which is only partial on you tube. Ruhiln and Martin spar out doors, I think on a road. Martin being the faster of the two gets the better on it. Then Ruhlin gives Martin a rubber chicken he can't stop laughing. Ruhlin also works out a bit. Jumping rope is not his thing. Most of the five filmed rounds exists but you'll need to link up with a collector to get it. I have read Ruhlin was a hot and cold type of boxer, but good enough to rate in the top ten of the decade. I've also read he was good with elbow work. Not sure what this meant. Perhaps it had something to do with blocking for defense .
I think that Ruhlin was a rather good contender. People today regard Tom Sharkey more highly, due to his fight with Jeffries, but it was seen as something of an upset when Sharkey beat Ruhlin. It is probably fair to say that he was the #1 contender before Fitzsimmons clocked him.
Los Angeles Herald, Volume 26, Number 290, 17 July 1897 — BIG BOXERS BIG BOXERS Draw Big Crowds to See the Fight JIM JEFFRIES MEET RUHLIN BUT FAILED TO MAKE MEAT OF HIS MAN Twenty Hot Rounds Find Ruhlin Nearly Out, but the Referee Calls It a Draw Associated Press Special Wire. SAN FRANCISCO, July 16.—The bigger the boxers the bigger the crowd, seems to the correct estimate of pugilists' ability to attract followers of the ring, and, as the Columbian Athletic association brought together the two biggest men in the pugilistic world as the star attraction in tonight's boxing carnival, the attendance was large. About 5000 people poured into the arena of Mechanics' pavilion, the scene of the recent Christian Endeavor to witness the battle of the giants. Jim Jeffries of California and Gus Ruhlin of Ohio were the giant boxers contending for honors and gold. Both men are "remarkable for their size and muscular development. Jeffries is a man 22 years old, six feet one and one half inches in height and is in fine condition at 212 pounds. He has powerful shoulders, jutting out squarely from a neck remarkable for size and. strength. The only fault in Jeffries' construction is in his lower limbs, which are much too large for quick footwork. Ruhlin, the Ohio giant, tops the Californian Just one Inch and weighs in condition 200 pounds. He is more symmetrical In build than, his opponent and has a much longer reach, but not such tremendous driving power as Jeffries. Both men were In first-class condition. It was 10:15 oclock before the event of the evening was announced and the big fellows entered the. ring. Ruhlin, who was the first to make his appearance, was not accorded a very warm reception, but Jeffries was greeted enthusiastically when Master of Ceremonies Jordan introduced him to the crowd. After a long delay occasioned by the fact that Jeffries' hands were several sizes larger than the gloves provided for him, and another pair had to be secured, Referee Wand admonished the pair, and without any further waste of time the men proceeded to business. The pace was terrific from the start. Ruhlin opened the ball with a left hook which missed its mark, and after a clinch rushed and swung his right, but again missed Jeffries, who got in two hot lefts in the face and, landed twice on the wind. In, the second Jeffries landed a straight left on the jaw, but Ruhlin retaliated with a straight left in the wind. The Ohioan assumed the aggressive but was cleverly stopped with a straight left in the neck. The fourth round was the hottest of the fight, for Jeffries opened up with right and left swings on the jaw and the Ohioan lost his head temporarily. He cooled down, however, and Jabbed the southern giant in the nose, drawing first blood, but was immediately sent to his knee’s by a right swing on the back of the head and remained down nine seconds. Ruhlin jabbed Jeffries in the throat just as the round closed and staggered him. Jeffries was the aggressor when they came up for the tenth and rushed the Ohioan to the ropes. He landed several times over Ruhlin's heart and the latter only landed a right swing on the neck in return. At the close of the round Jeffries swung his right hand on the Ohioan's jaw, staggering him. In, the nineteenth Jeffries assumed the aggressive and repeatedly planted his right over the Ohioan's heart, until the latter perceptibly weakened. In the last round Ruhlin was sent down and almost out by a terrific right swing on the jaw, and only the call of time saved, him. The referee, however, declared the fight a draw, a decision which was received with mingled cheers and hisses. The finish was most exciting. Jeffries was fighting against time as-much as the big man from Ohio. At the- opening of the last round Jeffries went after Ruhlin in earnest. After a few well directed swings with his left and a couple of right punches over the heart, Jeffries