| Show r SPORTS PORTS t ff U S 8 I By Robert Ed Edgren r. r Winners Winner's Share Is Thirty Cents Benn Benny Leon Leonard r gets pretty fair money for fighting Twenty five TwentY thirty thirty thousand anything any any- thing like that suits Benny and he doesn't object to a little more Reminds me of a talk I had with Benny Leonard b before fore he was wag champion just champion Just after he made his first bid for fame b by knocking out Joe Mandot Sure grinned Benny Benn- BennIm Im getting the money now now sometimes sometimes a couple of thousand dollars for a fight But I I didn't always get et so much My first fight was different It was with Joe Fogarty In a a. back yard with a high fence around It My Iy uncle was my manager We passed the hat around and collected collected col col- col DO O 0 cents from the spectators and agreed to split spilt it 30 cents to the winner and 20 cents to the loser and fight until one had enough h. h or to a knockout I 1 knocked Joe out in four r rounds Thirty cents was my first purse Family Doesn't Object to Boxing Bennys Benny's family never made any strenuous strenuous objection to his selected profession There was some argument over it Just at first Bennys Benny's father called up Billy Gibson who was starting Benny as a II preliminary boxer and asked what It was all about Wh Why said Gibson hell learn how I to box and take care of himself Its It's fine exercise for the boys I I dont don't care care he he should Jet enough exercise exercise ex ex- working said the old gentleman It lt pa pays s 's pretty well too said Gibson A So What did he get last time Twenty five dollars ollars said Gib Telephone me when hes he's going to fight again exclaimed Bennys Benny's father Theres There's some ballyhooing of II a Dempsey Dempsey- Wills match on the ground that there Is a public demand for tor It The pUblic Is s more or less ess Indifferent It hasn't a any n great fru curiosity ft over 1 the question o et whether t Dempsey could beat Wills Wilis or Wills beat Dempsey Dempsey and Wills would be fairly well matched physically and either might win although Dempsey's Dempses past performances In tho ring entirely outclass anything Wills can show Norfolk Bout Shows Nothing Wills Ills fo for instance recently lost on a a. foul to Bill Tate and fou fought ht Tate a draw when the officials in a ft return match decided to Ignore fouls and let the fighters do any anything they wanted to In Inthe Inthe inthe the ring Tate was Dempsey's old sparring sparring spar spar- ring partner and Dempsey could flatten him whenever he wanted to and did It As for Wills Wills' victory over Norfolk Norfolk- that shows nothing Norfolk was good four years ago but has gone so far back that he was only a a. setup for Wills Tho The bout was only a a. part of the Wills boostIng boostIng boosting boost- boost Ing propaganda Intended to create a public demand for a a. Dempsey Dempsey- Dempsey Wills vms match Everyone on the inside from Leo 1 Flynn down knew Norfolk had no chance against Wills Regarded purely as a contest on test a a. Demp Demp- Wills sey match would be as nearly even ven venas as any heavyweight bout that could lie ie arranged at present Personally Harry Wills Ills Is a decent citizen clean living hard working and andI honest e Also hes he's a f first r class fighter rt I Its It's really a pity that h t any circumstances Sm should cut him off oft from a chance to be become become become be- be come champion Jeff Not Talking For Profit A story was recently spread around the country to the effect ct that Jim Jeffries would become a preacher The facts were simply that some preaching gent with a n. financial turn of mind had a a. abright abright bright idea that a man like Jeffries could capitalize his reputation by taking up preaching traveling around the country doing a Billy Sunday for profit He suggested this scheme to Jeffries and Jeff with a grunt simply said Well If I 1 wanted to preach I could deliver better better better bet bet- ter sermons than a lot that Ive I've heard Jeffries however is the last man Inthe in inthe inthe the world to think of preaching for tor profit pronto Any man who would pretend to be working I for the good of mankind lt Jim af h said a. a when we talked it o over o and who was Just doing it to make money for tor himself would be worse than a horse thief I often feel like getting up and telling people what I think of all the liars and hypocrites and fake take reformers who are taking away our liberties and spoiling a country that used to be a fine tine place to live Jive In inI inI in I think any man who would tell ten the truth about conditions could pack any hall hail in the count country y because there are lots of people who'd like lite to hear the truth for once But that's the only kind of preaching I know of that would be worth while Copyright 1922 by the Bell Ben Syndicate Inc |
