The Battle of the Century by Ring Lardner

Several months is supposed to elapse between these two acts. During this time Dugan has to eat, so he takes on a setup out in Michigan and knocks him in three rounds, or two rounds longer than necessary. Also, they pick out a guy for Goulet to trim -- old Tommy Fogel. This "fight" takes place over in Jersey and Tommy surprises them. He manages to stand up three rounds without his crutches. The Frenchman looks fast as a streak and everybody gets excited. People is saying to each other, "Even if he is a little light he may be just the kind of a fighter that would give Dugan trouble. He's in there and out again like a flash and he's hard to hit. Jim ain't never faced a man like him. He's liable to run the big boy ragged."

A little w'ile after this great battle Jim and Larry get hungry again and they accept an offer of a hundred thousand to meet a big horse named Joe Barnes. Dugan has knocked him before and can do it again and they ain't much danger in taking him on, though some of the wise birds thinks different. They think Larry is risking the title because Barnes is a guy that fights five nights a week and he's always in shape and he's so tough that nobody ever did stop him except Jim himself. As a matter of fact, Larry ain't running no more risk than getting in a bath tub. Because w'ile all the wise guys know that Jim can punch, what they don't seem to realize is that he can take it.