ROUSES_Holiday2018Magazine-FINAL.indd

by SARAH BAIRD

IN TI LLMAN’ S CORNER

“Yeah,” said Jack. “I’m nervous.” “Are you scared?” “No,” said Jack. “I ain’t scared.”

don’t celebrate Boxing Day, but do cele- brate good ol’ boxing, this is as good an opportunity as any to write about it. And considering the intensity of arguments during holiday family gatherings, the subject of punching is not totally out of left field. The origin of boxing the sport goes back much further than Boxing the Day.There is solid evidence from ancient artwork that the Sumerians were boxing 5,000 years ago. Later, it was an Olympic sport in Ancient Greece. The origin of the sport’s name is a bit hazy, though there’s a good chance it relates to the thousand- year-old word for “blow” in the Middle High German language. But wherever it came from, the word — like the sport — is here to stay and, despite its ancient and international roots, sometimes seems as American as apple pie. THE LOCAL BOY It was Jack Tillman’s first fight in New Orleans, and before going out there, he waited in the locker room, just him and his father. Jack was only a kid back then, not even 19, and had seen little of the

IF YOU ARE READING THIS, you’ve probably never celebrated Boxing Day. There’s a good chance, in fact, that you don’t even know what it is. And why should you? It is celebrated, gener- ally, in England and countries once part of the British Empire. (The United States dodged that bullet, as the holiday came into being long after independence was declared.) The holiday began as a gift for servants and tradespeople in Great Britain, who would receive a “Christmas Box” from their masters and patrons — and, typically, the day after Christmas off to spend with their families. Nowadays, Boxing Day extends the Christmas holiday by an extra day, allowing celebrants to enjoy food, drink and sports with people they want to spend time with (as opposed to those they have to spend time with).More recently, it has become its own sort of Black Friday, with stores offering deep discounts, and everyone spending Christmas evening avoiding family to find the best Boxing Day deal on big-screen televisions. The name of the holiday has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. A “Christmas box” is another name for a Christmas gift. But because readers of Rouses Everyday

“Well, let me just tell you this,” said his father. “Fear will help you win. ‘Scared’ will cause you to get beat.” It was good advice. Jack won that night against a respected local fighter, and after the fight, in that same locker room, a New Orleans-based manager asked to sign him. Jack agreed. “Prepare yourself,” said his new manager. “Your life just changed forever.” Now, the South has a rich tradition of both producing and attracting boxing greats — and Mobile, perhaps, has the richest tradition of all. Jack Tillman is one of those Alabama greats: In 1973, at the peak of his boxing career, he defeated Billy Backus to win the North American welterweight title. “We fought 12 rounds in the Baltimore Civic Center,” he says of the title fight against former world cham- pion Billy Backus. “It was a bruising fight. He was a great fighter, tough…but I beat him.” But it took a long time to reach such heights. Success does not come easy in

world. His father looked at him. “Are you nervous?” asked his father.

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