OCR Text |
Show i " K;; Ic TVUIO MHI1 YH1 1a ' P hp ilT ml1 1 I EifE-c b s into int mAJW i nAiwiiAii kud a t I ; . . ,. ,. . . u, k I 1 1 & A LIj fJI n I C lr C jW f ' I If 3ESS WILLARD ' j"""" y v JU"'L a stralBht left to l;l; TIn Iy thc 3aw the same lctt jl'l ' that twice, within the- wl; . I past thrco months sent am Jim Goffoy crashing to fj'flj thc floor for the count lll'l'' I . I or ten knock the crown 111 VvX oft Jess Wlllard's nead'' lil The crown Is by no 111 means secure on the head or the present 1, heavy-weight champion. Ho obtained It merely jj because ho was lucky enough to draw tho 1 match with Jack Johnson last year, and there ill is a growing Impression that any other good ill man, with youth, strength and endurance. ill II would have won from Johnson. fl For that victory In Havana was tho victory 1 of youth, strength and endurance over ago and I !' dissipation, but Willard wears tho crown, and W ho 13 going to hold on to It as long as possible il; ' without fighting. 9 J "When he becamo champion ho announced that J he would not flght for a year. Ho has been ln- dustrlously reaping his golden harvest since ho ( became champion and steering clear of any-I any-I J thing that looked like a real boxer. True, ho I has given a couplo of exhibitions, but caro was II exorcised In selecting his opponents. And thon J ' camo tho proposition for a titlo bout in New Orleans. It was understood that some good I boxer would bo matched with Willard. But the Jfl promoters, whethor they were aided and M abottcd by Willard, Is not known, undertook to bring In Fred Fulton, a more dub, as tho opponent. I m A howl of derision went up from all over I tho country. It waa a howl of rago, though, from New OrleanB and tho newspapers there, and the nowspapcrs denounced the affair to I nuch an oxtent that it was doomed unwlso to try to foster this match on tho public, and It l was called off. Moran, Coffey, Gunboat Smith, I and ono or two others, wero available, but, no, !'l It would not do to have any ono who possessed '1 ordinary skill as a boxer go up against tho '1 champion, and henco tho attempt to foster i'i Fulton on tho suffering public. I ill Willard has never been regarded as a real ILI champion and ho never will be until he whips I ill some good man. Although ho is gathering in tffll tho money ns a result of having won tho title, l still the public wants him to meet a few others il and whip thera boforo it will proclaim him. a ill real champion. But why should Willard or his managers pay any attention to tho public, this same public which Is paying its dollars In order to get a glimpse of Willard? As long as Willard can got the money he Is not going to risk his title by boxing a good man. 'And this is the trouble with the entire boxing game, not only in the heavy, but In tho other classes. It's a question of money, money, monoy. How much will the public stand for7 How much can we flecco It? These are the two great points In the boxing game which the champions, their managers and tho promoters aro constantly asking thomselves. They are killing the goose which Is laying tho golden eggs. The boxing game will soon bo like racing, almost al-most dead. It has bcon drlvon out of most of the states, and In tho majority of thoso which still retain It only short bouts aro permitted. California was tho great stamping ground for thc boxers a few years ago, and tho boxers, managers and promoters did Just like the racetrack race-track gamblors did. they overdid everything and were voted out of tho state. Willard has not been a popular champion, for the reasons already given. Thcro was groat rejoicing over his victory, because Johnson had never been a popular champion, but tho rejoicing re-joicing was not for Willard himself, A certain celebrated Now York boxing expert, ex-pert, who witnessed tho Havana bout and accompanied ac-companied Johnson north, sent out glowing ro-ports ro-ports of the alleged hysterical enthusiasm with which tho population of tho country through which the train passed, greeted Willard. From down In Georgia ho sent out tho following, which many newspapers printed: "Tako It from mo, tho people of the South already class Willard Wil-lard with Jackson and JL.ce." When a reputable sport writer sends out "stuff" Hko that and reputable .newspapers print It can you blume a champion for suffering suffer-ing from exaggerated ego? Willard probably believed what tho New York writer wroto of him. Jack Johnson was a well-behaved negro until a lot of whlto ldolators ruined him. They showered their hysterical adulations on him until un-til a well-balanced whlto man might have bo-Hevcd bo-Hevcd half of what was told him, let alone a poor, Ignorant darkey. But sometimes does not Jobs Willard have a nightmare and does It not consist of a strulght right to the Jaw? And la that straight right the property of Frank Moran? Moran, despite tho fact that ho 1b about 50 pounds lighter than Willard. G Inches shorter and hla reach Is Iobs than Willard, fs regarded as the logical opponent for tho champion to prove his worth. Much has -been written' and fW9Mmm Jill 0a The top photograph shows Willard's fighting. face. At the hot-torn hot-torn is Moran in fighting pose. said of la to regarding a match between them, out until tho two aro signed up and actually Jn tho ring, a bout between them Is uncertain. " is not known who is to blamo. Whether Wil-mrd Wil-mrd or his managers are afraid or whether Moran and his managers aro backward, ono thing is certain, and that la that some ono Is oackward about tho affair. i Jim Coffey.. Gunboat Smith and Moran woro cons dored tho logical titlo contenders some months ngp and then In October began a serloB of events which eliminated the first two