rattled his man and penned him in a corner. Then with a wide right swing, he put him on the floor, a clean knock down. Ruhlin took nine seconds and rose in a dazed and almost helpless condition. In his haste to end the fight, Jeffries was a little wild, and fell short in a left swing for the.jaw. In the meanwhile Ruhlin was lying against the ropes almost helpless, with hands half In position. One more blow would have ended the fight in Jeffries' favor but just as the big Californian prepared to deliver the blow, just as the whole house was on its feet wildly excited, the bell clanged with a discordant and unwelcome sound and the fight ended. At the beginning the big fellows set a fast pace and kept it up for four rounds. Jeffries several times staggered Ruhlin with his left swings on the neck and jaw. Ruhlin's blows were mostly of the Jabbing kind —the kind that bring blood but do not produce unconsciousness. However, his right la sufficiently stiff enough to end any contest, should luck and science favor its delivery. Billy Madden, a veteran at the game of fisticuffs, and Billy Delaney, who has acquired fame in the role of trainer of pugilists, were behind Ruhlin and Jetfries respectively, and did almost as much as the actual contestants in conducting the fight. The intermission between rounds was devoted entirely by the noted trainers in coaching the men. Delaney kept Jeffries away from Ruhlin, Instructing him to resort to ducking and finally to devote his attention to pounding Ruhlin's body. It is the-general opinion, that had Jeffries mixed matters In the early stages of the fight that Ruhlin would have succumbed to the Californlan's swings and punches before ten rounds had gone. Madden, too, instructed his man to be very cautious. Ruhlin had not the generalship of his opponent. He followed instructions, however, and, almost to the surprise of his seconds, he stayed out the twenty rounds. Many of the rounds between the fourth and eighteenth were slow and cautious. The men did a great deal of sparring and some clever foot work. Jeffries is the better of the two at this part of the game and repeatedly ducked and avoided Ruhlln's rushes. The former is also more clever and a better ring general.
Here is an interesting article on Gus Ruhlin's wife, very politically active as a suffragette evidently. http://www.jjon.org/jioyce-s-people/ruhlin
Ruhlin and Maher fought a tremendous twenty round battle to a draw in 1899. John Sullivan was the night watchman for thirty-two years in Madison Square Garden until it closed down in 1925. He claimed to never have missed a night and on the occasion of his retirement, he spoke of the Maher-Ruhlin struggle. “It was the bloodiest battle ever staged in New York,” declared the ancient caretaker. “The eyes of both men were closed in the middle of the fray and how they ever lasted it out I could never understand.”
Akron daily Democrat., May 08, 1899, Image 1 The Greatest Contest of Recent Years. Macon's Comment on the Big Fight. Ruhlin Matched Against the Irish "Champ." The fight between Gus Ruhlin and Peter Malier at the Lenox athletic club, in New York, will go down in pugilistic history as one of the greatest of heavy weight contests. Macon, in commenting on the fight in the Enquirer, says the following: 'Those who could, but didn't, see the, fight between Peter Maher and Gus Ruhlin before the Lenox club last Tuesday night will only regret the failure once and that will be as long as they live, for it was, far and away, the best heavy weight contest ever fought under Queensberry rules. As the advertisement writers say about funny farces, 'there wasn't a dull moment in it,' and when it was over and Charley White's verdict, 'a draw, was proclaimed, the happy 5,000 lovers of fistic" sport who witnessed it were radiant with delight. "How human flesh could stand the buffeting each man was giving and taking was a wonder, to the spectators. A dozen times it seemed as though the end would come the next moment, but either the gong would prevent or the men would spar a moment for wind and unexpectedly freshen up. That each had trained hard and well was shown by the way they endured their fearful punishment and the quickness with which they recuperated from it. Maher's face was a fearful sight. No such visage was ever seen in a ring since the old days of the London rules, and no caricature of a beaten mug in a comic paper was ever half as bad as it. Ruhlin's countenance was also badly disfigured, but his body under his heart and left "ribs were as raw and as red as beefsteak. Still Maher was the aggressor, but neither man had agility enough left to plant a knockout blow. '1 wish it could be ended now,' said Martin Dowling during the fight. 