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Show LITTLE HOPE FOR JESS TO BATTLE JACK Former Champion Must Gain Victories Over Other Mit Contenders. BY SPARROW M'GANN SnecJai Correspondent f The Stand- i nrtl-Evnmlner. i (Copyright 1922. bv The Standard-Exji Standard-Exji miner.) NEW YORK ,DeC P. While Jess Willard Is traveling through tho northwest giving boxing exhibitions, stories concerning his future are cur- rent. In the metropolis. Ono Is that Tex Klckard Is off the big fellow, that he doesn't believe any longer that Jess has a real fight left. The other Is that he has bocomo convlncod that a fight between willard and Dempsey WOUld not. draw. If Jess were willing to meet some ' of th- (food hear les and build up, the! financial aspects of tho case would bo j dlfferenl But this he will not do. The obvious r -LSofi is that Jess fears i someone of the second rate heavies i vsould knock him for a loop and thUB I put lilm out of the big money for good and all. But since It looks as though he won't get a fight for the I championship title unless hi does do some building of this sort Jess might las Well take the chance. The altitude of Jack Kearns ln the matter haHsbeen rather Interesting.' At times he has acted as though ho I wanted his meal ticket to go against the gigantic Kansan and at others he' has renlly acted scared. There Is no I doubt that a battle between the two I could have been arranged when Jess came to this city two winters ago. Dempsey side-stepped the big ono neatly and took On Carpentler instead. I SIBI.ST1 Pfl WILLARD. Of course the show man Instinct may have dictated this attitude In some part. For, as It turned out, a I Dempsey-Carpehtler fight was the big-geat big-geat boxing show that could have been ' put on And Kearns. naturally enough. 1 j did not wish to risk his Jack against I willard's well known ability to sock,1 Not that he didn't think Dempsey ! could stow Willard away or materially: i outpoint him but there was tho , chance and so the gentle art of side l stepping was put on exhibition. Willard went home disgusted Then ho thought he had struck oil and lost Interest for a time. Evidently tho ! j gusher must have been spouting cider or skimmed milk Surely nothing else would account for Jess making cap-Ital cap-Ital of the fact that he wants to be j champion again and treading tho i boards on tho vaudeville circuit. A champion can command a lot of , ' money but as soon as a king loses hla crown his ability to draw coin from promoters is nix. Look at Jack Brit- ton. On Christmas afternoon Jack Is, ' to open his come-back campaign by 1 stacking up against Bobblc'Barrctt In Fhlladolphla. BUMPER CROWD. Now these recent battles have been drawing big money, comparatively speaking say twenty and twenty-flvo jthousund dollars. And this go between , Britton and Barrett, who Is popular In Philadelphia, Is certain to draw a bumper crowd. Yst, Jack's end will bo $3,000. Threo thousand aro three I thousand alright, but when ono considers con-siders what Britton would havo got were he still champion, tho amount does not sound so much. This Barrett, by the way. is staging a sort of come-back himself. He was hurried against the good ones and got I his good and plenty, but of late ho has bi-gun to show his Increased boxing box-ing ability while at the same time ho packs hl9 old wallop If ho continues to develop a pretty road lies ahead of him since there are not so many Welters Wel-ters who amount to much. In fact, the champion Is just a plain, ordinary-good ordinary-good fighter not a great one. oo |