named. On October 19,' Moran knocked out Coffey In New Yor in tho third -round. On November 10. Coffey knocked out Gunboat Smith In tho fourth round, and then on January 7, Moran again knocked out Coffey in Now York, this tlnie In tho ninth round. In the October fight there wero many who claimed that It was an accidental blow, that smash to the Jaw, which put Coffey to sleep, but after tho January bout even'' one was willing will-ing to concede that Moran was Coffey's maBtor. And Coffey outside of that Octobor knock-out had n splendid record for 1915. Ho had knocked out Jack Sullivan In tho eighth round. Arthur Pelkoy in the Bocond, Soldier Delaney in the second, "One-Round" Davis in the second, had FRANK MORAN fought a ten-round no-dcclslon bout with Carl Morris, knocked out Al Reich in tho third, Jim Flynn In the ninth, Jack Reed in the third, and thon, after being knocked out by Moran, camo back and knocked out Gunboat Smith in tho fourth. Moran fought but threo bouts last year and ho registered a knock-out In every one. In London, In Mnrch, ho knocked out Bombardier Wells in tho tenth round; also, In London, In July, he knocked out Gordon Sims in the sixth round, nnd then ho camo home to put a crimp in Coffey's aspirations for a title. In 10U, Moran lost tho decision to Jack Johnson John-son In a twenty-round bout in Paris, The best thing Moran showed on that occasion was his ability to asslmlluto punishment. "I wasn't arm weary, as some folks charged," , said Johnson. In discussing the encounter, "but I was Just tired out hitting him. Ho certainly stood up well under tho blows I landed on him." The year before, Moran knocked out Al Mc-Clusky, Mc-Clusky, Jim Logan and Al Palzor. In 1912 ho lost In twenty rounds to Gunboat Smith In J-risco. but the fact that ho slnco thon has knocked out tho man who knocked out Smith clears his record of that defeat, according to the way tho "dope" is figured. The record books show several defeats, tho worst being administered by Jim Savago. In 1911, but Mo-ran's Mo-ran's record, on paper, is much better than Wll lard's with tho exception of tho bouts with Johnson. , The record books begin with Willard's fights of 1911, when he lost to Louis Fink on a fou,! His first Important bout, though, was in l9i- with Arthur Pelkoy, which went ten rounds It was in New Yorlc and no decision was glvonl A few months later ho fought ten rounds with Luther McCarthy In New York od was Jen orally credited with a victory. Lator j year he knocked out Soldlor White In the first round at Buffalo and In December of that year ho knocked out Soldier Kcarns in the eighth round. -'t,uiu Tho following year ho was beaten by Gunboat Gun-boat Smith In twenty rounds at San Francisco In August of that year, while fighting "Bull" loung at Vernon. Cal.. tho latter died In the elovonth round, it was said that after tho! Willard was afraid to "cut loose." But It , rate, no knocked out George Davis and George Rodel later in tho year, and in the meantime forght a ten-rotmd no-declslon bout with cTr, Morris In Now York, In which ho got th , nT paper verdict. In 1914 no foughthrt XJE and thoso were with second-rate fighters To! McMahon, Goorgo Rodel and Tom Daly ' But It was not until after his two knockouts of Coffey that Moran was regarded as the foremost of the title contenders Moran, like many, other boxers, jB a pr0(luct of the navy. He served from 1904 to 1903 went all around the world, and came out a quarter master of tho second class and a gun-ponltor of tho first class. One.oMiiB early bouta, which he loves to toll 5 MEASUREMENTS OF LEADING HEAVIES. ' wlard Moran. ? ' Ago 29 ? C feet 6 Inches.... Height 6 feet 1 Inch if 2i Pounds weight 196 ! fi3& inches Reach 78 inches ;! B j; 39 Inches Chest normal 37 Inches !; 9 !; 4414 inches.... Chest expanded.... 42 inches 2 I; 14 inches Biceps 16& Inches B j! 15 Inches Foroarm 14 Inches j; 8Vi inches "Wrist 9 inches S 17i ,nche3 Neck 18 inches? 37 Inches Waist 33& inches 25U lnchea Thigh 24 W, Inches 17 lncheis Calf, 14 mches 9W lnchca Ankle 9& inches j J No- u Sizo of shoe No. 10 ; j; Place of birth, 3; j; Pottowatomle County, Kan. Cleveland, Ohio. ! $ Date of birth. ;! I December 39, 1887. March 18, 1887. of, wns when ho was serving on tho May-llowor, May-llowor, tho president's yacht, at the time Rooso-velt Rooso-velt was president. Smith and another sailor. Schmidt, put on a bout for tho benefit of Archie Roosevelt one day when tho executive's son waB on board, and Smith knocked out Schmidt, M In discussing his fight with Johnson in Paris. Moran says: K "Johnson waa one of the clovorcst men who ' I over drew on a glove, and slnco that time I ' have learned a lot about tho game. It was a i 8 tWemrUnd b0Ut and J d,(I not hav tho time, ; S as lllard did In Havana, to wear out Jack. ' 1 I was eager to land a knockout, it was mr only chance, because I knew, as did every ono ,' S else, that Johnson could easily go twenty 1, rounds. I started out In tho first round, and It ft waa then that I delivered my only wholo-souled ' 1 punch. Johnson saw I was eager to Tvln do- li c slvoly and in a hurry and from that time he ; W clinched almost Incessantly and did no more W leading than was necessary for him to out- K point me. Just as he outpointed Willard in tha f V first twenty rounds of tholr bout ' B "If the Wlllard-Johnson bout had been Urn- t B Rod to twenty rounds Jess would not hav wL i 9 tho title. Willard could afford to oaf lnh, 1 bout for ho knew the longer it went ho weaker 1 Johnson would become, and Johnson knowS 1 roVorwVrr'r lWntd" i strength began to tell arr !l M V0Uth and K Johnsonbecomeveerand T - 1 when ho was 6 vears .h h bM' I Pittsburgh fxnA v. I e am,y moved to K bi. home! Wa'3 has wlled t eltj:, ,: Vi |