The San Francisco call., 1908-12-01
BURNS WILL FIGHT
KETCHEL TN SAN
FRANCISCO
Shrewd Heayy Weight Willing
to Battle Here, Win or Lose,
With johnson

4 will fight Ketchel- in san Franz
cisco whether l win, lose or draw with
Johnson"
This is tile very latest line of hot
shot which Tommy Burns hurls into
the American ffsticun camp all the way
from. the land of tile Southern Cross,
and it furnishes the followers of the
game with another little puzzle to
ponder over in their leisure moments.
for. tile agile Burns has. been loading
them up with sensations of many
varieties since: he decided to take on the
formidable black.
Burns edict comes through his
brother Eddie, who makes his home in
Oakland. In a long letter to his rela :
tive, the shrewd heavy weight cham
pion expresses his. willingness to take
a whirl at the middle eightlchampioii
provided of course. that satisfactory
arrangements can be made for staging
the mill in or about San francisco
In Ketehel, Burns will find the most
willing of opponents AS soon as he
heard of Burns. eagerness TO enga ge
him IN combat the Michigan Lion
bearned with delight and surprise. and
announced that as soon as Burns was
ready he would be on the Job. Ketchef
hardly hoped for any such welcome
news At this stage Of the game.
Burns, bold declaration !. win NO
doubt jar the fans of this city in no
small degree Coming as it does di-
rectly. on top of the announcement
that he would quit the game after
the johnson fight the latest one wo1tid
make il appear that the far seeinss eeg,p
Canadian is not at all consistent in
what. he says and that most anything
will so for him.
In his letter to his brother R,irns
q a lxp
ise to live in Australia ultima tely Tfe
wants to come here to fill a theatrical
engagement and take on Ketchel AS
he did not specify which contract ia
would fulfill al first. it is hard to sav
when the promoters will have a
chance to figure on bidding for the
match.
In the event that Burns energies
from the ring with Johnson clean
victor, then his. proposed match with.
Ketehel would prove wonderful
fisht .of last fourth Of
july Should Johnson. best Burns. tie
CANADIAN would still be a great man
pugilistieally. but the Ketehel match
would lose a certain amount Of its
Nobody can figure. out what @infiu-
ence was brought. to- bear upon Tom
my TO. cause him TO make his latest
switch. Probably he figured that
Ketehel was an attraction here and
that he could make a bargain with
the Michigan slugger that . would
prove worth his while. for it looks
like an assured deal THAT BurIls will
reserve. the lions Bit of the purse for
j There. is no telling where Burns will
Anish. here. provided he gets away
with johnson. Should he be success
ful again against Ketehel he might go
right down the Line and get into the
game again with more. energy and
vigor than ever before. All any fight
er wants is something to encoura GO
him. He is bound TO fall for tile
glare and glitter of it all
In the event that the match is made
it is not likely that the men will
climb Into the ring before next Spring
The Burns-Johnson engagement will
not be filled until the day after
so even on close figuring
Burns will : not arrive in this city.
much before the 1st of February
the chance fer Washing
tons birthday attraction is not at all
Burns seems confident in his ability
to take the measure of black Jack In.
his letter he speaks of his splendid
condition and his ability to punch
harder than. ever. He says his inten-
tion is of wading right into the big
fellow and making n fight out of IL
from bell tap. He can see nobody but
Burns in the contest
Even though he may have a chance
to get ON with Burns for heavy weight
honors. Ketchel has. low down
hunch that he will be called upon to
take d wliirl at Sam Langford before