Why I remember when old timers like Tommy Gibbons, Mike O'Dowd and Billy Miske used to run for hours in any kind of weather to strengthen their underpinning and lungs.
They would get up early in the morning and ride the street car as far out of St. Paul as they could and then they'd run every step of the way back to the gym.
On the zero days they'd put on enough clothes to sag these modern fighters to the ground and lug that extra weigh all the way home.
O’Dowd continued to hold this title against all comers (including against Harry Greb, Al McCoy, Kid Lewis and Mike Gibbons to name a few) until 1920 when he lost it to Johnny Wilson on a hotly disputed decision.
It is reported that after later moving away from McNulty's training and management, Johnny Ertel was not the same fighter.