48
LARRY NEAL
those days. Yeah, that's just the way it went down. Them folks really
liked the sports. And since they had lots of money, and not much to
do, they just gambles all the time.
"Yes siree, them folks liked the sports and the sporting houses too.
And I'm sure you know that they had betting tables in them houses too.
An ex-boxer by the name of Bill Richmond ran one of the biggest whore
houses in the city of New Orleans; but even though he himself was
colored, he didn't allow no colored in there - 'cept them girls he
had working for him.
"I told you I used to be a boxer before I went to Stall's Minstrels.
Woody Johnson was manager (may he rest in peace). I was swift and
dancy, in the bantamweight class, like Eligio Sardinas who was other–
wise known
as
"Kid Chocolate." I had me a pretty snappy jab, and
my left hook was a monster. I got tired of the fight game though. And
then I decided to go into show business. Why? 'Cause there was some
very nice people in the business in those days, real educated and refined
people like
J.
Rosamund Johnson. And I wanted to be one of them.
So I gave up the fight game, even though I was good. In my time, I
was on good terms with boxers like Battling Siki, Tiger Flowers, Joe
Gans, Sammy The Smasher and Sam Langford. Me and Sam used to
party a lot together. I'm not just name-dropping son; I'm simply giv–
ing you my credentials so you will fully appreciate the facts I'm about
to give you concerning the squared circle.
"A lots of black guys started hanging round the sporting events.
In those days, we referred to these guys as the "Sporting Crowd"; or
we called them "Sports" for short. Now all these sportsmens was fast
livers. They dressed in the latest fashions, and wore finely tailored suits.
Jelly Roll Morton used to hang around with that bunch quite often.
Jelly Roll was the real sporting type. He played a wicked piano, was
a ladies' man, spoke French and had him a diamond ring on every
finger. He even had a diamond in his middle tooth. You was liable to
see old Jelly Roll anywhere and with anybody. He was around boxers
and jockeys as much as he was round musicians.
"Well now that we're talking about Jelly Roll, this brings me to
the part of my discussion about boxing in general, and the Ali-Frazier
fight in particular. Did you know that there is a distinct connection
between boxing and music? You say you didn't know that? Well there
is. You see it's like this: boxing is just another kind of rhythm activity.
Like all sports is based on rhythm. Dig: if you ain't got no rhythm,
you can't play no sports. Like jumping rope ain't nothing but dancing.
Beating on the punching-bag is the same as beating on drums. Every–
thing connected with sports is connected with rhythm. You just think
