Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/135

110 training on Wednesday, the 23d of September—just eleven weeks before the match—his weight was fifteen stone, seven pounds. As he stepped into the ring on the 10th instant, he was exactly fourteen stone. At the same time King weighed thirteen stone, though he was three quarters of an inch taller than Heenan, whose height was six feet one and one half inches. Those who know what severe training means will, perhaps, agree that Heenan was probably in a better condition five weeks before meeting his antagonist, than on the morning of his defeat, although when he stripped for fighting the lookers-on all agreed that he seemed to promise himself an easy victory, while exulting in his fine proportions and splendid muscular development. It is now clearly proven that Heenan went into the contest with much more muscular than vital power. Long before he had met with any severe punishment—indeed, as he states at the close of the third round—he felt faint, breathed with much difficulty, and, as he described it, his respiration was "roaring." He declares that he received more severe treatment at the hands of Sayers than he did from King; yet at the termination of the former fight, which lasted upwards of two hours, he was so fresh as to leap over two or three hurdles, and distance many of his friends in the race. It was noticed on the present occasion that his physique had deteriorated, and that he looked much older than at his last appearance in the ring. Without offering any opinion as to the merits of the combatants, it is certain that Heenan was in a state of deteriorated health when he faced his opponent; and it is fair to conclude that the deterioration was due, in a great measure, to the severity of the training which he had undergone. As with the mind, so with the body, undue and prolonged exertion must end in depression of power. In the process of physical education of the young, in training of our recruits, or in the sports of the athlete, the case of Heenan suggests a striking commentary of great interest in a physical point of view. While exercise, properly so called, tends to development and health, excessive exertion produces debility and decay."