Battling Nelson fought Riley fought four times. ?That?s one fellow I never could lick,? lamented Nelson in his autobiography?
When Mickey Riley?s Irish eyes were smiling, it was damned hard to tell. A celebrated lightweight in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Riley had severe exotropia ? he was cross-eyed ? a condition that exasperated opponents who went up against the Milwaukee lightweight in the ring.
The story goes that in one bout when Riley was hit below the belt he growled at the transgressor, ?Why don?t you look where you hit?? The confounded opponent responded incredulously, ?Why don?t you hit where you?re looking!?
Somebody at the Milwaukee Sentinel went overboard writing in 1932 that Riley ?saw gloves coming from every side of the ring,? but the Sentinel?s J.J. Delaney didn?t in 1912 when he said that Riley ?was never was a champion, but he gave champions some awful good beatings,? and that 133-pound Mickey ?was the small boy?s hero (and) the small boy?s champion.? His praises were literally sung in a popular early 1900?s song titled ?Hurrah for Mickey Riley!?
He was even sought for celebrity endorsements. In 1904, Riley was featured in a syndicated newspaper advertisement for ?Swamp-Root,? a liquid concoction ?Indispensable for Kidney and Bladder Complaints.?
?Mickey Riley has been in the fighting game for over ten years,? said the broadside, ?and his work in the past two years has shown that he has lost none of his former powers. Riley has participated in nearly 200 ring battles, and though the decisions have not always been in his favor, yet he has never been knocked out, and for that reason has earned the title of the ?Joe Grim of the West.??
It was meant to be a compliment, apparently. Joe Grim was a walking crash-test dummy known by admirers as the ?Iron Man? and detractors as ?The Human Punching Bag.? The 150-pounder defied heavyweights to put him down for the 10-count, and such worthies as Jack Johnson and Bob Fitzsimmons ? both heavyweight champions ? couldn?t do it. But while Grim?s sole ambition was to show that he could take a beating without whimpering (?I?m Joe Grim, and no man can knock me out!? he?d crow through mangled lips when the final bell rang), Riley had more going for him than that. And it wasn?t just Swamp-Root.
His business card identified him as ?Challenger of the world at 133 pounds,? and he proved it by facing the best and toughest fighters of his and any era, and dishing out as much as he took, mostly with a right-hand uppercut likened to ?a perfected golf drive reversed. The arm curve started somewhere behind the knee and finished with the recipient out or Mickey almost on his face from the impetus.?
Before Battling Nelson became lightweight champion of the world in 1906, he and Riley fought four times. The Milwaukee boxer took one by decision, the police stopped one, and the other two were draws. ?That?s one fellow I never could lick,? lamented Nelson in his autobiography.
Their final bout was in Hurley, Wisconsin, on July 24, 1903. The fighters weighed in at a local firehouse that afternoon. Getting off the scales, Riley looked at Nelson and sneered, ?What a licking I?m going to give you tonight!?
?Why wait?? responded Nelson, and they went at it right there until firefighters restored order.
That night when it was discovered that nobody had brought regulation boxing gloves, somebody came up with two pair of skintight gloves said to have been worn in the heavyweight title fight between John L. Sullivan and Paddy Ryan back in 1882. Maybe they were, because there was so much dried blood on them the gloves were like iron.
?Of course, the mere mention of the old time gladiators using the gloves stirred our blood up to a fighting pitch,? wrote Nelson, ?and how we did tear, maul and slam each other for fifteen rounds.? The verdict was a draw.
When Riley lost a decision to George Memsic on January 17, 1904, The Milwaukee Journal reported that ?Memsic would whale away with both hands, landing innumerable blows (but) he might have just as well been pounding a brick wall as far as any effect his blows had on (Riley), (who) not only withstood all the attacks, but came back for more and although Memsic landed five for one, Mickey was the stronger at the finish, though clearly beaten.?
Another tough lightweight named Harry Fails was unloading on Riley in their fight when Mickey warned him, ?You had better look out that you don?t hurt your hands, for you are fighting a man now.?
Riley?s behavior in the ring wasn?t always governed by the Marquis of Queensbury rules. On January 28, 1904, after he?d built a commanding lead over Tommy Smith in a fight in St. Joseph, Missouri, Smith started to find the range in the fifth round. ?After Smith had landed a couple good blows,? reported the Sentinel, ?Riley lowered his head and drove into Smith?s stomach like a pile-driver. Smith was knocked breathless and fell to the floor groaning.? The referee disqualified Riley, who proceeded to take on several unhappy members of the audience in impromptu battles.
Rather than wear a mouthpiece, Mickey preferred to chew on a plug of tobacco in the ring. In the clinches he sometimes used his opponent?s eyes as a spittoon.
Cashing in on his popularity, producers of a play called ?Sporting Life? insured big crowds at the Milwaukee Academy of Music by casting Mickey in the role of a prizefighter who gets knocked out by the dashing romantic hero in a boxing scene.
?Mickey readily consented when he saw what money he was to receive for the little act,? recounted the Sentinel. ?A week was spent in rehearsing, and by that time Mickey felt that he could play anything from Hamlet to Peck?s Bad Boy. Mickey made a great impression, and when he was put down for the count every night, rolled over on the mat, groaned, and altogether acted just as though he were used to it.?
Before the final performance, a joker smeared black gunk on the boxing gloves worn by the hero. When he hit Riley and the black marks on Mickey?s face made it look like he was taking a real beating, his outraged fans in the audience shouted for him to retaliate. He did, and the play had a different ending that night.
Joe Grim ended up in the loony bin from all the beatings he endured, but Mickey Riley was fine until pneumonia put him down for good on September 21, 1936. The headline in the Journal said it all: ?Mickey Riley, Fighter, Dies.?
On St. Patrick?s Day, forget the green beer and toast this fighting Irishman by uncorking some Swamp-Root. It?s still available on-line, and contains more than 10% alcohol. Your kidneys and bladder will be the life of the party.
