Granville, New York
July 2, 1926
For the next several weeks, Costello increased Kelly’s training regimen every few days. Although they had become an excellent team, their goals were very different.
Of course, Kelly’s goal was to knock out Jack Dempsey, while Costello had three goals: getting the host body in shape, teaching Kelly enough boxing skills that he would be able to survive the Dempsey fight, and trying to figure out how Kelly related to his ultimate mission.
To his credit, Kelly enthusiastically adopted all of Costello’s “modern” training methods. And as a result, Kelly became a new man. Each day, Kelly and Costello would rise at six o’clock and jog from Kelly’s home to the armory. Once inside, Kelly would do calisthenics of any kind or duration that Costello demanded.
Costello would vary the exercises each day to work Kelly’s different muscle groups and allow the major’s other muscles to recover. Once the fitness training was completed, Kelly would perform repetitive boxing drills designed to improve his footwork, head movement, and punching power.
When the roadwork, calisthenics, and drills were complete, then and only then would Costello allow Kelly to enter the ring. Since there was no one in Washington County capable of preparing Kelly to fight Dempsey, Costello acted as Kelly’s primary sparring partner.
Despite Kelly’s protestations, he wore headgear Costello had fashioned from an aviator’s helmet. Kelly was skeptical of Costello’s homemade safety gear, designed to minimize cognitive injuries. However, since he had promised to follow Costello’s instructions completely, Kelly wore the modified helmet.
After each sparring session, Costello insisted that the two men complete stretching exercises. They were performing yoga, but Costello called it stretching so as not to alarm the major.
Once they had completed their yoga training, they would end each session with what Costello referred to as a strategy talk. The two men discussed everything from how Kelly felt about his progress to, most often, how his new sobriety had dramatically improved his quality of life.
The sessions always ended by reaffirming Kelly’s absolute need to stay sober. Costello was careful not to push too hard during these sessions. Kelly became evasive when their conversation would veer into his personal feelings about his line of work, now that he was living a sober life. Costello tried to get Kelly to confront these issues and to come to the realization that living dry drastically improved all aspects of his life.
The evenings back at the house had their own routine. Uncle Ryan became an integral part of Kelly home life. The family ate dinner at six o’clock each evening, and the children would take turns leading the family in saying grace.
After dinner, the children would clean up the kitchen. Once all of the children were ready for bed, Mary Kelly would read to them from a popular novel or children’s book. Their favorite was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Although Mike Kelly never participated in Mary’s nightly readings, once Mary got over her anger with him, Uncle Ryan was even asked to read. After the nightly bedtime reading was finished, Costello and Kelly would study Dempsey’s old fights and training sessions. One evening, Kelly even commented that he never knew Costello knew so much about Jack Dempsey.
Actually, Zho’s knowledge of Dempsey wasn’t derived from a database or host memory. Zho had squared off against Dempsey many times in Skiirmiishing simulations. In fact, Zho fought a special limited-edition version of Dempsey in the championship round of the simulation “Skiirmiishing 3: Intergalactic Monsters.”
To assist in their preparations, Kelly had obtained newsreels of Dempsey’s fights. One of Kelly’s friends in the American Legion owned the movie theater in Glens Falls, New York and was honored to help Major Kelly get newsreels of Dempsey’s most prominent fights – especially when he learned that Kelly was training for a match with Dempsey.
“I didn’t know that Dempsey had agreed to fight you,” the theater owner said.
“He hasn’t agreed yet,” Kelly sheepishly replied. “I’m challenging him to spar with me. Then, while sparring, I’m going to make it personal and turn it into a fight.”
“So – you’re going to piss off Jack Dempsey on purpose during a sparring session?” the theater owner asked incredulously.
“That’s right,” Kelly said with a big smile.
“Well, I hope that works out for you.”
Within a matter of weeks, Kelly had obtained newsreels of Dempsey’s fights with Jess Willard, Luis Firpo, and Tommy Gibbons. Costello told Kelly to pay particular attention to the Dempsey/Gibbons fight. Gibbons was fifteen pounds lighter than Dempsey but went the distance, lasting all fifteen rounds against the champion.
Costello and Kelly watched the newsreels over and over again, looking for any possible advantage against Dempsey. This repetition was particularly helpful when Costello would stop the projector and comment in detail on Dempsey’s technique.
Costello referred to Kelly’s training regimen as “The Routine.” Costello insisted that Kelly adhere to every aspect of the Routine to get himself into peak physical condition. This Routine not only meant intensive physical training, which Kelly enjoyed, but also vastly improving Kelly’s dietary and social habits.
For example, under the Routine, Kelly was required to refrain from using alcohol or tobacco. Television commercials misrepresenting the health benefits of cigarettes would not invade American popular culture until the 1940s, so Kelly had never been a tobacco user. The challenge for Kelly, particularly given his heritage, social habits, and livelihood, was the requirement to refrain from drinking alcohol.
“How can I be sure that you won’t drink?” Costello asked.
“Because I promised. And when Mike Kelly makes a promise, he keeps it,” Kelly said about twenty times after making the promise.
But Kelly did keep his promise. At first, teetotaler Mike Kelly was a strange sight around Granville – especially to his men. Kelly had been an almost daily alcohol user since before he was sixteen and had been a hard drinker for so long that everyone in Granville just expected him to be a little tipsy.
Not anymore. While those around Kelly continued to drink liquor during and after work, Kelly maintained his sobriety. Cutting alcohol from his life was particularly difficult. Kelly liked everything about liquor: the smell, the taste, the way it made him feel about himself, the camaraderie of drinking with his men while they shared a few or, quite often, more than a few.
But now that he was sober, and it was obvious that he was a vastly superior athlete, it was much easier for him to stay with the Routine.
As he had promised, Costello also complied with the limitations of the Routine. At first, Kelly was flattered, believing Costello’s adherence was in solidarity for the Dempsey fight. But Kelly soon realized that this was Costello’s new chosen lifestyle. Indeed, there was an even more dramatic improvement in Costello’s physical health and appearance. In a very short period of time, Costello added over sixty pounds of pure muscle.
Costello’s ability to quit drinking “cold turkey” was nothing short of miraculous. The side effects of an alcoholic abruptly ceasing after years of daily drinking can be severe. These physical risks include grand mal seizures, delirium, high fevers, and other complications. Yet Costello had recovered from both a near-fatal health condition and alcoholism, while suffering no side effects.
The men trained six days each week and would rest on Sunday. Through hard work and careful diet, Kelly had gone from a good community club fighter to an actual prize fighter. Still, Zho thought it overly ambitious to throw the redesigned Kelly into his first professional test against Jack Dempsey himself. So, Zho devised a cunning plan to boost Kelly’s experience and self-esteem in advance of the big day.