'It's anybody's battle and a chance hit may decide it. I like boxing as well as any man, but this is too hard for me.' I confess I felt as Dowling did." ''In order to reinvigorate them each man was plentifully dosed with whisky between the rounds. Ruhlin was given the most. He was miserably seconded. Most of the time he was allowed to sit bolt upright, with no rest for his back, and it was not until about the twelfth round that his legs. were stretched out and rubbed. He was hardly allowed a moment for breathing. He was either being dosed with tea or whisky or made lo suck a piece of lemon. This treatment called out very strong comments from Tommy Ryan, Sammy Kelly and Jack Daly, while Billy Delaney manifested his disgust at such handling in language that would hardly do to print. "I saw Mahar in his room five minutes after the end. He was a horrible looking object and he complained greatly of pain in his left arm near his elbow. Some parties who came out of Ruhlin's room told me that he was acting like a crazyy man. I presume the large amount of liquor he had taken somewhat affected his head. He rose visibly in the estimation of the spectators and many were of Jim Jeffries opinion that Sharkey's punch, which knocked him out at Coney Island was but a lucky fluke." Ruhlin Matched Again. Billy Madden, Ruhlin's manager, has made another important match for his protege. . A special from New York says: Gus Ruhlin has practically been matched to meet Mike Morrissey, the heavyweight fighter of Ireland. who is at present on his way to this country. The men. will box a 20- round bout at the Lenox Athletic club either in June or July. Mike Morrissey, the heavyweight champion of Ireland, is enroute to this country. It had been intended to match him -against Maher, but because of Ruhlin's splendid showing last Tuesday night, he has been selected to meet the scrapper from the Emerald Isle.
From "The Irish Champion"; "Ruhlin attacked at the opening bell, nearly closing one of Maher’s eyes but after a heavy exchange, a big right to the body sent the “Arkon Giant” to the floor. He regained his feet at the limit and a hard right cut his eye as they slugged to the bell. Ruhlin came back into it in the next as Maher played to the body. Peter regained the initiative in the next as he still pounded the body and Gus was still on the defensive in the fourth and fifth and in the sixth, it looked curtains for Ruhlin as he got caught with smashing right and left crosses. He rallied and cut and bunged up both of Maher’s optics and drew blood from his left eye in the eighth. Peter was still the stronger and worked the body well and also closed Ruhlin’s eyes. Maher was staggered by a straight left at the start of the eleventh and Ruhlin now forced the pace. Ruhlin was the stronger by the thirteenth, but a feint fooled him and he ducked into a hard left to the jaw. He almost put Peter through the ropes in the fourteenth but Maher was game and came back strong. He battered Ruhlin in the next round and contrary to all aspersions to his staying power was the stronger as they faltered down the finishing stretch. He bloodied his opponent’s nose in the seventeenth and had his man cornered at the bell. The next was even as both men worked hard and the penultimate saw Gus cautioned for holding on as Maher found the target with uppercuts to the body. The last round saw them shake hands and as both strived for the win Ruhlin stood off the aggressive Maher’s rushes. At the bell, referee White decided the bout a draw, and so ended one of the greatest contests of the nineteenth century."
The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., April 30, 1919, Page 10, Image 10 TWENTY years Peter Maher and Gus Ruhlin fought a twenty-round draw in New York, this being the most sensational of the several engagements between the man from Galway and the Akron giant. The fans who liked plenty of action and rough work certainty got their money's worth in this contest. Charley White, the late and lamented referee, was the arbiter at the Ruhlin-Maher swatfest, and he often declared that it was the most spectacular heavyweight contest ever staged in the American metropolis. From beginning to end the men stood up to each ther and exchanged wallops but while both were badly battered, neither could put over a knockout punch. At the end of the twentieth chapter, when White declared the contest a draw, both men were nearly blind, and their faces were cut and slashed and bleeding freely. Brutal as the fight seemed, however, neither man was any worse for his experience. Peter and Gus fought another draw in Philadelphia in 1900 but in 1901, at a session in the Quaker City, Ruhlin put Maher to sleep in the second round.
Maher also got the better of Gus when on a barnstorming tour in 1895, at that time Ruhlin was a mere novice.
