“I realized from that moment that the Governor was no ordinary amateur. If I took chances with him I was endangering my reputation.
“From that day I have taken no chance with Theodore Roosevelt with the gloves. I’ve hit him many times as hard as ever I hit a fighter in the ring without stopping him, and thousands know how hard I can hit.
“I want to say, now, that I never saw him wince or show even by an involuntary sign that he was discomfited in spirit, no matter how severe the bodily pain. On the contrary, it met with only that characteristic turning of the head a bit to the side, a grim smile, and a determined setting of the bulldog jaw, followed by another rush. Theodore Roosevelt is a strong, tough man; hard to hurt and harder to stop.
“On the evening of March 3, 1905, the day before the Inauguration, between 5 and 6 o’clock, the President and I had a go of ten rounds. He was happy as a schoolboy as he stripped for the fray.
“‘Now, Mike,’ he said, ‘we must have a good bout this evening. It will brighten me up for to-morrow, which will be a trying day.’
“We boxed for ten hard, long rounds. He had improved so much in his practice with me that I had to resort to all the strategy that my experience had taught me. After the fifth round, I felt like calling a halt, but did not want to appear a quitter. We were having it hot and heavy. In an exchange I tried to land a right-hand body blow, ducking to avoid a left-hand counter. Instead, he struck me a flush right-hander on the top of my head, knocking me sprawling to the mat. As I got to my feet, he said:
“‘That’s a good make-believe knock-down, Mike.’ Evidently he did not realize how hard he hit me.”
The President decided wrestling would be beneficial and engaged in that sport several times a week. He also acquired the art of jujutsu. In a note to one of his boys, he referred to this Japanese art:
“I am very glad I have been doing this ... but ... I am not at all sure I shall ever try it again while I am so busy with other work as I am now. Often by the time I get to five o’clock in the afternoon I will be feeling like a stewed owl, after eight hours’ grapple with Senators, Congressmen, etc., then I find the wrestling a trifle too vehement for mere rest. My right ankle and my left wrist and one thumb and both great toes are swollen sufficiently to more or less impair their usefulness, and I am well mottled with bruises elsewhere. Still I have made good progress, and since you left they have taught me three new throws that are perfect corkers.”
He also took up fencing; he engaged in all of these sports and exercises with either General Leonard Wood or his own boys.