Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-15
JOHNSON IS
CERTAIN OF
HIS FUTURE
HAS PLENTY OF BACKING IN
SIGHT
BILL GAINES WILL BET BUNCH
ON RUSSIAN GIANT
Big Fellow Not So Simple as He
Looks, and Handles Dictionary
WeIE-Iost First
Battle
BY J. G. GRIFFIN

"O LOOK at Battling Johnson as he
stands around waiting to be in
troduced at any one of Manager
McCarey's innumerable boxing shows
no one would suppose the big Russian
gladiator to be anything but a ''simp."
But talk to the boy a while and you'll
find yourself much mistaken, for John
son is a wise guy in his own unassum-
ing way. L say talk to him yourself,
but to do so you must get by one Bill
Gaines, who has taken the Russian up
and is willing to back him against any
fighter in the world with forty-seven
good cows, a s25,oO0 ranch and other
Pieces of property too valuable for all
ordinary person to even think about.
Johnson is an interesting character,
and whether he ever amounts to any
thing as a heavyweight or is simply
the cars contribution to the citrus
fruit market does not alter the fact one
way or another. He will have the
chance of his life against Jim Flynn
in the near future, and if he gets by
this tough chunk of fighting fireman
the Battling Boy may go right ahead
and clean them all up, even to Cana
dian Tommy Burns and Senegambian
Jawn Johnson, his namesake of an
other color.
We heard that Bill Gaines. a man OF
some wealth, had taken Johnson unto
himself and was installed as manager.
Gaines was supposed to have en-
sconced the Russian and his encourage
in a swell bungalow at San Pedro,
where everything a real chef could
purchase and cook was handed out on
the board three times day.
Gaines Establishment There
Well, to cut it short, we went TO San
Pedro and found out. The Gaines es-
Establishment was all it's boosters had
testified to, and Bill Gaines was there
to extend the glad mitt. But Johnson
| was the piece de resistance, and he
was soon routed off a comfortable
| lounge and placed on exhibit.
At first the big boy was bashful and
wouldn't talk. This was not so no
| tceable, for Bill Gaines made up for
forty-seven Johnsons, as every ques-
ton fired at the fighter was taken up
| by his manager and answered with
| promptness that denoted close ac-
! cuaintance with the Johnson life his
tory on the part of his manager.
Finally Johnson was dragged into the
conversation with lariat constructed
of a question about his first fight. Here
| Bill Gaines was silent, and the silence
hinted :; : a niger in the woodpile, so
insistence was the only policy.
II hate to tell about that" said
Johnson, and, by the way. his English
is good and free from fragrant misuses,
''for [ was whipped the first time / ever
tried my luck in a professional ring.
"You see, it was this way. / had
lust come off a coasting steamer and
was matched with Bob Ward in San
francisco. There was only little
money in it for me, but l needed that,
so took a chance.
"I didn't know anything about
gloves, but as soon as they put a pair
on my hands I started after Ward and
rushed him all over the ring. About
half way through the round he bounced
eff the ropes from one of my rushes
and I ran square into straight punch
en- the chin 1t dropped me like log,
and I was counted out. One of the
funny things about it, as / found out
later, was the fact that my gloves were
stuffed with loose sawdust
"Only one fight has gone against me
since then, because / was not good
enough for the other fellow. l fought
q man named Joe Willis in Reno and
he was given a decision over me. In
Redding I lost on a foul, for l followed
cne punch with another, and the man
I hit was on his knees when the second
one landed. I nearly drove him
through the platform with that wallop
on the neck.
Two Victories in Sight
ST am going to whip Flynn in few
rounds, and then I'll whip Jim Barry.
After that-well. it's too far ahead of
time, so 1 won't talk about it"
We left Battling Johnson living in
the glow of the future, and not even
Bill Gaines insistent chatter on what
he was going to do to Flynn could dis
turb the stolid happiness of a big boy
seeing life through golden spectacles.
| And who knows but what Johnson
may yet see his name on the top of the
card. He is big and strong and game,
and with the intelligence that is his he
may listen to his instructors and be the
Bob Fitzsimmons of Russia. In his
own peculiar way he is as much of
freak as the Linnet.
But no interview is complete without
finding out the 'interviewee's" name,
and when I asked Battling Johnson
the question he wrote it down for mo
Fred Rudsit After it came his age
24-and the fact that his first fight oc-
| ct1rrad on March In 1905